Local governments across Arizona would be prohibited from enacting policies that prevent them from enforcing federal immigration law, under a proposal tentatively approved by state lawmakers Tuesday.
The measure, House Bill 2331, would bar cities, towns and counties from following so-called sanctuary policies, which discourage local authorities from contacting federal agents during routine encounters with undocumented immigrants. The bill was OK'd by House lawmakers on a voice vote and could receive final consideration as early as today before advancing to the Senate.
Following the 2007 murder of a Phoenix police officer by an undocumented immigrant, the city came under heavy criticism for a 2-decade-old policy that barred officers from contacting federal authorities regarding most encounters with individuals suspected of living in the country illegally, including during basic traffic stops and misdemeanor arrests. The city amended that policy last year. Now, everyone arrested in Phoenix is questioned about his or her citizenship.
The bill would not require local authorities to enforce federal immigration law; rather, it would prevent them from having policies that hinder enforcement of federal law.
Bill sponsor Rep. Tom Boone, R-Peoria, said the measure would "have a very credible impact" on reducing illegal immigration in Arizona, assuring that no communities are turning a blind eye to the problem. The proposal stipulates no penalties for communities in violation.
"I know that we have a serious illegal-immigration problem here in Arizona," said Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, but he argued that the proposal leaves local authorities little leeway to write their own guidelines when it comes to prioritizing enforcement of immigration-related crimes.
"Given a choice between detaining a maid on her way to work or a drug dealer on the streets," Miranda continued, "it's clear where we should place our priority."
Boone countered that cities and towns shouldn't be able to pick and choose between which laws they want to enforce.
"There are a lot of laws that are federal laws, but they're enforced by the local law enforcement," he said. "Do we leave bank robbers to the feds? These are all federal laws."
" If the line cuts off when the telephone is placed close to the needle ... that proves the existence of the substance "
Saudi Gazette
[Al Arabiya Latest] From ponzi schemes to sewing machines, it seems scams target everyone. Saudi police are investigating the origins of a hoax that had hundreds of people believing that old sewing machines may bring fortune because they contained an elusive, and probably mythical, substance known as red mercury.
Saudi newspapers on Tuesday published pictures of Saudis proudly posing next to old sewing machines awaiting prospective buyers at traditional markets. The English-language Saudi Gazette newspaper said some buyers were willing to pay up to 200,000 riyals ($50,000) for an old Singer sewing machine proven to contain red mercury.
Mobile phones are supposedly employed as instruments to prove the existence of the phony substance. Popular belief in the Middle East has it that it can help uncover hidden gold treasures, though there are other theories which say it can be used to create a nuclear bomb. "If the line cuts off when the telephone is placed close to the needle ... that proves the existence of the substance," Saudi Gazette said.
Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said "poverty provided a fertile ground for the red mercury rumor to spread in Saudi society, especially the middle class."
"We have to find out who started this hoax. We cannot be 100 percent sure of getting in the short-term to the person or persons who started this," an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters. "People hope to make profit. This is no different to cases of citizens who put their money in untrustworthy schemes," he added.
Thousands of Saudi citizens have lost their life savings to financial scams consisting mainly of operations to raise money for real estate projects.
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04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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poverty provided a fertile ground for the red mercury rumor to spread in Saudi society, especially the middle class
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] A federal appeals court has granted a stay of deportation to Germany for accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk.
The court made the ruling shortly after the frail 89-year-old Ukraine native was removed from his suburban Cleveland home by six immigration officers using a wheelchair. He was taken away in a waiting van as family members looked on.
His son, John Demjanjuk Jr., had filed motions earlier in the day asking the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay of deportation. The government objected.
It's unclear if Demjanjuk will be brought back home.
German prosecutors claim Demjanjuk, a native of Ukraine, was an accessory to some 29,000 deaths during World War II at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Once in Germany, he could be formally charged in court.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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It seems all American Idol is interested in from the little I have seen is finding the tone deaf. I wonder how with a voice like that she never got noticed.
There are several Pavarotti performances of the aria on youtube, for contrast. Some are unfortunately from the last years when he was quite ill, but you can see/hear him in his prime singing Nessun Dorma here and singing La Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto here.
I liked Potts but he's not nearly in the same league.
