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ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudan's president-for-life
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Canada judge: Man not responsible for beheading
Remember this guy?
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – A Canadian judge ruled Thursday that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The family of victim Tim McLean dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder. "A crime was still committed here, a murder still occurred," said Carol deDelley, McLean's mother. "There was nobody else on that bus holding a knife, slicing up my child."

The judge said Li should not be held criminally accountable for stabbing McLean dozens of times last July and dismembering his body while horrified passengers fled. Justice John Scurfield said Li's attack was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder. He did not appreciate the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defense," Scurfield said.
I think he should be sentenced to live at the judge's house. Be his butler or sumthin...
Both the prosecution and the defense argued Li can't be held responsible because Li was suffering from schizophrenia and believed God wanted him to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil.

He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community. DeDelley said a yearly hearing is ridiculous, and that Li should be locked up for the rest of his life.

Li's trial barely lasted two days and only heard from two witnesses, both psychiatrists, who testified he is mentally ill. That Li killed the 22-year-old carnival worker was never in question at the trial. Li has admitted he killed McLean but pleaded not guilty. Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked as their bus traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.

An agreed statement of facts between the prosecution and defense detailed how passengers stood outside the bus as Li stabbed McLean dozens of times and beheaded and mutilated his body. Finding himself locked inside the bus, Li finally escaped through a window and was arrested. Li then apologized and pleaded with police to kill him.
Which, in hindsight, would've been a good idea...
Police said McLean's body parts were found throughout the bus in plastic bags, and the victim's ear, nose and tongue were found in Li's pocket.

A psychiatrist called by the prosecution Wednesday testified that Li cut up McLean's body because he believed that he would come back to life and take revenge.
If only...
After the trial, government prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn said McLean's family understood that she had to tell the court about Li's condition. "The evidence was so overwhelming that he was not criminally responsible. I absolutely had an obligation to bring that to the court's attention, and the family understands and respects that," Dalmyn said. She said people who are mentally ill should not be convicted when they don't know what they did was wrong. "They need to be treated," she said. "I certainly agree in Mr. Li's case he needs to be treated for a very long time."

McLean's family is vowing to turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released into the community once they are deemed well, without serving a minimum sentence in jail. DeDelley said her son didn't die in vain. His death highlights concerns about the justice system, she said. "Now people are aware that there is a problem," she said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/05/2009 15:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In hi case the Saudi response applies, "Yep he's insane, Kill him".
( The guy who killed the king, they had to get a sword from the museum to do the job, took three swipes.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/05/2009 15:58 Comments || Top||

#2  McLean's family is vowing to turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released into the community once they are deemed well, without serving a minimum sentence in jail.

Well, there's always that first scene from the Godfather with the mortician petitioning Don Corleone for justice. Just saying that when the state abrogates its responsibility, since it assumed the powers of justice, in practice, it forfeits the willingness of the members of that society in 'playing by the rules' when it is perceived that there will be no justice. The aggrieved will seek redress through other means.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2009 16:00 Comments || Top||


'Say please' at U. S. border nets pepper spray

A Canadian who demanded courtesy from a U.S. border security guard says he was pepper sprayed and held in custody for three hours for asking the disrespectful officer to "say please" when ordering him to turn his car off during a search.

"I refused to turn off the car until he said please. He didn't. And he has the gun, I guess, so he sprayed me," said Desiderio Fortunato, a Coquitlam, B.C., resident who frequently crosses the border to visit his second home in the state of Washington. "Is that illegal in the United States, asking an officer to be polite?"

The incident occurred on Monday at the Aldergrove border crossing, east of Vancouver, shortly after 12 p.m. Mr. Fortunato, a dance studio director, was travelling to his home in Blaine, Wash., to retrieve a wallet his wife had left during their most recent visit.

He said he was questioned by a border officer who demanded he turn off his car and, when asked to make the request more politely, threatened to spray him with his pepper gun if he did not comply.

"I just felt I should stand my ground about it. I should not be treated like that. No matter what kind of position you are in, if you want respect you have to show respect," he said yesterday. "I asked him three times and when I didn't turn the car off, because he didn't say please, he pepper sprayed me.... It was terrible. For half an hour or so I couldn't see anything."

