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UN offices attacked in Mogadishu
Today's Headlines
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-Obits-
California Rep. Tom Lantos dies at 80
Posted by: Seafarious || 02/11/2008 10:38 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "My life today, given my background, is something I cannot believe possible," he went on to say.

Quite honestly, neither could many Republicans. RIP.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2008 11:10 Comments || Top||

#2  He was surrounded by his wife, Annette, two daughters, and many of his 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Hitler left no offspring, and in the end neither have many of his followers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2008 14:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Leaving aside his liberal positions on domestic policy, he was one of the good guys, a resolute Cold warrior, and a rare one given his constituency (SF and San Mateo county). He did get flakier in his old age, but he was there when it was important.
Posted by: buwaya || 02/11/2008 14:56 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Global Warning Alert: International Falls, Minnesota, falls to record 40 below zero
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- The temperature in International Falls, Minnesota, fell to a record 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the "Icebox of the Nation."

It was so cold that resident Nick McDougall couldn't even get his car trunk lid to close after he got out his charger to kick-start his dead battery. By late morning, the temperature had risen all the way to 18 -- below zero.

"This is about as cold as it gets, this is bad. There's no wind -- it's just cold," said McDougall, 48, a worker at The Fisherman, a convenience store and gas station in the town on the Canadian border. "People just don't go out, unless you have to go to work."

Residents of the area use electric engine block heaters to keep their cars from freezing.

"You plug in your car, for sure, and you put the car in the garage if you can," McDougall said. His garage is full of other things, so he had to park outside -- a "big mistake."

The previous record low in International Falls was 37 below, set in 1967, said meteorologist Mike Stewart at the weather service in Duluth. The cold was expected, he said: "When the winds finally died off and the skies cleared off, it just dropped."

The temperature also fell to 40 below in Embarrass, 80 miles southeast of International Falls. That's just one degree above the all-time record in Minneapolis, 250 miles to the south, that was set in January 1888, the weather service said.

Chilly air also spread into the Northeast on Monday and many schools in New York state between Buffalo and Syracuse closed or opened late. Single-digit temperatures plus high wind drove the wind chill factor to nearly 20 below across much of upstate New York.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had a "Code Blue" alert in effect, sending outreach crews to coax homeless people into shelters. Monday's low was 10 above zero.

Farther south, freezing rain hit southwest Missouri early Monday, making roads hazardous and losing schools. A coating of ice up to an inch thick was expected across much of southern and central Missouri, the weather service said.

"It's treacherous. If you can stay home this morning, do it," Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Dan Bracker said in Springfield.


Thousands of West Virginia homes and businesses had no electricity Monday after the state was hit by weekend wind gusts of up to 55 mph. At least nine counties closed schools because of power outages and the cold -- the mountain city of Elkins had a low of 6 above.

Classes also were canceled Monday for a number of schools in Michigan, which remained in a deep freeze after a weekend of single-digit temperatures and gusty wind. One death was blamed on the weather.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/11/2008 14:01 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was that Fahrenheit, or Celsius? ☺
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/11/2008 18:41 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
UN: 600,000 People Displaced in Kenya
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - 70's p0rn star U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Monday that up to 600,000 people have been displaced in Kenya during weeks of postelection violence.
"There are something like 300,000 people displaced in camps ... (and) beyond those 300,000 there are probably just as many who are not in camps who have gone back to their homelands ... or are sheltering with friends and neighbors somewhere else," Holmes told reporters in Helsinki after arriving from a visit to the East African country.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/11/2008 08:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See WAFF.com thread > US AFRICA COMMAND: A STRATEGIC PARADYGN. Thesis includes descriptions of massive aid given to Africa by China despite high risk of aid being diverted and used in suppor of warlordism andor genocide/ethnicide.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2008 19:45 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez Calls for Farm Seizures, Raises Prices Amid Shortages
Hat tip Instapundit. Oogo doesn't seem to have learned much from the collapse of communism.
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in an effort to deal with food shortages nationwide, threatened today to expropriate farms and raised the price rice producers are permitted to charge. Fallow farmland ``can't be allowed,'' Chavez said on his weekly television and radio broadcast, calling for the National Guard to take over farms with nonproductive lands. He also announced a price boost of 44 percent for rice growers.

It was at least the fourth time this year that Chavez's government has threatened to use expropriation to deal with shortages of milk, rice, cooking oil and other price-controlled basic foods.
Just following in the steps of Robert Mugabe, with similar results forthcoming ...
The decision on rice prices was another in a series of increases this year, following boosts in the prices of beans, cheese and ultra-pasteurized milk.

