It may not be a crime, but it don't git more "lurid"
Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked apart from bondage gear. Reports say he was able to identify himself to police only after a rubber ball had been removed from his mouth.
"Mr Ambassador! Are you alright?"
"Mmmmmmmmmm!"
A foreign ministry official described Ambassador Tzuriel Refael's behaviour as an unprecedented embarrassment. The incident, which happened two weeks ago, has renewed calls for a radical overhaul of the way Israel appoints and promotes its diplomats.
San Salvador was Mr Refael's first post as ambassador. He was promoted in 2006 from a technical position in the ministry which had involved several foreign postings. He was being recalled, although he had not broken any laws, foreign ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel told reporters.
No law in El Salvador about having a rubber ball stuffed in your mouth.
She confirmed that lurid reports of the incident in the Israeli press were accurate. "We're talking about behaviour that is unbecoming of a diplomat," she said. Israel has been rocked by a recent series of misconduct and corruption scandals, shaking public confidence in the political leadership.
Haaretz website reports that police found Mr Refael in the Israeli embassy compound where he had been found bound, gagged and naked apart from sado-masochistic sex accessories.
Eeeewwwuuuuuu!
In 2006, Israel's diplomatic service was criticised by the public watchdog for its appointments system. The state comptroller's report singled out the foreign ministry appointments committee for its inadequate examination of candidates and lack of transparency.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/12/2007 12:44 ||
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Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked apart from bondage gear. Reports say he was able to identify himself to police only after a rubber ball had been removed from his mouth.
Paddington Zwigard, an avid environmentalist who is also a broker with Brown Harris Stevens, just sold her $4.15 million "green" penthouse on Chambers Street between Hudson and Greenwich Streets. Though she was long aware that its location near the river made it vulnerable to flooding either from a hurricane or a long-term rise in sea levels she was willing to stomach the risk to live near the river.
When she decided to sell, she thought the apartment's location would prompt at least some questions from buyers, though when it didn't, she suspected it was the result of "younger, self-absorbed, mass-materialist consumers who are really not aware of anything outside their whatever," Zwigard said. Pocketing her $4.15 mil, Paddington fled to higher ground, muttering invectives under her breath. "You young, self-absorbed, mass-materialist dupes! Just wait until the ice caps melt and the seas rise. You'll be sitting there in your Barcalounger, watching Deal or No Deal on the plasma screen, too stupid to flee as Gaia's avenging tsunami rolls in. Think your Cusinart or your BMW or your 401(k) will save you then? Ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
She speculates that the extensive condo development has attracted a certain type of buyer: wealthier, more mobile and disinclined to look more than a few years into his or her homeowning future. Zwigard is planning to buy other apartments downtown, renovate them and sell them betting, in effect, on others' shortsightedness. "Someday, you Earth-destroying Yuppie dupes, you'll all be dead and drowned, you and your SUVs, and I'll be up on the Palisaides with the surviving polar bears, enjoying my beachfront property and laughing at you. Gaia's vengeance will be complete, and I, her faithful low-carbon-footprinted servant, will inherit the Earth! And I'll be rich, too! And it'll all be long-term capital gains so my tax rate is lower! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Tim Blair comments:
Wouldnt an avid environmentalist have some moral issues with this? Perhaps Paddington is one of those self-absorbed materialist types.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/12/2007 09:51 ||
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#1
Zwigard is obviously a first class idiot, and no, that doesnt prove flooding from global warming wont be a problem.
But anyone with an IQ above 70 should be able to figure out that lower Manhattan, with some of the highest real estate values on the planet, will, if need be, end up protected by a sea wall, even at considerable expense.
Its lowlying farmland in places like Bangladesh, where youd need the entire countrys GDP (and then some) to build seawalls, that would be the problem.
#2
Isn't it, like, unethical for her to sell that penthouse when she knows it's gonna be flooded? And she made all that money doing it. Isn't that, like, hypocritical? Oh, right, she's going to donate the profits to Al Gore.
#4
Man, some people just don't have enough to worry about.
And if my parents had named me Paddington, I'd use some of the money to buy a gun and hunt them down...
#13
Green Penthouse, ya say? Don't have to buy pentinance with carbon footprint offsets from Al Gorilioni, ya say? But are ye woman enough to work on the slime line at a fish cannery, er are ye just a pretty picher in a magazine? Arrrr.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/12/2007 21:53 Comments ||
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#14
HHHHHHMMMMMM, okay, I'll bite, iff NYC is doomed Dooomed DOOMED D-O-O-M-E-D DDDDDOOOOOOOMMMMEEEDDD ala DAY AFTER TOMMORROW + EARTH CHANGES, ergo buy other equally doomed Apts-Condos-Houses and resell to fellow doomed New Yorkers, etc Amers, instead getting the hell out of dodge???
