CNN) -- Entertainer George Carlin said Monday he is going into rehab because he has an alcohol and drug problem. In a statement, Carlin, 67, said, "I'm going into rehab because I use too much wine and Vicodin. No one told me I needed this; I recognized the problem and took the step myself."My levels of use are nowhere near the worst you hear about these days; I could easily have continued functioning at a good level ... for awhile. But my use would have progressed, I would have been in deeper trouble, and I didn't want to tolerate that. I've never been in rehab before and I know it isn't easy, but I'm highly motivated, and will do what ever's needed. When I get out, I will take a little time for myself before resuming my schedule," the comedian added.
Get well, George. You used to be a funny guy. Maybe you can be again.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 4:00:36 PM ||
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#1
"he is going into rehab because he has an alcohol and drug problem"
#2
All the Moonbats are funny. It's a Hunter Thompson kind o' thingy. Fear and self-loathing in [Select: East Coast, Left Coast, Hollyweird, Berkeley, Taos...].
#11
My favorite quote, because it's oh-so-true: Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
Posted by: Dar ||
12/27/2004 17:03 Comments ||
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#12
Watch, pretty soon he'll be like me: In and out of Betty Ford more than Gerald
Posted by: Robert Downey ||
12/27/2004 17:23 Comments ||
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AN earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale has struck India's remote Nicobar Islands. "An earthquake hit the Nicobar Islands north of Sumatra at 4.39pm (20.39 AEDT), registered by other seismologists as 6.5 on the Richter scale," a seismologist from Thailand's meteorological department said. "We cannot tell whether it would trigger a new tidal wave, but the earthquake was felt in Phuket." Phuket is the Thai resort island devastated by a previous series of huge waves that also left thousands dead across Asia. The official described the quake as a "new earthquake" as it was 200km north of the epicentre of Sunday's massive quake off the Indonesian coast.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/27/2004 9:28:41 PM ||
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At least 3,000 people died in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and 30,000 people are missing after five villages in the archipelago's south were swept away by a tsunami, officials said. Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi visited the capital of the island chain and far-flung Car Nicobar in the Indian Ocean to assess the damage Monday.
District official G.C. Gupta said an Indian air force base on Car Nicobar island was swept away by a tsunami that struck Sunday with more than 100 military personnel and family and support workers believed dead. Indian naval ships were steaming to the area which holds more than 45,000 people on Greater Car Nicobar, its smaller sibling and as many as 14 nearby populated islands.
Gupta, speaking to reporters travelling with Gandhi, Mukherjee and Air Force Chief S. Krishnaswamy in Port Blair, said communications in the area remained patchy. "The villages are spread all over, there are 30,000 people that need to be accounted for. Some may have fled into the interior jungles or been swept out to sea," Gupta said. "Efforts are underway to find them."
The population on the islands had swelled at Christmas as many of the people are Christians and were celebrating on the beach when the huge walls of water hit, Gupta said. The tsunami and several aftershocks followed a massive earthquake centered off the coast of the nearby Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday. "Everybody is going through a trauma here" Gandhi, who met tribals and local people at a school here and went round various areas, told reporters.
"We went to various areas (in the Car Nicobar islands) and people told us about the hardships... their traumatic experiences... there were government employees who were angry and agitated at the administration," she said, adding it was difficult to provide help because the communication system was not working.
On the plane back to Madras from Port Blair in Tamil Nadu state where Gandhi arrived Monday night, she told reporters the official death toll in the Andaman and Nicobar was 500 people. The federal government has been cautious in assessing the death toll with the cabinet saying Monday the preliminary figure was close to 4,000 dead excluding Car Nicobar where the toll is likely to be "quite high", Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.
Totals from state and local officials show at least 6,823 dead included 3,000 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and another 3,600 in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the former French colony of Pondicherry. The remote archipelago lies 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from mainland India and the chain is spread over 800 kilometres (500 miles) north to south.
Blessed with miles of pristine beaches and a rich variety of animal life, New Delhi has carried out little development there, intending to leave indigenous tribes people in peace. The isolation and lack of infrastructure has left whole communities incommunicado after the giant waves struck on Sunday.
Six hunter-gatherer tribes including the fearsome Sentinelese aborigines inhabit 38 of the 572 rain-forested islands, living in seclusion from outside world for millennia. India has protected the tribes from modern contact in the fear of bacterial contamination, and little was known of their fate. Shompen aborigines, numbering just 100, have occupied the Great Nicobar island for up to 60,000 years without being touched by modernity. The Nicobaris, numbering around 30,000, form the largest tribal group but they have left the forests to live in the modern islet-town of Nicobar. The Great Andamanese, who numbered as many as 10,000 in the 18th century, were decimated by the British after the islanders refused to submit to the crown.
By the 1970s just 19 survived, and while their numbers have crept up to 29 and homes built for them on tiny Strait island, their fate was uncertain even before the tsunamis hit. Genetic evidence suggests that the pygmy-like aborigines -- of negrito origin with dark skin and curly hair that sets them apart from their Asian neighbours -- have lived on the Andamans from the dawn of civilisation.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 4:12:24 PM ||
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Hundreds of people died and entire villages and towns disappeared when tidal waves hit Somalia's coastline along its central and northeastern regions, a Somali presidential spokesman said. The waves, which hit on Sunday, were triggered by the 9.0-magnitude undersea quake centered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) away. The "human loss is in the hundreds in the central and northeastern coastal area. ... Entire villages and coastal town have been swept away by the tidal waves and there is severe damage to property," said Yusuf Ismail, spokesman of Somalia's President Abduallhi Yusuf Ahmed. The spokesman is based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the Somali parliament is based because the Somali capital is considered too dangerous. He said he could not give an exact figure of the number dead because "we're focussing on extending our limited relief to the badly affected people." An Associated Press reporter in the Somali capital Mogadishu said that, according to elders speaking on two-way radios and local journalists, the death toll had risen there to more than 50 people, up from nine people dead Sunday.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 11:04:01 AM ||
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#1
The spokesman is based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the Somali parliament is based because the Somali capital is considered too dangerous.
Well, that might be one reason the people weren't warned, even though countries along the African coastline had hours before the tsunami reached there - and should have known of it because of the destruction caused in SE Asia.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/27/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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#2
Somalia holds a special place for me, say Dante's Ninth Ring, and scraping up any sympathy for them seems to be coming up empty. Wonder why that is?
#5
Jules 187 - Actually, that would be the 7th Circle, those who commit Violence - if you're into the minutia of Dante's Inferno... The Ninth is for The Treacherous - Traitors.
#7
So--taking bets on how long it will take for the same hands that killed our soldiers in Blackhawk Down to DEMAND aid and assistance from the US? Nanoseconds.
Being who we are, we will help; being who they are, they will be ungrateful. Time to step back?
#11
Ask me why I don't give a &^%$.
The "advanced" muslim nations can take care of them.
There are plenty of Hindu, Buddhist, Christains and Animists we can help take care of.
At least 3,000 people killed in Sri Lanka, 2,300 in India, 2,000 in Indonesia, 289 in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia, 8 in Somalia and 2 in Bangladesh by tsunamis. Tsunamis also occurred on the coasts of Maldives and Cocos Island. At least 200 people killed, buildings destroyed or damaged in the Banda Aceh area, Sumatra. Felt widely in Sumatra. Also felt in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. This is now the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 9:42:21 AM ||
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#1
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia moved the island of Sumatra about 100 feet to the southwest, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The earthquake occurred off Sumatra's northwestern tip in an active geological region and ruptured an estimated 600-mile-long stretch of the Earth beneath the Indian Ocean. The quake was the largest since a magnitude 9.2 quake struck Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1964. It triggered the first deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883, civil engineer Costas Synolakis of the University of Southern California said. The enormous swells of water affected eight countries, and the death toll surpassed 23,000 by Monday morning.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 10:16 Comments ||
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This from Free republic:
Diego Garcia
My son
Posted on 12/27/2004 3:59:26 AM PST by margieelisabeth
They are all FINE on Diego Garcia, the quake wasn't even felt. My son is stationed there and we recieved an email from him last night. This is also a small bit of information that may help us all understand why a tsunami most likely (never say never) could hit there.
Diego Garcia is at the top of the Chagos Trench located just to our east (hence the island chain name of Chagos Archipelago). This trench is very deep and the steepness of the grade from the trench to the top of the island does not allow tsunamis to build up before they were to come on shore.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 10:58 Comments ||
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#5
Thanks, crazyhorse. That's a relief to know.
I figured it was a seamount, with steep sides that wouldn't allow a wave to build up as it did on the beaches of the devastated areas, but it's still good to find out for sure.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/27/2004 10:59 Comments ||
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#6
crazyhorse,
Good News. I was trying pretty hard to get Barbara some info yesterday, to no avail.
#7
Barb,Reverse.I searched to,but a friend came through with the info.This will be much bigger in scope than the quake in Bam,Iran where 30,000 died,unfortunately.
Nearly 11,000 people died after sea surges struck long stretches of the Sri Lankan coast on Sunday, officials say. Many more people are reported missing and about a million are homeless. The government has declared a disaster. Among the dead are at least 72 foreign tourists, the chairman of Sri Lanka's Tourist Board said. Although 1,600km from the earthquake epicentre, waves struck Sri Lanka with great force, sweeping far inland. A huge search is underway for survivors. Much of Sri Lanka's coast have been devastated by the waves, with the south and east worst hit. The army says at least 10,000 bodies have been found so far, in areas under government control. Earlier on Monday Tamil Tiger rebels who control much of the north and east put the toll there at 820. Latest estimates from the rebels are that as many as 6,000 people may have died in the disaster in the north and east, but correspondents advise there may be overlap between the rebel and government figures. Tens of thousands of police and military personnel are combing the coastline by ship, helicopter and plane looking for survivors and pulling bodies from the sea.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 9:17:15 AM ||
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Thailand's rescue services were struggling to cope with the aftermath of Sunday's earthquake and sea surges, as the official death toll doubled. Rescue workers said at least 839 people had died and thousands were injured, as bodies continued to be found. There were dramatic reports of rescues at the worst hit areas, including at tourist resorts on the west coast. The island of Phi Phi, famous as the location of the 1990 film The Beach, is reported to have been devastated. At least 200 tourists and islanders were airlifted from the island by helicopter, but scores more are still missing. A photographer with the AFP news agency, who reached the island on Monday, said hardly a building had been left standing. "I see one building standing and it is the Phi Phi hotel," he said. Thai officials raised the national death toll after more bodies were found in the province of Phang Nga, where 528 people are now known to have died. The toll in Phuket, one of the country's busiest tourist resorts, was unchanged at 130. Bodies continued to arrive at makeshift morgues in Phuket on Monday.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 9:13:20 AM ||
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CUDDALORE, India - A fresh tremor hit Indian islands far off the country's eastern coast Monday, a day after massive waves triggered by an undersea quake killed at least 2,284 people in India. The temblor at daybreak Monday in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal had an initial magnitude of 6.0, said Jaya Chandran of the New Delhi-based Indian Meteorology Department. Details on casualties and damage from the latest quake were not immediately known, the official said.
India was trying to recover Monday from the massive waves unleashed the previous day by the world's biggest quake in 40 years, a 9.0-magnitude quake off Indonesia. The government sent food and generators to coastal areas devastated by tidal waves, searched for survivors and told fisherman not to go to sea for two more days. Tamil Nadu was the worst affected, with [12-foot] waves sweeping away boats, homes and vehicles, said the state's top elected official, Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2004 1:08:46 AM ||
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A tsunami unleashed by an earthquake near Indonesia has struck several southern and southeastern Asian countries, killing more than 11,470 people. The most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into coastlines across Asia on Sunday, killing thousands of people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Thailand on Sunday. Effects of the earthquake and tsunami it produced were felt as far away as Tanzania and Somalia along the African coastline and Oman in the Arabian Gulf. Governments and humanitarian organisations around the world scrambled to offer aid and technical help to the stricken areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 10:00:37 PM ||
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#1
This total is just a guessthe totals will exceed this. We are still guessing at this point. I have been reading news from all over. The number of dead will be many, many times this early total.
