The doggies were destined for the dinner table -- all 520 of them crammed onto a truck hurtling at breakneck speed down a Beijing highway toward awaiting restaurants in northeastern China. Then, the fickle finger of fate intervened in the form of a passing driver, an animal lover who spotted the truck and angrily forced it off the road. PETA had a Chinese branch? Who knew?
From there, things began spiraling out of control. News of the confrontation hit the Chinese blogosphere, sending more than 200 animal activists flocking immediately to the highway. Traffic on the road slowed to a standstill. Dozens of police officers were called in. Animal activists, however, kept arriving with reinforcements, carrying water, dog food, even trained veterinarians for a siege that lasted 15 hours.
In many ways, it was a battle that has been brewing for years between the rural and the urbanites, the poor and the rich -- between China's dog eaters and its growing number of dog lovers. What is it, about dog meat, you may wonder.
For centuries, dog meat has been coveted for its fragrant and unique flavor; it is an especially popular dish in the winter, when it is believed to keep you warm. Particularly if you serve it hot...
But pet ownership has skyrocketed in recent years as China's booming economy produced a burgeoning middle class with both money and time for four-legged friends. Funny. The more the middle class grows, the more homogenized it becomes.
Most of the dogs they unloaded were strays, and many were dehydrated, malnourished or suffering from deadly viruses. Several have died since the rescue. Collateral damage:
The trucker said he lost a small fortune, more than $3,000, after being forced into the deal. What deal? Did they steal his dogs?
Worst of all, because he failed to deliver, no one has been willing to hire him since.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/29/2011 07:15 ||
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I should have checked back for the deal. I missed it: The mob of dog lovers finally won the standoff by pooling together more than $17,000 to pay off the truck driver. But their victory was quickly eclipsed when they soon realized they had no idea where to house the hundreds of loud, wild and decidedly not housebroken canines.
So the driver expected to get almost $40 a hound?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/29/2011 7:31 Comments ||
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CAIRO - Qatar has pledged to invest $10 billion in Egypt, a country with which it had strained relations under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, a minister was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Egypts Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Fayza Abu el-Naga, said the Egyptian-Qatari ministerial committee met on Saturday and discussed ways to promote Qatari investment in Egypt, the official MENA news agency reported. It said the investments were expected to be in sectors including tourism, housing, oil, transport, agriculture, education, health and justice. Translation: they're going to buy up Egypt...
These projects are part of the 10 billion dollars pledged by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Ahmad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Naga was quoted as saying by MENA.
During a visit to Egypt in May, the emir had assured Egyptian Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi of increasing Qatari investment in Egypt, it added.
Tantawi is the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled Egypt since the February 11 ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.
Qatar, which had strained relations with Mubarak, is among the first countries to support the new government.
Egypt has been particularly hit by falling tourist arrivals and near zero economic growth after the revolt against Mubarak and the chaos which accompanied it. In a bid to encourage democracy in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, the G8 on Friday promised a package of $40 billion for Arab countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] A Tunisian court has ordered the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) to block all pornographic websites, which became accessible after the lifting of censorship in January, the media said Friday.
The court ordered the censorship of X-rated sites following a suit filed last week by three lawyers, who argued that such sites were a danger to young people and were contrary to Mohammedan values.
According to the Tunisian Internet site Business news, seven pornographic sites have appeared among the 100 most visited sites in the north African country since the end of censorship. Five of them are among the 50 most consulted.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] A top Zimbabwe army general has called on President Robert Mugabe to rule forever and demanded that fresh elections must be held this year. Bob doesn't exactly have 'forever'...
Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, the commander of one of the country's major brigades told the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent newspaper that the army no longer had confidence in the unity government formed by President Mugabe and his opponents in 2009. Doug is just saying exactly what Bob wants him to say...
He said the 87 year-old ruler who has rejected calls to step down because of his advanced age and failing health was "irreplaceable like a father in a family". Might be best if Pops were simply mourned once a year...
"Why do you want to force him to go? Where were you when he crossed into Mozambique (to fight in the 1970s liberation war) and why didn't you go?" he was quoted as having said.
"If you can change your father in your family, then we can do the same but has anyone changed his or her father just because he is old. Until your father dies only then can you have a stepfather -- that is that."
Last week, President Mugabe said he was not ready to quit as leader of his party, Zanu PF, because Western countries were trying to destroy it. Zanu PF has already nominated him to be its candidate in the next elections. Hard to imagine but there must still be something worth stealing in Zim-bob-we...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2011 00:00 ||
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Doug would now be lookig at a second star and an ADC (Assistant Division Command) position in the US Army. Hat tip to the bugger, he's nailed the pathway to promotion!