TRIPOLI - Libya on Sunday backtracked on a decision to ban women under 40 years old from leaving the country unless they were accompanied by a close male relative. A brief statement posted on the government website said the foreign ministry strongly denies any reports that it issued a ban on Libyan women under the age of 40 from travelling without Mahram -- a word used to describe someone such as a father, brother or uncle.
The official Al Jamahiriya newspaper reported the ban on Wednesday, one day ahead of International Womens Day, denouncing it as a flagrant violation of womens rights to freedom of movement. Sundays statement said the story referred to temporary regulations that are no longer valid, and which were issued to remedy negative aspects pertaining to Libyan girls travelling abroad.
The foreign ministry said security measures in no way tried to deprive our female citizens from travelling abroad, since there are already Libyan women pilots, judges, lawyers, journalists, politicians, and scientists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Is there a reason for 40 being the proposed cut off date? Does it have something to do with childbearing age or what?
Zimbabwes national intelligence agency on Monday began deploying its secret agents within the army and police to purge officers suspected of backing opposition plans to revolt against the government, ZimOnline has learnt. In a confidential memorandum dated 19 February 2007, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Director General Happyton Bonyongwe expressed concern over the leakage of sensitive information to the opposition.
The memo titled, Reversal of Mass Action, was addressed to State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa. It blamed the leakage on senior army and police commanders who are suspected of working with the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. There is indeed a lot of privileged information on security that is found with the opposition and that is alarming. However, I would like to inform you that we will start deploying our members within the police and army on March 5 2007 and expect to complete the deployments on March 21. We will begin by targeting provincial and district commanders, who pose the biggest threat as they are always in possession of vital documents and are privy to information that is classified. We expect the teams to have finished their task and reported back to us by April 30 2007, said Bonyongwe in the memo.
Last month, the CIO claimed that the MDC was seeking to incite worker grievances to incite a public revolt against Mugabe, warning that the revolt had all chances of succeeding unless the government moved to preempt it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Heavily armed police killed a protester and arrested the leader of the main opposition party as they broke up a prayer meeting protesting government policies Sunday. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said one man was shot and killed when 200 opposition party members attacked about 20 policemen. Three policemen were hospitalized with injuries, Bvudzijena told state television. Police said they arrested Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and other top party officials as they "instigated people to come out and commit acts of violence."
Human rights observers reported at least 100 arrests. Political leaders were taken from their cars as they approached the meeting on a sports ground, that had been sealed off by police earlier. Other drivers were turned back at road blocks after being told "it isn't safe" to go further. The prayer meeting had been organized by opposition, civic, church leaders and anti-government groups. Fliers for the prayer meeting proclaimed: "Zimbabwe Will Be Saved."
Authorities had declared that the meeting breached a three-month ban on political demonstrations against economic misery and political repression. Several opposition leaders and church clerics were detained for questioning. They were accused of defying the meeting ban, an opposition spokesman told reporters. Senior opposition party aide Eliphas Mukonoweshuro said witnesses told him that Tsvangirai was roughed up by police as he was taken away. Tsvangerai's lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, was also assaulted when he tried to intervene, witnesses were quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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You have your majority rule, a government of your own choosing. Now live with it!
Everything we did was criticized. For about thirty years we lived with the world against us, accusing us of things we didn't do! Ian Smith
#2
Yep, Besoeker, all them folks knew that high standards had to be dragged down to the lowest common denominator, they should be applauding Bob's racist shite, and the sheer effort involved, but they too busy holding onto their arses with both hands.
Tarique Rahman has admitted to having bank accounts in five countries--Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa and Switzerland. Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP and the eldest son of Khaleda Zia, he gave away the information in the face of extensive questioning at the joint interrogation cell (JIC), sources said yesterday. The investigators will soon seek assistance from the Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the foreign ministry to know how much money he has in those accounts and how he sent the sums abroad, according to the sources.
If the information is found authentic, the sleuths will start investigating how he had earned the money. Besides, the authorities concerned will initiate measures to retrieve the money, added the sources. The interrogators also quizzed Tarique about his reported huge investment in South Africa under a scheme styled '15-million project'. The sources, however, declined to elaborate on the matter.
Apart from this, reports have it that the Malaysian government has frozen his $230 million, as he could not explain the source of the money. He had allegedly siphoned off the massive amount to invest in the Southeast Asian country. The matter was even debated in the last parliament. Tarique denied extorting Tk 1 crore from Amin Ahmed, owner of Al Amin Constructions, who filed the case against him. The immediate past premier's son, who used to pull rank on the administration and always seemed beyond the reach of law enforcers during the BNP-Jamaat rule, said he only had some kind of business relations with the complainant and that Giasuddin Al Mamun had introduced him to Amin. Sources close to the interrogation cell said the man who would lead an alternative powerhouse in Hawa Bhaban, the BNP chairperson's Banani office, looks glum during questioning at the JIC. He also grudges having meals.