#5
Listen and learn, my children, cause you may hear....
Saw this on Sunday -- have been sending it -- but today, I sent it to a co-worker. Then, was emailing with a customer, sent him a link from our website to read about a feature. (You got to know, I never get to meet any of these folks)
He emailed back, he got the link but it took him to something like American Idol! I hadn't copied, just highlighted the link I thought I was sending.
Well -- I asked him if he had watched it? He emailed back, incredible, gorgeous voice... I emailed, well, I just did you a good deed for the day. He emailed back, he agreed ---
Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected to a third term with 90.23% of the vote.
[Maghrebia] Algeria's Constitutional Council on Monday (April 13th) confirmed the official results from the April 9th presidential election, local and international press reported. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected to a third term with 90.23% of the vote. Louisa Hanoune of the Workers' Party finished second with 4.5%, while none of the other four candidates received more than 2.5% of the vote. Voter turnout was 74.56%.
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04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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A Kenyan man bit a python which wrapped him in its coils and dragged him up a tree during a fierce three-hour struggle, police have told the BBC. The serpent seized farm worker Ben Nyaumbe in the Malindi area of Kenya's Indian Ocean coast at the weekend. Mr Nyaumbe bit the snake on the tip of the tail during the exhausting battle in the village of Sabaki.
Police rescued Mr Nyaumbe and captured the 13ft (4m) reptile, before taking it to a sanctuary, but it later escaped. The victim told police he managed to reach his mobile phone from his pocket to raise the alarm when the python momentarily eased its grip after hauling him up a tree on Saturday evening.
Mr Nyaumbe used his shirt to smother the snake's head and prevent it from swallowing him. His employer arrived with police and villagers, who tied the python with a rope and pulled them both down from the tree with a thud. Peter Katam, superintendent of police in Malindi district, told the BBC News website: "Two officers on patrol were called and they found this man was struggling with a snake on a tree.
"The snake had coiled his hands and was trying to swallow him but he struggled very hard. The officers and villagers managed to rescue him and he was freed.
"He himself was injured on the lower lip of the mouth - it was bleeding a little bit - as the tip of the snake's tail was sharp when he said he bit it."
Mr Nyaumbe told the Daily Nation newspaper how he resorted to desperate measures after the python, which had apparently been hunting livestock, encircled his upper body in its coils.
"I stepped on a spongy thing on the ground and suddenly my leg was entangled with the body of a huge python," he said. "I had to bite it."
Supt Katam told the BBC the officers had wanted to shoot the snake but could not do so for fearing of injuring Mr Nyaumbe. "If it wasn't for the villagers and officers who helped him, he would have been swallowed by the snake over the Easter holiday," said Supt Katam.
He added: "It's very mysterious, this ability to lift the man onto the tree. I've never heard of this before." The police officer said they took the snake to a sanctuary in Malindi town but it escaped overnight, probably from a gap under the door in the room where it was kept. "We are still seriously looking for the snake," said Supt Katam. "We want to arrest the snake because any one of us could fall a victim."
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04/15/2009 17:57 ||
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[Mail and Globe] At least four mortar shells pounded a northern working-class district of the Congo capital Brazzaville overnight causing heavy damage but no casualties, locals said on Tuesday.
The attack came just hours ahead of key talks between the ruling party, the opposition and civil society groups in the run-up to the July presidential elections, which President Denis Sassou Nguesso is expected to contest. "At least two mortar shells exploded. They destroyed the wall of a plot of land which was inhabited but without injuring or killing anyone," a pro-government source said. "For the present we are not worrying about where the shells were fired from and who fired them," the source added. "Nevertheless they took advantage of lighting on a night of heavy rain to carry out their task."
A human rights activist said the attacks were intended to pressure the politicians to move ahead with the "republican dialogue" announced during a visit to Brazzaville in March by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The dialogue is due to review the institutional framework of the election, the electoral body and the financing of political parties. The holding of such a forum has long been demanded by the opposition, civil society and the clergy.
At the end of March the opposition expressed scepticism, saying the real aim of the dialogue was to legitimise the National Elections Organisation Committee, whose independence is questioned, before the presidential vote.
