A feel good story! From the heart of Travis County, Texas, kinda a surprise to find this story in our newspaper of record!
A special finish for Dad
Leander's Sorensen pitches the game of his life, and his father was there to see it
A week after returning from military duty in Iraq, Steve Sorensen sat in the wooden bleachers at Leander High School, watching his son pitch beneath the stars of a mild Tuesday night.
For two hours, Sorensen basked in his little slice of heaven -- a hard-fought baseball game on March 22 played before moms and dads and brothers and sisters, all gathered to catch a little baseball and enjoy the serene backdrop of friendly competition.
On the mound was Lions ace Andy Sorensen, whose concentration was broken periodically to catch a glimpse of his family on the other side of the backstop. Steve and his wife, Gina, huddled together, directly behind home plate, one row from the top of the grandstand sharing a bag of sunflower seeds. Brother Daniel, 11, was fidgeting on a rail next to Leander's dugout, playing with friends.
That night, Leander was in its third game of the District 15-5A schedule, facing Georgetown, one of the district's best teams. It was a game Leander sorely needed to win to get a good jump in the district race.
"I don't think I'd ever been more nervous," Andy Sorensen said. "Having my dad there, I think it made me play better."
Andy received an adrenaline rush by having his entire family at the game. It was a rare moment, indeed, considering Chief Warrant Officer Steve Sorensen had spent an entire year in Iraq, part of a military career that spans 21 years.
While Sorensen's wife and three children waited anxiously at their Cedar Park home, Steve was serving in Baghdad, at the focal point of one of the most hostile cities on the planet.
"When you're driving in Baghdad, you go quickly to get from Point A to Point B," Sorensen said. "When I was at work, we were extremely busy. When you were off, you just went back to your barracks, which was usually just an old trailer."
Contact with his family was limited to daily e-mails and weekly telephone calls. His workday started at 6:30 a.m. and ended around 9 p.m. daily, including holidays.
Gina Sorensen deflected anxiety at home by keeping the TV turned away from CNN and other news outlets.
"It was very nerve-wracking for everyone, especially at the beginning," Gina said. "Like everyone else with family overseas, we'd always watch the news to see what was going on over there. It got better after we backed off and watched other shows. Steve would keep us up to speed with his e-mails."
This was nothing new for the Sorensens. Steve spent six months in Kosovo in 2000 and five months in Kuwait in 2001 and 2002.
At 41, Sorensen will retire from the Army next month. After living in posts in Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, California and Texas, he is eager to step away. He credits Gina, an Austin accountant, for keeping the family together, in good times and bad.
"She is the backbone," Steve said. "That's the case with a lot of wives in the military. Without her, we couldn't have gone through all of this."
Gina jokes that the toughest part of being alone was memorizing Andy's pitching statistics, which she dutifully e-mailed back to her husband in Iraq. For the rest of this season, Gina and Steve will attend all of Andy's games -- and for good reason. Andy Sorensen has developed into one of the best pitchers in the district, as his performance against Georgetown that night would suggest. Last Friday, he defeated Round Rock, the No. 1 team in Central Texas.
But his game against Georgetown was the most memorable.
Staked to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, Sorensen took command, mowing down Georgetown hitters with nifty curves and fastballs timed at 88 mph. Through five innings, the 5-foot-9-inch, 165-pound right-hander hadn't allowed a single hit.
After realizing in the sixth inning that he was working toward a no-hitter, Andy seemed to get stronger. Entering the final inning, the zeroes on the electronic scoreboard behind the outfield fence told the story.
Sorensen strode to the mound one more time, took a quick glance at his parents, and started humming the baseball.
The first two batters struck out swinging on fastballs. Andy Sorensen had thrown a no-hitter once before, but that was in Little League while playing in Hawaii. This was different. This was a high school game, with community pride on the line, and it was his senior year.
And it was just eight days after his father had returned from Iraq.
Andy Sorensen was so close to pitching the most dazzling game of his baseball life.
Strike one! the umpire screamed. Sorensen's first pitch caught the inside corner.
Strike two! he cried, when Sorensen's next pitch, a curve, popped the catcher's mitt. On this night, so many miles from his barracks in Baghdad, Steve Sorensen was treated to a welcome-back gift to cherish. He was back home in Central Texas, surrounded by friends and family, watching kids play baseball. In a few moments, he would see his son throw one more fastball, which sliced the outside corner of the strike zone.
Strike threeee!
"Gina and I jumped up and gave each other a hug," Steve Sorensen said. "It was a special thing that just happened."
On the infield grass, the elated Lions rushed to their pitcher, who had thrown a season-high 11 strikeouts. They shared hugs and high-fives, thrilled to be part of a no-hitter, a 3-0 victory.
"He's a fighter," Steve Sorensen said. "Andy has this I'm-not-going-to-give-up attitude. He loves the game and wants to continue playing the game. I know this from all the times we've played catch in the yard."
Parents in the bleachers embraced, too. They all understood the significance of the moment.
"It's something I'll never, never forget," Andy Sorensen said. "My dad got to watch the game. . . . He said he was proud of me."
Posted all, cause the Statesman's has a bad habit of moving articles to registered only pretty fast
A small walking man-shaped robot for home security and entertainment is going on sale in Japan for 588,000 yen ($5,450).
The 15-inch tall, 5.5 pound robot called nuvo from ZMP Inc. also comes in a fancier $8,200 version with the same functions and a design inspired by lacquer-ware painted on its body.
The robot can walk, get up and respond to voice commands such as "turn right." It links to mobile phones so that people can check on images of their homes taken on a digital camera inside the robot's head. It can be controlled by a remote and is programmed to do a dance. It also makes musical sounds.
The creators are billing the machine as an eye-pleasing addition to fashionable homes, the collaboration of a designer and a choreographer as well as a computer chip maker.
Tokyo-based ZMP is planning to sell 2,300 robots, and shipments are set for late April. Orders are being taken through the Internet and robots will also be sold at a Tokyo shop. The robots are being sold only in Japan, the company said.
Japan leads the world in robotics, and Japanese companies, including automakers Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., have produced experimental human-shaped robots. Sony Corp. has sold the Aibo dog-shaped entertainment robots, but ZMP says it's the first to mass-produce humanoids for the home. The picture reminds me of the Mexico Olymics for some reason...
Australians in the country's Northern Territory should start smashing cane toads to death with golf clubs and cricket bats in a bid to stop the spread of the toxic creatures, a government politician has urged.
First year I was in my old house the toady frogs were out in force. Catching them with the lawn mower could be pretty spectacular, enough to elicit a "ewwwww!" from Mrs. Ex...
David Tollner, the member for the Northern Territory seat of Solomon, said on Monday the cane toads -- which have highly poisonous sacs behind their head that quickly kill native animals that prey on them -- should be eradicated by "any means possible". Australia has for decades fought unsuccessfully to stop the spread of cane toads, imported from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed attempt to combat greyback beetles which were threatening the country's tropical northern sugar cane fields. "(When I was a child) we hit them with cricket bats, golf clubs and the like. Things were a bit different, most kids had a slug gun or an air rifle and we would get stuck into them with that sort of thing as well," Tollner told Australian radio. "If people could be encouraged to do it rather than discouraged the better the chance will be of stopping the cane toads arriving in Darwin and other parts of northern Australia."
What? They don't have lawn mowers in Australia? Or don't cane toadies like to hide in the grass?
Cane toads, which now number in their millions, are so toxic that crocodiles, death adder snakes and wild dingo dogs can die of cardiac arrest within 15 minutes of eating a toad. Australia's cane toad population now spreads west from the northeast coastal sugar cane fields into the fragile wetlands of Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory and are steadily marching towards the territory's tropical capital city of Darwin. Animal welfare groups discouraged people from taking up Tollner's call to arms, saying freezing the animals to death was more humane.
I'd just brain damage them, then pull their little toady frog feeding tubes. All the experts seem to agree that's the humane way to do things.
"We don't want children picking up their golf club or their cricket bat in the backyard and having a go at any animal," a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) told Australian radio.
Why not? Let the little bougers have some childish fun...
Female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 35,000 eggs at a time and may produce two clutches a year. The toads reach maturity within a year and have a lifespan of at least five years.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:22:33 AM ||
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"...freezing the animals to death was more humane"
Can someone please explain to me exactly how one freezes toads in Northern Austrailia? It's the tropics for crying out loud!!!!
Are the kiddies supposed to pick them up carefully and put them in mommy's freezer?
by Michael Ybarra, Wall Street Journal EFL. Go read the whole thing; it's "da bomb."
The 8,000-square-foot museum, which opened in March, is the fruit of a decade of work by the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation. The ticket booth resembles the site's guard station; the movie theater looks like a bunker. "Countdown to next show," flashes an ominous red clock. A roar and a blast of air greet visitors in the concrete theater. . . .
