A high-definition film revolution spilled from the world's largest consumer electronics show into the planet's biggest adult entertainment expo. Some sex stars at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo were titillated by innovations unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) while others dreaded the notion of digital movies so detailed they could display every blemish.
Porn producers welcomed news that competition was driving down prices for digital high-definition gear and that Warner Brothers film studio and major electronics makers were trying to convert viewers to the new format.
Warner unveiled a DVD that worked on rival Blu-ray and HD DVD players. LG Electronics introduced a DVD player that read both formats. Executives from Warner and LG said their moves were intended to get buyers off the sidelines and into investing in high-density DVDs and players.
"This news is very exciting," adult film maker and peddler Michael Piehl told AFP at his SexyViewX2.com booth at the expo. "I filmed in HD before and it was fruitless because no one had the players. I'll definitely switch back."
The dawn of a high-definition era in the multi-billion-dollar porn industry inspired Apple Computer to send a representative to the expo for the first time. Doug Cunningham of the California-based computer and iPod maker was part of a DV411 technical contingent demonstrating next-generation digital camera hardware and editing software. "The DVD revolution is huge for these guys and now, with HD, it's a whole new world," Cunningham told AFP as he showed off Motion and Final Cut Pro editing programs by Apple.
"People in the porn industry have always been early adopters of new technology, but in this case they were held back by cost."
High-density digital cameras that until recently cost $US60,000 or more can now be bought in a range of $US4,000 to $US15,000. "Absolutely it's being adopted," said Alexei Gerulaitis of DV411. "With the new TVs like those at CES we have big picture frames. Now, we need the detail to fill in the whole scene."
Adult film makers will need to adapt to using cameras that can reveal sloppy lighting, pancake make-up on actors and even lint on furniture, Cunningham said. "They are going through the same struggle as the television industry," Cunningham said. "HD is that much cleaner, that much more detailed."
The majority of the sex stars informally polled at the expo said a shift to high definition would not keep them out of the action. "It doesn't even cross my mind," said Carly Parker. "I'd rather people were paying attention to my scene and not whether by (bottom) was fat."
Teva Wray and Micah Moore, both 19-year-old starlets, embraced the realism high-definition delivered. "Imperfections are sexy too," Wray told AFP. "Guys don't want Barbie dolls."
"It's awesome unless you get a zit," Moore added. "Maybe in a few years I might be worried. But I'm young -- I can handle it. Maybe I should stop smoking?"
Porn industry veteran Larry Ross, 73, of Cinderella Distribution, contended that the business was likely to make streaming content to mobile devices a higher priority than producing movies in high definition.
#3
I think this is looking at things wrong. Porn is not gonna buy new hi definition cameras and plop a single super resolution film on a HD-DVD.
More likely is the idea that they'll continue to use video cameras they already have and plop three or four regular definition movies on an HD-DVD disc. Perhaps each new movie gets 3 older titles to juice up the sales, that sort of thing.
#4
Thanks, esteemed Rantburg, for keeping me up to date with Pr0n industry. This website truly is a bottomless well of Knowledge, the one that really counts.
A court in Casablanca has handed down three-year suspended jail terms to two journalists for defaming Islam and breaching public morality in jokes published in a Moroccan magazine. The court also ordered the payment of damages of 80,000 dirhams ($9,320) for "defamation against Islam and the monarchy".
The ruling on Monday also banned the weekly magazine Nichane from publishing for two months. The contentious jokes featured the Prophet Muhammad, the late Moroccan King Hassan II, Islamists and Moroccans in an article entitled: How Moroccans laugh at religion, sex and politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Leftist outrage at curtailment of civil liberties in 4... 3... 2... and never.
Nine South Koreans and one Nigerian, who were taken hostage earlier this week in southern Nigeria, have been released. The men were freed, unharmed, on Friday afternoon, a government spokesman said. Welson Ekiyor, a spokesman from the southern state of Bayelsa, said: "They released all ten of the hostages. All are in good health. No ransom was paid."