The government says the shortages are the result of smuggling of the food out of the country, hoarding by wholesalers who hope to force price increases and growing consumption as poor people get more disposable income. Farm groups have repeatedly called on the government to remove price controls and criticized previous seizures of land and farm equipment as counterproductive.

Chavez also announced projects to improve farm-to-market roads and irrigation systems.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Strangle the chicken to enhance egg production. Leftist are so cute (and smart) when they're hungry..
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2008 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  He'll start babbling about "juche" soon, I think...
Posted by: Unatle Tojo8595 || 02/11/2008 1:01 Comments || Top||

#3  And this worked sooo well for Zimbabwe too.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2008 9:40 Comments || Top||

#4  I see a lot of coca leaf chewing in the future for his constituency.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2008 9:42 Comments || Top||

#5  While I agree with the assessment that he's following in Mugabe's footsteps, I don't think Venezuela will EVER reach the levels of inflation that BobLand have seen. With oil in the mix, I doubt that'd be "allowed" to happen by that mean arbiter of pricing...the world market.
Posted by: BA || 02/11/2008 9:49 Comments || Top||

#6  It could be arranged BA.

Venezuela's oil infrastructure is falling apart. A sub-contractor we have did work for them three years ago, then was never paid after the "nationalization" of the oil company. They confirm that the entire infrastructure is close to collapse. Their oil isn't light sweet crude and not many companies will buy it as they don't have the refineries for it. The Chinese are trying to help by sending engineers to prop up the whole mess, but a few "accidents" could bring down the whole house of cards real quick and no western nation will help to rebuild it again after getting screwed. Yes, not even the French. They are owed billions for work as well.

Cash up front Chavez.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2008 10:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Comrade Chavez is gonna collectivize Venezuelan farms? Get ready for the famine. Millions of Russians starved when Stalin did that in the 1930's.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/11/2008 12:28 Comments || Top||

#8  ¡Ay, caramba!
Posted by: Farmino B. Hardo || 02/11/2008 12:32 Comments || Top||

#9  There's also limits to how much help he can get from the Chinese. They don't just buy the oil, they sign an agreement to exploit the field themselves and then they bring in _their_ people to do it. To run the rigs and support infrastructure.

And they wind up working out of dormitories and sending all their pay home; it doesn't get recycled into the economy.

And I doubt whatever contract they've written pays as much for their oil as Yugo would get selling it on the spot market.

I have heard that both Yugo's union and the competing union have both sent guys by the Chinese work locations to get the union fees for allowing their employees to get to work and have been told to get stuffed.

SO not only do they get less cash to begin with for selling to China, less Venezuelans get employed and less money circulates from what foreigners are employed back into the economy.

Oh, but Yugo will tell you all about how it's the Americans who are exploitive.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 02/11/2008 13:05 Comments || Top||


Chavez Threatens to Auto-Darwinate

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

"If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said. "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."


Although Venezuela still is a significant oil supplier to the U.S. its relative importance has been decreasing during the last 5 years, going from second to fourth place among U.S. import sources. This is due to the loss of production capacity of the Venezuelan oil industry, a decline brought about by the politicization of the state-owned petroleum company under Chavez. Not only has production capacity declined but also half of the Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. can only be refined in the United States due to its physical properties. This means that Chavez cannot easily sell this oil to alternative clients such as China or India. For this to be possible these countries would have to build refineries capable of processing Venezuelan oil, something that would take at least three to four years to accomplish, even if they started today.

emphasis mine
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No comment can improve on the headline...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2008 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sad that the catastrophe of socialism seems to be repeated over and over again. The forward auction in stolen goods that is democracy always fails at this point.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2008 6:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Yugo, Hugo!
Posted by: Spot || 02/11/2008 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Darwinate, buddy. Darwinate. The sooner the better.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/11/2008 9:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Didn't someone here a while back highlight that fact that Mercutio did? That half of his (raw/crude) oil had to be refined HERE? It seems that (at that time), China was looking to build refineries that could handle Chavez's 'heavy crude' too...anyone know the status on those Chinese refineries?