Mr. Fortunato said after he was sprayed he was forcefully taken into custody by several officers. He was held for three hours before he was released without being allowed entry into the United States. Mr. Fortunato says he was dismissed with a warning to be more cooperative in the future.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers are trained on how to handle confrontation, and refusal to comply with a direct order is justification to use capsicum spray, also known as pepper spray, or other "soft techniques" such as physical holds.

"The combination of training and experience is what our officers use to communicate with passenger on a day-today basis. Our officers will give direct orders or commands to passengers, especially in situations where there may be a safety concern. It is the obligation of the passenger to be compliant with those," said spokesperson Mike Milne.

He added that officers order border passengers to turn of their vehicles when they want to take somebody from a car and, in such cases, further questioning would be conducted inside the building.

While he could not comment on the specific case, Mr. Milne said the use of force at a border crossing is very rare, very serious and subject to immediate review.

By his own admission, Mr. Fortunato is a stickler for courtesy and respect. The Portuguese native, who has lived in B.C. for 25 years and has owned his second home in Washington for three, pulled a similar stunt at the same border crossing about one year ago. In that case, he was ordered to wait hours to be questioned before being allowed to cross.

Once, he said, he asked a Canadian border agent to be more polite when requesting documents, to which the agent responded with a sheepish "please."

I for one am happy that they maced this guy...
Posted by: bgrebel || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, I've got to say that I admire the guy---many a time I wanted to knock down and stomp some petty official dictator.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2009 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure he made his "request" to the border guard politely, too. NOT!

(I hope that the guard has this on tape. I'll bet you there is far more to Mr Fortunato's story than what is reported here.)
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 03/05/2009 6:46 Comments || Top||

#3  When police order you to do something, you had better do it, unless you are willing to pay the price, which can be a lot more severe than Fortunato paid. The police SHOULD have been polite, but they do not have to be, and way too many are petty people on power trips.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/05/2009 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Never go to a pepper spray fight armed only with a bad attitude. Hat tip to the U.S. border guard.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2009 7:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Mr. Fortunato sounds like a pretentious little prick. When I enter a foreign country, I do not demand that the local constabulariess do as I say. I only hope he has a chance to visit other lands and play his little game there. He might look back on pepper spray more fondly
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2009 8:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Welcome to the "No entry" list Mr. Fortunato.
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 8:25 Comments || Top||

#7  The police SHOULD have been polite, but they do not have to be, and way too many are petty people on power trips.

Agreed. However, this caught my eye:

officers order border passengers to turn off their vehicles when they want to take somebody from a car and, in such cases, further questioning would be conducted inside the building

So let's see. This guy is a non-US and non-Canadian citizen who goes back and forth over the border regularly.

Post 9/11 that warrants a touch of scrutiny. Security wishes to ask him some questions and he refuses to turn off his car and accompany them.

Add in the fact that he's confronted and tried to intimidate border security guards in the past.

Yup, I don't use profanity often but he does indeed fit the profile of pr**k.
Posted by: lotp || 03/05/2009 8:41 Comments || Top||

#8  I disagree that the police need to be polite. They need to be clear and unambiguous. I agree with CSB. Very probably more to the story. This guy could easily be an agent provacateur as his history implies, trying to soften up our defences. Someone should tell him we're at war and you don't want to mess with someone in uniform carrying a gun during wartime.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/05/2009 8:53 Comments || Top||

#9  when counter-demands are made to law enforcement, that's when things go south real fast (except in this case, he didn't so South too fast).
Posted by: HammerHead || 03/05/2009 8:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Don't mace me bro!
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 8:57 Comments || Top||

#11  Something tells me there's a little more to the story. Border officers don't whip out the pepper spray at a little (rather stupid) joke.

I suspect that there was a lot more to his attitude.

Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/05/2009 8:59 Comments || Top||

#12  g(r)omgoru , Are you making a funny remark ? I Don't know who you are. Please add an explanation of your statement.
Posted by: Crusing the Kid5442 || 03/05/2009 12:34 Comments || Top||

#13  I wonder how the cop would like to have been pepper sprayed himself. I think the guy was entirely correct to ask the cop to be polite, he wasn't being arrested.