On Wednesday, armed men broke into an oil services base in Bayelsa state, using dynamite to blow up part of an office building. The site was operated by Daewoo Engineering and Construction company. Daewoo later confirmed that nine of its employees, all South Koreans, had been captured.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is fighting for local control of oil assets and reparations for neglect and pollution in the delta and which has conducted kidnapping operations in the past, said it was not involved in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Bangladeshs national security chief has been ousted, officials said on Monday, amid sweeping political changes following the imposition of a state of emergency and the cancellation of elections. Major General Rezakul Haider Chowdhury has been sent to retirement after he was removed as the director general of National Security Intelligence, an armed forces spokesman told AFP.
No reason for the sacking was given, although Chowdhury was widely seen as close to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which governed the country until last October and is accused of having attempted to rig elections. President Iajuddin Ahmed was said to be under pressure from his own party, the BNP, to bow out of politics.
Ahmed headed the first interim government after the two feuding political parties failed to agree on a mutually acceptable candidate for the post. Although he stepped down as head of the temporary authority on Thursday, he continued as the countrys mostly ceremonial president. There is pressure on him (to resign). The BNP are looking to see him go, said senior Awami League official Saber Hossain Chowdhury. I think they feel that the new caretaker government is going to take more of a non-party role than in the past and they want someone who can counter that.Officials at the presidents office declined to comment. Besides Chowdhury, Power Ministry Secretary ANH Akhter Hossain, another powerful figure close to the BNP, was sacked, the governments press information department said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Bangladeshs national security chief"
They've got one?
Who knew?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/16/2007 17:35 Comments ||
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British congressman George Galloway, a highly controversial deputy because of his support for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his frontal opposition to war in Iraq, is now seeking support from Venezuela to launch an Internet-based TV station.
Galloway (52), was expelled from the Labor Party in 2003 and then founded his own party, called Respect. Now he intends to use the TV station to broadcast political satires and speeches of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He plans to visit Venezuela next month to ask Chávez' Government for economic and technical aid for this new enterprise, Galloway himself told British newspaper The Guardian.
MADRID, Spain - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection, a Spanish newspaper said Tuesday. The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.
In a report published on its Web site, El Pais said: "A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis."
Boy that sounds .. painful.
El Pais' report, which could not immediately be confirmed, was a rare detailed description from a major media outlet about Castro's condition.
The U.S. government had speculated that Castro could suffer from cancer a supposition denied by Sabrido. Some U.S. doctors believed Castro was suffering from diverticular disease, which can cause bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over 60. In severe cases, emergency surgery may be required. That idea was supported by El Pais, which reported that its sources said Castro had suffered a bout of the disease.
"In the summer, the Cuban leader bled abundantly in the intestine," El Pais reported. "This adversity led him to the operating table, according to the medical sources. His condition, moreover, was aggravated because the infection spread and caused peritonitis, the inflammation of the membrane that covers the digestive organs."
Certainly possible. Usually you can clear peritonitis with antibiotics and rest, but if it's very widespread, or if abscesses form, or if the bacteria are multi-drug resistant then you could have this scenario.
A statement attributed to Castro was released on New Year's Eve saying his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."
Cuban officials told visiting U.S. lawmakers last month that Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness and will eventually return to public life, although it was not clear whether he would return to the same kind of absolute control as before.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Waitasec! When ya sez Castro's in a grave condition, do ya mean he's in a grave? Or in a gravely sickly way? Quit playing with my mind here!
Whataya mean read the article! Oh.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
01/16/2007 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
Is he daid yet?...
Hugo, Daniel, and their pinky brothers in Bolivia, and Ecuador had better buckle up... Without Godfather Fidel, it'll be a bumpy ride....
#16
According to this article on MSNBC, the ol' bastard had seven operations in one day because of stitching problems, and three failed operations for diverticulitis. I don't know much about medicine, but, ooooh, that can't be good.