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy for Chavez....we (via Exxon-Mobil) seize his assets (taking $ from him). He then quits exporting crude to us, taking even MORE $ from him. Unless he has an immediate "secondary market" (e.g. China/India), he's not gonna be able to dump that much crude w/o lowering prices (somewhat) worldwide. And, even if Exxon-Mobil loses in court, note that Venezuela's output has already lost capacity at home and abroad...we could very well see Chavez implode if that happens. Also, we could just "seize" his (CITGOs) assets here and tell him, "Unless you step down, we will shut down these refineries to the point where you won't sell crude at all for 3-4 years." He KNOWS he can't p!ss us off too much too.
Posted by: BA || 02/11/2008 9:45 Comments || Top||

#6  BA, exactly. You've summarized it perfectly.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 02/11/2008 9:54 Comments || Top||

#7  I believe you're right about the refining issue, BA, it seemed familiar to me when I skimmed off the article.

As far as seizing CITGO, IMHO, that would take stones that I don't see in evidence in this administration, certainly not in a 2009 Dem admin and frankly unlikely in a 2009 GOP admin. If there is any such action it would most likely come about as a result of the Exxon suit and would be tied up so long in court that China could build a dozen refineries.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/11/2008 11:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Mercutio, I can't tell you how glad I am you're posting under your old nym again. (Although I must admit some of Fred's anonymizer nyms are really, really tempting!)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2008 12:49 Comments || Top||

#9  OOgo Chavez OOgo Chavez OOgo Chavez...

I can't stop this feelin'

Posted by: OldSpook || 02/11/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#10  TW__Way too tempting for me to be consistent......

M.
Posted by: Omolurt Borgia5731 || 02/11/2008 13:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Then please sign off your posts with Mercutio? It makes me feel senile to know I'm not recognizing old friends.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2008 13:45 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia Wants Multinational Arms Control
MUNICH, Germany (AP) - The United States and Russia should set aside Cold War arms control treaties and replace them with new, multilateral agreements to combat nuclear proliferation, a senior Russian official said Sunday. Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defense minister until promoted to first deputy prime minister last year, said the time has come "to open this framework for all leading states interested in cooperation in order to ensure overall security." But "Russia-U.S. ties will certainly retain their significance," he said.

Ivanov also told a gathering of the world's top defense officials that Russia's burgeoning economic power does not represent a threat to other countries, but the West has to get used to Moscow's growing influence in world affairs. He said Russia expects to be among the world's five biggest economies by 2020, but "we do not aim to buy the entire Old World with our petrodollars."

"Getting richer, Russia will not pose a threat to the security of other countries. Yet our influence on global processes will continue to grow," he said. "More than half of Russian foreign trade is with the EU, so the Russians have already come - not with tanks, not with missiles, but with joint trade."
It's trade between unequals: Russia ships natural gas and oil to the West in exchange for technology and food. Average Russians aren't benefitting much from the trade, but that's okay with Vlad. He wants to put Russia back in the middle of world affairs.
Ivanov said that Russia's revival "objectively combines our ambition to occupy an appropriate place in world politics and commitment to maintaining our national interests." But, he stressed, "we do not intend to meet this challenge by establishing military blocs or engaging in open confrontation with our opponents."

Though Moscow and Washington have been at odds recently over an American plan to position parts of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Ivanov said Russia and the U.S. needed to work closely together to combat nuclear proliferation. He suggested that old bilateral treaties between the U.S. and Russia on nuclear arms - like the Salt 1 agreement - should be replaced by multilateral agreements.

"It is imperative to ensure that the provisions of such a regime should be legally binding so that, in due course, it would really become possible to shift to the control over nuclear weapons and the process of their gradual reduction on a multilateral basis," he said. Involvement of all major nuclear nations, he said, "is the essence of our proposals related to the anti-missile defense and to the intermediate and short-range missiles."
Posted by: Steve White || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SPACEWAR/TOPIX > RUSSIA NOT SEEKING CLASH WITH WEST BUT WILL PUSH/USE ITS WEIGHT YO AHIEVE ITS AGENDA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2008 2:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't automatically dismiss this, despite the usual Russian perfidy. Because Russia also acts heavily out of self-interest, it also has no problem with preventing nuclear proliferation, for example; but it has a very different approach to things.

For example, the US wants to prevent Iran from getting nuclear material to begin with. This is problematic, since Iran has uranium mines, and the only thing preventing them from enriching their own is technology, and the threat of war.

From the Russian point of view, the US's approach is unrealistic. So their attitude is to give the low level uranium to Iran suitable for nuclear fuel, but on condition that Iran give back its depleted fuel, and the small amount of plutonium it contains.

By Russian logic, this would deprive Iran of any reason to enrich its own, and the Russians could easily tell if they were trying to cheat. It would also save Iran so much money that there would be internal debate on "wasting" it to enrich their own, instead of spending it on other things.