Prof Steve Jones, one of Britains most eminent scientists, has warned that the level of inbreeding among the nations Muslims is endangering the health of future generations.
It is common in the Islamic world to marry your brothers daughter, which is actually closer than marrying your cousin.
We should be concerned about that as there can be a lot of hidden genetic damage. Children are much more likely to get two copies of a damaged gene.
He added: Bradford is very inbred. There is a huge amount of cousins marrying each other there. Research in Bradford has found that babies born to Pakistani women are twice as likely to die in their first year as babies born to white mothers, with genetic problems linked to inbreeding identified as a significant cause.
Studies have found that within the city, more than 70 per cent of marriages are between relations, with more than half involving first cousins.
Separate studies have found that while British Pakistanis make up three per cent of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses
#1
Good for the good professor. This has been talked about for years, with concommittant cries of "Islamophobia!". Perhaps a blood/DNA test should be required before marriage, to ensure the happy couple have neither nasty diseases nor are too closely related... at least for the Pakistani segment of the population.
#2
'Health of future generations' is true but exaggerates the significance. Problems with this kind of inbreeding radically fall off as soon as people mate outside of their close relations.
#4
Among the Amish this has been a problem for years. They encourage mixing blood with the English to correct the problem. Many ailments they currently suffer. Young men and women usually have all their teeth pulled. Heart, hearing and diabetes are also major problems. I should add cerebral palsy and epileptic seizures also plaque them. Very hard workers and long hours on the farm are normal for them. So what I am saying is hard work does not give you a pass on diet. More accurately your genetic history will tell the tale. Just my observations over time.
#6
IIRC reading in National Geographic (?) a number of years ago about worries in the Amish and Mennonite communties about this -- except I think the Amish and Mennonites are being a leeeetle bit more sensible about this. One of the points that I remember vividly is that just about all of the Mennonites in the US, Canada and Mexico are descended (one way or another)from six couples from 16th century middle-Europe. The various Mennonite communites encouraged their young men to go to another community, in order to court a wife. But still -- near-sightedness was endemic, according to that article. Among the Amish (which are sort of related and also kinda inbred)there is a higher-than-average occurances of that mutation for extra fingers and ties. Mild as far as genetic defects go, I suppose. My grandmother was from the Pennsylvania Quaker community, and she had some cautionary tales about the results of inbreeding there, also.
#7
I saw a BBC doc on the same subject. Muslim universally defended cousin' marriages, on grounds of piety enhanced by bloodline. And they held to those views, in face of proof of the inevitable birth defects from inbreeding. Further, their is the internal example of the Isle of Mann, where inbreeding stunted locals. (Cat lovers would know what a Manx Cat is; in the isle of Mutts, most cats are stunt-tailed "manx."
Posted by: Shusoque Spawn of the Algonquins3644 ||
05/29/2011 22:28 Comments ||
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This month Robert Gates, Barack Obamas outgoing defence secretary, launched a review of Pentagon spending.
He warned in a speech on May 24th that pay, pensions and health care would all need to be restructured, or they would crowd out the purchase of vital new weapons.
Military benefits, from subsidised food and education to free college tuition, have traditionally been used to enhance the appeal of a job that involves, at the best of times, limited freedom and frequent moves and, at worst, being killed. But with the exception of the army during the worst years in Iraq, the armed forces consistently meet or exceed their targets for recruitment and retention.
Indeed, Robert Hale, the Pentagons comptroller, says the department now has the opposite problem: with unemployment around 9%, fewer soldiers are quitting, pushing up costs. Some branches are moving to force people to leave.
The real budget-buster is health care, which, Mr Gates says, is eating the Defence Department alive. Since 2000 its annual health-care bill has shot from $17 billion to $49 billion, and the Congressional Budget Office reckons it will reach $65 billion, or 11% of the defence budget, by 2015.
Congress seems to be starting to get the message. Three times it ignored George Bush juniors proposal to raise Tricare fees; this year, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is on the verge of granting Mr Obamas request for a (much more modest) 13% increase.
The premium would then grow, though only with inflation rather than the higher health-care inflation rate Mr Obama had asked for. Even if the Senate agrees, the savings will be trivial, at less than $7 billion over five years. But it is a sign of the times that, for the first time in memory, military compensation is no longer untouchable.