I had a somewhat similar thing happen, I was eating at a burger joint, it was good weather so I sat in one o their outdoor deck chairs to eat, I noticed two cops go up to the take out window, then walk toward me, when they got there the younger cop said "What are you doing"? with my mouth bull of burger I replied "Eating lunch", he started to get an attitude and the older cop stopped him, and said "You're wearing a gun", I said "So", and he said "The employees were afraid of you", I couldn't help it, I started laughing, and he Grinned, apologized and they left, muttering something about the wacky employees.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/05/2009 13:26 Comments || Top||

#14  Redneck Jim, I am pretty sure that the official got pepper sprayed as part of his training. I got a faceful of that crap before I was allowed to carry it, and the feds, as far as I know, have the same policy.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 03/05/2009 14:37 Comments || Top||

#15  Was the cop wrong? Maybe. Is our Canadian dance instuctor an asshole? Oh, definitely.
I'll lose no sleep over this one...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/05/2009 14:41 Comments || Top||

#16  Didja ever here the one about the Portuguese dance studio director that demanded courtesy from the security guard while trying to cross the U.S. border?

The guard politely taught him the Salsa Spray.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/05/2009 14:55 Comments || Top||

#17  "He said he was questioned by a border officer who demanded he turn off his car and, when asked to make the request more politely, threatened to spray him with his pepper gun if he did not comply."

Yeah, no attitude there. He disobeyed the order, at least twice, despite being warned of the consequences and kept his potentially dangerous vehicle idling. That's like saying I won't put the gun down until you ask politely. This was not the time or place to make demands.

I"m sure the cop will be repremanded because this made national news and became embarrassing but the guy should have shut off the engine and then made his comments about politeness.

Oh, and I believe Cops are all maced as part of their training. Maced and zapped with a stun gun.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/05/2009 17:11 Comments || Top||

#18  I wonder how the cop would like to have been pepper sprayed himself

Like C.B. sed, as part of the training necessary to carry pepper spray, you do get a face-full of it.

I think the guy was entirely correct to ask the cop to be polite, he wasn't being arrested.

Customs and Border Protection, not just a "cop".
Posted by: Pappy || 03/05/2009 18:41 Comments || Top||

#19  RJ - that's just f*cking ignorant. Borders aren't traffic stops, and if a cop stops you in traffic? Do what he says. Period. Write em up later. This poodle has an attitude that would get him beaten elsewhere in the world, and I'd pay to watch it
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2009 18:55 Comments || Top||

#20  "#12 g(r)omgoru , Are you making a funny remark ? I Don't know who you are. Please add an explanation of your statement."

I don't know who you are, either, Crusing the Kid5442, but grom's statement seemed pretty straightforward to me.

Sure you're not Cruising for a Bruising?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/05/2009 20:03 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Volunteer Finds Dalek Head In Pond
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/05/2009 16:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're not going to plug it in, are they?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/05/2009 21:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Excavate! Excavate!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/05/2009 23:25 Comments || Top||


Global Warming Alert: Worms and fish belching laughing gas into the atmosphere
Aquatic animals that feed on lake and stream bottom sediments burp out small amounts of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, a new study finds.

While the biological emissions from these critters pales in comparison to the nitrous oxide emitted by fossil fuel burning, their contribution could increase as more and more nitrogen-rich fertilizer runs off into lakes, streams and seas, the authors of the study said.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is more commonly known to anyone who has sat in the dentist's chair as laughing gas.

In the atmosphere it is a powerful greenhouse gas, packing about 310 times the punch as the same weight of carbon dioxide (though carbon dioxide is still the bigger driver because there is much more of it).

Studies of soil-dwelling earthworms had showed that the creepy crawlies emitted nitrous oxide because of the nitrogen-converting microbes they gobbled up into their guts with every mouthful of soil.

Peter Stief, of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany, and his colleagues noticed that no one had ever looked for similar nitrous oxide emission in aquatic animals, so that's where they turned their attention.

"We were looking for an analogy in the aquatic system," Stief said.

The researchers found that in a variety of aquatic environments, animals that dug in the dirt for their food did indeed emit nitrous oxide, thanks to the bacteria in the soil they ate, which "survive surprisingly well in the gut environment," Stief told LiveScience.

The team's findings are detailed in the March 2 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The nitrous oxide given off by these so-called filter feeders has little global impact of course.