And while the Russians think that the US in stepping on its toes, resulting in the Iranians wanting to enrich their own, just to snub the US; the US's attitude is that Russia has been too generous with the carrot, undermining the US with its stick.

Recently, however, there might have been a change in the Russian opinion, because the Iranians are making and testing missiles suitable for carrying nuclear weapons. This changes everything, and the Russians are becoming far less trusting of their Iranian "friends".

And while, at times, Russians can be quite friendly, they do not take to being double crossed very well.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/11/2008 9:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Crap. How about you guys stop selling designs to anybody with two rubles to rub together, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 02/11/2008 11:08 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
2 Espionage Cases Involving China; 4 Arrested Including DoD Official
Two espionage cases were unfolding Monday, as one U.S. Department of Defense official, two Chinese nationals and a former Boeing Co. engineer were arrested.

In the first case, the Justice Department said Tai Shen Kuo, 58, Yu Xin Kang, 33, both of New Orleans, and Gregg William Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Va., were arrested on espionage charges in connection to "the passage of classified U.S. government documents and information to the government of the Peoples Republic of China," according to a department release. The Justice Department has scheduled a 2 p.m. ET press conference to discuss the cases.

Officials said the criminal conduct took place over a two-year period, in which Kuo, a naturalized U.S. citizen and businessman — working for an unnamed Chinese official — cultivated a relationship with Bergersen, and other U.S. government employees. The release states that Bergersen is a weapons systems policy analyst at the Arlington, Va.-based Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency within the Department of Defense.

Officials said Kuo was able to obtain "sensitive U.S. government information, including classified national defense information. Much of the information pertained to U.S. military sales to Taiwan," although the release did not clarify further the information that was obtained.

Bergersen is charged with being the source of the classified information collected by Kuo.Kang is a Chinese citizen with permanent resident status. The government alleges he transferred information between the unnamed Chinese official — "PRC Official A" — and Kuo.

The FBI was raiding a home in New Orleans on Monday in connection with the spy investigation. It was not immediately clear how the Louisiana raid was related, but FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said the case would be discussed at the news conference in Washington.

Officials said a Los Angeles-area Chinese national who worked for a technology company until 2006 also would be charged for passing on sensitive military data to the Chinese government.

The second case revolves around former Boeing engineer Dongfan Greg Chung, 72, of Orange, Calif. He faces charges of economic espionage and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Peoples Republic of China. Prosecutors say he stole Boeing trade secrets, including ones related to the space shuttle program.
Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2008 13:52 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bring back firing squads.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 14:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Hell with the squads...

Back to lynching for these assholes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2008 14:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Its been said before, and at the risk of being accused of necro-equine abuse: when are we going to stop hiring anything but genuine (and well vetted) US citizens for these sensitive jobs?
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/11/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Not just US citizens (e.g. Kuo) but 3rd generation Americans because spies raise their kids to spy too.
Posted by: ed || 02/11/2008 18:25 Comments || Top||


Seoul's iconic ancient city gate destroyed by fire
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/11/2008 09:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very sad. Hopefully they'll install a sprinkler system inside the new incarnation.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/11/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||


China turns to economic controls
Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION, SPACEWAR > URBAN ECOLOGY: MEASURING THE COMING MEGACITY'S IMPACT. Corsicant rising.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2008 1:08 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Operation Board Games - watch this one
Might influence multiple elections.
Posted by: || 02/11/2008 08:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I knew Karl was watching this closely. Didn't know he was this close. I'm sure a shit bomb is awaiting Barry Hussein somewhere down the golden path.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 02/11/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  ìîáèëüíûå òåëåôîíû Samsung èíòåðíåò ìàãàçèí - ïðîäàæà, îïòîì

Nokia 8800 Sirocco $517.00
Nokia 6500 $418.00
Nokia N70 Music Edition $234.30
Nokia N95 $632.50
Nokia N76 $427.90
Nokia N93i $511.50
Nokia E90 $690.00
Samsung D880 (Duos) $451.00

c óâ. http://allmobilestore.com
allmobilestore.com
Posted by: allmobilesstt || 02/11/2008 22:37 Comments || Top||