"The government, and most residents of the other forty-nine states, have always considered Nevada a fitting place to do unpleasant things," Gerard J. DeGroot observes in his new book, "The Bomb." "There are few other places in the United States where a 50-kiloton bomb has little noticeable effect on the landscape. Nevada is proof that man's bomb is big, but God's earth is bigger." . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
04/12/2005 6:31:57 AM ||
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A severe earthquake estimated at 6.6 on the Richter scale struck the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia early on Tuesday, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
The epicentre of the quake, which was initially determined to have struck at 17:20 GMT Monday, was estimated to be under the seabed 440 kilometres east of Noumea, it said in a statement.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:17:45 AM ||
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A VOLCANO on the Indonesian island of Sumatra spewed ash today, sparking panic among a population that has yet to recover from a strong recent earthquake. A meteorology and geophysics official in the west Sumatran town of Padang Panjang said nearby Mount Talang had erupted at 3.42am (5.42 AEST), coughing volcanic ash about 1km around the peak. The 2599m Mount Talang is just 40km east of the coastal capital of West Sumatra province, Padang. The official, Sugeng, said his office had warned people to avoid the ash fallout zone around the peak but had otherwise not demanded the evacuation of the rest of the mountain's slope. "We are still monitoring the activities of the volcano but so far there has not been any significant volcanic temblor registered," he said.
The Detickcom online news service said that the eruption had sparked panic among the local population on the fertile slope of the volcano, prompting many to flee to areas far from the mountain. Padang was hit by a strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale on Sunday, causing minimal damage but prompting panic that saw thousands of residents flee to higher ground fearing tidal waves. The eruption follows a series of major natural disasters to strike the western coast of Sumatra island.
A massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh and parts of North Sumatra on December 26, creating deadly tidal waves that levelled coastal areas around the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 220,000 people dead or missing. On March 28, a strong earthquake hit shook the islands of Nias and Simeulue off the western coast of Sumatra, killing more than 600 people. Indonesia sits on a series of geological faultlines that remain constantly on the move and that are lined with over 130 active volcanoes.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:11:10 AM ||
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There is no indication that Toba, the volcano that nearly wiped out the human race, is becoming active, but then it doesn't seem to be monitored.
#7
Stop being mean to the Indonesians, Sobeisky. Most of them like the US, and aren't at all like their Arab counterparts. Would be great if we and Australia became their #1 allies.
Killer GP Harold Shipman said a prison officer had told him to "go and hang himself", a fellow inmate told an inquest.
Lifer David Smith told a jury at Leeds Crown Court that Shipman was his best friend in Wakefield Prison, where the struck-off doctor was found hanging in his cell in January last year.
Smith, who was given a life sentence in 1999, told the inquest he overheard a conversation between Shipman and another inmate about what a prison officer had said to him.
He said: "I did hear him say that an officer told him to go and hang himself and if he didn't know how to do it, he'd be shown how to do it."
Smith told the jury that some of Shipman's privileges had been removed a month before his death.
He said the ex-GP told him he was being bullied because he would not form relationships with the officers at the jail.
Smith said: "He said it was because he wouldn't talk to officers but he said that is 'their way of getting at me'."
He said Shipman, 57, told him: "They're bullying me because I wouldn't talk to officers."
Smith, handcuffed to a prison guard, was giving evidence on the second day of the inquest into Shipman's death.
He said he regularly played cards with Shipman and other inmates and the doctor never seemed suicidal. Smith said: "I couldn't see any suicidal tendencies. He never talked about it or anything." The late Dr. Shipman was believed to have killed as many as 150 of his own patients.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to pave the way for an elected House of Lords by allowing a free vote on the issue in a third term.
Cabinet ministers have been pressuring Blair for reform of Parliament's upper chamber, currently composed of hereditary and appointed peers and bishops. They say the House of Commons will agree between 50 percent and 80 percent of the Lords should be elected by the public.
Blair found himself in a minority on the issue when the Cabinet discussed Labor's election manifesto, the Independent reports.
A pledge for a free vote will now be included in the manifesto, to be released Wednesday, alongside a promise to strip the remaining 92 hereditary peers of their right to sit and vote in the chamber.
The sensitive issue of the Lords' powers to challenge the decisions of the fully elected House of Commons will also be addressed. The manifesto will propose to dilute the ability of the Lords to delay legislation.
The Labor document will also leave the possibility of electoral reform open, pledging a review of the first-past-the-post voting system for the House of Commons.
#1
I am glad we have a constitution here. We won't have any of remaking the nation to ensure your party stays in power and wins every vote regardless of what other think is best for the nation.
The repeal of double jeopardy so persecutors Prosecutors can keep comming back at you to make sure you are runied no matter if you are guilty or not. Springs to mind as a recent event.
#2
"We won't have any of remaking the nation to ensure your party stays in power and wins every vote regardless of what other think is best for the nation."
Unless, of course, you live in Washington, or Wisconsin, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Detroit...
It almost happened in Florida in 2000, and did in St. Louis.
Russia Resurrecting, a cult that worships Vladimir Putin as the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul, has been flourishing near Nizhny Novgorod for several years.
A portrait of the president hangs next to Orthodox icons in church, as members of the affiliation say he has come to the world to lead those who have gone astray to the light. However, it is known that Mother Photinia, head of the "Rus Resurrecti" affiliation, was involved in fraud cases back in the 1990s and spent 18 months behind bars, the NEWSru Web site reports.
The Rus Resurrecting affiliation looks like a typical parish, with regular church services and people coming to be baptized and married. Its patron saint is the Mother of God, but in addition the head of the affiliation has included some alternative members into the Orthodox tradition.
Among them is President Putin, whom the followers of Rus Resurrecting believe to be the new Apostle Paul. Putin, just like Apostle Paul, has come to the world to convert as many people as possible to the real faith, says Mother Photinia. She teaches her flock that the Second Coming has already happened, and that there are seven Sons of God and seven antichrists on the planet currently.
Other well-known people also have their places in Mother Photinia's teaching. Russian Patriarch Alexy II for example has received the role of Pontius Pilatus. His new mission according to Mother Photinia is to protect the new Christ and keep him from a second crucifixion.
Local people feel uncomfortable about the cult. Neighbors of Mother Photinia believe she is a witch and want her to be driven out of the village where she lives in a comfortable mansion that she says was built with voluntary contributions from her flock. Orthodox authorities say they are not entitled to control Rus Resurrecting, as the organization is not "truly Orthodox", NEWSru quoted a spokesman of the diocese Igor Pchelintsev as saying.
Local law-enforcement bodies, however, see the situation differently. Svetlana Frolova, as Mother Photinia used to be known to the world, held the post of director of the Nizhny Novgorod railroad catering department in the 1990s. In 1996 she was sentenced for fraud, abuse of privileges and embezzlement, but supposedly managed to keep part of the stolen money and on release from prison used it to establish her own church.
In spite of Frolova's criminal record, the local authorities prefer not to interfere in her activities. It is not the authorities' business whether Rus Resurrecting worships Putin or not, NEWSru quoted Eugeny Polavin, head of the local administration, as saying. At least as long as there are no pagan sacrifices involved.
Rus Resurrecting is not the only affiliation that has unusual worship subjects. For instance in Volgograd there is a registered "Party of Cosmic Communists" that worships Christ, Lenin and Karl Marx.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/12/2005 2:31:41 PM ||
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Law-enforcement in Nizhny Novgorod is certainly not going to be interfering: dis-Putin is risky business.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/12/2005 20:19 Comments ||
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Sort of a repeat of yesterday's post. This time from the source, Europa Press of Spain. Sort-of translated and without 'editorial comment'. Original article below.
Spain sold paramilitary material to Venezuela "or of toxicológicos and material security" and "radioactive agents" worth 539,603 euros in the first semester of 2004, according to the report titled 'Spanish Exports of Defensive material and of Products and Double Use Technologies' by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, accessed by Europe Press.
Venezuela was the twelfth largest buyer of defensive material from Spain in this period, during which the change of Government between PP [Partido Popular] and PSOE took place, whose leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, took possession from its position the 17 of April.
...According to the statistics that accompany to the report and by product categories, Venezuela was the only country to which toxicológicos and material Agents were sold. [The]
'radiactivos' classification in which, by definition, biological and material agents "and" nervous agents for the chemical war "include themselves" radioactive. The sales of this type of weapon to Venezuela is estimated at 30,374 euros.
The rest, 509,229 euros, consisted of exports of 'paramilitary Material or seguridad [security]', a category in which projection or firearms by gas, viewfinders and telescopic sights by telescope or of night vision for rifled weapons, pumps are included", grenades, explosive devices, vehicles armored and all-terrain with bulletproof protection, provoking acoustic equipment of daze, restrictor devices of the movement of the human beings and water tubes".
As far as the product sales of dual use (civilian and military), Venezuela was, in the first semester of the last year, the third largest buyer from Spain, absorbing the 11.5 percent of the exports. In particular, the Venezuelan Government spent 1.613.742 euros in "chemical substances for the petrochemical industry and curtidora", according to the report.