"We're not expecting a new catastrophe," Stief said.

But on the scale of an individual lake or stream, "the difference can be huge," Stief said — as much as an 8-fold difference between situations where animals were and were not present.

Nitrate from fertilizer runoff can exacerbate the situation because those bacteria that end up in animal guts love to feast on it.

Increased nitrogen levels can also favor algal blooms, which suck up all the oxygen in the water. This could cause a shift in the ecosystems subjected to runoff, favoring the species that are more tolerant to oxygen depletion, which also tend to be the nitrous oxide emitters.

Because these species tend to be at the bottom of the food chain, any shifts in species abundance can cascade up the food chain, Stief noted.

The findings don't mean that animals will be to blame for any future increases in nitrous oxide, because the pollution would fuel their emissions ultimately comes from humans.

"We have not discovered that the animals represent an environmental problem," Stief said.

The research was supported by a European Union Marie Curie Fellowship, the Danish Research Agency and Aarhus University, Denmark.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/05/2009 12:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, you are going to carbon tax them then?
Or have the rats pay carbon "offsets"?
Posted by: newc || 03/05/2009 14:33 Comments || Top||

#2  And you thought that all of us who fish were there to get largemouths........


Ever wonder why we come home with a smile? (No, not beer.)
Posted by: no mo uro || 03/05/2009 16:29 Comments || Top||


83-year-old trampled by wild elephants in Sumatra
A 83-YEAR-OLD man was crushed to death by a herd of wild elephants on Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, a local official said, the latest in a string of human-animal conflicts on the edge of the island's dwindling forests.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Remember me, Belang? Kenya, 1963..."
-- An Elephant Never Forgets
Posted by: mojo || 03/05/2009 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  "Remember me, Mr. Schneider? Kenya, 1947. If you're going to shoot at an elephant, Mr. Schneider, you'd better be prepared to finish the job."
Posted by: Don Vito Anginegum8261 || 03/05/2009 19:41 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Pink dolphin appears in US lake
Global warming cooked Flipper.
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 08:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anyone sign him/her up for a movie contract? No1 Well at least a guest spot on Oprah? the public has a right to know this special creature.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 03/05/2009 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Flipper was female. And the Pink Panther male.
Posted by: JFM || 03/05/2009 11:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Pink dolphins and unicorns!
Posted by: Mike || 03/05/2009 14:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Flipper was female

IIUC, all dolphins in movies and series actually are female, because actors rubbing against males would stimulate them (given it's a mating behavior), they would get aroused, which is supposedly very spectacular, and would have kiddies turn away from the teevee set and ask their mom : "gee, mommy, why did Flipper grow a tentacle?". You're doing it wrong!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/05/2009 15:16 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Bissau premier asks for funds to ease crisis
Get to the last paragraph and you'll see why you should care ...
BISSAU, March 4 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau's prime minister appealed on Wednesday for more foreign aid to help the West African country through a crisis after its president and army chief were killed in separate attacks this week.
Because nothing helps you get back the assassination of public figures like a little foreign aid ...
The twin killings of the two figures whose rivalry has dominated years of instability prompted concern about further unrest or a military coup, which was allayed when the civilian speaker of parliament was sworn in as interim leader on Tuesday.

"Guinea-Bissau needs financial aid to overcome the crisis it is going through," Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior said after meeting Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the head of the commission of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Vieira was shot dead in his own home early on Monday hours after his longstanding rival, armed forces chief General Batista Tagme Na Wai, was killed in an explosion at the military headquarters. Vieira's wife took refuge in the Angolan embassy in Bissau, and supporters fears further reprisal attacks against Vieira's associates, particularly by members of Na Wai's Balante ethnic group which dominates the armed forces.

Gomes Junior said the army had given its commitment to obey the civilian authorities. "Democracy can not go hand in hand with persecution and violence. We are in a law-abiding state," he said.
As evidenced by the assassination of your leaders.
The delegation from Portuguese-speaking countries, who have been meeting various senior Guinea-Bissau officials since Tuesday, said their countries stood ready to help establish peace and democracy but that Bissau itself needed to pursue reforms.