Bubba's Dilemma
Yeah, it's tough being Bill Clinton...
BOWIE, Md. -- Bill Clinton took his message to the pulpit this morning, sounding a bit like Job as he lamented the decision facing primary voters in the capital region this week.
Yes...just like Job. How could I miss that?
“God works in strange ways,” Clinton told the congregation at Temple of Praise in southeast Washington this morning. “All my life I have wanted to vote for a woman for president,” he added, noting he was “born to a widowed mother” who sometimes “suffered discrimination” at work. “And all my life I have wanted to vote for an African American for president,” he continued, saying his life in politics “was born in the civil rights struggle.” “I wonder why God gave us this dilemma,” he asked.
Cynthia McKinney's running. So vote for her and you're covered on both ends, you lying sack of shit...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 08:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Eight generations of African-Americans are still waiting to achieve their rights - compensation and restitution for the hundreds of years during which they were bought and sold on the market."Cynthia McKinney

At least Cynthia is upfront. BHO prefers to discuss these delicate topics with his holy man.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2008 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  “All my life I have wanted to vote for myself for president,” he said, "and I still want to!"
Fixed.
Posted by: Spot || 02/11/2008 12:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Golly. An embarrassment of riches! I'll bet that's how Midas felt after he ran into his daughter, that golden day.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2008 13:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Clinton talked about the election as the proverbial embarrassment of riches, saying he had waited his whole life to vote for an African American for president and just as long to vote for a woman.

I don't know about the rest of the Rantburgers but this statement strikes me as the ultimate pandering, racist, chauvanistic remark. I would hope that we get a President that isn't just a black or a woman but one that is also qualified and is guided by our Constitution.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2008 17:22 Comments || Top||

#5  "the ultimate pandering, racist, chauvanistic remark asshole"

That's BillyBob for ya', John.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/11/2008 18:44 Comments || Top||


Obama defeats Clinton in Maine Democratic caucuses
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Clinton seeks to cast herself as underdog vs Obama
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How times do change! Why just the other day, the word 'inevitable' was being tossed about.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2008 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "now seeking to portray herself as the underdog"
Not a very ambitious goal.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/11/2008 16:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Kinda like "cobra vs. mongoose"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 16:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Underdog? that would make Bill Jeff = Sweet Polly Purebread, an even less likely typecasting. Try again, Ineveitableness.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2008 20:32 Comments || Top||


Resounding victories bolster Obama campaign
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Olde Tyme Religion
Sex and marriage - things you didn't know about Sharia . Revolting
1. Many wives Yes a man can have four wives - but only if he proves he can take care of them all equally. Tunisia outlawed polygamy on the grounds that only Muhammed could satisfy four women. In other Islamic countries the man's financial accounts are scrutinised by the courts before he's allowed to marry many women.
British welfare takes care of that one

2. Share and share alike A man must spend an equal number of nights with each wife, but if he marries a virgin he can spend seven consecutive nights with her after the wedding. A non-virgin gets three consecutive nights.
ah, oh never mind

3. Siblings A man can't marry two women who are sisters.
Twins anyone?

4. Buying a wife Muslim marriage is not valid unless the man has paid a dower to his wife.

5. Virgins Virgins, younger women, educated women and attractive women get higher dowers. The lowest a dower can be is 3 dirhams about 40p. A wife can refuse sex if she hasn't been paid her dower.
Just like real life

6. Pre-Nup Islamic law does not recognise alimony so a woman can delay receiving the dower until divorce. A man can increase the amount during marriage.

7. The mother-in-law A man must provide his wife with a house away from her in-laws and his other wives, otherwise she can leave him.
Feel free to comment on this one guys

8. I divorce you In Saudi Arabia a man can divorce his wife by saying "talaq, talaq, talaq". This can be done by text message, fax, telegram, in person, or over the phone. Other Muslim countries have outlawed this method and the husband must say "talaq" over three consecutive months for the marriage to be over.

9. I take it back A man can revoke the divorce up to three months after the divorce during which time he must maintain her financially.

10. It was his smile Simply by smiling at his wife a man can revoke his divorce three months after he has announced it.

11. Remarriage A finally divorced couple can't remarry each other until the woman has first married someone else, had sex with him and divorced him.

12. Sexually transmitted disease A woman can get a divorce if she proves her husband has a sexually transmitted disease that could endanger her life, elephantiasis, or insanity, or if he mistreats her or fails to fulfil his sexual duties. Women now have the right to divorce by mutual consent and the wife must return her dower.
Posted by: Icerigger || 02/11/2008 08:56 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  > 4. Buying a wife Muslim marriage is not valid unless the man has paid a dower to his wife.