#6
According to comments in another post, they're fine. Steep drop-off in ocean shelf prevented wave from building up.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 11:54 Comments ||
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On BBC website, a "Have Your Say" commenter said that most of the bodies in a Sri Lankan mortuary are women and children...wonder what the reason would be (seriously)...is upper body strength that important in a tsunami, or was it because homes were more vulnerable, or ?
A powerful earthquake jolted a wide area of Bangladesh on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, news reports and weather officials said. The magnitude 7.36 tremor struck the southern port city of Chittagong, according to a statement by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said. Bangladesh lacks equipment to determine the epicenter of the quake. Media reports said the quake was felt in the central, southern and western parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka. Big quakes are rare in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 140 million people in South Asia.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 00:00:00 ||
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Seven Pakistanis have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, an Amnesty International report said. Most of the executions were carried out on drug or drug-related offences. In its report released recently, the Amnesty voiced concern at growing executions in the kingdom.
It does keep recidivism down, though.
Eight people were executed in the past week bringing the total number of executions documented by the Amnesty to 31 this year. Of the eight executed last week four were Pakistanis, three Iraqis and one was Saudi. The Amnesty fears there are many others in detention facing imminent execution. This includes three women - Majda Mostafa Mahir, Sit Zainab Binti Duhri Rupa and Sarah Jane Dematera - who were sentenced to death in a murder case. The Amnesty said it recognized the right and responsibility of all governments to bring to justice those guilty of criminal offences. However, it opposed the death penalty as the ultimate violation of the right to life.
Actually, I think of the death penalty as the penultimate violation, and murder as the ultimate. But I'm just an old crank and nobody listens to me anyway...
Trials for that purpose must meet internationally recognized standards, the report emphasized. The organization said it was committed to defending all people against the violations of these fundamental and internationally recognized rights. The Amnesty urged King Fahd to commute all death sentences.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 10:25:03 AM ||
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#1
Surely the death penalty will be an issue in SA's upcoming elections...
#3
Fred, at my Putt-Putt center the sails on the windmill reach all the way just off the green mat. I think you get more of an advantage here to assure a "hole in one" or is it a "head in one"?
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
12/27/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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#4
that's called losing one's head or going head over heels.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/27/2004 16:39 Comments ||
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The first Islamic satellite, expected to be used in the crescent sighting, will go into orbit in 15 months' time, with the launch planed for 2006, according to Dr Omar Al Khateeb, Head of Research and Fatwa Section, who represented the UAE at the Satellite committee meeting held in Cairo on December 21. In an interview with Khaleej Times, Dr Al Khateeb said that the project was proposed by Dar Al Ifta in Egypt in 1997. "The satellite is expected to present a solution to the problem resulted from the differences over the lunar months — a fact which prompted Arab and Muslim countries to support the project," Al Khateeb, pointed out.
As opposed to just contracting with the US or Eurosat for a lunar sighting every year. Cheez.
He added that the committee, which comprises Arab Islamic scholars, representatives of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Muslim World League, reached an agreement to put to tender the manufacturing of the satellite in January 2005. The tendering would take place in cooperation with the Cairo University's Space Studies Centre (CUSSC). Al Khateeb explained that moon sighting has always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and scholars have different views over the issue. "Many scholars believe that Muslims in different countries should follow one sighting as long as the sightings are made on the same night in these countries. While others believe that Muslims worldwide should abide by the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia," he said. Al Khateeb explained that the launch of the Islamic satellite project would present a solution to this controversial problem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2004 1:13:08 AM ||
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#1
ROFL! Cool. This can be a live-fire exercise drone for one of anti-sat programs. Hell, we should offer to underwrite a portion so they can send up several - we need a solid test program. We have to test an array of interceptor missiles, as well as airborne, space-based, and ground-based beam weapons. We could even work on a capture, reprogram, and release sequence... much like the way that Islamic countries deal with terrorists, only they seem to skip the reprogram step.
The moon-cult morons could get any phreakin' moon-phase info they need from USA Today, but they're all wrapped up in superstitious mumbo-fucko gobbledy-gook and tell the dopey True Believers that only the "scholars" can deal with their ultra-trivial celestial issues. Those who've lived in places like Saudi and had to deal with the absurdly annoying prayer schedules and the silly annual brouhaha over when phreakin' Ramadan starts know precisely what I mean.
Islamic satellite. Yeah, sure thing - good idea. You don't teach basic health in school so grown men and women don't know which hole makes a baby, but you need a satellite - jointly controlled from Mekkah (LOL!) for the Mullahs. Perfect.
#4
So who will build and launch this satellite? Who will build the ground stations? Who will maintain the ground stations? Oh, I guess that be the west. Let me get this straight: the Muslims will use the technology and infrastructure of the Great Satan or its underlings to help determine the beginning of their holy days. Ironic isnât it. Muslim leaders want the benefits of modern society to settle their religious disputes but cannot allow those same institutions to exist within their society without loosing their power.
#5
Dr Omar Al Khateeb, Head of Research and Fatwa Section
Now that gives me confidence! Is he researching fatwas or are fatwas considered the same as research? Something tells me that this is the same as firing guns into the air, just with larger "bullets" - it's gonna come down somewhere soon, watch your head!
#6
Gentlemen Please calm down.
The "Islamic Satelite" will never Happen.
The Shiites will issue a Fatwa(TM) against any Sunny Satelite and the Sunny's will never tolerate a Shiite Satelite.
Question : how can you tell between a true "Islamic Satelite" and a regular "Dhimmi Satelite ??
Answer : The "Islamic satelite" turns towards Mecca 5 times a day.
#8
P.S.
The Scientific progress of the Islamics is mind-boggling.
We will soon also encounter "High-Tech Fatwas"
from the same Fatwa section.....
That's what I call scientific spin-off :)
Posted by: abu Sputnik ||
12/27/2004 9:34 Comments ||
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P.S.S
Truely, this could turn into a whole new industry.
For Example, just consider the immense clerical possibilities of the "Anti-Satelite Fatwa(TM)".
This could give the retards an entire religious renaissance !
From now on we swear only by "Muhammad PBUH and his Islamic Satelite"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 9:51 Comments ||
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#12
Seriously,
At least in the near future the Islamic countries can save a lot of money by simply renting space for Monrise detection cameras on US Cruise Missiles headed for Iran's Nuclear sites.
The commercial opportunities are enticing.....
Reliable Mossad sources reveal that the new Islamic Satellite will be powered by a new Islamic technology " the "Camel Dung Operated Islamic Power generator".
#16
#4, I suspect there are lots of French and other officials willing to help the Muslim world build and operate this thing. And I don't think the real reason for them wanting satellites is to check on moonrise timing.
Posted by: too true ||
12/27/2004 11:29 Comments ||
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#17
Better yet. Let's form a Rantburg Space Division and bid the job. We could underbid anyone else and pocket the $8 million or so, because our implementation would be a PC simulation of a sattellite which would report crescent moon sightings for a few months, then mysteriously die due to incorrect commands being sent by the inept ground controllers in SA or Egypt. Nearly $8 mil in pure profit...
Posted by: DO ||
12/27/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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#18
DO I believe you have a future in ME battle management.
#19
Rumor has it that their next effort will involve building a high-power field effect electron microscope to determine exactly how many angels can dance on the head of a hand grenade pin.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
12/27/2004 18:58 Comments ||
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#21
Would the Islamic Satellite (piss be upon it) be infallible?
Wouldn't it be fun to rig a directional array and hack it? How do you figure Mooslimbs would like to have Ramadan 5 months in a row?
#25
Aren't they already called to prayer about 800 times a day?
Oops, I miscounted. Ah well, 5, 800, not a big difference there...
Posted by: trailing daughter of the trailing wife ||
12/27/2004 22:37 Comments ||
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#26
May I introduce my elder daughter? She is the one who peeks over my shoulder as I scroll through the site, giggling madly along with me (and offering what she thinks of as sarcastic comments, tee hee!).
Posted by: trailing daughter of the trailing wife ||
12/27/2004 22:54 Comments ||
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#30
But we do too let Mr. Wife be in charge whenever he wants! And who on earth would want to pretend to be us, when there are so many more exciting people to impersonate? Murat, f'r instance, or .com ...
Posted by: Dar ||
12/27/2004 10:09 ||
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#1
I think it's been here for a while. The gist of the story, from what I've heard, is that the Koreans and the Chinese are the good guys, and GI's are the bad guys. The funny thing is that the Chinese used to attack South Korean positions every chance they got, because they were generally the weak spots in the line. I guess South Koreans have gotten over being killed in the hundreds of thousands by the Chinese.
#2
From what little I know of the Korean language, Tae Guk Gi translates as "Uniform Form".
"Hey Song Wei! Those silly American GWB followers all have below average IQs, they're going to lap it all up! Quick, let's make a subtitled movie called 'FishyFish and Crackers'! Just think of how much it'll gross! We'll be rich, I tell ya!"
Sorry, I think I'm being sarcastic again. Pay me no mind.
Posted by: trailing daughter of the trailing wife ||
12/27/2004 23:06 Comments ||
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#3
The US: where everyone is below average. ;-)
Posted by: trailng daughter of the trailing wife ||
12/27/2004 23:08 Comments ||
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#4
The "majority" is all that counts, right TD? :)
China has broken the United States monopoly on the Internet by launching the first backbone network of the next-generation Internet popularly called as CERNET2 (China Education and Research Network). The announcement came from eight different departments of the Chinese Government. According to reports, CERTNET2 is now being called the biggest network running the next generation Internet since it connects 25 universities in about 20 cities. Tests have proven that the network is capable of reaching speeds of about 40 gigabits per second, setting a record for real-world applications, while the average speeds are about 2-10 gigabits for universities.
Wu Jianping, director of the expert committee of CERNET and who played a major role in the project, is reported to have said that the organization which was earlier learning and following others has now caught up with the world's leaders in the next generation Internet. He also said that it is now making first moves while gaining respect and attention of the international community.
CERTNET2 is purely based on the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) technology, which the organization claims is the first and will soon become a standard for others to follow. One of the main issues IPv6 will address will be the shortage of IP addresses, which the older generation networks are still suffering from. About half of the key equipment, including routers is being provided by Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecom giant, and Tsinghua Bit-Way. The network is expected to spread to about 100 universities soon. Their buying up oil reserves, going into space, pushing technology hard. Watch out!
Posted by: Glereper Thigum7529 ||
12/27/2004 8:53:05 AM ||
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#1
Let them push towards IT. It will easier to spy on them. All the routers & switches with IOS, contain bugs, that can be compromised, by experts in the U.S. and Israel. A lot of these bugs will never be documented.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/27/2004 9:56 Comments ||
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#3
sure - I'll feel secure on a Chinese-run net
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 10:56 Comments ||
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#4
Folks:
IPV6 is a US internet standard that changes in some trivial way how internet nodes are addressed. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the number of potential IP address will be 65636 to the 6th power, a very large number.
China is only adopting IPV6 as its standard and is getting a jump on the rest of the world when we will all have to switch over to 64 bit computing.
No need to panic. Unless there is total breakdown of internet backbone here in the U.S., we are not going to be on a Chinese run NET. China is ONLY adopting IPv6 within their private university backbone. IPv6 is NOT valid on the public Internet worldwide backbone. China is not getting a jump ahead, actually, as usual, they are just catching up. There are currently existing private backbones here in the U.S and Israel that has already implemented IPv6, for a long time now. Cisco is just using the Chinese universities as a large experimental network for IPv6. The reason U.S. has NOT implemented IPv6 in the public Internet backbone, is because, contrary to popular belief, we are NOT running out of ip addresses(IPv4).