Original Article: España vendió a Venezuela material paramilitar y agentes toxicológicos por 540.000 euros en el primer semestre de 2004
"GUERRA QUÃMICA". Según las estadÃsticas que acompañan al informe y por categorÃas de productos, Venezuela fue el único paÃs al que se le vendieron 'Agentes toxicológicos y materiales radiactivos', clasificación en la que, por definición, se incluyen "agentes biológicos y materiales radiactivos" y "agentes nerviosos para la guerra quÃmica". Las ventas de este tipo de arma a Venezuela supusieron un montante de 30.374 euros. El resto, esto es 509.229 euros, consistieron en exportaciones de 'Material paramilitar o de seguridad', categorÃa en la que se incluyen "armas de fuego o de proyección por gas, visores y miras telescópicas o de intensificación de luz para armas de änima rayada, bombas, granadas, ,dispositivos explosivos, vehÃculos blindados y todo-terreno con protección antibala, equipos acústicos provocadores de aturdimiento, dispositivos restrictores del movimiento de los seres humanos y cañones de agua".
DOBLE USO. En cuanto a las ventas de productos de doble uso (civil y militar), Venezuela fue, en el primer semestre del año pasado, el tercer comprador de España, absorbiendo el 11,5 por ciento de las exportaciones. En concreto, el Gobierno venezolano gastó 1.613.742 euros en "sustancias quÃmicas para la industria petroquÃmica y curtidora", según se precisa en el informe.
Posted by: Pappy ||
04/12/2005 1:50:10 AM ||
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Time for us to focus on Phase II: help the arab and persian democratic forces help themselves in the mideast, and start to focus on the gathering storm in the near abroad and the Pacific.
Axis of (Serious) Mischief: Chavez + China + Cuba + Al Qaeda
Technology contines it's relentless march in the DPRK!
Pyongyang, April 11 (KCNA) -- Curative plastic sheets Nos. 1 and 2 have been developed by scientists in the textile field of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. They are polypropylene and polyethylene sheets treated in an electronic way. With the sheets one can cure various diseases by oneself in any places without medical apparatuses and medicines. When they are pasted to the points to be treated, it helps recover the function of abnormal minute electric current, damaged cells and tissues in human body and activate metabolism. Available soon at a Dr. Kimmie's House of Medicine Stuff near you.
Sheet No.1 is for external wounds such as gash, abscess and burn and sheet No. 2 for internal diseases such as contusion, bone fracture, neuralgia, indigestion, stomach cramps and inflammation. When combined with Super Water, the patient can perhaps live forever.
The years of clinical test shows that patients who had long suffered from sore finger and tympanitis recovered health with one-time use of the sheet and obstinate simple necrosis patients with six-time use. And babies under six months cured pneumonia with the help of the sheets. I don't know what "obstinate simple necrosis" is, but it doesn't sound good.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/12/2005 8:50:09 AM ||
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In even better news - mark May 17 on your calendar - DVD release of Team America: World Police (2004) Voices of Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie. Rated and unrated editions. Extras: "Team America: An Introduction"; production featurettes: "Building the World"; "Crafting the Puppets"; "Pulling the Strings"; "Capturing the Action"; "Miniature Pyrotechnics"; "Up Close With Kim Jong-Il"; "Dressing Room Test"; "Puppet Test"; deleted and extended scenes and outtakes; animated storyboards. (Paramount).
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 10:08 Comments ||
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#4
I'm waiting on their home surgery kit, "Suture Self".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/12/2005 13:45 Comments ||
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#5
"Spock, you useless pointy-eared twit, hand me my Tricorder".
"No need to insult Doctor, may I sugggest that instead you apply this polyprolylene and polyethylene sheeet to the affected area and thus promote recovery?"
"Too late, he's dead, Jim."
Japan and China have continued a slightly less than diplomatic war of words today over their rapidly deteriorating bilateral relations.
At the weekend tens of thousands of Chinese protesters threw rocks, bottles, eggs and paint at Japanese interests in several cities.
Japan's Foreign Minister, Nobutaka Machimura, says he expects China to respond to Japan's demands for an apology and compensation for damage to Japanese property in China.
Trade Minister Shoichi Ankagawa also bought into the dispute, describing China as a "scary" country.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo has demanded that Japan protect Chinese citizens after what it says was a terrorist shooting attack on a building housing a branch of the Bank of China in Yokohama.
Japanese police say several BB pellets were fired at the building at the weekend in what may or may not have been an incident related to the Chinese protests.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:14:08 AM ||
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I think there just might be a translation problem here, lol!
#3
Imagine a Japan with one or two modern CVBGs, modern aricraft, well trained and nationalist Japanese fighter jockeys, coupled with their national tendency of unpredictability:
China would be changing their collectivized shorts hourly under those conditions.
#4
In other news, China calls Japan a "Poopy Face"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/12/2005 14:06 Comments ||
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i have said all along -- let China sweat with a rearmed japan...and the perfect excuse for this is Nokor... i will be laughing in my grave at the genie the chicoms have let out just to smear americas face in Nokor dung....
Posted by: Dan ||
04/12/2005 14:13 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2005 00:00:00 ||
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China could cost itself a lot of foreign investment in the years ahead if it lets this get out of hand. Every corporation that sets up a production facility in China will now have to worry about when the Chinese government will have a tantrum over some foreign policy issue and allow that facility to be destroyed by rampaging Chinese mobs.
#3
The potential economic impact of this stuff is probably not fully appreciated by the Chinese given the dysfunctional nature of their government. By the same token, the Japanese often seem to have little or no conception of the influence of what they did as a nation from the 1930's through 1945.
#4
By the same token, the Japanese often seem to have little or no conception of the influence of what they did as a nation from the 1930's through 1945.
Very true, but I often wonder if this is just political agitation on the part of the Chinese to deflect their population's attention from things happening in the here and now.
The Indonesian Ambassador to Australia has instructed embassy and consulate staff not to panic about threats to kill staff at the Indonesian consulate in Perth.
Several days ago the consulate received a letter containing two bullets.
It threatened staff with death unless Schapelle Corby, who is on trial in Bali on drug smuggling charges, is released.
Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison says the matter is being fully investigated.
"I think this is a measure of extremist thinking which has no place in Australia," he said.
Indonesian Ambassador Imron Cotan says Indonesian authorities have taken the necessary steps to protect staff.
He has appealed to those concerned about the Corby case not to take matters into their own hands.
"Let the court decide on this case. I believe they are experienced enough to handle this case," he said.
The Western Australia Police state security unit is investigating.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 11:55:36 PM ||
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A group of Aboriginal elders has vowed to disrupt next year's Commonwealth Games unless Prime Minister John Howard and others are charged with genocide.
Federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty are also named as defendants in the writ.
The activists want the defendants to show cause why an investigation into claims of acts of genocide against Indigenous communities should not be carried out.
The group lodged a writ with the High Court in Melbourne.
Aboriginal elder Isabelle Coe says if the High Court fails to act on the genocide claims, they will be taken to the International Crimes Commission (ICC) at the Hague.
She says the group will also call on other countries to boycott the Games.
"This is the shame game," she said.
"We want to get our message out to the rest of the world and that the genocide is continuing here in our country and we want to stop it.
"As a mother and grandmother, we're sick and tired of seeing our people, old people, young people, dying in the thousands, thousands in this country ... due to inter-generational effects of trauma and grief."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 11:53:47 PM ||
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THE Howard Government yesterday approved funding for child protection courses in Bali hotels on the same day Foreign Minister Alexander Downer came under pressure for refusing to update travel warnings following two child sexual assaults on the island.
Child Wise national program manager Karen Flanagan yesterday was told of the federal funding for a program to educate predator-prone industries in Bali about screening for pedophiles.
The cash comes two years after Child Wise advised the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that overseas hotel child-minding services were a possible playground for pedophiles. "The head of the consular branch in DFAT confirmed it today," Ms Flanagan said.
Under the program, hotels will be taught how to recruit, screen and handle staff who work with children.
It came as Mr Downer was forced to defend his decision not to issue pedophile-specific travel warnings for Indonesia, after - as revealed by The Australian yesterday - being pressed to do so by families whose children were abused.
Mr Downer yesterday said a general warning about childcare had been included on the DFAT website.
A two-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were abused while in the care of creches at exclusive Bali resorts.
The families - through Justice Minister Chris Ellison - called on Mr Downer to upgrade travel warnings to include the assaults and a list of hotels which failed to meet Australian standards.
Mr Downer said the assaults could not be mentioned because a police investigation failed to substantiate claims the two children were sexually abused while they were in care. He said yesterday "it would be a tough thing to do" to upgrade the warnings - despite the Federal Police having found the Indonesian investigation flawed.
"The Australian Federal Police co-operated with their Indonesian counterparts on both investigations, neither of which has led to charges being laid," he said. "It's simply impossible for Australian officials to check out every childcare centre in the world."
But the AFP, which investigated the alleged rape of the girl at the Sheraton Nusa Indah's creche in 2001, found "serious flaws" in the handling of the case by local authorities, the ABC's Lateline program reported last night.
Hotel staff were not properly tested for gonorrhoea, which the young girl contracted after the alleged rape.
The second incident allegedly took place in November 2003 when a five-year-old West Australian boy was allegedly orally raped at a "kids' club" at a neighbouring resort.