The western term for dowri is divorce.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2008 10:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Where's the outrage from NOW and all the great feminists worldwide ? Like the great unseen Moderate Muslims, not a peep. Nowhere to be seen. Why ? No group has more to lose.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 02/11/2008 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Man, talk about the government getting into your bedroom... But how else are they going to enforce the Sharia in the NEW Church of England.
Posted by: GK || 02/11/2008 11:01 Comments || Top||

#4 
In Saudi Arabia a man can divorce his wife by saying "talaq, talaq, talaq".


Do they have to throw dog poop on her shoes?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/11/2008 11:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Only if it's Saluki poop, Rob.
Posted by: GK || 02/11/2008 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  regarding #7, this is a big problem in Egypt (and other places) where there is a chronic shortage of housing.

regarding #8, this was approximately true in Judaism until about 1000 years ago
Posted by: mhw || 02/11/2008 13:55 Comments || Top||

#7  A woman can get a divorce if she proves her husband has insanity, or if he mistreats her....

That shouldn't be too difficult to prove.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2008 17:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Simply by smiling at his wife a man can revoke his divorce three months after he has announced it.

I wasn't smiling at her, Your Honor! She was about to step in front of a speeding cement truck!
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2008 17:23 Comments || Top||

#9  A woman can get a divorce if she proves her husband has insanity, or if he mistreats her....

You have to understand that under Sharia law, beatings, rapes, disfigurements, etc... of wives is (and daughters) not really considered 'mistreatment'.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/11/2008 17:30 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
East Timor president shot at home
The president of East Timor. Jose Ramos-Horta, has been injured by gunfire during an attack on his home, an army spokesman says.

A renegade soldier, Alfredo Reinado, was shot dead by the president's guards. The president was reportedly shot in the stomach. Last November, Reinado had threatened to use force against the government. He had been indicted for his alleged role in fighting between rebel troops and police in 2006.


Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jose Ramos-Horta is the one East Timorese politician I respect and admire the most. I hope he recovers.
I don't know what it's got to do with Sri Lanka though.
Posted by: Gladys || 02/11/2008 6:27 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran replaces Teheran University chancellor after student protest
Iran replaced Tehran University's chancellor, who was the first Islamic cleric appointed by the hard-line government to the post, with a non-cleric economics instructor after allegations of mismanagement, state media reported Sunday.

The government-owned IRAN newspaper said the former university chief, cleric Ayatollah Abbasali Amid Zanjani, was replaced by Farhad Rahbar, a non-cleric who had been an economics teacher at the oldest university in Teheran.

The announcement, made Saturday, comes after students at the university dormitory protested several times over the past two weeks, accusing Zanjani and his administration of mismanagement and providing students with poor food and transportation.

During a ceremony Saturday marking the farewell of the cleric, Iran's higher education minister, Mohammad Mahdi Zahedi, said the replacement "was not the result of (Zanjani's) dismissal or resignation."
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Home Front: Culture Wars
Whites 'to be US minority by 2050'
NON-Hispanic whites will become a minority in the United States by 2050, with immigrants and their children driving 82 per cent of US population growth in coming years, a new study said today.

The US population would grow to 438 million in 2050 from 296 million in 2005 if current population trends continued, the Pew Research Centre study found.

Non-Hispanic whites would account for 47 per cent of the total in 2050, it concluded.

By that time, one in every five Americans would be a foreign-born immigrant, compared to one in eight in 2005.

"Of the 117 million people added to the population in this period due to the effect of new immigration, 67 million will be the immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their US-born children or grandchildren," the study said.

Researchers predicted that while the white population, with its lower fertility rate, aged, the Latino population, the nation's largest minority, would triple in size. Latinos would be responsible for 60 per cent of the population growth until 2050.

They would account for 29 per cent of the population, or 128 million in 2050, up from 14 per cent now, the study said.

"The number of whites will increase, but only by four per cent," said D'Vera Cohn, one of the report's authors.

The Asian population would almost double in percentage terms, from five to nine per cent, while blacks would remain about 13 per cent of the total, the report said.

At the same time, the elderly population would more than double as the baby boom generation retired. The number of children and working-age people would grow more slowly.