Meanwhile, Gulshan police are examining documents of the bank from where the complainant withdrew Tk 1 crore, police sources said. Tarique will be produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka tomorrow as his four-day remand expires today. The sources also said the trial would be completed within a month. As per section 10(2) of the Speedy Trial (Law and Order Disruption) Act, a charge sheet or final report against him should be submitted within seven days. Tarique would be ineligible to compete in elections for the next five years if he is found guilty. Even if his party returns to power, he would not be able to hold any portfolio or any post equivalent to a minister's. If the charge against him is proven true, he might be sentenced to a maximum of five years or a minimum of two years in prison and might be fined as well.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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President Bush traveled to Colombia Sunday amid tight security in a show of support for President Alvaro Uribe, VOA's Paula Wolfson reports from Bogota the short visit was long on symbolism. President Bush came to Bogota at a critical time. President Uribe, his strongest ally in the region, is dealing with a political scandal involving members of his inner circle. And in Washington, Democrats in the U.S. Congress are questioning the Bush administration's request for billions of dollars over the next few years in additional aid to Colombia, which remains the world's largest producer of cocaine.
Mr. Bush says "Plan Colombia" - the program set up to battle narco-terrorists - is worthy of continued U.S. support. And he stressed he has confidence in President Uribe. "You have set high expectations for your nation," said President Bush. "I appreciate your determination. And I am proud to call you a personal friend, and call your country a strategic partner of the United States."
During a joint news conference, Mr. Bush spoke directly about the political scandal that has rocked Colombia - the revelation that some of President Uribe's allies had ties to paramilitary commanders. "I support a plan that says there will be an independent judiciary analyzing any charge brought forth and when someone is found guilty there will be punishment," he said. "That is the kind of plan I support. And it happens to be the kind of plan the president supports."
Mr. Uribe said the prosecutions, trials and sentences handed down are proof of just how far Colombia has come in its fight against insurgents and drug lords.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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See also STRATEGYPAGE article > COLUMBIA: THE WAR MOVES CLOSER TO VENEZUELA. In addition, Strategypage also reports that the US Army is conducting or assisting in search operations wid local Columbian authorites for 3 Americans held captive by FARC since 2003. * FARC for its part reportedly now prefers to engage in IED-style terror bomb attacks in order to SAVE ITS MANPOWER/HUMAN ASSETS, thus allowing FARC as an organized group to fight on.
#4
Beleaguered my a**. He has gained considerable popularity for shutting down the FARC. The only hope the FARC (and the drug smugglers) have is the US Demorcratic party.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/12/2007 11:55 Comments ||
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Cheers erupted onboard Lianyungang warship Thursday afternoon as its captain Lai Yijun announced that the crew had successfully hit and sank a distant floating target.
It was their second round of cheers, coming after the ship's sister frigate, Sanming, destroyed its target a few minutes earlier.
Lianyungang and Sanming have spent the last few days participating in the Chinese navy's first-ever multinational naval exercises in the sea near the Karachi port.
The Chinese navy fired its first-ever batch of shells on Thursday, when the drills entered the phase for live-fire exercises and sea operations.
China sent the two-frigate task force at the invitation of Pakistan, which organized the multinational naval exercises.
Joining the exercises are 23 warships from nine countries, including Britain, Bangladesh, China, France, Italy, Malaysia, Turkey and the US, which sent two aircraft carriers.
The naval drills, coded as "Aman 07", are designed to be a display of international unity in the fight against terrorism and human, drug and weapons trafficking. The drills should also facilitate interaction among friendly regional and extra-regional navies. Aman means "peace" in Urdu language.
"For us, the most important part of the exercises is learning how to communicate effectively with foreign ships, because all signals are sent and received in English," said Qiu Yanpeng, commander of the 400-man Chinese fleet. Travel 7000 miles just for some English lessons...sheesh.
"Whenever we send or receive a message, we should make sure that we understand and are understood," Qiu said. Despite years of English lessons, the Chinese can be remarkably un-understantable.
Only through such multilateral maneuvers can the Chinese navy improve its communication skills, refine its procedures and better cooperate with other countries' navies, he said.
Lianyungang and Sanming left Ningbo Port of East China's Zhejiang Province on February 19 and travelled more than 7,000 kilometers before arriving at Karachi navy dockyard in southern Pakistan. Woot! Ningbo!
"Terrorists respect no border or morality," Qiu said, adding that China is certainly part of the global war on terrorism. Part of the problem, that is.
"If we work together, we can more easily demand bribes from stop terrorists and traffickers from using the sea, through which most international trade is carried out," commodore Farrukh Mahpooz of the Pakistani navy told China Daily on Thursday aboard a participating Pakistani destroyer.
In addition to the participating countries, 24 nations have sent observers to this event, which will end on Tuesday.
Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir, chief of Pakistan's navy staff, spoke highly of the Chinese navy's participation in the military drills.
"We are so glad to be the host of such event in which warships of our friend China and Western navies can operate together," Tahir told China Daily on Friday.
#1
This is actually a good idea, for *safety* reasons.