#6
lol - nobody's panicking...and I still would rather not use a Chinese run sub-net...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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#7
There's a description of IPv6 and how it relates to other protocols in my old book TCP/IP Blueprints - and probably online in some accessible writeup, but I'm using an ancient Mac with dialup connection at the moment so can't easily go searching.
We haven't run out of IP addresses in part because we tend to let a single server or router represent a whole lot of users to the public Internet. My guess is that any Chinese IPv6-based routers will have a number of intentional "bugs" and that they will map IP addresses more directly to end hardware, making surveillance easier.
Posted by: too true ||
12/27/2004 11:58 Comments ||
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#8
When are the US companies going to figure out that the ChiComs are only interested in reverse engineering of their products before they cut them out of the profit picture.
ChiComs by nature lack innovation, so they have to steal it.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/27/2004 16:44 Comments ||
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#9
The US doesn't have a "monopoly on the Internet". Not on the protocols and certainly not on their implementation. What the US has is disproportionate content and Internet application resources that people around the world want to connect to along with the most varied and robust commercial infrastructure for hosting and delivering the bits and successful business models for creating the bits. This is a matter of free market economics and network (economic) effects. Government fiat has nothing to do with it. The article also conflates IPv6 with network throughput. IPv6 has nothing intrinsic that makes networks go faster than IPv4. This is a fast network because it is a private network that is managed end to end, that's all. The real magic is when you get universal connectivity between disparate networks. That's the difference between the Internet (capital I) and an internet, which is a discrete network that uses the IP protocols.
Other stuff:
The IP address exhaustion scare is over. We've gotten much more clever at allocating IPv4 addresses and doing translation between public and private address spaces. I'm sure the Chinese want more public addresses and believe it is their due. They probably think of the current allocation scheme the way that Muslims think of democracy: a Western Jew racket. On their own networks the Chinese can run whatever damn protocols they want. Even the carrier pigeon protocol. The main thing is that their networks interoperate with the broader Internet.
The move to IPv6 will be gradual and most folks won't even notice it. New network gear generally supports IPv4 and IPv6 concurrently. Even my residential ISP will soon allow me to advertise an IPv6 address for my DSL connection. Not that I can think of any compelling reason why I'd want to.
The high end Chinese routers are from Huawei. It is cloned Cisco hardware running stolen Cisco IOS code. So whatever bugs are in IOS, they are in Huawei's gear as well. Unless Huawei fixed some bugs and weren't nice enough to give the fixes back to Cisco.
#10
Oh, and as another thread observed, the Chinese are world beaters when it comes to running machines with open relays (very helpful for spammers) and providing no questions asked hosting for spammers (also very helpful). Lot's of fed up mail administrators reject *all* inbound mail from Chinese netblocks on the proven theory that what's coming in is spam and nothing that their users want.
BEIJING - Relations between China and Taiwan are grim and the mainland will crush any major moves towards independence by the island no matter what the cost, the government said in a policy paper on national defence on Monday. The comments came as China's parliament discussed a draft anti-secession law that analysts say may contain clauses that would legally bind Beijing to take military action if the island Beijing claims as a renegade province ever declared independence. "The situation in the relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits is grim," the defence white paper said. "Should the Taiwan authorities go so far as to make a reckless attempt that constitutes a major incident of 'Taiwan independence', the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and thoroughly crush it at any cost," it said.
Including the Three Gorges dam?
Separatist activities on Taiwan had become the "biggest immediate threat" to China's sovereignty and to peace and stability in the region, the paper said. Pro-independence moves by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian have made Beijing's communist leaders increasingly nervous since he took office in 2000. However, Chen's ambitions suffered a blow this month when his Democratic Progressive Party failed to gain a majority in the legislature, curtailing his power to introduce a new constitution that China says would be a step towards independence. The policy paper criticised the United States for continuing to increase, both qualitatively and quantitatively, its arms sales to Taiwan, saying this sent the wrong signal. "The US action does not serve a stable situation across the Taiwan Straits," it said.
Still looks stable to me.
China has been unmoved by outside criticism that Beijing's refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan has ratcheted up tension across the narrow straits. It was the "sacred responsibility" of China's armed forces to prevent Taiwan independence forces from splitting the country, the policy paper said.
How quaint that an officially anti-religious party cites a 'sacred' responsibility.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2004 1:18:00 AM ||
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Anguished outcry from the MSM and LLL in 3... 2... 1...
Okay, maybe not.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/27/2004 9:56 Comments ||
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#2
A stupid question. If the Chinese Navy is the People's Liberation Army Navy, what do they call their Air Force?
#3
Here's hoping that Taiwan has several ready-to-assemble nuclear devices. Strikes upon the Three Gorges dam, Beijing, Shanghai and other domestic economic centers would quickly cripple communist China. It's high time for the politburo to enjoy a tall cool foamy refreshing glass of STFU.
#4
Zenster, would a couple of MOABs, or those cute new super-MOABs (whose name I can't remember) do the trick? I do so hate to pollute the water unnecessarily.
(It's so good to be back home at my own computer!)
#5
Getting ready for the Million-Man Swim, are they? Contrary to popular opinion and much MSM propaganda, Taiwan is in fact able to resist a mainland invasion. Preparing for that eventuality has been a public obsession on Taiwan ever since Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalists fled there in 1949. The island is a hedgehog of missiles and artillery and is honey-combed with shelters and fortifications. Pro-Chicom media take an opposite tack, obviously, hoping to substitute defeatist memes for the facts.
For example, I have seen one highly detailed MSM "analysis" that rates the Chinese T-59 tank an even match for the modernized M-60 used by Taiwan and their J-8 target drone fighter as the equal of Taiwan's F-16s and Mirage 2000s. Other qualitative aspects simply assume parity or a Communist advantage. Their prediction of likely scenarios included such fantasies as Mainland forces destroying the RoCAF (Taiwan Air Force) on the ground, and Communist "elite troops" seizing key ports and other transportation nodes. It is a well-kept secret, otoh, that Taiwan has some of the best trained pilots, artillerymen, and tankers in the world, and a very substantial and well-protected domestic munitions industry, and a huge militia organization that could go into action in a matter of minutes in some cases.
The mainland generals know all this, of course. The danger will come if the political leadership starts believing its own propaganda.
"For The Children (TM)"
..."While continuing to support the crackdown on pornographic websites, the reporting centre will make it a priority to target illegal websites on gambling, fraud and superstition," it said. China often uses the word "superstition" to refer to religions. People are allowed to worship in state-sanctioned churches and temples but authorities regularly crackdown on groups outside of the government's control. The centre also said search engines were barred from directing and linking searches to pornographic and other websites which contain "harmful information." "(We) urge the industry to heighten its political awareness and sense of responsibility," it said...
#2
# 1 you are correct on spam relays. "Harmful information" is subjective to many individuals.
China needs all the help it can get in complying
with the one child per family ruling. There is plenty of prostitution happening there- they don't need to see it in T.V., websites. And yes, the government controls religion. Their theology is very differnt from ours in the U.S.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: andrea jackson ||
12/27/2004 13:47 Comments ||
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Now if only they'd shut down the 1,287,000,000 open (spam) relays.
And all those scammers. I remember being the intended victim of a China-originated phishing expedition via an e-mail from Citibank asking me to update my non-existent account. :)
#4
Thank you Andrea. We at the Fund To Tie Chelseas Tubes would prefer to move beyond the one child per family frame-work into a more sustainable .5 child per family goal. With half a child many things are easier for the modern Chineese family. Time, food, transportation and the other host of consumables that are built into child-raising. Just think HALF A CHILD FOR US!
Posted by: Fund To Tie Chelseas Tubes ||
12/27/2004 17:13 Comments ||
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THE family of an Australian boy with Down syndrome who is missing on Thailand's resort island of Phuket today criticised the Australian government for failing to do enough to help search for him. Vincent Parisi, the uncle of 16-year-old Paul Giardina of Melbourne, said members of his family flew to the island to hunt for the teenager after he became separated from his parents when a tidal wave hit yesterday. But the government had little contact with the family, he said. "The Australian government, I feel, has not done enough, not reacted quickly enough,'' Mr Parisi told Sky News.
The earthquake and tidal wave were yesterday. There are 11,000 people dead, and the casualty list is climbing. Of course the gummint should drop everything and search for one person.
''(It has) certainly not done enough to try to find my nephew over there and help possibly other Australians that are missing or need further help by the Australian government. We feel very much let down. We need the Australian government to go in there and find Paul. I just want Paul found. I want a thousand people sweeping the beaches to find Paul.
Now that's an ego!
``We seem to be able to send navy ships and plane loads of people to find foreigners off our shores, if they tip over or fall out of their boat and things like that.'' Mr Parisi said Paul's intellectual disability would hamper his ability to communicate. ``Paul is a lovely, caring boy, but he'll be very confused, very much confused with what's happening over there at the moment, and being separated from mum and dad. Paul is a strong young chap, but in these circumstance I just don't know how he would react. It would be very difficult for Paul to communicate, things like his name and he's Australian and all those things that people need to know. It's an added problem that we have in trying to find Paul.'' Paul's parents, Mr and Mrs Giardina, last saw their son in the water after waves flooded the restaurant where they were eating breakfast.
So get your waders on, Mr. Howard...
``The water just came over. (The restaurant) just filled up,'' Mrs Giardina told the ABC. She said furniture was knocked around and she saw a car floating by her. ''... I couldn't get to my son because I had furniture, the tables and chairs, from outside had gone in between us. My husband Joe ... was calling me and they just went.'' Mr Giardina said the water hit with enormous speed and he was pinned again a wall. ``I was under water. I tried to get out. I couldn't do it,'' he said. ``They say they found me on the fourth floor. I have no idea how I got up there.'' Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today said Australia would make an initial contribution of $10 million to help relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in the northern Indian Ocean.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/27/2004 10:19:49 PM ||
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Tragic, I don't blame the family but I don't blame the Aussie govt.
#2
In moments of great stress, people can become remarkably brilliant - or remarkably stupid. This will be logged in under stupid. Talk about absurd expectations and a grossly unfair unloading of responsibility. Sheesh. I feel just as sorry for the public officials as I do the bereaved when they expect instant miracles from them. Note that the parents didn't perform any miracles when the need arose.
The Department of Foreign Affairs's hotline for Australians wishing to check on friends and relatives in affected areas of Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Indonesia is 1800 002 214. Australia is preparing emergency aid for the Asian nations struck by the tsunamis. The Federal Government has already committed $10 million to the relief effort and will review that figure as more information about the devastation unfolds. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says he has received reports of six Australians missing in the region but there are no reports of any deaths.
A 16-year-old Melbourne boy with Downs Syndrome and a middle-aged Australian man are missing in Thailand. The teenager was separated from his parents when the largest wave overwhelmed a crowded stretch of Phuket's main Patong Beach, where officials say more than 100 people died. He says about 18,000 people have called a special hotline, worried about friends and relatives in the affected area. Mr Downer says the Government is particularly worried about the welfare of Australians in Sri Lanka. Extra consular staff have been sent to the capital, Colombo, to try to determine the welfare of those people. "It's just the nature of first of all the tsunami and secondly the topography there," he said. "There are believed to have been Australians holidaying along the south and south-east coasts of Sri Lanka, particularly around a place called Galle. "Now we don't have much information at this stage but we're trying to establish the welfare of those people."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/27/2004 8:24:07 PM ||
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Ukrainian Transport Minister Heorhiy Kirpa was found dead with a gunshot wound Monday, the Interfax news agency reported. Kirpa's body was found in his country house just outside the Ukrainian capital, his press secretary, Eduard Zenyuk, was quoted as telling Interfax. Zenyuk could not immediately be reached for comment. A duty officer in Kiev's police headquarters told The Associated Press that Kirpa was found wounded. When asked whether Kirpa had committed suicide, the officer would not comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 3:23:40 PM ||
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Call CSI Kiev, but you can rule out Tsar Putty. He promised.