Almost half of the new immigrants arriving the United States would be from Latin American countries, said the other author of the study, Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Hispanic Centre.
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2008 19:32 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  With Hispanics wanting to be 'like white' in their voting patterns; they hope to sooth the American majority for now, until their numbers put whites closer to the back of the bus with blacks by 2050! The price they will pay for letting them in 'Carte Blanche' and ignoring the illegals in the mean time!
Posted by: smn || 02/11/2008 20:57 Comments || Top||

#2  300M folks is more than enough...which is why I'm for sealing the border, slowing down legal immigration to a trickle and setting high standards for the few we do let in each year...starts w/tax reform, privatizing social security accounts, and a govt w/some balls.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 02/11/2008 21:34 Comments || Top||

#3  "If trends continue." Sorta like the guy who hits two home runs on opening day is "on track to hit 300 homers this year..." Heh...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2008 21:49 Comments || Top||

#4  THE MAN! be keepin me down!!
I can't wait to say that...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 21:51 Comments || Top||

#5  at least I'll dance better
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2008 21:54 Comments || Top||

#6  How many mixed marriages before they count as white? And how many generations before Hispanic means white the same as Italian?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2008 22:48 Comments || Top||


Boston police set to search for guns at homes
Nope, can't happen here.

Boston Police prepare for a warrantless search:
As Boston police prepare to go into some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, knock on doors of private houses, and ask if they can search for illegal guns without a warrant, officials are trying to pitch the idea of the plan as friendly cooperation to residents who still see it as a threatening intrusion.

A friendly looking logo - a drawing of a house surrounded by the sun - adorns the brochure police have drafted to explain and promote the initiative, "Safe Homes." Photos of officers playing baseball with children and chatting with teenagers dot the pamphlet. Twice, police have taken calls from listeners on a black radio station in Roxbury.

By the time they start going door to door next month, police hope they will have reassured clergy, neighborhood leaders, and parents who still see the program as a way to violate the privacy of residents in neighborhoods with a large population of minority-group members and and immigrants.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/11/2008 14:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The fascist left of Americka does not want you armed.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2008 14:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Folks, when you give permission for a warrantless search there is NO restriction on the "places to be searched and the things to be seized", it's an invitation to a fishing expedition...

I say again: People are Stupid.
Posted by: mojo || 02/11/2008 14:48 Comments || Top||

#3  This story is in The Globe, where it's seen as a good thing, since it's in The Hood and appears to be "for the children". It's not like the cops are trying to get gay marriage on the ballot or something like that. That would be "Orwellian" or...sumthin.
But have the cops be knocking on doors out in Dover or Weston, where the Globies live, and asking just to come in and "look around" and the outrage would be deafening...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Stand by for the Invasion of the Mattress Tag Police
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/11/2008 14:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Btw, the guys in the pic are not really Boston cops (except perhaps in spirit of portrayal) and they are not even real Nazis.
Note that the guy on the left is lighting a filter cigarette.
For the record, they are re-enactors at a recent event in Saint Petersburg.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/11/2008 15:04 Comments || Top||

#6  And where have I seen pictures like smiling cops and kids playing ball?
Oh, yeah. North Korean propaganda posters...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2008 15:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Atomic Conspiracy: That's even more puzzling. The last I heard, the typical Russian cigarette was a nasty, harsh, tarry affair rolled in newsprint. The very idea of smoking a filtered cigarette, to a Russian would seem positively dainty. They pretty much abhor American and Turkish tobacco as having little or no "bite".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/11/2008 15:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Who's going to adorn the light on the Old North Church?

Obviously, the stasis police don't study history, which is ok when you've banned the teaching of the real history of Massachusetts within the state.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2008 16:00 Comments || Top||

#9  What will they do if they find drugs? or p0rn? or crying kids? or copies of Liberal Facism?

What will they do with the lists of families who refuse them entance?
Posted by: DoDo || 02/11/2008 16:32 Comments || Top||

#10  If they really want to crack down on gangs or violent juveniles, they should follow the injunction route.

A judge can slap a standard injunction on individuals, even minors, any violation of which puts them right before the judge, *not* for the violation itself, but for contempt. This means no need for any evidence other than the testimony of a policeman, and no jury trial. If the judge finds against them, they go right to jail.

Injunctions can totally ignore most constitutional rights. For example, a gang member can be prohibited from free speech, free association, wearing certain clothing, being in particular neighborhoods, even using telephones or vehicles.

An injunction may require them to submit to personal and room searches, drug tests, ankle bracelets, appearances at school, with counselors or other supervisory personnel, etc.

If done properly, they can totally neutralize an offender. They were first devised against rum runner during prohibition, when no jury would convict them.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/11/2008 17:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Would the most dangerous neighborhoods be the italian, irish, asian, mexican, samoan, black or muslim ones? Just wondering.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/11/2008 17:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Sooo...now they think the guys with illegal guns are going to invite the police to come in and search the place?? Who is the rocket scientist that thought this one up!
Posted by: dave s. || 02/11/2008 18:10 Comments || Top||

#13  I think Ben Franklin has a saying or two that covers this.