The boy's mother, in a harrowing account of her son's ordeal, told the ABC's Lateline: "He held him down using my son's shoulders and he forced his mouth open ... he actually showed us using his hand how the man held his mouth open (and) where he obviously put his penis in."
The families say they did not get adequate consular assistance in Bali or Australia. The boy's mother said her husband rang the embassy and the AFP on the day of the assault and left a message but received no response. He was also referred to an emergency Canberra number, but no one answered.
Back in Australia and frustrated by the lack of action, the mother sent an email to John Howard, Mr Downer and other officials. An official from DFAT later wrote to the family claiming the first the department had heard of the allegations was in that letter. There was no record of the father's calls.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 11:46:35 PM ||
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A small plane carrying New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was forced to make an emergency landing after rapidly losing altitude when a door swung open in mid-air, flight officials confirmed.
Clark said she wondered whether she would "live or die" when the door dislodged and opened during turbulence on a flight from Rotorua in the cental North Island to Wellington.
The pilot sent out a distress call and diverted to the nearest airport, which was at Paraparaumu just north of the capital.
Clark told National Radio she was sitting in the rear of the plane reading her papers when they struck turbulence without warning.
The sudden movement of the plane dislodged the door and as it began to open, two police officers travelling with the prime minister grabbed hold of it.
They could not shut the door, so they held on to it through the emergency landing. "When the plane plunges like that, it's obviously quite shocking," Clark said. "When you see the door can't close you know that it is a serious incident." Nothing gets past her, obviously.
Aviation authorities have been alerted and an investigation is under way. "At this stage we're not quite sure what happened," Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokeswoman Heidi Brook said.
Clark would not comment on whether the door on the six-seater plane had been closed properly before take-off, saying that the investigation would look at that question. No worries, it's the same crack detectives who were working on the vandalization of the 9/11 monument...
Around 17,000 Australian and United States troops will take part in a combined military exercise at Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland in June.
The Australian Defence Department confirmed the details of the major training exercise including thousands of navy, army, air force, marines and special forces at a planning meeting last Friday.
Land forces will train primarily in the Shoalwater Bay area near Rockhampton.
Maritime exercises will be held off the central Queensland coast in the Coral Sea, while fighter jets and transport aircraft will fly out of Royal Australian Air Bases in Amberley near Ipswich in south-east Queensland and Townsville in the state's far-north.
Elements of the exercise are also expected to be conducted in Darwin and Sydney.
The planning details put to rest concerns the exercise would be cancelled or scaled back after the boxing day tsunami.
The Australian Defence Department says it had to review the exercise because of the level of commitment in Asia.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:38:46 PM ||
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Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison has expressed outrage over a threat to kill staff at the Indonesian Consulate in Perth.
Western Australian police are investigating a threat contained in a letter received several days ago demanding the release of alleged Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby who is currently on trial in Bali.
It is understood the letter also contained two bullets.
Police have released no details of the threat but Senator Ellison has assured the Indonesian Government that everything possible will be done to apprehend those responsible.
He says strong public opinion on the case is no excuse.
"To make this sort of threat to a foreign consul is totally unacceptable and un-Australian and no matter what your feeling is, it is just not on," he said.
Threats against diplomats or politicians are normally investigated by the WA Police Service's state security unit.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:30:10 PM ||
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AUSTRALIA is softening its opposition to joining a non-aggression pact with Asian neighbours that threatens to stand in the way of an invitation to a major regional summit.
Australia has consistently refused to join ASEAN nations in signing the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, a pact banning the use of violence to settle regional conflicts.
But the Government eased its hardline stance against the treaty after ASEAN members overnight flagged that being a signatory to the pact would be a precondition to joining the crucial East Asia summit later this year.
ASEAN members said in a communique overnight that prospective summit partners must accede to the treaty and have substantive relations with ASEAN.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer remained optimistic Australia would take part in the summit, signalling further discussions with ASEAN over the treaty.
"On the issue of the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, I've had a discussion with some ASEAN foreign ministers over the last week," he said.
"I've had a further discussion with the Indonesian foreign minister in the last 24 hours and we're going to see how we can work that issue through.
"We obviously have some problems with the treaty but we'll be talking with them over the next few months about it.
"We don't like the treaty as it currently stands but we are going to be talking to ASEAN about how this issue can be handled."
Mr Downer said discussions so far had made him optimistic Australia would participate in the meeting.
"I'll only say this, I'm pretty optimistic from my discussion with ASEAN ministers that we will be able to work this through," he said.
"We very much look forward to participating in the East Asia summit in December."
ASEAN members removed one critical barrier that could have stopped Australia taking part when it decided to take a more inclusive approach to potential members.
This decision gives Australia, New Zealand and India the opportunity to join the summit if they sign the treaty.
Otherwise, the meeting could have been restricted to a grouping known as ASEAN plus three, consisting of ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South Korea.
Labor urged the Government not to let the treaty be an impediment to Australia joining the summit.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Australian national interests were at stake.
"Let's hope that this doesn't get in the road .... of Australia being able to participate in the first East Asian Summit due to be held later this year," he said.
"When the summit first meets it will begin to shape the rules and the architecture of the emerging East Asian economic community and that's where Australia has very substantial economic and security interests at stake."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 5:21:17 AM ||
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#1
Australia has consistently refused to join ASEAN nations in signing the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, a pact banning the use of violence to settle regional conflicts.
Why sweat it? Just sign on and disregard it later on if need be. Heaven knows that's precisely what China probably would/will do. But if protecting their integrity is of paramount importance, then Australia should steer clear of any agreement that might prove troublesome later on.
Four schoolgirls held by an Iranian man armed with two knives were freed by police after a five-hour hostage-taking in western Germany, a police spokesman said.
The man, believed to be in his 50s, had taken them hostage after boarding a bus and then forced the girls, aged from 11 to 16, into the cellar of a suburban house in the town of Ennepetal near Wuppertal.
Police said the girls were fine, but did not provide any information on the condition of the hostage-taker, and refused to comment on media reports that he was an asylum-seeker who was demanding that his children be allowed to join him in Germany.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 4:21:00 PM ||
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The number of those who are expected to say "yes" to the European Union (EU) Constitution rapidly decreases in Denmark. While 30 percent of Danes responded yesterday in a questionnaire that they would say, "yes" to the referendum, this figure was recorded at 33 percent in March.
The Danish defend that one of the most important reasons for the increase in a "no" vote, while "yes" votes decrease the possible EU membership of Turkey.
According to the questionnaire published yesterday in Jullands-Posten newspaper, 30 percent of the nation supports the constitution, while 22 percent of public are likely to say "no". On the other hand, 48 percent of the public remains undecided. According to the survey, while just 19 percent of the public supports Turkey's EU membership, 63 percent oppose it.
Editorial | El Universal
12.04.05 | France | Karl von Wogau, Chairman of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defence, today urged the EU's plenary session gathered in Strasbourg to ascertain whether or not the sale of weapons by Spain to Venezuela violates the Code of Conduct on Arms Exports of the European Union. During the opening of the plenary session of the European Parliament at its seat in the French city, the German member of the EU parliament warned that the exportation of arms to Venezuela may very well go against the Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, agreed to by countries of the EU and in force since 1998.
Von Wogau urged the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, a Spanish member of the EUP, to "verify to what extent these actions infringe upon the resolutions" of the code in question, so reported AFP.
According to the German member of the parliament, the contract may very well violate the fourth point of the aforementioned code, which establishes that member States are to refrain from exporting arms to third countries if it entails a threat against the peace, security and stability of the region.
During his address, von Wogau also raised the question as to whether the aforementioned sale is in compliance with the "Principle of Prudence" to which the European Union and its member States must adhere anytime they export arms to third countries.
Last Wednesday, US Secretary of Defence Ronald Rumsfeld openly criticised Spain for the sale of weapons to Venezuela, affirming that it had been an "error" on the part of the Spanish government.
Today, Monday, the Spanish ministry of defence assured that is in communication with its Colombian counterpart concerning the eventual sale of military equipment similar to that recently acquired by Venezuela, which was stated also by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, Miguel Ãngel Moratinos.
#2
Don't forget that the Veneuelans have admitted they have little control over how their passports are issued ... or stolen. I'm collecting the various links here, if anyone is interested.
Posted by: Robin Burk ||
04/12/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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#3
yesterday's news said they were chemical weapons (possibly riot control?) and they took place after Zappy came to power
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 9:34 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 9:40 Comments ||
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#5
OK, so when are we going to get serious about Phase II? Chavez is already subverting Colombia and has announced his desire for a Gran Bolivia (?), a "revolutionary" state comprising all of Bolivar's Andean legacy nations. He's imported 150,000 AK-47s and is distributing them to his civilian followers in preparation for civil war against his opponents. He's working with Fidel and almost certainly is in contact with Al Qaeda, and seeks to use oil exports as a weapon against us. Were the leftist candidate to come to power in Mexico in the future, a Chavez-Fidel-Cuba-Mexico leftist alliance could hit us with an oil embargo and cause serious inflationary and interest rate pressure.