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04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Mail and Globe] Republic expressed horror on Tuesday at weekend clashes over cattle poaching that left at least 22 people dead. With 52 people injured in the fighting and fears more bodies may have been buried and not taken to hospital, medical sources said the toll could well rise.
"Among the dead, we have seen two people who had their throats slashed. These are things that we have not seen in our country for a long time," said Antoine Mbao Bogo, president of the Central African Red Cross. "There are serious wounds, made by blades or with poisoned arrows. They used spears, machetes, to kill each other. This is very serious."
The fighting between cattle breeders and traders broke out on Sunday at the cattle market north of the capital Bangui. It was sparked by a dispute over 170 oxen stolen by bandits 10 days earlier but later retrieved. Traders wanted to sell the animals but the breeders sought to claim back at least some of them.
"This is a toll that could still rise," said one hospital worker, explaining that their figures of 22 dead and 52 injured dealt only with those who had been taken to hospital.
Some victims had been buried, according to Muslim tradition, without ever having been admitted, he said.
With the atmosphere still tense on Tuesday, police and paramilitary officers were out in force around the market working to disarm the rival breeders and traders.
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04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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" This significant breakthrough in our research program gives a means of preserving the valuable genetics of our elite racing and milk producing camels in the future "
Dr. Lulu Skidmore
[Al Arabiya Latest] The world's first cloned camel was born in Dubai paving the way for scientists to create elite-camels that can excel in racing or milk producing.
The female calf is named Injaz, Arabic for achievement, and was born on April 8 after five years of work by scientists at the Camel Reproduction Center and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory in a project initiated by the ruler of Dubai.
The work started in 2003 when scientists developed a method to develop a so called "reconstructed embryo," an embryo which carries the DNA of a single donor camel using eggs harvested from a female and implanted into a surrogate.
Injaz was cloned from a randomly chosen camel -- slaughtered for food in 2005 -- and was the only calf born alive out of seven pregnancies. Scientists say in the future they will look into cloning camels specifically for racing and milk production.
"This significant breakthrough in our research program gives a means of preserving the valuable genetics of our elite racing and milk producing camels in the future," Dr. Lulu Skidmore, the center's scientific director, said in a statement. [Repeatedly bashes head into concrete wall at the thought of people who pedigree their racing livestock and marry their first cousins.]
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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By the way, there in your region...how are we coming there with the challenges of Gastro-enteritis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, brucellosis, hepatitus, Avian Influenza, Leishmania, Mumps, Salmonella, and Shigella?
The legs are long, the eyes are big, the bodies curvaceous.
Contestants in this Saudi-style beauty pageant have all the features you might expect anywhere else in the world, but with one crucial difference -- the competitors are camels.
This week, the Qahtani tribe of western Saudi Arabia has been welcoming entrants to its Mazayen al-Ibl competition, a parade of the "most beautiful camels" in the desolate desert region of Guwei'iyya, 120 km (75 miles) west of Riyadh.
"In Lebanon they have Miss Lebanon," jokes Walid, moderator of the competition's Web site. "Here we have Miss Camel."
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 12:15 Comments ||
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Saudi Arabia plans to regulate the marriages of young girls, after a court refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old girl with a 50-year-old man, Saudi Arabia's Justice Minister Mohamedal Issa was quoted as saying on Tuesday
The justice ministry was aiming "to put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls", Issa told the al-Watan newspaper.
Abolished: The minister's comments suggested that the practice of marrying off minor girls would not be abolished. The regulations would seek to "preserve the rights, fending off blights to end the negative aspects of underage girls' marriage," he said. Last week, a court in the Saudi town of Onaiza upheld for the second time, the marriage of a Saudi girl to a 50-year-old man, on the condition that the man would not consummate the marriage until the girl reached puberty. The minister said any new regulations would be made under the provision that the requirements of universal laws were not binding to religious commandments. Officials at the ministry could not be reached for comment. Financial considerations could prompt some Saudi families to wed their underage daughters to older men. Many Saudi clerics, including the kingdom's chief cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdelaziz al-Sheikh, endorse the practice.
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Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/15/2009 21:31 Comments ||
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AOL/TOPIX NEWS > MASSIVE ASTEROID HEADED OUR WAY [2029-2036, space rock APOPHIS under watch + ASTROPHYSICIST SAYS APOPHIS ASTEROID CAN STRIKE EARTH [generate devastatng tidal waves/tsunamis].