From The Wall Street Journal, an article by John Fund.
What many Westerners do not realize, however, is when Mr. Yushchenko takes the seat of power, at his side will be a tough minded, savvy American-raised businesswoman. His wife, Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants who grew up steeped in the traditions of her ancestral homeland. Mrs. Yushchenko was raised in suburban Chicago as the daughter of an electrician and seamstress. During World War II, her parents were forced to immigrate to Germany and work as slave labor. They came to the U.S. in 1956 at the invitation of a Ukrainian Orthodox church. She grew up speaking Ukrainian at home, learning the national dances and attending a Ukrainian school and Orthodox church. "My parents felt they had to keep alive the culture and traditions they thought were being suppressed by the Soviet Union," she told me.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s she worked in the human rights office of the U.S. State Department. She also worked for the first President Bush in the Treasury Department. But her dream was always to help Ukraine become independent. So after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 she moved to Kiev. Her business degree from the University of Chicago helped her land a job with KPMG, the U.S. international auditing company, and she prospered training the country's economists in Western practices. She met Viktor Yushchenko when he was part of a delegation of central bankers she brought to Chicago. "He understood free markets, had a firm faith in God and knew what the right path for the country should be," she told me. The two married in 1998, and they now have three children. ....
"She is one of the brightest, most dedicated conservatives I have ever known," says Bruce Bartlett, a former official in the Treasury Department under the first President Bush. "Anyone who met Kathy quickly discovered that creating a free, successful Ukraine was her primary mission in life, to the exclusion of almost everything else." Now the challenge facing Ukraine is to make the leap towards becoming a democratic society truly governed by the rule of law. Mrs. Yushchenko is realistic about the obstacles facing her husband and his team. "[Some] people are making a lot of money off the current system," she told ABC News. "The last thing they want is for the system to change and for the economy to be a free market economy where the general population benefits rather than a small group of people at the top." ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/27/2004 11:34:52 AM ||
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Interesting that she's Orthodox, not Catholic. The great left-lib MSM Meme du Jour regarding Ukraine has been the Schism Between Russian-Orthodox and Western-Catholic Ukrainians, with Yushchenko representing the "European" Catholic western-leaning faction.
#2
Interesting that she's Orthodox, not Catholic
Love knows no bounds. I believe Yushenko is Catholic. Also depending on where her parents lived originally...if it was Eastern or Central Ukraine, post WWI and the Red Army invasion, it was not very smart for Ukrainian land owners to be Catholic as well...like painting 2 targets on your body... The great left-lib MSM Meme du Jour regarding Ukraine has been the Schism Between Russian-Orthodox and Western-Catholic Ukrainians
Actually I think the MSM is not too far off on this point. Western Ukraine is primarily Greek Catholic and progressive ( Lvov had its first university built in the 1770's) the people identify more closely with Western Europe. OTOH Eastern Ukraine is Greek Orthodox and identifies more closely with the Soviets even to this day.
Even Putin-lapdog, Yanukovych, tried to work the religious angle to his benefit, refering to himself as the "Orthodox" candidate, urging the Greek Orthodox Ukrainians to vote for him along religious lines. Here's a speech of lapdog delivered on 12/24/04:
http://risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;4098/
"Yanukovych Calls for Orthodox Support"
Here's a link that gives a bit of history of how the Ukrainian Catholic Church was repressed under the Soviets.
http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/about.ukraine/history/
The WSJ article was complimentary to the First Lady of the Ukraine, but I was a little annoyed to Fund introduce a negative idea whithout qualifying it: Cynics may say that since Ukraine has never been a true democracy, reforming it will be impossible
It was not without trying that the Ukrainians have never had a democracy, but the West never bothered to back up their efforts to win independence from autocratic rulers...better known as our great ally, Russia...
#3
Uh oh-I sense a guilt complex being launched...incoming!
Although, of course it would have been good for us to support democracy wherever possible in the old Soviet Union--if the entire slew of previously "annexed" states had been set free outside of a Russian federation, what would Russia be today, and would its accountability/control of weapons have been even poorer?
#4
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was broken apart in the late 1940's, I believe, by the wholesale conversion of congregations in the United States and other Western Nations to unity with Rome, creating the Ukrainian Rite. They did this because of the close relationship that the orthodox bishops had with the Stalin government. The Uniate Church struggled within the Ukraine for many years.
The current nation has some Ukrainian Rite churches, some Ukrainian Orthodox churches and Russian Orthodax churches. As with so many of the nationalist churches, Orthodox or Uniate, in the old Communist bloc, most of the current arguement is over property and recovering old churches. The view of many is that the Uniate churches are carpetbaggers, and the recovered property correctly belongs to the Orthodox.
#5
The great left-lib MSM Meme du Jour regarding Ukraine has been the Schism Between Russian-Orthodox and Western-Catholic Ukrainians, with Yushchenko representing the "European" Catholic western-leaning faction.
I think that in the in the division between western and eastern Ukraine, language seems more important than religion, or atleast that's the impression I've been getting. Has there *really* been a focus on religion in the MSM?
And as for the "Schism" weren't you also talking about a schism, here, lex?
I've heard Yushchenko is Orthodox. Also in the religion split I think you also need to consider the division between the Ukrainian Orthodox church - Moscow Patriarchate (basically loyal to Kremlin, supporters of Yanukovych) and the Ukrainian Orthodox church - Kiev Patriarchate (in favour of Ukrainian independence)
I found some info about it here: http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-ukrainian-orth-patriar.htm
#6
Uh oh-I sense a guilt complex being launched...incoming!what would Russia be today, and would its accountability/control of weapons have been even poorer?
And we should feel guilty. We let down smart, hard working, religious peoples who shared many of the same values of our Western culture, unlike some cultures that we wring our hands about and intervene on their behalf only to have them stab us in the back after liberation{eg. the Muslims in Kosovo, Sunni in Iraq) These same Eastern bloc could have been strong allies AGAINST Russia during the Cold War period, and perhaps Russia would not have the geographical positioning or the $ or the smarts to build up nuclear arsenals in its "empire." Ironically, as it turns out, it's the very people we turned our backs on ie. Poles, Ukrainians and Czechs who stand by our side and not our erstwhile ally, Russia, when we need support in Iraq.
As for your comment about what would have become of Russia if the Eastern bloc countries were helped to secede - golly gee, like who cares? What is Russia now but a cesspool of Mafia corruption and an arms dealer to our worst enemies?
No, we shouldn't. We are no one's savior, no should we be. We do what we can and try not to resort to magical thinking.
As for "cesspools of Mafia corruption...", every one of former those Soviet states STILL has their share of the same, even though there are many many good people in those places with values similar to ours. I am well familiar with this argument, joeblow-a good friend of mine from Latvia feeds it to me regularly. Underneath it is a fantasy-that the US can and should devote 100% of energy money blood time friendship to 100% of the countries in the world 100% of the time and have a 100% success rate in getting rid of tyrants, poverty, sickness. It's a FANTASY.
We didn't seize an opportunity, perhaps that is true, but this hairshirt bit is useless. Step by step, what exactly would you have done differently in regards to Ukraine, and how might your steps have introduced additional problems for the US?
#8
Postnote-if we were really servicing the Russians like you say, there would have been no reason to support the recasting of ballots in this second (legitimized) election.
#9
every one of former those Soviet states STILL has their share of the same
No sh*t, sherlock! And why do you think that is?
that the US can and should devote 100% of energy money blood time friendship to 100% of the countries in the world 100% of the time and have a 100% success rate in getting rid of tyrants, poverty, sickness. It's a FANTASY
I have no desire to send US troops around the world to "liberate" every nation under the sun.
But there were turning points/ strategic moments in history when the very least that the US could have done was SUPPORT Eastern bloc countries when they needed our support.
Think about about those shameful times when allied troops were nearby but we allowed the Soviet tanks to "mop up" after the Polish calvalry fought valiently against German panzers or when we turned over Slavic POW's captured by germany to Russia, and heard the rifle shots of the Soviets killing the POW's as soon as they got their hands on them. Think about when we turned a blind eye to Stalin systematically starving Ukrainian farmers: At a recent conference at McGill University in Montreal, sponsored by Memorial, a leading Kiev research institute, the full extent of Soviet atrocities was exposed. Roman Krutsyk, the head of the institute, explained that newly discovered documents and archives show that about "50 million ethnic Ukrainians within the borders of the Soviet Union" were killed during the Bolshevik regime from 1917 to 1991.The most barbaric single event was the terror famine of 1932-33, in which Soviet dictator Josef Stalin systematically starved to death 10 million Ukrainian peasants in one of the greatest genocides of the 20th century. Mr. Krutsyk says evidence has emerged revealing Soviet authorities practiced large-scale ethnic cleansing, in which depopulated Ukrainian villages were resettled with ethnic Russians throughout Eastern and Southern Ukraine. This new information is only now beginning to seep into the Ukrainian public consciousness. It must also be widely disseminated in the West, where many liberal academics and journalists continue to downplay communist crimes. After having won the Cold War, the United States has for the most part turned its back on Ukraine.
http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/kuhner.htm
But today we still do nothing to reveal the horrors perpetuated by Putin's "kin", the man whose soul is "revealed in his eyes" according to GWB. We hear lots about the Jewish Holocaust, the Albanian Holocaust, the Darfur Holocaust, the Rwandan Holocaust, but to say anything about the Ukrainian Holocaust would be rather off-putting to our close ally, Russia.
And btw, did you know that the Ukraine sent the 4th largest contingent of troops to Iraq? And of course you must remember that the Poles agreed to head the support troops from our smaller allied nations. How many troops did Somalia send? How many did Rwanda send? And what about Haiti or South Africa or Mexico? Didn't we help all these countries in the past?
Another time we could have helped but we didn't was in August, 1968 when the Soviets invaded the Czech Republic and removed Alexender Dubcek and government leaders from office. What what did the USA do? Well, our fearless Commie fighting President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, left for his Texas ranch on the day of the invasion, signalling to the Czechs that they were on their own. However, President Johnson had no qualms about sending many more thousands of GI's to Vietnam to fight against the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, to help people who by and large despiesed us and who held next to zero common values with our nation.
In case you may have forgotten, {Johnson did)it was the Eastern European immigrants, not the Vietnamese, who immigrated to the US at the turn of the century and onward who worked for peanuts in US factories, US mines, US farms and made this nation affluent and who also fought in 2 world wars and whose sons fought in Vietnam wearing the US uniform. For some odd reason we think nothing of having sacrificed nearly 60,000 Americans to protect and/or liberate nations that had ever given us squat in return. In fact, I still hear conservatives like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh bemoaning the fact that we pulled out of Vietnam too soon - those poor Vietnamese and Cambodians. Sean, I suppose, would have liked us to sacrifice another 60,000 men on behalf of those 2 stellar allies, Vietnam and Cambodia, whose nationals had invested next to nothing up until that point in building America. Sean and Rush sy little about Eastern Europeans who have held out their hands - they'd even do their own fighting against the Soviets, with just a little help from the West.
So you ask what we could do differently in the past, I've given you but a few examples - and there are many many more- when we could have done things differently. And today if we teach in our schools and universitires about the brutalities inflicted on the Eastern European countries, made as big a deal about events like the Ukrainian Holocoaust, then perhaps Americans like you wouldn't have to ask why should we help the Eastern Bloc countries.
how might your steps have introduced additional problems for the US
Btw, if this country truly worried about intervening where it might cause "problems" for the USA, then we'd never help Israel.