Like other West African countries, impoverished Guinea-Bissau has been targeted by Latin American drug smuggling gangs who regard its virtually unpoliced coastline and corruptible officials as an easy route to traffic Colombian cocaine into Africa and on to lucrative markets in Europe. U.N. narcotics experts say the drug trade has exacerbated insecurity and corruption in a country already racked by years of coups and civil conflict, and threatens to turn West Africa into a "Coke Coast".
Wanna bet Hugo and the Iranians are looking at this as well?
Posted by: Steve White || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
BNP ready to help govt
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia once again said the opposition is ready to cooperate with the government to overcome the ongoing crisis centring Pilkhana carnage so that it will not hurt the country's democratic process.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia building anti-satellite weapons
MOSCOW – Russia is working to develop anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations, a deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Thursday. Gen. Valentin Popovkin said Russia continues to oppose a space arms race but will respond to moves made by other countries, according to Russian news reports. "We can't sit back and quietly watch others doing that, such work is being conducted in Russia," Popovkin was quoted as saying.

Russia already has some "basic, key elements" of such weapons, but refused to elaborate, Popovkin said.

Popovkin, who previously was the chief of Russian military Space Forces, reportedly made the statement at a news conference in response to a question about U.S. and Chinese tests of anti-satellite weapons.

In February 2008, a U.S. Navy ship launched a missile that hit a dying spy satellite. The test boosted the credibility of missile defense advocates. In 2007, China destroyed one of its own defunct satellites with a ballistic missile. As part of missile defense plans developed by the previous U.S. administration, the Pentagon worked on missiles, ground lasers and other technology to shoot down satellites.

The Kremlin has criticized U.S. plans for space-based weapons, saying they could trigger a new arms race. Russia and China have pushed for an international agreement banning space weapons, but their proposals have been rejected by the United States.
Wait ...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/05/2009 11:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something else for Ø to fold on (with the help of the illustrious Secretary of State). /s
Posted by: tipover || 03/05/2009 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Ummm we've had them for decades, nice that they're only 20 years behind and just starting.

Seriously it's damn expensive you have to shoot just like launching a satelite.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/05/2009 20:00 Comments || Top||


Europe
Putin: Russia could cut gas to Ukraine on Saturday
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is warning that Russia will cut natural gas to Ukraine if the country doesn't make payments by Saturday.

Much of Russia's gas destined for Europe transits Ukraine. A dispute over payments caused a two-week cutoff of Russian gas to much of Europe this winter before it was resolved.

Ukraine's next payment is due Saturday. Ukraine's ability to pay is undermined by a severe financial crisis.

In addition, Ukraine's national security service raided the offices of the country's gas company Wednesday in a probe of alleged gas diversion. The raid was seen as part of a political fight that could undermine Ukraine's ability to pay.

Putin said on television Thursday that the raid "is a source of extreme concern."
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 08:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Vlad's gonna fart on the Ukraine on Saturday?
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/05/2009 16:41 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Lieberman: Barak has 'no principles'
Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman launched a fierce attack on Defense Minister and Labor leader Ehud Barak on Wednesday, saying "Barak has already said many things and then later gone back on them."

Speaking during an interview with Army Radio, Lieberman fumed, "In order to remain defense minister, he would agree to [Hadash chair] Muhammad Barakei joining the coalition. He has no principles, everything's personal with him."

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party is currently negotiating with both Labor and Israel Beiteinu, among other parties, to put together a coalition.

Of his own potential cabinet appointment, Lieberman said, "I could be a good foreign minister, just like anyone else."

Lieberman also denied claims that his party had requested the Public Security portfolio because of a police investigation against him. "I'm not interfering," he said, "and I won't interfere. The investigation won't result in an indictment."

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz has already ruled that Lieberman cannot be public security minister, because that minister is in charge of the police, which would pose a conflict of interests for his subordinates.

In terms of the Justice Ministry, Lieberman said, "I think that [Justice Minister Daniel] Friedmann is a serious and appropriate man for the job, and the more people try to pressure me, the more I want him to [remain in his current position]."
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Give it up, Ivet, you're not going to be minister of Defense.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2009 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Good one, Fred
Posted by: sludge || 03/05/2009 7:31 Comments || Top||

#3  You know...for just 10 seconds I thought - yeah, right! Joe is bitch-slappin' Obama.