This is serious, and it's time to shift our attention to our backyard, immediately, before the storm gathers even more.
#6
Spain, since Franco's time, has been a wee bit "no questions asked" in its arms sales. As long as the funds are available, there is a 'legitimate end user', and the paperwork is in order, it'll happen.
Venezuela easily meets all three criteria. That Chavez and Zapatero are buds likely made it easier and expanded the available product range.
#8
So what is the EU going to do about this sale to Hugo if it violates the so-called "Principle of Prudence?"
Answer (with deference to Master of the Obvious): Nothing but the occasional wringing of hands. As long as Zappie or one of his pals is sticking it to the US, then everything is ok. These people with this kind of mentality are not allies---they are enemies. Maybe not shootin' enemies, but they are certainly not our friends. I would like to see someone in the Administration like Rumsfeld publicly state what Spain is doing and bring this duplicity to the light of day. The more it is brought to light, the quicker it is to stop.
BTW, Frank: great and timely link.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/12/2005 11:09 Comments ||
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#9
venezuela is sovereign, and we have no right to intervene militarily due to either a domestic crackdown or an oil embargo. However a domestic crackdown would be an opening for largescale and open support to anti-Chavez insurgents, who would undoubtedly be supported by the govt of Colombia. I think an open crackdown is very dangerous for Chavez, and a slow tightening is more likely. Cutting off oil to the US is very costly - yes there are other markets, but transport costs MATTER in the oil industry, and every dollar of transport cost to send the oil to Euro or Asian markets is one less dollar going to Venezuala, that Chavez needs to stay in power.
This is even more true for Mexico, whose oil exports are largely by pipeline and would need to new infrastructure to send it out by ship (this is an even greater issue for natural gas) and Mexico has less economic slack than Venezuala - they rely on the US economically in many more ways than oil exports.
Latin lefties are an annoyance, not a threat. Theyre closer, and therefore easier to deal with.
#10
The threat part comes from AQ's keenness on striking us at home and the nuttiness of Chavez. He has motive, and the wave of illegal latin immigrants offers means and opportunity galore to do serious harm to us via AQ or other jihadist proxies. Plenty that Chavez or a leftist Mexican caudillo can do to help the jihadists-- see how much pain the current right-leaning Mexican president is causing us.
Also, re oil transport costs, those have a ceiling. Market prices for oil do not. Per-barrel oil transport costs are the same whether oil's at $60/bbl or $70/bbl or $80/bbl. Chavez will be sitting pretty in any of the above scenarios, even if he ships his oil to Europe.. or China
#11
Oil transport costs have no ceiling either, if oil is 1000 dollars a barrel the cost of transport will rise in relation. You don't mail gold bulk rate.
Not strictly news, just a reminder of the late John Paul II's legacy.
By James Gordon Meer
WASHINGTON - Pope John Paul II gave his blessing to the late President Ronald Reagan's plans to put nuclear missiles across Western Europe, a former U.S. representative at the Vatican said yesterday.
Though European leaders were "weak-kneed" about confronting the Soviet nuclear empire, Reagan won the Pope's support for matching the Communists nuke for nuke along the Iron Curtain, said Jim Nicholson, who served until recently as President Bush's ambassador to the Holy See.
The purpose of the pontiff's secret approval was to confront the Soviet Union's placement of its growing arsenal in Eastern Bloc states near free European nations, said Nicholson, now the Veterans Affairs secretary.
Nicholson said Reagan "regularly" sent military emissaries to show the pontiff satellite imagery of Soviet missiles spreading across occupied Europe.
"The Pope supported us in putting cruise missiles into Europe at that time, which few people know," Nicholson told "Fox News Sunday."
A top U.S. general who spoke Polish would be dispatched to the Vatican "regularly and lay this out and tell the Pope what was going on militarily," Nicholson recalled.
"And the Pope said to President Reagan, 'They are needed; you should do it,'" Nicholson said.
Experts and former defense officials said they were unaware of the Pope's backing of America's nuclear buildup in Europe - but were hardly surprised, given his anti-Communist stance.
"I think it's true," said Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress, who was a senior Pentagon official in the Reagan administration. "It does seem logical. That was a tough time to get the missiles in."
John Pike, a defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, said John Paul II was "thick as thieves" with the CIA in trying to bring down communism in his native Poland, and he might have endorsed the confrontation.
"I wouldn't put it past him" to support Reagan's missile plan, Pike said.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 ||
04/12/2005 3:58:33 AM ||
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#1
The USCCB? - before JP-II it was heading toward becoming the limp Episcopalian shadow of what the Church should be - it was that version of the USCCB that started accepting gays tacitly, softneing the liturgy, and flirting with Communism in the guise of "Liberation Theology". That bunch started the whole ball rolling that would hit with the paedophile scandal 2 decades later.
As for the assertions: Damn. I didnt know they had already declassified that kind of stuff. And I tend to disbelieve it.
Reagan talked the talk, and damn sure walked the walk. I pretty much doubt the Gipper asked for the Pope's blessings. Probably treated the Pope pretty much the same way he treated the Euros and the Communists: said what he was going to do and then did it. Maybe with the pope he shared details and the "why", but not much else different; probably was a bit more courteous, but nonetheless straight up.
I still remember some German bumper stickers from that time: "Better a Pershing in my yard than an SS-20 in my roof" - a sentiment I bet you never heard existed amongst Germans (Especially in Bayern and the border areas) due to the MSM's bias.
My guess is that the Gipper probably told the Pope something like the following:
"This is what I'm going to do, and why. What you do is up to you." Then he cobwoy'd the hell up and let 'em buck.
Any response from JP-II was more or less unimportant.
#2
OS, TGA - is this account of the Pope's response to Brezhnev in late 1980 correct? From the Weekly Standard:
"How many divisions has the pope?" Stalin famously sneered. As it happens, with John Paul II, we have an answer. At the end of 1980, worried by the Polish government's inability to control the independent labor union Solidarity, the Russians prepared an invasion "to save socialist Poland." Fifteen divisions--twelve Soviet, two Czech, and one East German--were to cross the border in an initial attack, with nine more Soviet divisions following the next day.
On December 7, Brzezinski called from the White House to tell John Paul II what American satellite photos showed about troop movements along the Polish border, and on December 16 the pope wrote Leonid Brezhnev a stern letter, invoking against the Soviets the guarantees of sovereignty that the Soviets themselves had inserted in the Helsinki Final Act (as a way, they thought, of ensuring the Communists' permanent domination of Eastern Europe).
Already caught in the Afghanistan debacle and fearing an even greater loss of international prestige and good will, Brezhnev ordered the troops home. Twenty-four divisions, and John Paul II faced them down.
#3
It can't have been "in the late 1980", that's the Gorbachev rule already.
I guess the article refers to the days when Jaruzelski took over in Poland and declared martial law on December 13 1981. It was common knowledge that Jaruzelski spared his country an occupation by Warsaw Treaty troops.
Today that has been put in doubt. It's very well possible that the Soviets did actually REFUSE to come to Jaruzelskis help. Jaruzelski claims otherwise.
With all respects to JPII, I don't think the Russian blinked because the Pope wrote a "stern letter". If that letter was written on Dec. 16th, that would have been after the declaration of Martial Law.
The Pope did have an important influence on Solidarnosc. He urged the movement to stay peaceful, and they did. It is very well possible that in that respect the Pope and Breshnev came to an agreement.
We know that there were troop movements but it's unclear whether an invasion was imminent or not.
#5
I still remember a classic Steve Kelley oped cartoon: showed Jaruzelski playing a pinball machine called "Martial Law", showing Game Over, and turning to his daddy Brezhnev and demanding "more quarters!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 16:15 Comments ||
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#6
Yes I misread that one, but the events (troop movements) happened in late 1981, not 1980.
#7
OK, the dates are confusing here. Brzezinski was serving in the Carter administration, that would indeed be 1980.
I don't think that account is correct
#8
It seems extremely implausible to me that Brezhnev and the politburo would have altered their reading of the "correleation of forces" based on a "stern letter" from the pope....
#11
The USCCB? - before JP-II it was heading toward becoming the limp Episcopalian shadow of what the Church should be - it was that version of the USCCB that started accepting gays tacitly, softneing the liturgy, and flirting with Communism in the guise of "Liberation Theology". That bunch started the whole ball rolling that would hit with the paedophile scandal 2 decades later.
As for the assertions: Damn. I didnt know they had already declassified that kind of stuff. And I tend to disbelieve it.
Reagan talked the talk, and damn sure walked the walk. I pretty much doubt the Gipper asked for the Pope's blessings. Probably treated the Pope pretty much the same way he treated the Euros and the Communists: said what he was going to do and then did it. Maybe with the pope he shared details and the "why", but not much else different; probably was a bit more courteous, but nonetheless straight up.
I still remember some German bumper stickers from that time: "Better a Pershing in my yard than an SS-20 in my roof" - a sentiment I bet you never heard existed amongst Germans (Especially in Bayern and the border areas) due to the MSM's bias.