#10
Americans like me forewent large incomes and cushy jobs to help the Baltics as a volunteer teacher-BTW. Your loyalty to eastern Europe is laudable, and whether you recognize it or not, is shared by me. But I know, from my personal interactions with eastern Europeans shortly after their declaration of independence from Russia, that well-grounded and well-intended advice offered was often not taken on how they could become stronger countries-mainly in my view, because it was in direct odds with their ingrained behavioral indoctrination from the Soviets and with advice that much admired western European countries gave.
#11
Your loyalty to eastern Europe is laudable, and whether you recognize it or not, is shared by me
I'm sorry, Jules, I misjudged you. A very dear family friend is a Czech who fought the Communists as a young paratrooper. Other family friends fled the Ukraine in the 1930's with only the shirts on their backs. So I have quite an emotional attachment to those countries, which IMO we let down at crucial times in history. Perhaps the people you met in the Baltics were a testimony to the effectiveness of Soviet brainwashing, given enough time. The Eastern Europeans I know absolutely loathe the Communists and if given the opportunity, would cheerfully spit on the "soulful" Putin, whom our President holds in such high regard.Barf. This Ukraine election is another important "moment" in time which I hope our nation will not ignore. Mr. Yushchenko needs all the political[and some short term foreign aid wouldn't hurt]support he can get to have Putin back off. There needs to be some major behind the scenes US/EU pressure brought to bear on Putin, to mind his p's and q's. The Russians need the Ukraine to run their oil pipelines through to the EU and the Ukraine needs to be able to buy 90% of their oil and gas from Russia at a reasonable price-simple business agreements with no strings attached would be all the relationship the the Ukraine needs to maintain with Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has already admitted Yushchenko's victory saying he is now preparing for forming opposition. MP Leonid Kravchuk, the member of the PM's team, says their opposition will be constructive in cooperation with Yushchenko's government. Meanwhile, the president-elect Viktor Yushchenko is receiving congratulations from all parts of the world. According to the latest data released by the central election commission of Ukraine, over 3 millions of Ukrainians have voted for the leader of the opposition. On the next day of the re-run of presidential elections, the Sanitary office of the Ukrainian capital has started cleaning the central streets of Kiev. Ukrainian people say they are satisfied with Yushchenko's victory.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/27/2004 10:13:19 AM ||
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Yanukovich concedes..he is putty-puts stooge.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/27/2004 16:46 Comments ||
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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory Monday in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election, telling thousands of supporters they had taken their country to a new political era after a bitterly fought campaign that required an unprecedented three ballots and Supreme Court intervention against fraud. ``There is news: It's over. Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you,'' he told the festive crowd in Kiev's central Independence Square, the center of weeks of protests after the fraudulent and now-annulled Nov. 21 ballot in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had been declared the winner.
Careful, Vic, not all the votes are counted yet. A few wards on the East Side have yet to deliver ...
``We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free,'' Yushchenko said. ``Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine.'' With ballots from just over 87 percent of precincts counted, Yushchenko was leading with 54 percent compared with Yanukovych's 42 percent. Yushchenko did not appear to be making inroads in his opponent's territory so much as solidifying his dominance in places that had already supported him. Yushchenko told journalists and others crammed into his campaign headquarters that Ukraine had opened a new era that would include neither current President Leonid Kuchma nor Yanukovych, the prime minister and candidate hand-picked by Kuchma to be his successor.
Earlier in the evening, a dejected-looking Yanukovych told reporters in Kiev ``if there is a defeat, there will be a strong opposition.'' But he did not concede, saying ``I am ready to lead the state,'' and hinted he would challenge the results in the courts. ``We will defend the rights of our voters by all legal means,'' he said, ruling out negotiations with Yushchenko were the opposition leader to win. Some 12,000 foreign observers had watched Sunday's unprecedented third round to help prevent a repeat of the apparent widespread fraud on Nov. 21 that prompted the massive protests inside the nation and a volley of recriminations between Russia and the West. Both campaigns complained of violations, but monitors said they'd seen far fewer problems. ``This is another country,'' said Stefan Mironjuk, a German election monitor observing the vote in the northern Sumy region. ``The atmosphere of intimidation and fear during the first and second rounds was absent ... It was very, very calm.'' The Central Election Commission estimated that turnout was around 75 percent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2004 1:05:03 AM ||
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The November to remember keeps on rolling. Poor Pooty.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/27/2004 8:38 Comments ||
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The Central Election Commission will announce preliminary results in Ukraine's presidential election on Monday, the head of the commission said. Exit polls gave opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko about a 15 percentage point advantage over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in the re-run of the Nov. 21 election that was annulled due to mass fraud. "Local election commissions have been working for only six to 10 days. We were not able to teach them fully. But I think we will be able to determine the results rather quickly," Yaroslav Davydovych said on Sunday. "I think we will know the preliminary results by morning."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 00:00:00 ||
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Top US air force officials are working on a strategy to put spy planes in near space - the no man's land above 65,000 feet, but below an outer space orbit. If successfully developed, the aircraft could play a vital role in surveillance over trouble spots such as Iraq. Air force chief of staff General John Jumper said on Tuesday that he would meet next week with the head of Air Force Space Command, General Lance Lord, to map out plans to get lighter-than-air vehicles into near space. Jumper said the air force was working with the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a stealthy aircraft without metal that could be equipped with special sensors and remain in the air for months at a time. That would help meet the demand for persistent surveillance, which is difficult with current satellites which circle the Earth in orbit at altitudes above 300km.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 10:11:51 PM ||
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#1
Haven't they been flying Mysterious Black type aircrafts for the last twenty years?
LOL, but I think the planes are already there. Area 51 Black Aircraft
#2
No, No ...
I have a better plan.
I think it's best to use the "Islamic satelite" (IS for short).
When the Dhimmi engineers construct the IS they can install a few spy cameras as a bonus on it.
The Moonrise detecting camera would be controlled
from Mecca, as planned, but the "other" camera's may be controlled by JPL.... or even better by Tel-Aviv.
#4
Sometimes I think we should let some of the cats out of the bag. But then I realize that would just be plain stupid. But it would be neat to see just what DARPA and the Air Scouts have been working on
#5
But it would be neat to see just what DARPA and the Air Scouts have been working on
When they show you what they are working on, they've gone two generations past it.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 20:29 Comments ||
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Emergency relief head calls on nations to step up aid
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations' emergency relief head called the tsunamis that devastated large parts of southern Asia "unprecedented," and warned Monday that it may be weeks before the full effects are known. The tsunamis were "not the biggest in recorded history, but the effects may be the biggest ever because many more people live in exposed areas than ever before," said Jan Egeland, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. With tens of thousands dead, many missing and millions displaced, still more serious problems lie ahead, Egeland said, including widespread illnesses. And it could take years to rebuild places that were wiped out, he said.
"A lot of airplanes are already being loaded. Some are already airborne and going to the hardest-hit countries, like Sri Lanka," he said Monday afternoon, adding that experts had already arrived in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The United Nations has been unable to reach some of its staff in affected areas, including people in Sumatra and Aceh, Egeland said. "When we do not hear from them we are afraid of what has happened." In a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York, Egeland called for a major international response -- and went so far as to call the U.S. government and others "stingy" on foreign aid in general. I'd love to hear this wanker make that claim in an average American bar room. I doubt anyone could dial 911 fast enough to save his worthless skin.
"If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really," he said. "I don't think that is very generous." This coming from a member of an incredibly parasitic organization. Someone needs to remind him about the UN menu at their world hunger summit.
The U.S. government expects to spend $15 million in its initial response to the disaster, the State Department said Monday. The United States' overall foreign aid commitment is around 0.2 percent of its gross national product. The Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, in an April report to lawmakers, said total foreign assistance -- excluding the costs of reconstruction in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion -- was larger in the 2003 and 2004 budgets than in any two-year period since the mid-1980s. "The 0.2 percent of U.S. gross national product represented by foreign aid obligations the past two years, however, is among the smallest amounts in the last half-century.
The United States is the largest international economic aid donor in dollar terms but is the smallest contributor among the major donor governments when calculated as a percent of gross national income," said the report, which is posted on the U.S. State Department's Web site. Egeland said that in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, politicians 'believe that they are burdening the taxpayers too much and that the taxpayers want to give less. That's not true. They want to give more." Like we're supposed to take this moron's word about spending other people's money?
At a White House briefing Monday in Crawford, Texas, CNN asked spokesman Trent Duffy about the "stingy" remark. He said he thinks the United States is "the largest contributor to international relief and aid efforts not only through the government, but through charitable organizations. The American people are very giving, so we'll continue to be that and we'll be a leading partner in this effort that lies ahead." I just hope that this time around we learn to attach some significant strings to our aid packages.
Egeland, at the U.N. news conference, said the cost of the devastation will "probably be many billions of dollars. However, we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages that have just been wiped out." He said that international responses in the wake of major disasters are often overestimated.
"We need rich countries, rich individuals, even only those of us who are reasonably affluent to respond generously. Here we are facing people who have lost everything. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything. Millions of people are now living in the worst possible hazards of having polluted drinking water, no sanitation, no health services," he said, adding that the conditions are sure to lead to disease. He neglected to mention how the UN has served to keep in place many incredibly corrupt regional governments who have done next to nothing regarding disaster preparedness.
"The important thing is that we give and that we as citizens also demand that our countries give generously to those who have been so hard hit." The tsunamis were triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, and Egeland said the quake struck less than an hour before Sumatra was hit by the waves. (Explainer: Tsunami and earthquake facts)
UNICEF: Clean water crucial
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told CNN that the agency is doing "everything possible," focusing on getting blankets, medicine and water purification tablets sent to the affected areas. "Getting clean water to people is crucial," she said, and predicted widespread disease if that is not done. Yet, halting corruption that has forever interfered with the installation of sanitation infrastructure never seemed to be a high priority for these UN parasites.
But that is not an easy prescription, she said, because transportation and communications in many of the affected areas are difficult even in the best of times. Asked about the concern that U.S. foreign aid is "stingy," Bellamy expressed confidence that the United States would chip in its fair share for what promises to be a protracted effort.
"I think we're going to see a good response," she said. "I hope the American public will understand and support a long-term response." Asked what form of aid would be best for Americans to send, she did not hesitate. "I know people like to send cans of food or clothing, but the fact is money can get what people need quickest." The Center for International Disaster Information, which helps coordinate aid efforts, also urged people to give money rather than goods. We've heard it before, "Don't ask questions, just send more money." Time for that old tune to change!
#1
Article: "If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really," he said. "I donât think that is very generous."
It might be instructive to investigate this guy to see if he puts his money where his mouth is - does he donate 20% of his income to charity? Or does he just want the rest of us to do so?
#4
Being that these are moslem nations, I want to see Iran, Saudi Arabia among others, to step up to the plate with humanitarian aid! And yes even China, who sells their cheap exports to the same afflicted countries. Short of this, not one red penny will leave my pocket!
#5
I saw this self-aggrandizing buffoon in his $2K Saville Row suit, Egeland, on FoxNews making these pronouncements - and he was, indeed, as insufferable, sniffy, arrogant, pontificating, and insulting as his written words imply. I found his remarks that people are eager to give more money a rather hysterical moment and he was clearly out of his depth, not to mention his mind.
But events like this are The Golden Goose to the schemers, skimmers, and thieves of all stripes. They want big buckets of money instead of planeloads of drinking water, food, medicine, and clothing. Only in places where the fundamentals are luxuries are they instant wealth - such as Somalia.
I was happy to hear that we are not planning to give any government direct cash aid (from Duffy) but, rather, get the planes flying - full of the right goods.
Egeland, the UN, and all of the other parasites pretending to be the arbiters of aid (It's fun to be generous with other people's money, I'm sure.) had better wean themselves of the "you owe it to us" mentality - the last bunch of scam artists that tried that tone, The United Way, took it on the chin for the arrogance and has never fully recovered the donation levels they once enjoyed.