No such luck. damn!
Posted by: Ulusomp Forkbeard3506 || 03/05/2009 8:45 Comments || Top||


Lieberman mulled for Israel FM
Controversial ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman is being considered for the job of foreign minister in the cabinet being assembled by Benjamin Netanyahu, an official in Netanyahu's Likud party said on Wednesday.

"There is a serious possibility that Avigdor Lieberman will take the helm of the foreign ministry," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that "nothing has been decided for the moment." Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu is the third-largest party in parliament after winning 15 seats in the 120-member chamger in February 10 elections. For the moment, it is expected to be the second-largest party in a coalition Netanyahu is forming, and is laying claim to a senior portfolio, such as foreign affairs, finance or defence.

Netanyahu has excluded giving him the defence job because he lacks experience. The finance post could be a problem because of an ongoing corruption investigation, local media have reported. Lieberman, 50, has built his reputation on statements that have earned him a reputation as a "racist" and "fascist" among critics and as a tough-talking man on security among admirers.

In the three years since the last election, he has called for the execution of Israeli Arab MPs who had dealings with Hamas, for Gaza to be "treated like Chechnya" and for Israel to fight Hamas "just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II." In October, he told Hosni Mubarak to "go to hell" for not coming to Israel.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good, Israel didn't have an FM who thinks that Israel has a right to exists---and to Hell with what the rest of the World thinks---in ages.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/05/2009 1:52 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Uproar over death
RIGHTS groups and political parties on Wednesday demanded action against rogue police in Malaysia after a new autopsy revealed an ethnic Indian man died in police custody because of a beating.

A second post mortem examination on 22-year-old suspected car thief A. Kugan, released on Tuesday, showed he died while being interrogated on Jan 20 from injuries consistent with being beaten. There were also a number of burn marks on his body.
Posted by: Fred || 03/05/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front Economy
Seattle P-I staff asking for donations
A movement is stirring to keep the Seattle Post Intelligencer going. According to a P-I employee website, journalists plan to keep an online version of their paper going for at least a couple of months if the paper stops publishing, which could happen mid-March.

The goal is to get subscribers and philanthropists to fund the online version.
As opposed to advertisers and investors ...
"In the short run, the hope really lies with grant makers, foundations, and individuals who have a large sum of money at their disposal and want to invest it in their community to support journalism that goes two, three, or four layers deep," said Reporter Daniel Lathrop.

P-I staffers point to successful online papers in Minnesota and San Diego. They think the same type of models could work in Seattle and believe people appreciate the kind of watch-dog and community reporting the P-I offers.

The Hearst Corporation, the P-I's owner, plans to sell the newspaper if no buyer steps forward.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/05/2009 11:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SOS (Soros Our Souls)!

And only in newspaper land would the following sentence make sense:

The Hearst Corporation, the P-I's owner, plans to sell the newspaper if no buyer steps forward.

Posted by: charger || 03/05/2009 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Blood and souls for my Lord Soros!
Posted by: Mitch H. || 03/05/2009 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Send 'em some canned food.
Posted by: mojo || 03/05/2009 12:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Pull the Obama signs off the editors' walls and burn them for heat.
Posted by: Dar || 03/05/2009 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Seriously, did they ever consider giving the readers what they want, instead of what the paper chose to ram down their throats?

Betcha the answer's a huge NO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/05/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm willing to toss in a sawbuck if they video themselves doing Jackass stunts and post them on the website.
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 13:48 Comments || Top||

#7  I'll gladly donate a middle finger salute.

Two, even.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/05/2009 13:48 Comments || Top||

#8  To the media elite this sentence probably makes sense.

The Hearst Corporation, the P-I's owner, plans to sell the newspaper if no buyer steps forward.

Heather, you need some remedial work at a Journalism Summer School.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/05/2009 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Sorry, Heather. The federal government rewards failure. I don't.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/05/2009 15:05 Comments || Top||

#10  How much would it take to make you go away - forever?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 03/05/2009 15:25 Comments || Top||

#11  I live in Seattle - I have $5. I'll buy it.