* Lest we fergit, OLD DREAM/VISION > PACIFIC REGION - People on a FUTURE GUAM see massive horrifying explosions on the MOON; + "WEAKENING SOLAR MAGENTIC FIELDS" [MSM-Net News] = NORMAL ORBITS OF INNER PLANETS, ETC, SPACE ROCKS/OBJECTS WILL GENER WEAKEN + DESTABILIZE.
Also from TOPIX > SOLAR/SUN ACTVITY RESPONSIBLE FOR CLIMATE FLUCTUATIONS.
** DARTH VADER > "The Power to destroy a planet [Death Star = Techs] is insignificant to the Power of the Force"!
#4
Broadly, any desired future OWG-NWO = GLOBAL GUBBERMINT FRANKEN/-ZILLA PERTS + ALIGNED mad Mad MAD M-A-D MMMMMMMAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD, "MAD" spelled M-O-D-E = "MAD", SCIENTISTS have 20-30 Yarns to save the Earth + Moon, One andor Both, NOT COUNTING OF COURSE THE OTHER RUSSIAN-DISCOVERED SPACE ROCKS; SPACE PHENOMS, .....
.......@ETC.
LA PAZ, Bolivia, April 14 (UPI) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales has ended a five-day-long hunger strike after lawmakers agreed to allow him to run for a second term in December.
Mercopress reported Tuesday that the new law also gives Bolivia's indigenous communities rights to territory and their own systems of justice.
Morales went on a hunger strike after opposition politicians stalled the bill's passage, the news service reported.
Critics say the law would give 14 congressional seats to indigenous groups, which would essentially give them a political edge. Opposition lawmakers also wanted to replace Bolivia's manual voter registration system with a digitized biometric system using fingerprints, photographs and other personal data.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Barry should adopt this tactic in case the Dem controlled House and Senate doesn't give him everything he wants.
Posted by: ed ||
04/15/2009 0:55 Comments ||
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Bolivia's manual voter registration system with a digitized biometric system using fingerprints, photographs and other personal data.
Wait, so Bolivia, one of the most backwards places on the planet, can accomplish this but it's too large a task for the United States?
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Central Asian country of Turkmenistan has found an original way of coping with the global financial crisis: if your people are sad, build them a "Palace of Happiness." A bordello?
The reclusive ex-Soviet republic said Tuesday that it would build the palace as part of over $1billion (753 million) worth of construction projects to beautify the capital Ashgabat and make it more liveable. "President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a series of documents under which several important community structures will be built in Ashgabat at a cost of over $1 billion," state newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan wrote.
" President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a series of documents under which several important community structures will be built in Ashgabat at a cost of over $1 billion "
State newspaper
Neutral Turkmenistan The Palace of Happiness -- to be used as a wedding hall -- will cost over 100 million ($133 million), said the newspaper, a mouthpiece for the government of the energy-rich country.
Turkish construction firm Polimeks won over $200 million in contracts as part of the projects, which will also see an additional 2,000 hotel rooms built in Ashgabat.
The announcement comes one week after Turkmenistan unveiled plans to build a $1billion Olympic village, including a winter sports complex, despite the fact that the desert nation is not due to host any upcoming Winter Games.
Garish construction projects sprang up across Turkmenistan during the rule of dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in 2006, even as much of the population remained mired in poverty.
His successor Berdymukhamedov has erased some of the more bizarre aspects of Niyazov's personality cult but has come under fire from critics who accuse him of simply replacing it with his own.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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The Happiest Place on Earth Ashgabat.
You will be happy or else, comrade.
Posted by: ed ||
04/15/2009 1:00 Comments ||
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...In Turkmenistan, happiness finds you.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/15/2009 9:02 Comments ||
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Probably be cheaper to buy Gurbanguly a new name, wouldn't it? I can let you have "Sam" for a really good price.