#8
I caught him making the statement on video while scrolling past the BBC news tonight - it was at least as arrogant as it comes off in written form.
According to USAID, the .2 percent figure is based on measuring a type of giving that accounts for less than 20% of US foreign aid. Total USG aid is more than double that, and 60% of US giving comes from private sources (i.e., Red Cross, religious charities, foundations, etc.) But if it doesn't come from a government source, and the correct account at that, it doesn't count for this clown. In fact, in relative terms the U.S. is one of the most generous nations on earth, and given the size of our economy, the absolute number dwarfs every other nation, especially those who like to think of themselves as our moral betters. Which surprises very few of us here.
#9
I saw this rich boy on TV. I WILL give when it's established who can get to most to the people who need it with the least overhead. This disqualifies The UN and the Red Cross in my eyes. I also will not give to any islamic counrty. I will be happy to give to Buddhists, Hindu, Christain, Anamist and , Pagans.
.com you put it in much better grammar and perspective than I could.
#11
SPo'D - Please differentiate between the American Red Cross and the International Red Thingy, K? Lol! Not the same, don't share funds, and not even related other than in (stolen) name.
The former does the good stuff, just like it's supposed to. The latter, well, I'll let you handle 'em - you've got a head of steam worked up and I know you could tear 'em a new asshole, so... I'll bring the popcorn, bro!
#12
well, the former has had their bad moments, especially here in SD with wildfire loss donations, but it seems they've cleaned house and turned the corner (locally in San Diego)...the int'l lost all cred over the Mogen David Adom crap
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 21:41 Comments ||
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.com, you know there was that refugee camp in Africa. Some UN official visited it, lamented about the poverty... and then left 100 dollar proudly "out of his own pocket".
He flew in from New York first class. A first class flight to Africa costs about 10000 dollars, plus accomodation.
Here's the bone.
#14
Frank - I remember when they became arrogant, ala United Way - but a big slump in donations turned them around. I saw a documentary-style report just a month ago, using the hurricane relief as backdrop, that was pretty convincing that they "get it" now - even to the point of faithfully segregating funds which donors have specified for certain uses / events. You can now donate and say you want it used for X - and they make the effort to do so. So, I was just giving credit where due - unless I was totally hoodwinked... heh...
#15
nope - I agree - they got wise, and cleaned up.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 21:55 Comments ||
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#16
When I'm handing out money, and somebody calls me stingy, I suddenly get tired of handing out money. And stop doing it.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 21:57 Comments ||
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#17
I remember the "American Red Cross" as wanting to take donations given for 9/11 and use them as it saw fit but so much bad PR was got they relented.
I see Red Cross on ambulances all over the world rushing people to the hospital. Well I don't even have a hosptial in my town anymore. I certainly don't have a Red Cross ambulance to take me to the one 35 miles away for free. The one ambulance trip I made once cost $3000 and it wasn't an "emergency" with red lights but I was forced to take the ride. The hospital we had was put out of business by all the state mandated free medical care provided by it's emrgency room to illegal aliens.
I don't trust the Red Cross. I'll give money to anyone else. The Paleos and Jihadis seem to use the Red Cross as a front for smuggling weapons and fighters as far as I can tell. That and they seem to be able to bad mouth my country all they want without penalty by selecticvly releasing confidential reports about "abuse" they some how gin up to the level of torture and war crimes. Screw them.
#18
TGA - And there were probably 3 murders over that C-note after he blissfully flew away on our dime, too. Either something goes wrong in people who work for such entities, and I guess this applies to Gov't employees as well, or such jobs attract many of the wrong sort of people in the first place. Or a combination. What's truly sad is how much generosity from good hard-working people of good intent, the world over, is wasted or stolen. The lack of gratitude is a different subject - as a parent, I've already mastered my anger over that topic, lol!
The UN is in very serious trouble. Clowns like Egeland exacerbate the problem and accelerate the end. An interesting psychological process, a step-wise sequence of consciously acknowledging what your subconscious has already decided, is fully under way. In classical Psychology, one flavor of the study of this process uses poker terminology to describe it: "When do you throw in a bad hand?". I think it's tick... tock... for the UN.
#19
Gotta go with TGA on this one. Time to make all UN dignitaries and staff fly coach. Just like it's time to relocate the UN's headquarters to Bangladesh or Eritrea.
The nerve of this Egeland maggot is incredible. Hubris on this sort of level should involve waves of protracted jaw-clenching physical agony.
I also have to commend the numerous comparisons with The United Way. It's sad to see so many small charities handcuffed to this totally incompetent 900 pound gorilla. It disgusts me to consider how many honest people have given up on making donations because of the routine nepotism and corruption within that organization.
I never understood why all the United Way's board of directors' executive membership weren't sacked right along with their accounting department so many different times. It's difficult to tell who's taking a page from whom between them and the UN.
I'm also going to go with smn and await fellow Islamic countries ponying up some real dough towards relief of their Muslim brethern. If the Islamic OPEC countries can't kick down several billion, then America should adopt a matching funds attitude.
None of this assuages my ardent desire to kick the living sh!t out of a sanctimonious @sshole like Egeland.
#20
If the Islamic OPEC countries can't kick down several billion, then America should adopt a matching funds attitude.None of this assuages my ardent desire to kick the living sh!t out of a sanctimonious @sshole like Egeland
Good rant, Zen!
Indonesian parliamentarians are justified in demanding that the Rp50 billion ($540,000) taken to earthquake devastated Aceh does not fall into the hands of corrupt officials. Leading parliamentarians support the government's relief efforts but have been quick to urge extreme caution in disbursing aid in Aceh where the bloody conflict and rampant corruption has driven more than 40% of the population into extreme poverty. "The government must take care to ensure that the aid is channelled on time and to those entitled to it," said Agung Laksono, a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. "The condition (in Aceh) is already like this, so don't let us hear of further reeking rotten things like shady practices and corruption of the aid funds," he said as cited by the Tempointeraktif website. Indonesia rates among the most corrupt countries in the world according to Berlin-based Transparency International but the situation in Aceh is particularly appalling.
More at the link.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/27/2004 11:36:19 AM ||
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#1
Indonesia rates among the most corrupt countries in the world according to Berlin-based Transparency International but the situation in Aceh is particularly appalling.
But let's go ahead anyway and send them millions of dollars in disaster relief aid without attaching any strings as to how it is distributed or what sort of institutions it rebuilds in this nest of terrorists.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 16:06 Comments ||
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#3
...said Agung Laksono, a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. âThe condition (in Aceh) is already like this, so donât let us hear of further reeking rotten things like shady practices and corruption of the aid funds,â
Sounds like Agung is already backing up the truck...
The general appealed to the armed separatists not to take advantage of the chaotic situation in the province.
Indonesia's Armed Forces Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said Monday the military lost hundreds of soldiers after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake Sunday off northern Sumatra triggered massive waves that hit the northern province of Aceh. Sutarto said a total of 377 people, consisting of military troops, their wives and their children, were killed in the province. Some 180 soldiers lost their lives while engaged in a coastal defense exercise, he said. Sutarto appealed to the armed separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) not to take advantage of the chaotic situation in the province. "We give a priority to help the people affected by the disaster," he said. "I hope GAM will do the same thing, not making use of it to do other things. Because this is the time for humanitarian works." GAM has waged a guerilla war in the oil- and gas-rich Aceh since 1976 to seek independence from Indonesia, the government of which GAM says has unjustly exploited the province's resources. The quake and tsunami death toll in Aceh and neighboring North Sumatra province reached 4,725 people by mid-day Monday.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/27/2004 11:27:41 AM ||
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#1
Indonesia's military loses hundreds of personnel to tsunami
Sounds like they could use a couple of American brigades to help them get back on their feet.
Shooting the wounded already? The dead aren't even cold yet...
Asian officials conceded Monday that they failed to issue broad public warnings immediately after a massive undersea earthquake in Indonesia, which could have saved countless lives from the subsequent giant waves that smashed into nine countries as far away as Africa. India said it would consider establishing a warning system, and Australia and Japan said they would help build it. One Australian official said it would take at least a year to set one up. Also, Thailand's Meteorological Department said the country lacked an international warning system and proper coordination to get messages of impending disasters sent across the country. "If we had the international warning system, we could give real-time warning to people," said Seismological Bureau official Sumalee Prachuab.
As a very rudimentary warning system, somebody could have hollered "Hey! There was a really big earthquake! Y'all watch out for tidal waves!" I know for a fact that when you have one, you often have the other.
Governments around the region insisted they did not know the true nature of the threat because there was no international system in place to track tidal waves in the Indian Ocean — where they are rare — and they cannot afford to buy sophisticated equipment to build one. And what warnings there were came too little, too late.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 10:28:53 AM ||
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#1
I said to my boyfriend this morning, "If I know that earthquakes cause tsunamis, how come whole governments don't know it?" His answer ("The idiots in the Thai government are probably bigger idiots than the idiots in our government.") was less than illuminating.
It's the new international trend- Do something after it's too late. We're seeing this fashion springing up all over the globe! And my, aren't heads in Paris turning!
#3
Folks, they're still working on sanitary drinking water and basic public health - in all of the countries affected. Warning systems for tsunamis, sophisticated or not, have to take a number. More people die from dysentery and malaria and, well you get the idea, in a single year than all the tsunamis in recorded history combined. So you're right, but there's just not enough resources to go around. We can afford to worry about the health risks of RU-486 and breast augmentation and Earth getting hit by an asteroid - and devote research resources - because we've covered the basics. We're running simulations of nukes - they are still bootstrapping.
#4
Also, Thailandâs Meteorological Department said the country lacked an international warning system and proper coordination to get messages of impending disasters sent across the country. "If we had the international warning system, we could give real-time warning to people," said Seismological Bureau official Sumalee Prachuab.
Let's look at just how complicated one solution might be. A series of bouys rigged with accelerometers and a GPS transponder. When the bouy crests over 5-10 meter swells it sends an alert. This will detect monsoon activity and tsunami.
Cost per bouy? Mebbe a thousand bucks. A bare few of them could have saved countless thousands of lives.
Why aren't such simple monitoring systems in place?
BECAUSE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THE MOST CORRUPT NATIONS ON EARTH.
Nobody here seems to get it that the supposed leaders of Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and numerous affected countries rate amongst the most corrupt governments in the ENTIRE WORLD.
Shouldn't we make dead-nuts sure that our billions of aid dollars don't get siphoned off into new fleets of Mercedes or rebuilding of mosques from where more killers can be sent our way?
Yeah, I'm such a "shriveled" cynical son-of-a-buck to actually demand that our hard-earned tax dollars don't go towards spawning yet another generation of graft riddled governments and the violent fanatics that they spawn or directly support.
The time is NOW to put these thieves over a barrel and get some realistic concessions out of them before rebuilding a square inch of their infrastructure. Fresh water, food and medical supplies, go ahead and distribute it immediately through regulated channels.
Rebuilding even a quarter mile of dirt road had better come with major cooperation pacts in fighting terrorism and intelligence sharing.
It would be suicidal for America to rebuild these terrorist breeding grounds now that they have all taken a serious hit. Let these country's governments file formal requests for aid and then vette every single request openly and pointedly with respect to some sort of QUID PRO QUO.
There is no better chance to establish a solid basis of cooperation than now. Rebuilding these nations without any strings attached is like donating to the Muslim Brotherhood.
#5
Folks, they're still working on sanitary drinking water and basic public health - in all of the countries affected.
.com, I can only suppose that you missed the content I posted about this last night.
"Across South Asia, public spending on basic services such as drinking water, education, health and law enforcement represents a significant allocation of scarce resources," said Gopakumar Krishnan, Asia Programme Manager at the TI-Secretariat. "The survey results show that even when public services are meant to be freely available, bribes and delays keep many from receiving them, and it is most often the poorest in society that suffer most."