As long as I can fire the editors, writers, and reporters. Watching them take their agenda out the door in grocrey carts would almost be worth five bucks.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/05/2009 15:46 Comments || Top||

#12  They didn't get the message. The lefties concept of charity is to use 'other' people's money to contribute as compared to conservatives who use their own money to contribute. Since their remaining readership would be largely composed of the former, the 'donations' are likely to less than what is needed for operations. Like most lefties the market system [as in know your customer base] is something foreign to them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2009 15:53 Comments || Top||

#13  A suggestion for the paper's final headline: "Rosebud".
Posted by: DMFD || 03/05/2009 18:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Seattle P-I Editor: 'We Get to Decide What Is News and What Isn't'
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Managing Editor David McCumber has posted a blog item defending his decision to not run the photos of the two ferry passengers the FBI is seeking in order to question them about their suspicious activities on several Seattle-area ferries in recent weeks.

McCumber says the paper didn't consider the photos news-worthy.

I certainly have plenty of feedback to consider from the ferry photo issue as we go forward.

I understand that people have a hard time with the concept that we get to decide what is news and what isn't, and what is fair and what isn't.

Several people have basically told me I didn't have the right to withhold the photos of the individuals the FBI want to identify. One person even said, "You have a responsibility to obey all FBI directives."

That's not the way a free press works.

If everything any government authority handed us was automatically unquestioned "news," we would be a state-run newspaper. Strangely, some of the same people who have made arguments that we should unquestioningly follow the FBI's directives are also very critical of "big government."

This afternoon I got a call from a Washington State Ferries captain who thanked me sincerely for the decision not to run the photos. He said he feared we were moving to some sort of brown-shirt state where hysteria replaced reason.

He ended our short conversation by quoting Benjamin Franklin:

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporaray safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

I think there are very good arguments on both sides of this issue. The captain -- and old Ben -- expressed what I consider to be the controlling point here more eloquently than I was able to myself.

Thanks for considering all sides of this. We certainly have.

McCumber's tale of a conveniently unnamed ferry captain calling him and quoting Ben Franklin sounds a little to convenient for me to accept that it really happened, but even if it did, it's irrelevant. There was no liberty issue at stake involving the photos - which were, after all, just photos of two men in a public place. The P-I runs pictures of unidentified people in public places all the time.

I guarantee you that the P-I has, at some point during McCumber's time as the paper's managing editor, run a photo of random unidentified people on a ferry, either in conjunction with a story about the ferry system, or as stand-alone art.

McCumber, then, believes pictures of unidentified people on a ferry are newsworthy only as long as the pictures are not connected to an FBI effort to ensure the safety of the thousands of people who ride the ferries every day.

But of course the photos of the mystery men were newsworthy - otherwise, McCumber 's paper would not have published two stories about them and the FBI's search for the two men. If the story was newsworthy - and the P-I clearly thought it was - then the photos were newsworthy, too.

And yet the paper chose not to publish them.

Because, as McCumber asserts, "We get to decide what is news and what isn't."


One can hope McCumber was one of the first assholes out the door, and immediately set upon by starved rabid weasels. I'd consider that news
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2009 18:59 Comments || Top||

#15  Sorry, Frank--this article indicates that McCumber will be moving to the online-only P-I.
Posted by: Dar || 03/05/2009 20:09 Comments || Top||

#16  Rather I should have said "implies".
Posted by: Dar || 03/05/2009 20:10 Comments || Top||

#17  thanks, Dar, for crushing my schadenfreude :-(

/JK - he'll bring that sparkle of superiority and disdain for the advertising market to the online version. Wish we could short now, but it's hard to gain profit when they move from 0 value to...virtual 0 value
Posted by: Frank G || 03/05/2009 20:36 Comments || Top||


Detroit's Average Home Price is under $19,000
There are 15 candidates for the Feb. 24 special mayoral election necessitated by the conviction of Kwame Kilpatrick for trying to cover up an affair with a former top aide.

"There are some good candidates -- I've never seen a field as broad and deep," said Steve Tobocman, who represents a Detroit district in the state legislature. "That being said, I don't think there's a concrete vision on how to deal with the real challenges."
For example
About 44,000 of the 67,000 homes that have gone into foreclosure since 2005 remain empty, and it costs about $10,000 to demolish each vacant house, according to Planning and Development Department director Doug Diggs.