#1
The real budget-buster is health care, which, Mr Gates says, is "eating the Defence Department alive."
Maybe because Congress has mandated but failed to properly fund the function. They knew the retiree costs were there but refused to allocate the monies necessary.
Three times it ignored George Bush juniors proposal to raise Tricare fees; this year, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is on the verge of granting Mr Obamas request for a (much more modest) 13% increase.
Well, maybe because the original proposal around 2000 was to increase the cost three times the exiting charge. The friggin bureaucrats would rather say 'I told you so ten years later' rather than had increased the charge gradually and annually at five to seven percent and would have gotten a better chance at getting it done then. Ten years later that would have been a 50 to 70 percent increase, to help cover the costs.
Yep, when we went in, we were told we'd get med coverage if we did the long tour. They reneged on that back in the 90s to cover the growing and largely unfunded expense then (it's what's going to come to roost in Medicare/Obamacare eventually anyway, but ignore the warning). Now the government could indeed afford to cover those 'grandfathered' retirees well within means if they kept support and services at the 70s and 80s (when the 'promises' were made) level of technology, pharmaceuticals, and protocols. However, since the retiree population wants 2010 level of care, that means we're all going to have to kick in some to cover the costs.
#2
The premium would then grow, though only with inflation rather than the higher health-care inflation rate Mr Obama had asked for.
And therein lies the stinger. When inflation explodes - and pretty much everyone I know believes it's when, not if - TRICARE or whatever they rename it will be affordable only to a handful. The costs will go down because the number of people who can afford it will shrink dramatically.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/29/2011 23:01 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Spaniards continue protests against the government's austerity measures and growing unemployment rate despite heavy police presence.
Violent festivities erupted on Friday as anti-government protesters had their sit-in in the Catalunya square in Barcelona, Spain.
The number of injured during the festivities reached over 120 as coppers swiped at protesters with batons, dragged them on the ground and even fired rubber bullets at them, aiming to disperse demonstrators and dismantle the camp they had set up in the square.
"As soon as police entered Catalunya square, they used excessive force to clear a makeshift camp set up there," Jordi Relano, a protester in Barcelona, told a Press TV correspondent on Friday.
He also denied that the protesters did anything to provoke police forces.
"Police entered the square only to stop our movement," he said.
"What police did today was simply meant to break up our gatherings. They just entered the square and started beating us," Hector Huerga, another protester, told our correspondent.
Police said they had to clear the square for the celebrations that will spark if Barcelona beats Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League's final match on Saturday.
This is while activists say cleaning the square was only a pretext to violate their democratic rights and have vowed to come back.
"They are making us leave because of the match but we will come back again here or somewhere else because our match is more important," 42-year-old Albert Bonet, who took part in the protest, said.
Similar festivities were also erupted in the northeastern city of Lerida.
Since mid-May, Spain has been witnessing nationwide demonstrations against the government's austerity measures and economic policies.
The protesters form part of the M-15 movement, which brought thousands of people to the streets ahead of Sunday's local and regional elections.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's ruling Socialist Party suffered heavy losses in the elections.
Massive protests sparked across Spain after the government of Zapatero introduced a slew of drastic austerity measures, including the cutting of civil servant wages, as part of its plan to curb the budget deficit from 11 percent a year earlier to within three percent of the GDP by 2013.
Spain has the highest jobless rate in the eurozone with 21.3 percent and is saddled with a record 4.9 million people unemployed.
Although Spain has so far managed to stave off a bailout, economists expect that the eurozone's fourth largest economy will inevitably follow Portugal, Ireland and Greece, and will be forced to accept a financial rescue package.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2011 00:00 ||
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Can't blame them. The socialists promised them paradise and then didn't deliver. In fact they made it a lot worse. We're familiar with that here in the U.S.A.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2011 13:02 Comments ||
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#3
"Manchester United?" Maybe the police could back off and let the British soccer fans do the clearing for them.
Posted by: James ||
05/29/2011 19:44 Comments ||
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Demonstrators went to the steps of Dearborn City Hall to protest "radical Islam," but only three members of the Michigan Fraternal Order of the Dragon showed up. The group had planned to protest on Good Friday, April 22, but canceled after meeting with Dearborn's mayor and other religious leaders.
Another group also made an appearance today on the steps, which have been designated a "Free Speech Zone," where public demonstrations can be held without a permit. BAMN, a group that seeks to defend affirmative action and integration "by any means necessary," staged a counter-protest with nearly a dozen members.
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.