Corruption is one of the only things that stands between these impoverished people and the installation of simple sanitation infrastructure. There's plenty of money to go around, it's just that so much of it is being diverted by corrupt officials.
This is why I'm calling for reciprocity if America is to help rebuild these human cesspits. No more of this feather-bedding with relief and disaster funds. They've been taking our money for years and doing what? Building mosques to spew out terrorists and anti-American propaganda.
We have to be insane if we rush in and open-handedly give away the money required to properly rebuild these nations to their corrupt leadership. Close monitoring and stiff penalties for malfeasance had better accompany our efforts or we may as well call it quits.
.com, you keep saying "fry 'em up." Why don't we start at the snake's head - namely, the thieving leaders who, while they line their pockets with our money, could care less how many Americans die at the hands of fanatics bred up under their noses.
#7
Thank you, jules. I took enough flack last night to where I'm still a little uncertain regarding just how clear this is for some around here.
The way I see it, several terrorist havens have been crippled by non-political outside forces. We cannot be blamed in any way for this event (although I'm sure rumors of underground nuclear explosions are circulating already) and now have the perfect vehicle for making sure that these countries are rebuilt according to our own vision. Consistent lack of leadership vision in these nations has made it imperative that we ensure some degree of ethical rebuild management.
There is no other opportunity like this likely to come unless we go in and militarily cripple these same nations ourselves. Instead, this has been done for us and we'd be idiots not to apply some leverage when it will best suit our foreign policy.
Another simple fact remains. There is very little time to realign global politics against violent jihadism. We no longer have the luxury of picking and chosing when it is best to bend other political bodies to our will. Any lack of determination in doing so now will essentially translate directly into American lives lost to terror.
Good guy, bad guy ... who cares? The more Americans who continue to live, the better chances democracy has of spreading world-wide.
#8
Zenster, you voice strong support (to the point of utter overkill) for positions obviously near and dear to many who visit this blog -- and then (here and there, thrown in as if afterthoughts) mock Bush and his Presidency without any proof to back up the slander. Your lack of realism to the gung ho, "hate all muslims," solutions you spout makes me question your sincerity. Please persuade me otherwise, if you think I'm wrong. Also, I don't recall you ever answering a central question that you have been repeatedly asked: How do you square your "kill them all, let God sort them out" rhetoric with your "Bush is a crook" rhetoric? Generally, when I ask you this question you just stop posting for awhile, but I really think inquiring minds would like to hear your answer to the question. I know Iâd like to hear a little Bush support from you.
Regarding a place like Indonesia, my simple explanation for the hope I hold out for that âMuslimâ country is that Indonesia is the first place I ever drank a beer or smoked a cigarette.
A more in depth exploration of the Indonesian cultural and political climate can be found in this thread. I believe there is much hope for Indonesia as an ally in the war on terror, especially since SBY was elected President. TRYING TO HOLD COUNTRIES LIKE THIS HOSTAGE AFTER A NATURAL DISASTER, IS BOTH STUPID AND DISGUSTING. As .com noted, these countries are still working on basic sanitation and drinking water problems. Relief will be appreciated. Yes, corruption is a problem. The people know it. Thatâs why Indonesia elected SBY. These people want what we want -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
#9
"No more of this feather-bedding with relief and disaster funds. They've been taking our money for years and doing what? Building mosques to spew out terrorists and anti-American propaganda."
That's not all "they" (who are you talking about, exactly?) do with the funds designated toward nation-building Zenstertroll. You act like it's policy in these nations, no matter which country you've zeroed in on. "Feather bedding" with relief funds? You've got to be kidding.
You also are so ridiculous to always be trying to go after .com. Many of us remember your true intentions and attitudes--toward me, for example when I DARED to even question the psychological parameters of homosexuality, which undergirds your reason for being here. So many militant homosexual deconstructionists are looking for heterosexual sympathizers who will foster unquestioning compliance with their viewpoints. Some of them look for such on Rantburg. And they NEVER support President Bush, and at the same time they want to punish every Moslem for the actions of the Islamofacists--interestingly enough.
So, why don't you do something more useful with your time before I dig up all the crap you've said on this website and post it for everyone to see. Your "fiery" comments about this and that are losing ground because of your all too obvious secondary agenda(s).
#10
Also, I don't recall you ever answering a central question that you have been repeatedly asked: How do you square your "kill them all, let God sort them out" rhetoric with your "Bush is a crook" rhetoric?
I have never advocated a "kill them all" attitude. I most certainly support a forcible reformation of Islam and subsequent purging of their ranks in the face of noncompliance. You keep accusing me of a "kill them all" attitude without providing cites. Please do so now. I have taken a lot of punishment at this site for mentioning the existence of moderate Muslims (something that is fading fast for me). Just last night I mentioned how governmental corruption in India is causing anti-Muslim bias and therefore inciting terrorism. Please explain how I manage to have such sympathy in the face of your genocidal accusations.
I happen to strongly disagree with exactly how much time there is left for us to quash Islamic terrorism and am fed up with the far-reaching perfidy so routinely encountered when dealing with its religious figures.
I also have great difficulty with a sitting president who is so bought off by campaign donors that it has repercussions upon the public weal and even national security. Wal-Mart, Circuit City, The Good Guys and other campaign donating importers doing business with China seem able to interfere with timely sanctions against the last communist superpower. Need I remind you that China is financing Iran's quest for nuclear weapons and proliferating the technology to launch them? How about China's continued support of North Korea?
I will paraphrase George Will's quote about the Reagan White House with respect to Bush.
"An administration that loves commerce more than it loathes communism."
The inability of Bush to penalize China's overt destabilization of the entire east Asian quadrant is a serious matter. That campaign finance interests should compromise our nation's security is malfeasance of office.
Just Watch and see how successful Pioneers have been influencing Bush Administration policies. The profiles included here demonstrate how money in politics works at the highest level of government. In each case, the Pioneer has helped Bush win election and Bush Administration policies have benefited the Pioneer - in many cases, at the expense of the public interest.
#11
Zenster, your behavior and commentary on RB clearly indicate you are more interested in being a Somebody than you are in anything else.
For the most part, I have found it is pointless to respond to you, so I seldom do. You've got some serious cognitive and honesty issues, you can not take criticism, you've never actually apologized for being wrong or splitting hairs, and you congratulate yourself far too often for anyone else to be interested in offering any.
The funny thing is, you have had a few good original ideas, but RB existed long before you showed up - so the actual number is far fewer than you credit yourself with. If you engaged people instead of pontificating you would see a great rise in the number of responses to you, not to mention an improvement in tone. If you want to pontificate and bloviate and rant - fine, put in the rant tags on so we'll know. As it is, you seem to think everything you post is the Word of Gawd (or whatever). It's not, though some of it is worthy of discussion.
If searches covered Comments and the Commenter's ID, I'd make you eat at least half of the challenges you throw out at others, confident that they haven't logged you.
Sadly, you're just the American version. A little smarter and just a smidgen less arrogant.
Oh, almost forgot. Fry 'em Up⢠is mine. You are not authorized to use the term, nor are you permitted to hide behind me when you encounter criticism and wish to deflect it by positioning yourself relative to me, as if I am The Great Satan. Defend your comments with your own logic and reasoning. As for the phrase, yes I've said it numerous times. I have my logic and my reasons - and I'll expound if anyone wants to hear them. You, however, want the same thing but don't have the balls to say it and take the resulting heat. When challenged, you haul ass and blow smoke to cover your getaway. Speak for yourself and defend yourself with more than your pathetic "prove it with links" mewling. We already have a resident mewling crybaby hair-splitting "prove it with links" expert at RB, and he's quite enough, thanks.
You are politically naive, at best, and insane, at worst. You have never, not once, had the sense to say anything about Bush without adding some measure of your twisted fucked up personal dementia. Save it - you don't impress anyone with 2 neurons to rub together. Results and reality have far more punch than your BDS fantasies.
Crude futures dropped by more $2 a barrel on Monday as traders anticipated warmer weather later in the week and responded to weekend snowstorms in the Midwest that kept motorists off the road and planes grounded. Light, sweet crude for February delivery plunged $2.18 to $42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in late morning trade, recovering from a low of $41.76. "That massive storm in the Midwest shut down gasoline demand and didn't do much for heating demand," said Ed Silliere, vice president of technical research at Energy Merchant Corp. in New York. Silliere said the weekend weather and expected warm spell later in the week come as a "stomach punch to anyone who was long," or betting that oil prices would rise.
"This is just a reaction to where the (London) market went on Friday," said Esa Ramasamy, oil editorial manager for energy reporting agency Platts in Singapore. The world's largest earthquake in 40 years, which hit parts of Asia on Sunday, was so far not a factor, traders said, though it could depend on how badly ports and shipping lanes are affected.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/27/2004 4:05:45 PM ||
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#1
They didn't mention that George Soros got tired of trying to manipulate the market to defeat George Bush.
Note to George: If you've got so much money that you feel the need to waste it, I'll be glad to help you out! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/27/2004 17:45 Comments ||
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werein mark E? im loose a shirt in the cocoa quamire!
#3
"That massive storm in the Midwest shut down gasoline demand and didn't do much for heating demand," said Ed Silliere, vice president of technical research at Energy Merchant Corp. in New York.
They must've been burning logs to keep warm....or something.
From Harpers Magazine, an article published in 1886.
.... Everybody agrees that this is the most intelligent, active-minded age that ever was, and in its way the most prolific and productive age. ..... Isn't it an odd outcome of diffused education and of cheap publications, the decline in the habit of continuous serious reading? .....
There is no product that men use which is now so cheap as newspapers, periodicals, and books. For the price of a box of strawberries or a banana you can buy the immortal work of the greatest genius of all time in fiction, poetry, philosophy, or science. But we doubt if the class that were to be specially benefited by this reduction in price of intellectual food are much profited. ..... We very much doubt if the mass of the people have as good habits of reading as they had when publications were dearer .... their serious reading habit has gone down with the price. ....
We have an increasing leisure class. When does it read? .... It is a curious comment on the decay of the reading habit in households, the blank literary condition of the young men who come up to the high-schools and colleges. Is it owing entirely to the modern specialization of knowledge that they usually have read little except their text-books?
Now we are not trying to defend the necessity of reading. They say that people got on in the Middle Ages very well without much of it, and that the women then were as agreeable, and the men as brave and forceful, as in this age. But it is certainly interesting to consider whether, by reason of cheap and chopped-up literary food, we are coming round practically to the Middle Ages relative to reading, that is, to reading anything except what is called news, or ingenious sorts of inventions and puzzles which can be talked about as odd incidents in daily life are talked about. Reading to any intellectual purpose requires patience and abstraction and continuity of thought. This habit of real reading is not acquired by the perusal of newspapers, nor by the swift dash which most people give to the cheap publications which are had for the picking up, and usually valued accordingly. It is an open question whether cheap literature is helping us any toward becoming a thoughtful and reading people.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/27/2004 1:38:18 PM ||
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That article's a bit long for my tastes, Mike. Can't you EFL?
"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth the reading, or do things worth the writing."
- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN -
"Stories happen to the people who can tell them."
From - "The Last Living Confederate Widow Tells All"
Reading is one of the most fundamental cognitive skills a person can field when dealing with life. Television and radio cannot possibly replace the critical faculty of imaginative synthesis that a book requires for consumption. Video and computer games do not even hold a candle to the intellectual stimulation that books provide.
My own library extends into thousands of volumes, including over 1,000 cookbooks alone. Selections range from the Audel's Manuals on building Victorian houses and electrified tram lines to Tom Clancy, Anne Rice, Tolkein and early fantasy writers like William Morris, Lord Dunsany, Lin Carter, Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, not to mention the classics of Dickens, Bronte and beyond. The titles are as varied as the topics and include architecture, field guides for wildlife and plants plus scientific reference works and maps as well (another pet topic).