Next headline: "South Florida Experiences Acute Rum Shortage in Wake of Castro's Passing; Hollywood Appalled"
Gunmen burst into the home of a political leader in the northern Mexican state of Durango and fatally shot him, two family members and an employee, authorities said Monday.
Jaime Meraz Martinez, 63, a former lawmaker and an adviser to the left-leaning opposition Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, was shot three times Sunday night and died hours later at a hospital, said Ruben Lopez, a spokesman for Durango state investigators. Lopez said the gunmen also killed 61-year-old Maria Meraz, the politician's wife; 34-year-old Jaime Meraz, his son; and Jorge Marquez, a 22-year-old taxi driver.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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The man who led Ukraine's orange revolution two years ago has been transformed into a lame-duck president following a humiliating parliamentary vote that effectively strips him of all powers. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's opposition leader turned president, no longer has the power to veto the choice of prime minister or foreign minister.
Lawyers for President Yushchenko said yesterday that they were preparing to appeal, describing the move as "unconstitutional". However, Mr Yushchenko appears to be the big loser in Ukraine's latest constitutional battle, which has paralysed the country over the past year because of vicious internal power struggles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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FRANKFURT (AFP) - European aircraft maker Airbus will later this week announce a significant slump in its market share last year as arch-rival Boeing leapt ahead in terms of orders, the Financial Times Deutschland reported.
Quoting figures that would officially be published on Tuesday, FT Deutschland said that Airbus, a unit of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company, saw its market share by value fall to 40 percent last year from 45 percent the year before. Airbus received orders for just 800 aircraft in 2006, down from 1,055 in 2005, the newspaper said.
The figures come after Boeing announced record commercial aircraft orders for 2006, beating Airbus for the first time since 2000, the report continued.
Airbus is suffering from relatively weak sales of its A330/340 models, as well as the A380, which is heavily burdened by production problems, and the repeatedly re-designed A350, FT Deutschland said. In the segment for wide-body airplanes, Airbus's market share now stands at only 18 percent, compared to Boeing's 82 percent, it added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Customers tend to drift elsewhere when you can't deliver. They're funny that way...
#4
When all you have to sell is dogs, only the kennel clubs are interested. The A320 is still selling OK, but the rest of the Airbust product line is in the dumpster. Nobody wants the expense of a 4 engined jet anymore, now that the FAA has effectively removed all time-to-divert restrictions on overwater flights for twinjets (ETOPS). And until the new and improved A350WXT ( or whatever) is actually a reality, sitting on the ramp somewhere, I only think that Boeing's 787 backlog is going to get bigger. and their 747-8 freighter is starting to rack up sales, at the expense of Airbust. Still waitning for Boeing to announce the sale of a 'Dreamlifter' freighter to a commercial outfit (Dreamlifter is the official name given to the 747-derived parts carriers for the 787 Deamliner. It would make an excellent outsize vehicle for the market that right now is owned by the Anatov 124-226 heavy lifters). The Airbust equivalent is the Beluga, but it is also an internal use aircraft only.
DRESDEN, Germany - The European Unions new border agency must be given the patrol boats and helicopters it needs to prevent a massive wave of illegal immigration this summer, the EUs top migration official said on Monday.
Good luck with that.
More than 31,000 sub-Saharan migrants reached Spains Canary Islands last year, six times as many as in 2005. Malta and Italy faced similar problems. Thousands of would-be migrants are believed to have died during their perilous journey.
Frontex, the EUs fledging border agency, struggled for months last year to obtain a few boats and aircraft to mount limited patrols off the Canaries and Malta. It was absolutely impossible that EU member states should refuse to give Frontex what it needs, EU migration and security Commissioner Franco Frattini said as he arrived for a two-day meeting of EU interior and justice ministers in Dresden.