#1
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > CHINA AND NORTH KOREAN "AUTOMATIC INVOLVEMENT CLAUSE" [1961 Sino-NK Treaty of Friendship], ECONOMIC INTER DEPENDENCY [NK upon China] DETERS THE USA, WEST FROM ATTACKING NORTH KOREA OVER MISSLE LAUNCH; + CHINA ISSUES STRONG WARNING STATEMENT TO US AND JAPAN: STOP SUBVERSIONS AGZ NORTH KOREA. CHINA MUST NOT ALLOW NORTH KOREA TO HAVE NUCLEAR MISSLES, WMDS.
[Mail and Globe] carmaker General Motors would likely not be swift or simple despite the best efforts of the United States Treasury Department, turnaround experts warn.
That's because court-supervised bankruptcy proceedings are essentially democratic,
Boggle
and all stakeholders -- which in GM's case would include its union, dealers, suppliers and creditors -- have the right to raise objections.
"They all have legal claims, and I don't see where the administration can 'force' them to abandon those claims," said Stephanie Brinley, an analyst with AutoPacific. "Why agree to something GM wants if you think the law is on your side and a bankruptcy judge might decide in your favour?"
The New York Times reported on Monday that the Treasury Department was directing GM to prepare for a bankruptcy court-supervised restructuring despite the company's public contention that it could still reorganise outside court.
$30 billion from the public purse into the pot, and now they decide to go to bankruptcy ...
The goal is to prepare for a fast "surgical" bankruptcy, the Times said, citing unnamed people familiar with the plans.
One option under discussion is to create a new company that would buy GM's "good" asset and leave the less desirable assets, factories and healthcare obligations to be gradually liquidated, the report said.
"Conceptually it makes sense. But there are some serious legal issues that have to be overcome," said Brad Coutler, an analyst with O'Keefe & Associates, which specialises in turning around distressed firms.
Objections from stakeholders have complicated the bankruptcy of GM's former parts supplier, Delphi, which has dragged on for nearly four years and is not close to being complete.
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04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jakarta Post] Singapore's economy plummeted nearly 20 percent in the first quarter, its biggest contraction ever, flagging a miserable start to the year for other export-dependent Asian nations grappling with the worst global slump in decades. Gross domestic product in this wealthy Southeast Asian city-state plunged an annualized, seasonally adjusted 19.7 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter and fell 11.5 percent from a year earlier, both record drops, the Trade and Industry Ministry said Tuesday.
The government now expects the economy to shrink between 6 percent and 9 percent this year from a previous forecast of a drop between 2 percent and 5 percent, the ministry said in a statement. The 2009 growth forecast has now been cut three times.
Singapore announced in January a $14 billion stimulus package, and the government may boost spending again in June to help bolster the economy, said Tai Hui, head of Southeast Asia research for Standard Chartered in Singapore. "We believe we are facing a Great Recession, but we are not going into a Great Depression," Hui said. "We still expect to see some signs of stabilization at the end of 2009, although admittedly mild."
The island's economy has already contracted quarter-on-quarter over four consecutive quarters.
Singapore was the first country in Asia to report GDP figures for the January-March period, and its dismal showing suggests the region's most export-dependent economies - such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong - may face deeper and longer recessions than previously estimated. China announces preliminary first quarter GDP results on Thursday.
The city-state's central bank, known as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said it lowered the center of its currency trading band, which was effectively a small, one-time devaluation of the Singapore dollar. But it said there was no reason for "any undue weakening" of the Singapore dollar.
Standard Chartered's Hui estimated the devaluation at 1.5 percent.
The central bank's inflation forecast for prices to fall as much as 1 percent this year was unchanged.
Non-oil exports, which accounted for about 60 percent of GDP last year, fell 26 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. The ministry said it expected sales abroad to contract between 10 percent and 13 percent this year from a previous forecast of a drop of between 9 percent and 11 percent.
One bright spot was exports rose a seasonally adjusted 11 percent in March from the previous month, the ministry's trade promotion agency, International Enterprise Singapore, said in a statement. March exports fell 17 percent from a year earlier.
Manufacturing fell 29 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier while services fell 5.9 percent. Construction rose 26 percent.
Imports fell 28 percent last month from a year earlier and dropped a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent from the previous month, the ministry said.
Singapore's first quarter GDP results are preliminary and based largely on economic activity in January and February. The government forecast economic growth of as much as 2 percent for this year in an initial forecast in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Sign of the state of world trade and Global finance.