That is, some of the worst maritime hazards are other navy's ships, when they have no idea how you function in ordinary movements.
Towards the end of the Soviet Union, their navy was in such poor repair that the US Navy treated them as maritime hazards, like navigating around icebergs. Often they didn't have functional sonar or other navigational equipment, and their engines and steering were problematic.
The Chinese navy is unexperienced and along with the rest of these second rates, need to learn how to not screw up and ram our ships, especially in narrow channels and in mutual combat operations against smugglers and pirates.
i.e., we don't care if you want the shot, DO NOT fire over us.
#8
As for the RUSSIAN NAVY, there appears to had been another lives-taking Sub fire last month within their Northern Fleet, an incident which was reported locally but went un-reported in western medias at behest of Russian admirals + politicos.
DRESDEN: U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic are dangerous and absurd, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said Sunday.
"The missile defense system planned by the United States and which is to be installed in Eastern Europe is politically extremely dangerous," Schröder said during a speech in Dresden. "It is viewed, rightly, in Russia, and not only there, as an attempt to establish an absurd encirclement policy, a policy which is everything but in the interest of Europe," he said.
Why is anyone still listening to this man?
Moscow sees the system as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and an attempt to shift the post- Cold War balance of power.
Since when do we honor Putin's claims as to a sphere of influence? Poland and the Czech Republic are part of the west now, didn't Gerhard get the news?
Germany has criticized the project's planners for failing to discuss it sufficiently with Russia.
Schröder said the missile shield plan was pushing Russia further away from the West at a time when the European Union should be trying to strengthen ties with Moscow. "What we need instead is the exact opposite," he said. "Out of our own interest we must align Russia as closely as possible to Europe and European structures."
Sounds like he really needs the commission on the gas sales from Russia.
U.S. officials say that the system will not be directed at Russia and will be too small with 10 non-weapons-tipped interceptors based in Poland to counter Russia's ballistic fleet.
A rather important, basic fact that you'd think a former 'world leader' would understand.
Schröder has referred to President Vladimir Putin of Russia as an "impeccable democrat" in the past and reiterated that view in interviews last year when his memoirs were released.
Looked into his eyes and read his soul, did he?
Less than a month after leaving office in November 2005, Schröder was made chairman of a German-Russian natural gas pipeline consortium that he helped set up with Putin a move for which he was sharply criticized.
I'm impressed that the IHT included this fact.
Schröder has often been critical of the United States. He was re-elected in 2002 largely because of his outspoken opposition to President George W. Bush's plans to invade Iraq.
Other European leaders have joined in the criticism of the U.S. missile-defense plan. President Jacques Chirac of France said last week that the plans threatened to sow divisions in the European Union and stir tensions with Russia. Chirac, who told East European leaders to "be quiet" when they backed the Iraq war in 2003, said negotiations by Poland and the Czech Republic over sites for the anti-missile shield risked reopening old wounds in Europe. "We have to be very attentive not to favor the creation of new lines of division in Europe or to return to the past," Chirac said Friday at an EU summit meeting in Brussels.
Guessing that the French need the natural gas, too.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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INTERFAX > USA refuses to listen to Russia and Euro Allies while continuing construx of National Missle Defense [GMD]. Russia wants to feel the love of anti-US International Diplomacy wid out discussing its sales of SCUDS and other Nuke-Weapons proliferations to anyone and everyone and no one.
#2
We should all listen to Vlad's sock puppet. Pieces of those defense missiles could come down and hurt somebody. Better to just let the nukes find their targets...
France's presidential race remains wide open two months before the election, with Socialist Segolene Royal apparently rebounding and a dark-horse centrist candidate slowly but surely becoming a serious contender, a new poll published Wednesday suggested.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the main candidate on the right -- proposing tax cuts and labor reforms as remedies for France's sluggish economy -- still emerged as the narrow winner in the sounding of 884 people by pollsters CSA. The survey gave no margin of error. But Royal's steady if not dazzling performance on a prime-time question-and-answer TV talk show on Monday appears to have injected new life into her campaign.
It had seemed about to implode after a series of missteps on foreign affairs and scrutiny over the eventual costs to France of her promises to raise the minimum wage, guarantee job training for unemployed youths and other measures for a "fairer" society. Royal insisted on the show that France is ready for its first woman president and that she is up to the task -- rebutting critics who say that she -- a former environment, schools and family minister -- lacks experience in the most senior government posts and so is unsuitable. Royal showed particular compassion to a wheelchair-bound questioner, and newspaper Le Monde the next day dubbed her the "candidate-mother" of French politics.
The new poll, conducted after the broadcast attracted an estimated 8.9 million viewers, had Royal closing the gap on Sarkozy and even besting him in the first round of the two-round election. According to Le Parisien daily, which commissioned the poll with news channel I-Tele, 29 percent of respondents said they were most likely to vote for Royal on April 22, up two points from last week, compared with 28 percent for Sarkozy, down five points.