My answer would be a firm No.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/11/2008 18:42 Comments || Top||

#14  You wanna know where the 4th Amend. came from? Seriously? It came from the colonists being pissed off at the Red Coats unfettered power to stop a wagon on the road to do a search for no good reason except that they had the power to do so. It came from the Red Coats unfettered power to walk into your busniess establishment to search for contraband or anything they wanted to search for simply because they could (and they had the guns). It came from the Red Coats unfettered power to walk into your home in the middle of the night to search it - top to bottom - for no good reasin except that they had the power to do so at their whim.

The folk who lived under that system for years and years didn't like it. Got so pissed off they took up arms against the King. The rest is history. Smile.

Sadly...we're back to pretty much where the colonists were in about...oh say...1770. Our present day Gov't (fed/state/local) doesn't understand the historical analogy. But then - at the time - King George didn't understand either. Because King Geo. had reason to believe he had "2/3's of the people" on his side. AND HE DID. Look it up: It was only about 1/3 of the people who rose up against England. The other 2/3 tried to sit it out thinking King Geo would win. Some didn't sit it out and tried to help King Geo. (Those that did died early...hehehe).

We're closer to sheep than we are to men when we ALLOW the Gov't to barge unmolested into our homes because it makes us closer to the subjects of King Geo anytime the Red Coats can come into our homes without a warrant signed by a neutral judge.

Think I'm full of sh*t? Then you don't know your history friend. Look it up.

I know we've got many law and order folk on this website. Currently employed or retired cops? Right? Part of the law we have is the 4th Amend. a law that is forgotten in great part because of the war on drugs.

Here's my take: a real good cop doesn't go into a man's house without a warrant signed by a judge (except for a damn good exception: did you see a fleeing felon go inside or are you going in to save someone's ass cause you hear them crying for help)....very narrow exceptions.

Think this is all BS? Think it through real hard before you call this BS. A war was fought in 1776 for the same kind of heavy handed police tactics that are going down now in cities across the USA. It can happen again. I'm not saying the GOOD guys will win a second time (they won the first one) - got more "Red Coats" (COPS) on the home turf this time - but I know the GOOD guys where the ones who said f*ck this Red Coat BS! They WON the first time around. That's where I stand. Live free or die. You gotta love it.
Posted by: MarkZ || 02/11/2008 20:57 Comments || Top||

#15  And the parents can't do the search of their kids' rooms because???
Posted by: Darrell || 02/11/2008 21:13 Comments || Top||

#16  Not long ago I remember a thread here about the Supreme Court reviewing the second ammendment, with the odds very good many if not all "Gun Laws" being abolished entirely, now this.

It looks to me like a sorta pre-emptive strike BEFORE it gete declared clearly illegal to enforce (Current) gun laws.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2008 22:27 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Oil prices fall amid profit taking after Venezuela threat
Posted by: lotp || 02/11/2008 08:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's an empty threat because the oil Ven sends here needs to be refined and it can't go anywhere else unless refineries are built.
Posted by: Penguin || 02/11/2008 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Even if China or India build heavy crude refineries, without a pipeline to the Pacific shipping would be quite expensive. And I'm not sure how Vez asphalt is even piped without expensive heating of the pipelines or in solution w/ lighter oil
Posted by: ed || 02/11/2008 18:39 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2008-02-11
  UN offices attacked in Mogadishu
Sun 2008-02-10
  UK Oil Rig Evacuated After Bomb Alert
Sat 2008-02-09
  Sudan planes, militia attack Darfur towns-witnesses
Fri 2008-02-08
  Israel may target Hamas heads
Thu 2008-02-07
  WMD Documents Found in NYC Apartment of Iraq Translator
Wed 2008-02-06
  Baitullah declares hudna
Tue 2008-02-05
  Nine dead as Israel strikes Gaza after suicide kaboom
Mon 2008-02-04
  Woman killed, one critically hurt in Dimona suicide attack
Sun 2008-02-03
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Sat 2008-02-02
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Fri 2008-02-01
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Thu 2008-01-31
  Abu Laith al-Libi titzup?
Wed 2008-01-30
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Tue 2008-01-29
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Mon 2008-01-28
  9 killed, dozens injured during Hezbollah-led riots in Leb


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