Im talking about vessels, Im talking about helicopters, he said. Frattini said EU states must give Frontex this equipment no later than April if the agency was to be able to handle the expected massive flows of illegal migrants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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A statement in the 2006 Defense Security Service Technology Collection Trends in the U.S. Defense Industry report which claimed radio frequency transmitters were discovered embedded in Canadian coins is not true, according to DSS officials. This statement was based on a report provided to DSS. The allegations, however, were found later to be unsubstantiated following an investigation into the matter.
According to DSS officials, the 2006 annual report should not have contained this information. The acting director of the DSS directed an internal review of the circumstances leading up to the publication of this information to prevent incidents like this from reoccurring.
The 2006 DSS Technology Collection Trends in the U.S. Defense Industry report was published by DSS in June 2006. As part of its oversight responsibilities under the National Industrial Security Program, the DSS receives reports from U.S. cleared defense industry to enhance overall security awareness in cleared industry.
NWFP has rejected the federal Education Ministrys amendments to the Islamiat curriculum and demanded the deferment of an inter-provincial meeting of education ministers. The ministry had sent a booklet of the amended curriculum to the provinces for approval. Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi directed the provincial departments to publish sample books based on the new curriculum and send them to the Federal Curriculum Wing (FCW) for approval.
In a letter to the ministry, the NWFP Education Department has asked it to include the chapters it had discussed with the centre in the amended curriculum, threatening to boycott the inter-provincial meeting scheduled for January 22 if it was not delayed. NWFP Education Secretary Safiullah Khan said the federal authorities had failed to come up with a proper curriculum for the subject. The new curriculum focused only the rights of women and orphans, he said, and the life of Prophet Muhammad (ptui pbuh) was included only at primary level. He said the prophets (ptui pbuh) last sermon, which was the basic philosophy of Islam, had not been explained properly.
The federal authorities, he said, had disregarded the provinces reservations expressed during the last inter-provincial meeting while amending the curriculum. Javed Ashraf Qazi ruled out postponing the inter-provincial meeting and said if a province did not attend it, it would violate the constitution. The federal government had already accepted more than 85 percent recommendations made by the NWFP. If theyre not satisfied, there is nothing else we can do, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Tough choice: "UN" or "Lurid Crime Tales"...
NEW YORK - The former United Nations oil-for-food chief was charged Tuesday with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the scandal-tainted humanitarian program. At the UN, it's "Scandal Tainted".
The charges against Benon Sevan, 69, of Nicosia, Cyprus, were contained in a rewrite of an indictment stemming from the scandal over the operation set up from 1996 to 2003 to permit the Iraqi government to sell oil primarily to buy food and medicine for suffering Iraqis. Looks like you'll have to keep using the stairs, Benon. There's probably an elevator shaft with your name on it.
The program was designed to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions, but authorities said it was corrupted by bureaucrats, oil tycoons and Saddam Hussein after the former Iraqi leader was allowed to choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods.
Sevan, who had worked for the U.N. for 40 years, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Federal and state prosecutors also announced the indictment of Ephraim Nadler, 79, of Manhattan, on the same charges. He helped a coconspirator obtain the right to buy Iraqi oil under the program in exchange for commissions from the oil sales and then funneled approximately $160,000 of these oil commissions to Sevan, the indictment said. Nadler is the brother-in-law of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said the United States has lodged warrants for the arrest of both men with Interpol and will seek their arrest and extradition to the United States.
FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the indictment brings to 14 the number of individuals charged in the case.
Since 2004, Sevan has been the subject of a U.N.-backed probe of fraud and waste in the $64 billion operation. Eric Lewis, a lawyer for Sevan, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.
In August 2005, a U.N.-appointed investigating committee pursuing claims of fraud and waste in the program accused Sevan of a conflict of interest in his handling of oil-for-food contracts. Sevan resigned from the U.N. that same month and returned to his native Cyprus. The U.N. investigating committee also accused him of accepting some $147,000 in kickbacks for steering the contracts to a company of his choice. Benon, they got you for chump change, man...
On Feb. 22, South Korean businessman Tongsun Park is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction on charges he accepted at least $2 million to serve Iraq's interests in the scandal. He could face up to five years in prison. Hey, Tongsun Park. The Zelig of international corruption...