My guess is that the Gipper probably told the Pope something like the following:
"This is what I'm going to do, and why. What you do is up to you." Then he cobwoy'd the hell up and let 'em buck.
Any response from JP-II was more or less unimportant.
#12
The USCCB? - before JP-II it was heading toward becoming the limp Episcopalian shadow of what the Church should be - it was that version of the USCCB that started accepting gays tacitly, softneing the liturgy, and flirting with Communism in the guise of "Liberation Theology". That bunch started the whole ball rolling that would hit with the paedophile scandal 2 decades later.
As for the assertions: Damn. I didnt know they had already declassified that kind of stuff. And I tend to disbelieve it.
Reagan talked the talk, and damn sure walked the walk. I pretty much doubt the Gipper asked for the Pope's blessings. Probably treated the Pope pretty much the same way he treated the Euros and the Communists: said what he was going to do and then did it. Maybe with the pope he shared details and the "why", but not much else different; probably was a bit more courteous, but nonetheless straight up.
I still remember some German bumper stickers from that time: "Better a Pershing in my yard than an SS-20 in my roof" - a sentiment I bet you never heard existed amongst Germans (Especially in Bayern and the border areas) due to the MSM's bias.
My guess is that the Gipper probably told the Pope something like the following:
"This is what I'm going to do, and why. What you do is up to you." Then he cobwoy'd the hell up and let 'em buck.
Any response from JP-II was more or less unimportant.
"The threat of increased misuse of consumer personal data by offshore criminals was first made publicly known with the UCSF Pakistani medical transcriber scandal. Then, in a logical progression of events, it was discovered that foreign criminal interests were offering money to offshored call center workers to surrender consumer data. Now that threat has been realized: Offshored call center staffers at Mphasis BPO have allegedly stolen £200,000 using United States customers' personal information. It is believed that East Indian police reacted swiftly to catch the thieves, but only £12,000 has been recovered so far, and it is not really known who orchestrated this theft or where the rest of that money is now. It is also unknown as of yet how much of a mess this has created for the US citizens who were victimized. Let's hope that the people whose information was stolen don't have to go through what other identity theft victims have to endure, to clean up their good name."
#1
Sounds like a good use for a class-action suit against the company that decided to offshore its call center. I'd certainly call it negligence.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/12/2005 14:40 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like a good use for a class-action suit against the company that decided to offshore its call center.
Make an example of these bastards, and hit 'em where it hurts: in the pocketbook.
Any corporation thinking about offshoring some function that handles sensitive data should be put on notice that if they screw up, they're gonna pay dearly.
Former first lady-wannabe Teresa Heinz has donated $4 million to a Pittsburgh museum that frequently showcases artwork depicting U.S. human rights abuses - including exhibits on lynchings in America, the Rodney King beating and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
Heinz Kerry "surprised" the director and staff of the Andy Warhol Museum Saturday night with news of her contribution, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The gift, the third largest in the museum's history, was approved in advance by the directors of the Howard Heinz Endowment, so it could be announced ahead of the foundation's normal grant-making in May, the paper said.
The Warhol Museum's Abu Ghraib exhibit, titled "Inconvenient Evidence," prompted howls of protest from veterans groups when it opened last September.
"It is a disservice to all the veterans who served," complained Joseph Dugan, president of the Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial. Dugan added that he thought the exhibition's concept was "appalling."
"[The Abu Ghraib photos] should not be used as an art exhibit," he insisted.
Over the weekend, however, Mrs. Heinz praised the Warhol for taking on controversial topics. "That has been the magic of this museum. It has taken on subjects and exhibits that more conventional institutions would never dare to," she explained at a gala dinner for the Warhol.
In 2001, the controversial museum opened an exhibit titled "Without Sanctuary," a series of horrific photographs that showed lynchings in America.
"What made that exhibit so successful." Heinz Kerry said, was that "people left not just provoked or saddened, but also more thoughtful, and perhaps even wiser. That is the hallmark of a great institution, and of great art."
When it opened in May 1994, the Warhol received a $5 million grant from the Vira Heinz Endowment and the Howard Heinz Endowment, which are chaired by Mrs. Heinz. Hasn't she moved to France, yet?
#1
Hey they should be happy it's in the US. If they insulted some grop like Arabs or Islam in some foreign local the Lions of Islam would just burn them to the ground and kill the "artists."
BY JAMES TARANTO
Monday, April 11, 2005 2:46 p.m. EDT
John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam*, showed up yesterday at a Boston event, where he was "using crutches as he recovers from knee surgery," reports the Associated Press. He was also using emotional crutches as he recovers from last year's election:
"Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated," the Massachusetts senator said at an event sponsored by the state League of Women Voters. . . .Kerry also cited examples Sunday of how people were duped into not voting.
"Leaflets are handed out saying Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday. People are told in telephone calls that if you've ever had a parking ticket, you're not allowed to vote," he said.
Where did Kerry come up with that idea about leaflets saying "Democrats on Wednesday"? Probably from this story, which appeared a week before the election:
With the knowledge that the minority vote will be crucial in the upcoming presidential election, Republican Party officials are urging blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to make their presence felt at the polls on Wednesday, Nov. 3. . . .
"You can't walk through a black neighborhood here in Miami without seeing our 'Don't Forget Big Wednesday!' message up on a billboard, tacked to a phone booth, or taped to a bus shelter," Monreal added. "The Republican Party has spared no expense in this endeavor."
Before Kerry embarrasses himself further, someone ought to take him aside and explain to him that the Onion is a satirical publication--as is ScrappleFace.com, which came up with the idea first.
* And who by the way promised 71 days ago to release his military records.
Posted by: Deacon Blues for muck4doo ||
04/12/2005 4:02:04 PM ||
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#1
Hickory dickory dock,
This chick was suckin' my...
#1
Frank, I'm begging you: no more Donna Shalala images.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/12/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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#2
ok...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 10:51 Comments ||
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#3
I shoulda put a smiley behind that. :-)
Posted by: Matt ||
04/12/2005 13:30 Comments ||
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#4
well we already know (from one of the last episodes of Angel) that she is a demon who rose from the depth of hell to take human form... wonder what else there can be
#3
when Boxer and Biden are your intellectual leaders, you're f*&ked
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 9:28 Comments ||
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#4
I love this guy Bolton so much, I watch his speeches on CSPAN, running on some Saturday mornings. Then it's "I will start cutting the yard in 10 minutes, honey"
#7
Check out yesterday's PowerLine blog on the hearings. It includes a picture of a moron from Code Pink holding up a banner off to Bolton's left during the hearings. As noted by PL, the Dhimmis are well and truly screwing the pooch by not distancing themselves from such moonbats. This failure demonstrates, implicitly, that the former fringies are now mainstream Dhimmi. Sucks to be Dhimmi, today, with "leadership" so clueless and skewed.
#8
Yes code pink had done well in the last three elections. Recording an amazing record of NO wins for their Candidate and NO losses for ones they oppose. Our esteemed Senator Babs Boxer probably gave them the passes to get into the hearing. Their leader gets more loopy with each passing election. Can't wait for the 2006 elections! Notice that there is no conservative group that acts like these LLL groups like code pink.
#9
yes, CS, and that's what makes us better and more electable. Don't dissuade these moonbats from making public and prominent assholes of themselves - it confirms/validates conceptions of which party is serious and which is playing games
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2005 18:11 Comments ||
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#10
Sarge, Senator Babs is their victory. Pyrrhic as that might be for the rest of us.
The South African party that introduced apartheid and enforced racial segregation for 50 years has voted itself out of existence after a series of stinging electoral defeats. The federal council of the New National Party (NNP), renamed from the National Party in 1997, voted on Saturday for a motion to disband the party by a margin of 88 in favour and two against. Three people abstained.
"The forerunner to the NNP, the National Party, brought development to a section of South Africa but also brought suffering through a system grounded on injustice," former leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a speech. "No party ... could hope to successfully atone and move ahead in the same vehicle," said van Schalkwyk, minister for environmental affairs and tourism in President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet. He addressed NNP members who swapped their membership cards for those of the African National Congress (ANC) when the two parties merged last year.
But former president F.W. de Klerk said the NNP's demise created a political void with a lack of effective opposition to the ANC. "I really believe that the dissolution of the National Party creates a void in the party political scene in South Africa," he told the BBC. "We need a fairly young person without any political baggage to stand up and be counted and say 'we are going to fill this void'," said de Klerk, who led talks to dismantle white rule and then turned his back on the NNP after last year's merger.
The NNP was all that remained of the once mighty National Party — known as the Nats — which came to power in 1948 and hardened already discriminatory laws under a system of racial segregation known as apartheid. The NNP was virtually wiped out in elections in April 2004 with less than 2 per cent of the vote, while the ANC won a commanding two-thirds majority. De Klerk has said whites and other minority groups felt disempowered under the ANC's leadership with many going abroad in search of better prospects. The ANC argues white South Africans must do more to address the injustices of the past and says it remains committed to establishing a non-racial and multicultural society.