Overall, the residential real estate market is catastrophic, with the Detroit Board of Realtors now pegging the average price of a home in the city at $18,513. Some owners can't find buyers at any price.
Recent Mayors
January 1, 1974-January 3, 1994 Coleman Young- D
January 3, 1994-January 4, 2002 Dennis Archer- D
January 4, 2002-September 18, 2008 Kwame Kilpatrick - D
Posted by: mhw || 03/05/2009 09:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Archer actually tried to do good. The bigger problem is the inept and corrupt detroit city council. Almost every major shit-bag city in this country is democrat led.
Posted by: Andy Ulusoque aka Broadhead6 || 03/05/2009 10:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Urban sprawl not working? Consider an alternative.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2009 10:26 Comments || Top||

#3  no worries Detroit. Give Obama a few more months and 19,000 will be right in line with the National Average.
Posted by: airandee || 03/05/2009 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  As Broadhead6 mentioned, Dennis Archer was a decent guy, quite unlike his predecessor Coleman Young. He doesn't deserved to be lumped in together with those other two crooks.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/05/2009 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Are they counting empty lots and ruins?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 03/05/2009 11:54 Comments || Top||

#6  $10,000 to demolish each vacant house

Just browsing through Detroit real estate. Surely the underlying land values have to be multiples of these prices, or am I missing something from a down under perspective?
Posted by: tipper || 03/05/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#7  The intrinsic value is whatever your life insurance policy pays out. Be sure to get the double indemnity clause for unnatural death.
Posted by: ed || 03/05/2009 13:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Besoeker, are you saying they should remove all those empty structures and start planting sweet potatoes in Detroit? Might be a good idea. When a city stops working, condemn it, disincorporate it, tear it down and convert it to farm land. It'd give the unemployed who still live there something to do. New Orleans might be another good candidate for that kind of a program.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/05/2009 13:03 Comments || Top||

#9  No demand for the houses or the land Tipper, and there could be back-taxes to be paid as well. No one wants to live there. Selling property near Chernobyl would prove more lucrative than Detroit.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/05/2009 13:08 Comments || Top||

#10  "Planning and Development Department director Doug Diggs"

YJCMTSU!
Posted by: no mo uro || 03/05/2009 13:44 Comments || Top||

#11  i wouldn't live there if tey where free
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 03/05/2009 14:28 Comments || Top||

#12  It'd give the unemployed who still live there something to do.

You're missing the point. Most of these folks don't want to do anything. Like other indigents around the country, they probably get housing, cash and food stamp benefits worth about $800 each.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/05/2009 18:21 Comments || Top||

#13  Like i've said before. Time for a land value tax.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 03/05/2009 19:10 Comments || Top||

#14  Ummm, I pay a land tax every year, the county gets it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/05/2009 19:55 Comments || Top||

#15  A stim project as an alternative storage site to Yucca? :)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/05/2009 19:56 Comments || Top||

#16  Prices in Detroit are then too high. True value is negative, i.e. cost of demolition & paperwork. Much of Detroit is bulldozer-ready. Wait until they pay you enough to justify the cost of demolition with something left over.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/05/2009 23:28 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2009-03-05
  ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudan's president-for-life
Wed 2009-03-04
  Lanka troops in last Tamil Tiger Towne
Tue 2009-03-03
  Lanka cricketers shot up in Lahore
Mon 2009-03-02
  Hariri tribunal gets underway in The Hague
Sun 2009-03-01
  Mighty Pak Army claims famous victory in Bajaur
Sat 2009-02-28
  Bangla sepoy mutiny: Mass grave horror stuns nation
Fri 2009-02-27
  Paleofactions agree to form unity govt
Thu 2009-02-26
  Bangla: At least 50 feared dead in sepoy mutiny
Wed 2009-02-25
  Lanka: Troops enter last Tamil Tiger-controlled town
Tue 2009-02-24
  Mulla Omar orders halt to attacks on Pak troops
Mon 2009-02-23
  100 rounded up in Nineveh
Sun 2009-02-22
  1 European killed, 9 others wounded in Egypt blast
Sat 2009-02-21
  Handcuffed JMB man pops grenade at press meet
Fri 2009-02-20
  Tamil Tiger planes raid Colombo
Thu 2009-02-19
  MPs visit Swat to pay obeisance to Sufi Mohammad

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