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller told the jury in Park's trial last July that Park was part of a decade-long conspiracy to bring about the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait and brought about the first Gulf War.
Miller said Park used his relationship with former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to join an effort by Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American, to earn the favor of Iraq and share as much as $45 million in windfall gains if the sanctions were lifted.
Vincent, who testified against Park, has pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating with the government. He testified that Park arranged meetings during 1993 with himself, Boutros-Ghali and Vincent.
Miller told the jury that Park and Vincent arranged a 1993 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, with Boutros-Ghali and Tariq Aziz, then Iraq's deputy foreign minister, and Barzan al-Tikriti, the half brother of Saddam who then was the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. I see Boutros-Boutrous mentioned here a lot. They gonna go after him? Yeah, I didn't think so...
Several others accused in the conspiracy are awaiting trial, including Texas oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., who has pleaded not guilty. Be a standup guy, Benon. Don't go against the family. Take it like a man...
A 40,000-year-old skull found in a Romanian cave shows traits of both modern humans and Neanderthals and might prove the two interbred, researchers reported on Monday. If the findings are confirmed, the skull would represent the oldest modern human remains yet found in Europe.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will add to the debate over whether modern Homo sapiens simply killed off their Neanderthal cousins, or had some intimate interactions with them first. DNA samples taken from Neanderthal bones suggest there was no mixing, or at least that any Neanderthal genetic contribution did not make it to the modern DNA pool.
But Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis has in the past found bones that he believes show both modern human and Neanderthal traits, and now he and colleagues have found a skull. The skull, probably that of a teenager, has been dated to 40,000 years ago and shows many modern traits. But it also is a little flatter than most modern Homo sapiens, and exceptionally large upper molars more associated with Neanderthals. "Such differences raise important questions about the evolutionary history of modern humans," said Joao Zilhao of the University of Bristol in Britain, who worked on the study. It could be "evolutionary reversal" he said -- humans changing back into archaic forms. "They could also reflect admixture with Neanderthal populations as modern humans spread through western Eurasia," Zilhao said in a statement. "This mixture would have resulted in both archaic traits retained from the Neanderthals and unique combinations of traits resulting from the blending of previously divergent gene pools."
Modern humans are believed to have spread into Europe around 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, and had completely replaced the older Neanderthals by 30,000 years ago. But that means at least 10,000 years of living side by side, and artifacts attributed to the more modern humans have been found at Neanderthal sites.
Neanderthals were also once designated Homo sapiens, although are a designated subspecies -- Homan sapiens neanderthalis. But some experts now designate them as a separate species -- Homo neanderthalis. Zilhao, Trinkaus and colleagues examined the skull from the Pestera cu Oase, or the Cave with Bones, in southwestern Romania. It was mostly full of bones from cave bears but then the researchers found some human skull fragments. They are the earliest modern human remains found in Europe, although last week researchers reported finding 45,000-year-old human artifacts in Russia south of Moscow.
#1
It is not even sure that sex between Sapiens and Neandertalis could lead to the birth to a hybrid and still less sure that this hybrid would not have been sterile.
#3
But this was in "laboratory" conditions and with a non-gregarious species.
Consider this:
1) Sapiens and/or Neandertal must find the other palatable enough to have intercourse. Preferrably not one time in a million (near guarantee that at one point the hybrid line would extinguish) but quite frequently.
2) Differnce between species must be small enough for union being fecund
3) Even if it is fecund, humans are basically a gregarious species with little chances of surviving if mother or child is thrown out of the tribe (because she has had a baby who doesn't look right or "because you don't look like one of us"). If mother and baby are not thrown out of the tribe they still could be subject to discriminations => less food => weak baby who, if a boy, has little chances to prevail in competition against other males or, if a girl, could have fecundity reduced due to lack of food.