Researchers in the fields of cardiovascular disease, rheumatism and multiple sclerosis (MS) from Karolinska Institutet and the Centre for Molecular Medicine (CMM) in Stockholm, Sweden have together shown that there is a common risk factor for these conditions. It is the first identified gene to link autoimmune diseases with cardiovascular diseases.
The gene variant was first identified in an animal model and then studied in a number of patient groups to ascertain if there was a link to human diseases. The researchers discovered that people with the variant ran a 20 to 40% greater risk of developing rheumatism, MS or a heart attack. The gene variant is also common: an estimated 20 to 25% of the population carry it.
The discovery reveals a new area of application for statins, drugs usually taken to lower cholesterol levels. Statins have been shown to reduce activity in this gene and thus produce anti-inflammatory effects. Statins have now been tested on MS patients and have been demonstrated to be beneficial in this very way.
The disease-associated gene variant leads to a reduction in the production of a number of immune defence proteins. Some viruses and bacteria have also been observed to influence the gene in an attempt to evade the immune defence system, a strategy employed, for example, by the viruses that cause AIDS, herpes and hepatitis. "This gene variant can be one of the single largest genetic causes of complex diseases with inflammatory components," said Fredrik Piehl, associate professor at Karolinska Institutet and researcher at the CMM. "There is also a chance that other diseases are also affected by this gene variant. The discovery can now lead to more reliable diagnostics and better treatments for a great number of patients."
Japan is set to expand its annual whale hunt to take two new species as well as nearly doubling its planned catch of minke whales, media reports said Tuesday, a move virtually certain to spark global fury if true.
Under a new plan for what Tokyo calls its research whaling program, Japan would take humpback whales and fin whales in addition to the four whale species it currently hunts, sources close to the situation were quoted as telling Kyodo news agency.
Japan, where whale meat is regarded as a delicacy, abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international ban, but began a program to hunt whales in what it calls scientific research whaling the following year. The meat ends up on store shelves and on the tables of gourmet restaurants. If the ecos really wanted to stop this, it would be straightforward, if not simple. Just inject or feed the whales with a quantity of some harmless substance that makes their meat loathsome to the taste for the rest of their life. It might even be a bacterial toxin poisonous to humans. That would teach them to eat their research projects.
...The second deal, between Beyond-Earth Enterprises and XCOR, could be an indicator of the shape of things to come.
Beyond-Earth plans to buy standardized rocket components from XCOR for small-payload launch vehicles, designed for purposes such as suborbital flight testing or research.
"This is the first step toward making space accessible for commercial ventures," Joe Latrell, Beyond-Earth's chief executive officer, said in the Colorado company's news release. "We want to be instrumental in creating standardized production components. When an airline company or package delivery service needs a new vehicle, they don't build it, they buy it from a company who specializes in airplane or truck production." Hopefully, resulting in small spacecraft as ubiquitous as UPS trucks.
#1
Yet another year when I'll be too busy to go to space access and talk to these guys.
(It's nice to see the guys from XCOR getting business, and it's nice to see the guys from Beyond Earth having business to give to them).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/12/2005 18:11 Comments ||
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#2
Hey stop being a square! We build a stage in the barn and charge admissin, I know several spembles who can run and laugh and play and sing! It'll be great! We could clear 85 dollars or more!
The US space agency (Nasa) has approved up to 18 months of further operations for its twin Mars Exploration Rovers. Solar-powered robot geologists Spirit and Opportunity have both found signs of a watery past on Mars since landing on the Red Planet in January 2004. The rovers are showing signs of wear - for example, the teeth on Spirit's rock grinding tool seem to have worn down - but otherwise remain in good shape. They were originally meant to carry out missions lasting just three months... These two rovers have already proven one resounding thing: robots are the future. The next rover in development is almost two meters long. After that I would expect a car-sized rover, followed by construction robots that share a small nuclear reactor.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
04/12/2005 11:50:51 AM ||
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#2
Eventually, of course, Mars will be populated by the descendants of our rovers. They'll look back at Earth and wonder how anything could live on that wet, hot ball.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/12/2005 12:21 Comments ||
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#3
Robert:
I, for one, will welcome our new robot Martian overlords.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
04/12/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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#6
Endurance Crater is already turning out to be something of a misnomer.
Hopefully the next rover teams are learning from this properly, including taking into consideration the possibility that we might want these machines to continue running until humans get there.
#4
*urp* ...uh-oh... *blearghhhh!!!*
Sorry about that... horrible motion sickness from all that untempered roiling. I'll clean it up as soon as I finish vomiting, drink some club soda and have a quiet lie-down until I feel better.
#5
From the article: She publicly identified herself as a lesbian, speaking movingly about "this love of women" as "the soil in which my life is rooted," and her work was a touchstone for many gay men and women. But in 1998, she married Mr. Stoltenberg, her companion of many years. A writer, editor and a founder of Men Against Pornography who also identifies himself as gay, Mr. Stoltenberg is her only immediate survivor.'
This sounds like the ultimate gay marriage. Empty, meaningless, lacking love and lacking conviction.
#10
****blearrrgh!!!****
Thanks, Dot-Com... I was almost done with being sick, and then you had to mention that horrible Dowd woman!
(moaning softly, with a cologne-scented handkerchief over my forehead, as I lay on the fainting couch)
#11
I just read the "Hillary Raw" and thought this was more on the same topic.... Andrea Dworkin, now that's a name I thankfully have not heard much of in awhile, guess that's cause she's takin' a little nappy time..
An international researchers has found evidence that a universal constant in nature which governs the strength of the molecular bonds between atoms - called "alpha" - might have changed over time. The strength of alpha is very important, and life couldn't exist if it was much different from its current value. The team examined the light from distant quasars billions of light-years away, and measured the unique fingerprint of its light being absorbed by clouds of gas. They compared this fingerprint to known values here on Earth to measure the difference... If it's a contest between a universal constant and an observation, I'd bet on the constant.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
04/12/2005 11:36:08 AM ||
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#1
Dang! Can't depend on anything these days . . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
04/12/2005 12:12 Comments ||
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#2
I bet the left will find a way to blame President Bush. "If only he hadn't repudiated Kyoto . . . ."
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/12/2005 13:28 Comments ||
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#3
Anonymoose, so... you would adhere to theoretical considerations rather than accept observations?
Granted, the observations may not be what they seem. The main problem seems to be with the interpretation of Doppler's Red Shift. It is believed that it reflects the distance in time and space--more red shift is interpreted as more distance and thus age. I did not make a mistake when I said 'it is believed', because that is exactly what it is. However, observations do not seem to support this belief. When you find a galaxy with a jet sprite that is in front of it and is more red-shifted than galaxy, 'Houston, we have a problem'. Also, red shift seems to be quantized, which brings anuther can of worms forth.
There are many other discrepancies, but the red shift example illustrates that we may need to accept that our cosmological ideas will need a drastic reevaluation very soon. I'd venture to say that we've got most of our established 'facts' simply wrong.
#4
Sobiesky-
Doppler shifts are due to relative motion, not distance. A red shift is due to something moving away from the observer and a blue shift is due to something moving towards the observer.
#5
Spot, yes, relative motion... and based on that, you extrapolate the distance in time and space.
But, A red shift is due to something moving away from the observer and a blue shift is due to something moving towards the observer. this widely accepted wisdom may not be true, based on latest observations. The quantized red/blue shift may be property of an entirely different process.
#6
The fine structure constant is a product of several other constants, which means that if this is true, one (or more) of the underlying 'constants' has changed over time. It's possible that they're actually themselves the result of some other underlying set of constants, produced by a formula that depends (perhaps indirectly) on something like the size of the universe or density of matter.
The values of the constants that make up alpha are critical to the viability of life. If some of them were slightly off, we would not have certain important things like large nuclei and complex hydrocarbons. We're in a "sweet spot" that might not have always existed.
#7
This is SOOOOOO cool. High energy physics, cosmology and p chem. Where else but Rantburg?
I would suggest, as a rank amateur, that the solution involves a process that changes over time, but so slowly that we [being so short lived] cannot measure it as yet. What would your observations of an ice cube at 1 degree C be if you only lived for a nanosecond? Could you tell that it was melting?
The red/blus shift is produced by a device in every Galactic Patrol vehicle that changes the traffic light as the vehicle approaches.
#8
Dishman, I see what you are trying to say... that there may have been a shift in several constants simultaneusly that would facilitate the transition and not necessarily preclude existence of life in the previous configuration. One may argue that a substantial shift over just minute variances would preclude life, basta. However, I would qualify it as "life as we know it".
It is possible that another set of values of universal constants may establish conditions that would result in processes that may be called life. We don't know. We just know our specific configuration and are certain that is conductive to life, QED.
I think that the reading of alpha constant was, possibly, skewed and that it is, in fact, constant in our corner of universe. But the problem should be thoroughly investigated, before reaching some conclusion either way--in fact, leaving it open ended may be the best course for a while.
There are other things, though, that we seem to be certain of and they may be not so certain.