Dozens of would-be presidential hopefuls are working to get the signatures of 500 elected officials, usually mayors, that they need to register their candidacy. A record 16 candidates stood in 2002 and the first-round vote whittles the field to just two. If the duel on May 6 pits Sarkozy against Royal, 51 percent of respondents said they would likely vote for him, down four points from last week, against 49 percent for her, up four points. Polls of recent weeks have always put Sarkozy one or more steps ahead. But they also have exploded as myth the notion that this would be a purely two-horse contest between him and Royal.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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The equation is very simple:
Only the two leading candiadtes go second round. If Bayrou goes against Sarkozy he will benefit from left'zs votes and will win. if it is Royal agaisnt Sarkozy she will get trounced.
Now the raise of BAyrou is due to many left-wing people doubting of Royal's chances so his prospect votes are in fact very frail: if Royal appeared to have a chance many of Bayrou's first round prospevctive voters would return to their original affiliation ie Royal.
At this point it is in Sarkozy's interest to give the impresssion he could lose against Royal.
About antiamericanism. Bayrou is National-europesist. I think he would be worse then Royal respective to America. I can also predict what he will be thinking 30 seconds after getting elected: "How I get reeelcted?". From his past actions as minister I predict he will spend five yeras doing NOTHING and specially nothing who would lower his popularity by 0.0001%
Don't expect any help from him against Iran or on the WOT. In fact he will do the utmost to have a cold war EU-USA.
#3
Of course that Bayrou would beat both: as a 'centric' candidate he would get his own votes, plus either Sarkozy's or Royal's votes while his opponent would get only part of the vote of his own side.
However as I said if Royal recovers only a bit he will bleed voters as fast as he had gained them.
President Jacques Chirac, 74, announced Sunday that after 12 years in the Élysée Palace he would not seek a third term, clearing the way for a new generation of French leaders to compete for the highest office.
Chirac's announcement was expected. His popularity rating has been stuck near a record low; a minor stroke in 2005 has left visible traces on his health; and news magazines published his political obituary some time ago. Indeed, all but a handful of politicians from Chirac's Gaullist party have rallied behind the presidential campaign of his interior minister and rival, Nicolas Sarkozy. But even as he made his own retirement official, the president refused to endorse Sarkozy, a onetime protégé who had publicly expressed hopes for Chirac's backing. "I will not solicit your votes for a new mandate," Chirac said in a prime-time television address, before adding: "As far as the elections are concerned, I will have the opportunity to express my personal choice."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Thank Goodness, and when his time comes, place him next to Napoleon; he didn't tell us it's okay to call them french fries again!! I still won't buy their wine!
CLINTON, Iowa -- Standing in front of a large banner that blared "Clinton," surrounded by students in Clinton Community College sweat shirts, Sen. Barack Obama offhandedly mentioned the obvious. "Hillary, you know, she's interesting," Obama said, acknowledging that he understood they would consider other candidates before making up their minds.
Interesting, indeed.
In the month since the presidential nominating contest got underway, Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) have barely mentioned each other's names in public or even greeted each other in the Senate halls. But each campaign has increasingly fixated on the other, engaging in a shadowboxing match in which they intentionally cross paths but dodge to avoid each other's subtle jabs. With an intensity unusual for this stage of the campaign the two are indirectly engaging, invading each other's terrain and going to great lengths to contrast their candidacies.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/12/2007 06:24 ||
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Obama recited a litany of ills facing the country, then asked rhetorically: "How did we arrive at this point?"
Answer: It took a lot of hard work, blood, and tears by Americans. You don't like it, head on back to Kenya you piece of monkey kak. It's very modern and progressive there, you'll fit right in.
#3
Reality ? They're democrats ! They divorced reality in the 30s when they believed their big deal president FDR got them out of the Great Depression. It's all about feelings.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan ||
03/12/2007 13:50 ||
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Reminds me of a statement from a company I worked for where the execs announced they were "seeking additional revenue opportunities" (i.e. they had put chunks of the company on the auction block).
Some 300 ethnic Karen people have fled to western Thailand to escape fresh fighting in military-ruled Myanmar between government forces and ethnic rebels, the Thai army said Sunday. Most of those fleeing the conflict were women and children who crossed the border during the past week to Thailands western province of Tak, Colonel Kasem Tanaporn told AFP. Thailand has provided temporary shelter for displaced persons who have crossed to Thailand for fear of dangers from the fighting inside their country, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2007 00:00 ||
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The Boeing Co. said it's received orders for 28 new airplanes worth more than $4.5 billion from a Kuwaiti leasing company, a Russian air freight company and Continental Airlines. Chicago-based Boeing said Alafco Aviation Lease and Finance Co. of Kuwait City, Kuwait, ordered 12 787-8 airplanes and six 737-800s worth $2.26 billion at list prices. The leasing company says it's the first Middle Eastern company to buy the Everett-built 787-8 airplane.