4) He/she will look funny to other sapiens, other neandertals so it is not sure he/she will find a partner. BTW that is another reason why it is requirement to have a significant number of hybrids (not just one in a million): because then hybrids can mate other hybrids, form tribes of hybrids and this greatly increases the chances of the hybrid genetic line surviving
5) If differnces between parents are great enough then he/she will be sterile
#4
Sapiens and/or Neandertal must find the other palatable enough to have intercourse.
Never went to bed with a Neandertal chick, but I've woken up with a few. (rimshot)
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the veal......
Posted by: Steve ||
01/16/2007 12:14 Comments ||
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#5
There was a theory floating around that HIV/AIDS was originally contracted by bush-meat hunters having sex with monkeys, there's that woman who wanted to marry the performing dolphin of her dreams ... and we know the sharia position on sex with quadropeds. There are those uninterested in the conventionality of the appearance of their sex object. Not to mention European/American explorers happily taking native wives for the duration, sometimes for life (Mr. Wife's great grandfather apparently had an Iroquois wife, which somehow everyone managed not to notice, even though they're all descended from her).
#6
Reminds me of the story of Dianna Troi from STNextGen. She was half human and half betazoid. She said one time she was worried she would be replaced by someone who was half human and half VHS-zoid.
SINGAPORE - Deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra said he had no intention of returning to Thai politics and had nothing to do with recent fatal bomb blasts, in his first media interviews since he was ousted.
That's terrible, the clamor for his return has been just ... deafening.
Thaksin broke his silence on his ouster and criticised the economic policy of Thailands new military-backed government in wide-ranging discussions with the Wall Street Journal and CNN published and broadcast Monday. Enough is enough. Six years you serve the countries. (Youve) been working hard. You sacrifice your time, even your life, the billionaire businessman told the CNN news channel. So its, its time for me to go back as a private citizen and contribute to the Thai society outside political arena.
"Nobody understands me. Barkeep, another round."
Thaksin, who was overthrown by the military on September 19 last year, was quoted on the Wall Street Journal website as saying accusations that he was involved in recent deadly bomb attacks in Bangkok forced him to speak out. They were pointing the finger at me, so I thought it was now time to talk, he said.
Actually everyone knows it was the Religion of Pieces, but they're too sensitive to say that because it would imply the origami didn't work. So they're blaming you instead. It's easier, you see, they don't have to live with you anymore.
Im not the kind of person to do anything behind the back of others, the former leader told the Wall Street Journal. Its not my style. What happened was just too gruesome.
He told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted to return to Thailand, but indicated that he had no intention of trying to regain his office. I reassure them they shouldnt feel worried about me, he said, referring to the ruling military leaders.
I don't know that they're exactly worried about you, but you might be useful to them as a scapegoat. And then there's the little matter of your money.
The website quoted Thaksin as saying that he did not intend to run for prime minister again, but would remain a member of his political party. Thaksin founded the Thai Rak Thai party, but stood down as leader after the coup.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Fairyland) made an surprise appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission.
The Presidential candidate said that the committee would be holding "hearings to push media reform right at the center of Washington. The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee was to be officially announced this week in Washington, D.C., but Kucinich opted to make the news public early.
In addition to media ownership, the committee is expected to focus its attention on issues such as net neutrality and major telecommunications mergers. Also in consideration is the "Fairness Doctrine," which required broadcasters to present controversial topics in a fair and honest manner. That's a blatant lie; it did nothing of the sort. It was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.
Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a position to move a even narrower progressive agenda to where it is visible."
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps was also on hand at the conference and took broadcasters to task for their current content, speaking of "too little news, too much baloney passed off as news. Too little quality entertainment, too many people eating bugs on reality TV. Too little local and regional music, too much brain-numbing national play-lists. Too much of what people want and too little of what we say is good for them" Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein also spoke at the event.
#5
Too much of what people want and too little of what we say is good for them
Actually its all based upon somebody's concept of statistical sampling to provide commercial sponsors a means of determining how much of their advertising overhead tacked on each and every piece of consumer product or service goes into the pockets of media and Hollyweird bigwigs. Not that there would be a penny of corruption in that process. No, nothing there.