#10
Reminds me of a Peanuts strip I read long ago: Charlie Brown is talking to Linus and tells him how he read that scientists think the force of gravity on Earth is gradually weakening and is less than it was millions of years ago. Linus runs off and comes back with a ball, which he drops and observes: "Hmmmm, they're right."
#13
Thinking further...
IIUC, Hubble and those who followed based their work on spectral lines to determine red shift.
If they're getting a different value for alpha... that would suggest that maybe something was different which affects the spectral lines... which would mean that our basis for determining red shift was off.
It would be like finding out you had been looking at the world through a low magnification lens.
I've got some vague notion that something could fall out of this that helps explain the uniformity of cosmic background radiation, and lower the upper bounds on some of terms in Drake's Equation. We might even actually be at (or near) the center of the universe. That's all just wild speculation, though.
#15
Dishman, Determining R/B shift's fine. We just have no clue what it signifies.
As for the center of the universe, relative to what? I mean, how you can find a center on a structure that really does not have any? You mean Big Bang origin in S/T continuum? A) Metaphysical conjecture; and B) How do you propose we stayed nearby the dot after the wholesale expansion? In fact, the uniformity of backround radiation giveth the Big Bada Boom idea a foot to trip over.
Well, I have an explanation for uniformity of backgroud radiation, but no one wants to hear it! LOL
#17
Dishman, one more thing... IMHO, Drake equation is a crap. It is based on a whole set of ideas that may have no reflection in reality.
As you said, this universe may be a sweet place fine-tuned for teeming with life. That does not mean our planet is a typical example. I would tend to think it is closer to the harsher boundary that specifies optimum conditions. We are searching all quadrants for radio signals. We did not find one that may be interpreted as intelligent message, yet. It may mean that we are alone at this juncture in time at the specific civilization level. But it may, OTOH, mean that we are in an atypical planetary configuration and that expecting radio messages may be unwarranted.
#18
When I said "we", I only referred to us turkeys.
Lowering uppper bounds on Drake's would have the effect of reducing our estimated probability of other life.
For myself, I'm fairly confident that, contrary to claims of others, the universe was not created 20 minutes ago by the Invisible Pink Unicorn. The current concept I use as a holding place is that the universe can be described in terms of a mathematical function, and that the validity of that function is sufficient for its existence, independent of any evaluation. The universe is interesting because it supports intelligent life.
#19
Dishman, I don't like to sound polemic, but...
I would say that probability of other life in the universe is almost certain--the ingredients are extremely conductive to that status quo. Less certain are occurences of civilizations comparable to ours, that is at the similar state of development. I already told you what I think of Drake's equation, lowering some values or not may not be related to any portion of reality. GIGO.
The current concept I use as a holding place is that the universe can be described in terms of a mathematical function
Quite possibly. I haven't really seen it yet.
and that the validity of that function is sufficient for its existence, independent of any evaluation.
Going in circles? Actually, this IS Pink Unicorn, except you do not specify its delta t! LOL
Math is a cool proxy, but a proxy nevertheless. It allows us to create models of reality. That is all to it. Nothing more, nothing less.
#22
This research is several years old now, and still unconfirmed. There's a possibility that there may be experimental error associated with the instrument. If I recall correctly, right now there is only one instrument capable of doing their observations. If that instrument has a systematic error, their results may be wrong.
The constant in question here is the speed of light (which is contained in the fine structure constant).
It's not the red shift per se that they're measuring (although they do that too), but the distance between the two lines in various doublets in quasar absorption spectra. (Many ions produce two -- or even three -- closely spaced spectral lines from the same electronic transition; these are called doublets or triplets.) The space between the lines is determined by the fine structure constant.
If the speed of light is not a constant, the doublet spacing from distant objects will be different from that of nearer objects.
It'll be a very exciting result if true, but I'm waiting for a bit more data.
#23
There's a saying which I heard attributed to Einstein (though I haven't succeeded in tracing it): "A theory is believed by nobody except its creator. An experiment is believed by everybody except the experimenter."
Posted by: James ||
04/12/2005 22:35 Comments ||
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A total of 203 people have died in Angola from the Marburg virus, the worst outbreak ever recorded of the Ebola-like bug, the Angolan health ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. The greatest number of deaths of 184, were recorded in the northern Uige province, the epicentre of the epidemic that was first detected in October, the figures from health authorities released in a statement in the capital Luanda say. The statement said a total of 221 cases of the Marburg virus have been discovered, out of which 203 resulted in death, putting the mortality rate countrywide from the outbreak at 92 per cent.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/12/2005 6:19:13 AM ||
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#1
It appears most of Uige province is not under the control of the Angolan government, so we don't know the real total.
#3
The Marburg data is characterized by gaps in reporting, leading to spikes when the updates are finally made. The latest WHO report lists data from 4/9/2005, and shows 214 cases since October 2004, and 194 deaths, with a death rate of 90.7%. The number of new cases peaked at the beginning of April with the April 7 and 9 data showing a significant drop. I've roughed the existing data out here.
Gunshots rang out in close proximity of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya's official residence in Kolkata yesterday throwing policemen into a tizzy. Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee is particularly embarrassed because it is the second time criminals have struck so close to Bhattacharya's home. Obviously, the CM is not the target this time or before but recurring violence in a sensitive zone has left Mukherjee red-faced.
And no cross-fires either time!
Yesterday, two rowdies exchanged fire near Bhattacharya's residence over the division of booty. One of them had a narrow escape as the bullet grazed him. Earlier, the officer-in-charge of Karaya police station was shunted after a hoodlum shot his rival within a furlong from the apartment block where the CM lives with his activist wife, Meera Bhattacharya, and their daughter.
"Ya cain't shoot me here, the CM lives nearby!"
"Oh yeah?" *BANG* [THUMP]
"Rosebud! ..."
A senior home department official told Khaleej Times that instructions were issued to Kolkata police to sanitise the area around Bhattacharya's residence. The police top brass was apparently told that any outbreak of violence near the CM's home sends the wrong message to common people in Kolkata and elsewhere in West Bengal. "We told them (the police) to pull up their jsocks. We specifically ordered a crackdown on criminal gangs operating in the area. But our instructions were not carried out", the official said. As if shoot-outs were not bad enough and they're not, Rs300,000 was stolen in a daring theft barely 300 metres from Bhattacharya's house last month. The theft hogged the headlines for obvious reasons. But the case is yet to be cracked.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2005 12:31:40 AM ||
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Pakland has something like Lifetime for Women? Who'da thunkit?
LAHORE: A 13-episode TV series inspired by Mukhtar Mai will be aired on PTV at the end of May. The show is produced and directed by Alia Rasheed and written by Irfan Ahmed Urfi. Ms Rasheed said the story revolved around two women, one who lives is an urban area and the other in a village, that are exploited by men. The women characters are played by Iffat Rahim and Saima Qureshi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2005 00:00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Three students of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Girls' Degree College were injured when a car ran them over in a rally against the college administration, on Monday. The protest was held against the college administration and Federal Minister Tariq Azeem. The protesting students said that the college had not issued their degrees despite the fact that Rabia Noor, former college principal, had received Rs 150,000 from each student for degrees. They said that when the government had suspended the former principal, she escaped from the country as the authorities had failed to arrest her.
Cheeze. You can't make this stuff up...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Shoot I guess I'll pay and get me one of them advanced Pakistani College degrees! Then you can call me Dr. Sock Puppet of Doom.
#2
hey. They could of been buying doctors of divinity from some of of the religions discussed here. They are part and parcel of the folks who used to sell divinity degrees in the 60s to help one get around the draft!.
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.
Australians in the country's Northern Territory should start smashing cane toads to death with golf clubs and cricket bats in a bid to stop the spread of the toxic creatures, a government politician has urged.
A VOLCANO on the Indonesian island of Sumatra spewed ash today, sparking panic among a population that has yet to recover from a strong recent earthquake. A meteorology and geophysics official in the west Sumatran town of Padang Panjang said nearby Mount Talang had erupted at 3.42am (5.42 AEST), coughing volcanic ash about 1km around the peak. The 2599m Mount Talang is just 40km east of the coastal capital of West Sumatra province, Padang. The official, Sugeng, said his office had warned people to avoid the ash fallout zone around the peak but had otherwise not demanded the evacuation of the rest of the mountain's slope. "We are still monitoring the activities of the volcano but so far there has not been any significant volcanic temblor registered," he said.
A total of 203 people have died in Angola from the Marburg virus, the worst outbreak ever recorded of the Ebola-like bug, the Angolan health ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. The greatest number of deaths of 184, were recorded in the northern Uige province, the epicentre of the epidemic that was first detected in October, the figures from health authorities released in a statement in the capital Luanda say. The statement said a total of 221 cases of the Marburg virus have been discovered, out of which 203 resulted in death, putting the mortality rate countrywide from the outbreak at 92 per cent.
Gunshots rang out in close proximity of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya's official residence in Kolkata yesterday throwing policemen into a tizzy. Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee is particularly embarrassed because it is the second time criminals have struck so close to Bhattacharya's home. Obviously, the CM is not the target this time or before but recurring violence in a sensitive zone has left Mukherjee red-faced.