For fun, I challenge our membership to post their reading material from the last few months. As for myself:
The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
"Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars"
Plus the bonus add-on "The Martians"
This series is an outstanding account of exactly what terraforming the planet Mars would require in order to make it suitable for human habitation. Going beyond well-based "hard" science fiction, this work also explores the political ramifications of a new planet's economic development, the advent of an off-earth culture, the side-effects of extreme longevity and the transition of Earth's own global economy through new phases.
The third book (which I am currently reading) sheds light upon what would be needed to begin terraforming other planets, moons and planetisimals within our solar system. The technology is spot-on and the scope can be breath-taking. Additional passages deal with psychological analysis of the characters themselves and often contain brilliant insights with respect to the human condition.
Other recent reading:
"McDonald's : Behind The Arches"
by John F. Love
Written in the mid-1980s when the food service chain was in its prime, the book provides a panoramic window into the how, why and when of America's biggest hamburger maker. Certain statistics regarding the corporation simply "do not compute:"
McDonald's provides job training for more people than even the United States Army.
Almost half of all Americans live within a three minute drive of a McDonald's.
One in every seven (15%) of all Americans got their first job at a McDonalds.
The figures and facts almost go beyond comprehension. Enough ketchup served to fill the Mississippi river a few times over. Rated as a individual nation, McDonald's would be the sixth largest global consumer of Coca-Cola soft drink. More retail locations than any other commercial organization and second only to Sears in square footage. Author John Love also details the revolutionary enterprise model that forever changed the way business franchises are transacted.
An excellent section of pre-history details how milkshake machine salseman Ray Kroc stumbled across a small hamburger shack in San Bernadino and eventually acquired total control of its name and innovative preparation methods. The corporation single-handedly forced beef processors to create fixed grades of hamburger meat so a reliable product could be served. It is almost hilarious to read how Kraft lost the chance to provide all of McDonald's cheese because they refused to make one with a sharper flavor. Similarly, Heinz lost out as sole provider of ketchup due to a lack of cooperation.
This book also details the long period during which McDonalds operated on a handshake basis with even its biggest suppliers. Also, how their executive board was populated by many high school graduates. It is amazing to see the evolution of Ronald McDonald from Willard Scott's "Bozo the Clown" character to one of the most well recognized individual advertising icons in history.
Each chapter contains at least one insight or revelation that makes the entire book worth reading. As someone who has worked as a chef and managed food service operations, this is a veritable page-turner. Anyone in management can benefit from reading this book.
Next on the must-read list:
On Food and Cooking - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Completely Revised and Updated
By Harold McGee
This monumental work is required reading for anyone who pretends to have the least passion for the culinary arts. Hundreds of pages are untainted by more than a handful of recipes. This tome is a biochemical treatise of how food is cooked, preserved and manages to sustain human life. Simply one of the finest food books ever written, it shatters dearly held myths while providing solid scientific foundations which are easily understood by the average reader. Only Reay Tannehill's "History of Food" comes close to the level of informative writing and insight provided by "On Food and Cooking."
Other future titles - "Guns, Germs and Steel" and "Deep Black" (hat tip to RB)
So, bring it on Rantburgers, what's your reading of choice?
#6
lex, OT I have some problems with acronyms, what does EFL means?
From Acronyms Finder:
EFL English as a Foreign Language
EFL Eastern Federal Lands
EFL Effective Focal Length
EFL Emergency Flare Launcher
EFL Emitter-Follower Logic
EFL Entry Flight Level
EFL European Football League (rugby)
EFL External Financing Limit (UK)
#9
Yawn. An outdated, pseudo-intellectual whine posted by our resident outdated pseudo-intellectual.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/27/2004 17:21 Comments ||
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I must admit I read constantly. I rarely even watch TV without a book in hand, unless it's on the history channel. Just a couple of the non-fiction books I've read recently are:
Thunder Road by David Zucchino
Panzer Battles by Maj. Gen. F.W. Von Mellenthin
Both books are courtesy of Laurence of the Rats, he gave me Thunder Road for my birthday, the other one I swiped a long time ago from him. I read nearly a book a day on fiction, so that list is really rather long. It is really sad to run into people who don't read for pleasure and interest. It's hard for me to imagine a life like that, but I guess it's their brain to waste.
#11
It is really sad to run into people who don't read for pleasure and interest. It's hard for me to imagine a life like that, but I guess it's their brain to waste.
#13
Here is a partial list (I don't remember everything) of what I have read or am reading in the past 4-6 weeks:
Lord of the Rings
6-8 Star Trek novels
Silent Sea & Final Harbor by Harry Homewood
Acouple of Raymond Chandler Marlowe novels
several of the books in Winston Churchill's history of WW2 (ongoing, interesting but dry)
Vortex & Red Phoenix by Larry Bond
Gerry Carroll's 3 books
Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett
American Soldier-Tommy Franks
Boots on the Ground & Dawn over Baghdad- Karl Zinsmeister
Boots on the Ground (anthology)
The March Up by Bing West & MG Smith
Storm on the Horizon by David Morris
The Iraq War by W. Murray & MG Scales
Operation Iraqi Freedom by Col. Boyne
In the Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson
When I moved there were 45 boxes of books, I nearly wrecked myself and 3 friends moving them all.
Posted by: Lurks Often ||
12/27/2004 18:33 Comments ||
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Lurks, fine list but I didn't think much of the Rick Atkinson book.
Mike, I suggest "Neville Chamberlain: Savior of Czechoslovakia," by Sir Nigel Dimwit-Dumfart, O.B.E.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/27/2004 19:28 Comments ||
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*snicker*
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/27/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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Zenster,
I am working on my last remaining Patrick O'Brian sea novels - now on the Yellow Admiral - while continuing Piers Paul Read's "The Templars". Finished in the last few weeks: "Island at the Center of the World" by Russel Shorto and "Tournament of Shadows" by Karl Meyers and his wife. In fact, for any Afghanistan followers it is a must read. But I like to read Henning Mankell when he is available and his latest is coming out this winter sometime. It was available in Sweden when I was there this summer but albeit in Swedish. Called "After the Frost". Should be another page turner if like melancholy self-loathing dectectives solving murders one cheeseburger at a time.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
12/27/2004 19:53 Comments ||
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"1421 - The Year China Discovered the World" by Gavin Menzies
"Task Force Dagger - The Hunt for Bin Laden" by Robin Moore
"Thaksin - The Business of Politics in Thailand" by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker
In the northern Thailand village from where my wife originates, there SIMPLY ARE NO BOOKS. TV's, DVD players, mountains of DVD's - maybe an occasional comic book - but no real books. Chilling.
#18
I cannot recall who here said it, but considering the 50% illiteracy rate among Saudi women (which is probably representative of many other Islamic countries), it bends the mind to consider a society where half the women cannot read to their children.
Small wonder that a single book manages to reign supreme in so poorly-read a culture.
From Compass Direct
Opposition to Christian evangelism on the campuses of two Nigerian institutions of higher learning has resulted in the murder of Sunday Nache Achi, a fourth-year architectural student at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in the northern city of Bauchi. University representatives had earlier expelled three other Christian students for distributing a leaflet that compared the teachings of Jesus with Islamic beliefs. Muslims students at the nearby Bauchi Federal Polytechnic threatened two Christians with death before the pair was expelled from the school for similar evangelistic activities.
Following the murder of Achi and the destruction by arson of the offices of the Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students (NIFES), authorities in Bauchi ordered Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Federal Polytechnic closed. Achi served as president of the campus ministry of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA). Idakwo Ako Paul, who shared a room with Achi in a student hostel on campus, told Compass that the young man was attending a Bible study the evening of December 8 when a band of Muslim students came looking for him. "Three Muslim students dressed in Islamic jihad style burst into the room at about 8 p.m.," Paul said. "I was scared because in the past two months, there has been palpable tension on the campus between Muslim and Christian students. They wanted to know where my roommate was. I told them I didn't know and they left. Sunday returned to the room about 11 p.m. and I told him what had transpired."
Paul said he retired for the night while Achi worked on architectural drawings for a class presentation the following morning. However, not long after falling asleep, Paul was awakened by his roommate's shouts. "'Wake up Paul, wake up!' Sunday was shouting. I jumped out of bed to be confronted again by these Muslim students. This time they were more in number and were wearing masks. They dragged Sunday Achi out of the room. I tried running after them, but one of them pointed a pistol at me and ordered me back into the room. They locked me in there. I kept shouting for help but the Muslim students in the hostel deliberately kept to their rooms."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/27/2004 1:14:37 PM ||
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Villagers crowd around a new U.N. base to stare at a white helicopter lifting off over eastern Congo's mountainous terrain, where U.N. troops sent to secure peace are increasingly playing the role of infantrymen in Central Africa's latest fighting. Since renegade soldiers began battling government loyalists on Dec. 12, the 11,000-strong U.N. peace force has stepped up its own military actions — rushing thousands of troops to front lines and warning that peace troops will act forcefully to protect Congo's people. The schism in Congo's postwar army, pitting ex-rebels against loyalists to the Kinshasa government, threatens to draw in neighboring countries that supported the factions during the 1998-2002 war.
"We are not equipped. We don't have the manpower to deal with an army cracking," says Brig. Gen. Jan Isberg, the commander of peacekeepers in the North and South Kivu states where fighting has centered. "So, the only thing we can do is to try of course to mediate, to try to make them work together and to intervene" militarily, when all else fails, Isberg said.
The U.N. mission is flexing its muscles after being given a strengthened mandate while building up to 16,000 soldiers. But many Congolese accuse it of doing too little to stop the suffering of civilians still under attack by armed factions. Some 3.8 million people have died since Congo's war broke out, most through hunger and disease, according to a recent survey by the International Rescue Committee, a U.S.-based aid agency. In an attempt to stop a repeat — the latest fighting has sent over 100,000 fleeing already — U.N. peacekeepers have positioned themselves between the warring army factions in a 6-mile-wide no-go cordon. "Any unapproved attempt by one side or the other to cross this buffer zone ... will be immediately pushed back," the U.N. Congo mission warned last week in an unusually strongly worded statement.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2004 1:01:39 PM ||
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Leading nuclear scientists with top security clearances will gather next summer at a screening room east of San Francisco and witness the results of the greatest effort ever in supercomputing. Using a computer doing 360 trillion calculations a second, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab will simulate the explosion of an aging nuclear bomb in three dimensions. The short, highly detailed video produced by the world's fastest computer will attempt to illustrate how missiles dating back to the Nixon administration would perform today. "My job ... is to ensure that the nuclear weapons in the stockpile are safe and reliable," said Bruce Goodwin, associate director for defense and nuclear technologies. "Safe means no matter what you do to them they don't go off when they are not supposed to. Reliable means that should the president ever have to use one, it will work exactly as it is supposed to."
More at the link.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/27/2004 8:20:45 PM ||
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Very Important but let's hope its always just a sim.
#2
Just the first step in some real time experiments...
Posted by: john ||
12/27/2004 8:54 Comments ||
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âWhen the nuclear scientists see the several-minute-long 3-D simulation from the roughly $100 million computer next summer, will it prove the most expensive animation ever?
No, lab officials say, pointing to the current Hollywood film "Polar Express" which used computer animation in a production costing $270 million to make and promote.â
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.
Seven Pakistanis have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, an 
The Department of Foreign Affairs's hotline for Australians wishing to check on friends and relatives in affected areas of Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Indonesia is 1800 002 214. Australia is preparing emergency aid for the Asian nations struck by the tsunamis. The Federal Government has already committed $10 million to the relief effort and will review that figure as more information about the devastation unfolds. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says he has received reports of six Australians missing in the region but there are no reports of any deaths.