#6
Conservative talk radio hurts them. The Fairness Doctrine is aimed squarely at conservative talk radio and nothing else, since the MSM and public broadcasting are left-liberal entities. If the FCC comes out with anything resembling the Fairness Doctrine it should be litigated tooth and nail.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
01/16/2007 9:30 Comments ||
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#7
It [The Fairness Doctrine] was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.
The politically Far-Left has called for a re-instatement of the "Fairness Doctrine" prior to every election since it was eliminated. Their problem is it has been repeatedly proven to have the exact opposite effect of its stated goals. Of course, Kucinich and his band of loons have always had their own concept of free speech. You can hardly blame them though, their affirmative action in broadcasting really wouldnt get much support if it was called by its more appropriate name - The Un-Fairness Doctrine.
#8
Le Money Quote: Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible."
"We know". Yes, Dennis knows. Some other elite members of his "we" know this. What the rest of us perceive as the free market at work must be a mirage.
#10
I do not trust these rat ba$tards one bit. We must all be vigilant and resist their so-called media reform plans, which are nothing more than leftist agenda for media control. This is a very dangerous threat. As screwed up as the media is now, it will get very bad if loons like Kucinich get their hands in the perloo. We are entering a very dangerous period in the history of our country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/16/2007 17:18 Comments ||
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#11
My prediction, if this passes. (a) Rush Limbaugh and others dedicate half of their broadcasts to presenting the other side in a non-serious way that includes strawmen and funny voices that look good in transcripts but are mocking in tone and delivery (b) a ton of laws flood in about the various news shows as both Left and Right point out the bias in the others news.
The end result is a mountain of paperwork and a quick trip to the Supreme Court on freedom of speach grounds. The Fairness Doctrine dies forever in the Supreme Court.
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.
A court in Casablanca has handed down three-year suspended jail terms to two journalists for defaming Islam and breaching public morality in jokes published in a Moroccan magazine. The court also ordered the payment of damages of 80,000 dirhams ($9,320) for "defamation against Islam and the monarchy". 
Nine South Koreans and one Nigerian, who were taken hostage earlier this week in southern Nigeria, have been released. The men were freed, unharmed, on Friday afternoon, a government spokesman said. Welson Ekiyor, a spokesman from the southern state of Bayelsa, said: "They released all ten of the hostages. All are in good health. No ransom was paid." 
Bangladeshs national security chief has been ousted, officials said on Monday, amid sweeping political changes following the imposition of a state of emergency and the cancellation of elections. Major General Rezakul Haider Chowdhury has been sent to retirement after he was removed as the director general of National Security Intelligence, an armed forces spokesman told AFP. 
MADRID, Spain - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection, a Spanish newspaper said Tuesday. The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.
"In the summer, the Cuban leader bled abundantly in the intestine," El Pais reported. "This adversity led him to the operating table, according to the medical sources. His condition, moreover, was aggravated because the infection spread and caused peritonitis, the inflammation of the membrane that covers the digestive organs."
Gunmen burst into the home of a political leader in the northern Mexican state of Durango and fatally shot him, two family members and an employee, authorities said Monday. 
The man who led Ukraine's orange revolution two years ago has been transformed into a lame-duck president following a humiliating parliamentary vote that effectively strips him of all powers. 
DRESDEN, Germany - The European Unions new border agency must be given the patrol boats and helicopters it needs to prevent a massive wave of illegal immigration this summer, the EUs top migration official said on Monday.
NWFP has rejected the federal Education Ministrys amendments to the Islamiat curriculum and demanded the deferment of an inter-provincial meeting of education ministers. The ministry had sent a booklet of the amended curriculum to the provinces for approval. Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi directed the provincial departments to publish sample books based on the new curriculum and send them to the Federal Curriculum Wing (FCW) for approval.
Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Fairyland) made an surprise appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission.