Volga-Dnepr Group of Moscow has ordered five Boeing 747-8 freighters worth $1.4 billion at list prices. Boeing now has nearly 80 orders for the 747-8 model, which is also built in Everett.
Sucks to be AirBus, don't it?
And Continental Airlines said it's increased its order for 787 airplanes, adding five 787-9 airplanes worth between $892 million and $940 million at list prices. The Houston airline now has ordered 25 787s. "Since we placed our initial 787 order in December 2004, we have become even more impressed with the 787 and its capabilities," said Larry Kellner, chairman and CEO of Continental, in a statement.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/12/2007 14:12 ||
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And of course EADS is having trouble with its GPS satellite system too. Hard to think of a worse business model than to be run by a group of (old) EUros.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2007 18:10 Comments ||
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#5
You mean AirBusted, right?
Posted by: Mac ||
03/12/2007 18:13 Comments ||
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#6
Mac: You mean AirBusted, right?
I think it's Airburst. Seriously though - it wasn't too long ago that the EUros were crowing about the strength of the Euro. I don't think they're crowing any more. In dollar terms, European salaries are in the stratosphere. The problem for them is that European products are similarly expensive, in dollar terms. This is why Boeing has been beating Airbus in contract bid after contract bid, without breaking a sweat.
#7
Good for Boeing but you'll never catch me on a 787.
Composite fuselage
It was suggested by many that the risks of having a composite fuselage have not been fully assessed and should not be attempted. It was also added that carbon fiber, unlike metal, does not visibly show cracks and fatigue and repairing any damage done to the aircraft would not be easy.
#8
Icerigger: I do not know your level of experience with composites or commercial aviation maintenance programs but you can relax a bit. The FAA has rigourous programs in place for the scheduled maintenance and repair of aircraft. And I can tell you from first hand experience with regard to 787 unique testing, they are on this aircraft's fabrication techniques and components like a duck on a slug. There will be a myriad of inspections of the barrel sections as they are wound and following the autoclaving process and the in-service inspection program will be very conservative, in order to verify engineering predictions. I have worked on a multitude of aircraft with various load bearing structures made of composites and have never had a failure due to design or flight parameters being exceeded.
Now on the other side of the coin, I have had failures from unreported damage and your statement about the lack of visible witness marks to show a damaged area is valid. This is the part that worries me; if you followed the numerous reports last year at SEA-TAC regarding Alaska Airlines and the ground crew causing damage you would be rightfully concerned. This is a whole other topic, outsourcing, but the gist to me was, that since the ground crew was a third party contractor and getting minimum wage (plus a little bit) and with the HR application 'in' box running over, there was a atmosphere of fear on the line, so if somebody crunched a jet they did not 'fess up, for fear of losing their job. Yes, an aluminum aircraft would have the tell tale witness marks showing the damage site, whereas the plastic airplane will not, and the damage is most likely subsurface, where flight loads will work at that site until failure. As a passenger, falling through space, you really don't give a rip about the root cause of the failure, since you know you are gonna die, but that is why I do not intend to fly a 787 for 5 years. Give the in-service inspection problem time to work out the bugs. As an aside, this past Sunday's Seattle Times had a very good, if lengthy article on the construction of the 787, well worth the read.
Armed Liberal at Winds of Change is planning to watch the movie 300 and, reading the reviews, was horrified to discover that "Kenneth Turan of the LA Times was the only one who 'got' the historical context of Thermopylae". Could it be? One of WOC's links was to Dana Stevens at Slate, who posed this objection to the movie:
If 300, the new battle epic based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, had been made in Germany in the mid-1930s, it would be studied today alongside The Eternal Jew as a textbook example of how race-baiting fantasy and nationalist myth can serve as an incitement to total war. ...
But what's maddening about 300 (besides the paralyzing monotony of watching chiseled white guys make shish kebabs from swarthy Persians for 116 indistinguishable minutes) is that no one involvednot Miller, not Snyder, not one of the army of screenwriters, art directors, and tech wizards who mounted this empty, gorgeous spectacleseems to have noticed that we're in the middle of an actual war. ...
One of the few war movies I've seen in the past two decades that doesn't include at least some nod in the direction of antiwar sentiment, 300 is a mythic ode to righteous bellicosity.
I have no idea whether 300 is a good movie, but Steven's review is an entertaining example of how all events, including those which happened nearly 500 years BC, must be judged according to prisms of contemporary political correctness. Miller had to remember, for example, "that we're in the middle of an actual war". Did he not realize his duty to denounce it? But what if Miller had made a movie about the fight against Hitler? Would it have been necessary to remind the audience that Hitler was a nonsmoking, animal-loving, vegetarian artist? Or had he remade Zulu to include some white faces among Prince Dabulamanzi's impis?
The most interesting thing about those who habitually denounce ethnocentricity and cultural blindness is that they are not without such sentiments themselves, the difference being that their cultural point of view is rooted in the mid-20th century, rather than say, ancient Lacedaemonia.
Now I'm truly surprised that nobody 'gets' the background of 300. Everybody knows it deals with what happened to Hercules after his epic battle with Maciste on his way to a rematch with Conan.
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03/12/2007 11:24 ||
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#2
Well, it was bad history,(for example there were always 2 kings in Sparta, the Ephors were a 5 man ruling council, not corrupt leprous old lechers running an oracular temple, and the oracle herself was in Delphi not Sparta,) but it was fun to watch Middle Eastern slavers driven forward by whips to their just desserts at the hands of a relative handful of elite trained warriors. That part was true enough. On the whole a wonderful metaphor for today and what must be done.
#6
" some nod in the direction of antiwar sentiment"
Why? Idiot reviewer, in case you didn't notice, it was :
a) A reproduction of a very stylized story telling artform, namely the comic book, writ large as the "Graphic Novel" by Miller. Its every bit as limiting as is Chinese opera or Kabuki theater in style and content.
b) It was told from the viewpoint of the Spartans, because thats what we have, thanks to Herodotus and other historians of their time. Liberals liek the reviewer may want to present the ideals of a slave driven army of slaves led by a king who considers himself to be a diety, but this movie presents the side of the good guys unabashedly. There is non-negotiable good and evil in the world, and if you are a good person you should want good to win. Deal with it.
c) The "bellicosity" belongs there because that is what the Spartans are: Warriors. So of course there arent going to be antiwar sentiments. DUH! Spartans glory in battle and death in battle for a ust cause was the highest form of acheivement for a Spatan.
Directed to the original reviewer:
The Spartans, like warriors now, look forward to a battle for ideals, like freedom. Then again you pantywaisted liberals just never seem to understand that some ideas ARE worth fighting and dying for, no matter how hopeless the cost.
"Better to die a free man on my feet than live a slave on my knees" - that may as well be encrypted for all the understanding you have of it.
THAT ideal is what drove the Spartans, and THAT ideal is what you don't get. You better pray to God (and yes He is there whether you believe it or not) that such men continue to exist - for the day they do not is the day this republic dies. And that will be the day you effite snobs get driven to slavery or put up against the wall for execution, by those who are held off by our modern Spartans.
Once again U.S propaganda machine raid another attack against Iran, its culture and civilization through a hateful movie:"300"
"300" is the name of an irresponsible, unethical and unscientific movie which portraits Persian Empire kings and soldiers as monsters and animals with body-piercing, armors, facial features and demonic behavior that seem to have sprung out from the dungeons of hell.
The inaccurate and derogatory depiction of ancient Persians that according to all historical data conducted warfare with mastery and dignity, and looked nothing like science-fictional monsters, is a depiction of how movie studios and authors sacrifice historical accuracy for would-be profits.
It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480 B.C was the most magnificent and civilized empire. Established by the Cyrus the great, the writer of the first human right declaration, Persians ruled over significant portions of Greater Iran, the east modern Afghanistan and beyond into central Asia; in the north and west all of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the upper Balkans peninsula (Thrace), and most of the Black Sea coastal regions; in the west and southwest the territories of modern Iraq, northern Saudi-Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, all significant population centers of ancient Egypt and as far west as portions of Libya. Having twenty nations under control, encompassing approximately 7.5 million square kilometers, unquestionably the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity.
Based on the Zoroastrian doctrine, it was the strong emphasis on honesty and integrity that gave the ancient Persians credibility to rule the world, even in the eyes of the people belonging to the conquered nations (Herodotus, mid 5th century B.C). Truth for the sake of truth was the universal motto and the very core of the Persian culture that was followed not only by the great kings, but even the ordinary Persians made it a point to adhere to this code of conduct.
Some Iranians have written 2 petitions against that movie and Warner Brothers Studios (Here and here).
In 2005, Oliver stone, famous American director directed "Alexander" movie and insulted Persian Empire the same way.
Iranian Cyber counter-attack, Smart Google Bombing!
It is obvious that signing petition never force Americans to change their irresponsible behaviors. So an Iranian blogger suggests an interesting idea: Let's bomb the film through Google, in a different and smart way.
In his recent post, He writes down:
300 open today, and like many comic book fans I can't wait to see it for its stunning art. However, like many Persians I'm not thrilled with its portrayal of the great Persian army as barbaric snarling beasts. In recent days some have talked about different forms of protest to this movie. A better idea (one which I have already proposed on my Persian weblog) might be doing a collaborative art project: 300 from a Persian perspective. Basically I have called upon all Persian artists to submit art with the theme of "ancient Persia", so we can gather all of these in one site and show the world (and comic fans) the face of ancient Persians from our own perspective. And to make sure that the world does really see it, I've orchestrated a campaign to bring up our gallery page to the top of search results (you can call it another Google bombing). The site is 300themovie.info. If you are an artist, or just think the idea is cool you can participate by either submitting your art (email it to submit@300themovie.info), or by helping to bring the page to the top of the rankings by linking to that page on your blog or website. Make sure you ONLY use the phrase "300 the movie" to link to it, like this: 300 the movie.
So, let's shake our body and show the world that Iranians never let anybody in the globe to insult them and falsify the history.
#4
One should think the Iranians would be happy to see pre-Islamic Persians shown as decadent and all.
I think there is a bit of Persian pride peering out from beneath the Islamic veil. Seems the google bomb didn't work and 300 is making bank. Take that Johnny Persia!
#7
I contributed to that 70M on Friday. Not a bad action flick, worth the price of the matinee if it's your kind of thing. Can't say I saw it as an attack on Iran and it's culture, but rather just a bloody good time...
#9
There were far moreb Greeks than the 300 Spartans and not all of theml were Spartans. It was when teh Greeks discovered that a traitor had led the Persians by another pass and that they were on the verge of being surrounded that most of the non-spartans retired leaving only the Spartans (and a few dozens of non-partans) for a delaying action.
BTW, in Persian sites you will see very different explanations of Persian-Greek battles: Marathon was not a full scaled invasion but only a supporting force for an aristocratic coup at Athens (who failed). The episode where Greek infantry disperses the Persians atb Cunaxa was meraley a withdarwal (who led the hoplites more than amile from the main battle) and Alexander is not named the Gret between Persians but the Cursed.
Also Greeks tell how a man had to see his son being quartered just because he had asked or more exactly humbly prayed the emperor of Persia not to send his only son to war. This contrast with what Persins say of Cyrus I (Darius fatehr or grand father) as "inventor of the concept of human rights".
#11
The graphic novel was written in the late 90s (before Americans realized they were at war) and most of the often quoted quotes proving politics in the movie are actual quotes from ancient Greek sources.
I think the projection of reviewers current opinions onto this movie is very enlightening.
#13
The movie is freakin' awesome. Yes, the Persians look deformed and scary... and there are monsters, but if you see why the director did it, it makes sense and works with the comic book style. He wanted the Persians and their animals to look as weird and scary to us as they did to the greeks.
I definitely recommend seeing it. Especially on the IMAX.
"[Post Modernism]......is the belief that direction, evolution and progression have ended in social history, and society is based [now] instead upon the decline of absolute truths, and the rise of relativity..."
#17
In defense of Ollie Stone, the TROJANS were not PERSIANS. As per military history, XERXES' army at THERMOPYLAE included Greek contingents/
elements fighting on his side against other Greeks.
#18
A better idea (one which I have already proposed on my Persian weblog) might be doing a collaborative art project: 300 from a Persian perspective. Basically I have called upon all Persian artists to submit art with the theme of "ancient Persia", so we can gather all of these in one site and show the world (and comic fans) the face of ancient Persians from our own perspective.
You know, having a comic-book-art-war with the Iranians doesn't sound all that bad to me. Western, even.
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.
TRIPOLI - Libya on Sunday backtracked on a decision to ban women under 40 years old from leaving the country unless they were accompanied by a close male relative. A brief statement posted on the government website said the foreign ministry strongly denies any reports that it issued a ban on Libyan women under the age of 40 from travelling without Mahram -- a word used to describe someone such as a father, brother or uncle.
Zimbabwes national intelligence agency on Monday began deploying its secret agents within the army and police to purge officers suspected of backing opposition plans to revolt against the government, ZimOnline has learnt. In a confidential memorandum dated 19 February 2007, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Director General Happyton Bonyongwe expressed concern over the leakage of sensitive information to the opposition. 
Heavily armed police killed a protester and arrested the leader of the main opposition party as they broke up a prayer meeting protesting government policies Sunday. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said one man was shot and killed when 200 opposition party members attacked about 20 policemen. Three policemen were hospitalized with injuries, Bvudzijena told state television. Police said they arrested Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and other top party officials as they "instigated people to come out and commit acts of violence."
DRESDEN: U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic are dangerous and absurd, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said Sunday.
France's presidential race remains wide open two months before the election, with Socialist Segolene Royal apparently rebounding and a dark-horse centrist candidate slowly but surely becoming a serious contender, a new poll published Wednesday suggested.
It had seemed about to implode after a series of missteps on foreign affairs and scrutiny over the eventual costs to France of her promises to raise the minimum wage, guarantee job training for unemployed youths and other measures for a "fairer" society. Royal insisted on the show that France is ready for its first woman president and that she is up to the task -- rebutting critics who say that she -- a former environment, schools and family minister -- lacks experience in the most senior government posts and so is unsuitable. Royal showed particular compassion to a wheelchair-bound questioner, and newspaper Le Monde the next day dubbed her the "candidate-mother" of French politics.
President Jacques Chirac, 74, announced Sunday that after 12 years in the Élysée Palace he would not seek a third term, clearing the way for a new generation of French leaders to compete for the highest office.