An opinion poll on the 4-7 June European Parliament (EP) elections shows that only 34 percent of possible voters surveyed across the EU say they are already certain that they will go and vote in June, while 19 percent of respondents said they were already certain that they would not vote.
The poll, which was taken from mid-January to mid-February, and published Tuesday evening by the EP showed that 53 percent of the voters surveyed said they were disinterested in the elections. Sixty-two percent of the respondents said they did not know when next EP elections will be held in their countries.
On policy issues, respondents expressed greatest concern about the economy led by unemployment (57 percent). Other major concerns were inflation and purchasing power, and pension security.
The first non-economic subject on the list of respondents was crime (29 percent) followed by the security of energy supply (27 percent) and climate change (26 percent).
It is hoped that as the different parts of the campaign become visible from April in all EU countries, interest in and knowledge of the elections will rise, noted an EP statement.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Former U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin is the new "border czar." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano introduced Bersin Wednesday during a news conference at a bridge that links El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The former federal prosecutor will oversee Homeland Security's efforts to end drug cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and reduce the flow of illegal immigrants sneaking across the border from Mexico into the United States.
Bersin is expected to work with international officials, along with his counterparts in the U.S. and border states.
Here we go folks. The Sikhs want the US Army to forgo Uniforms for US Army Sikhs. Do we allow Army Chaplains to wear different uniforms?
Here's an idea - DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY if you can't adhere to Military rules and regulations! A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Are you joining the US Military to become part of an outstanding organization or joining the US Military to try to push your organization?
Also, why are the Sikhs protesting by the US Marine Memorial, when they are supposedly Army?
Of course, they are just another "Community Organizing" group...
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Seeing "Integrate the U.S. Army" on a protest sign recalls the civil rights struggles of African-Americans in the mid-20th Century. But on Tuesday, under a cold wet spring sky, more than a dozen Americans of a different minority, the Sikh faith, stood in front of the iconic Iwo Jima memorial to World War II with one simple request: Let us serve.
The Pentagon has informed two Sikh personnel in the Army Reserves, a doctor and a dentist, that they must remove their turbans and cut their hair when they are called into their regular Army service later this year, according to a Sikh advocacy group.
Capt. Kamaljeet S. Kalsi said the Army recruiters who approached him during his first year of medical school in 2001 said they wanted him, and his beard, turban and long hair, to serve in the medical corps.
Seven years later, Kalsi expects to begin the Officers' Leadership Basic Course in July. But superiors in the Army's Health Professions Scholarship Program told him last year that he may have a problem with these "articles of faith" and an Army medical advisor to the U.S. Surgeon General informed him he may face resistance over his turban and beard.
Kalsi wrote to commanders at the Army Graduate Medical Education Office in December 2008 asking for exemption, but was denied.
On Tuesday, the Sikh Coalition filed a formal complaint with the inspectors general of the Army and the Department of Defense on behalf of Kalsi and 2nd Lt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a Reservist since 2006. The group was formed after two Sikhs were attacked in Queens, N.Y., on the night of 9/11 as reprisals for the attack.
For Kalsi, whose family came to the U.S. in 1978, the issue is frustrating and confusing. He is the fourth generation to serve in allied militaries. His father and grandfather were both Indian Air Force veterans. His great-grandfather served in the British army.
"I can't understand why my Army would keep me from serving," Kalsi said.
Kalsi joined in 2001 after talking extensively about his religious beliefs with a recruiter. The recruiter told him, "Yeah, we have Sikhs in the military, don't worry about it," he said.
Kalsi jumpstarted his career with rotations in military hospitals at West Point and Travis Air Force Base, Calif., serving as active duty, in uniform with his turban, beard and long hair intact.
Sikhs point to a long military tradition in India, the U.S. and other allied countries. They are known as "the protectors of India," Kalsi said, because they come from Punjab, a northern gateway border province of India and first line of defense against invaders. In World War II, 85,000 Sikhs died serving in Allied forces.
The Army banned turbans in the 1980s, but grandfathered those serving, and has made a few exceptions.
Today, there are a half-million Sikhs in the U.S., and the coalition's executive director said U.S. policy seems hypocritical given that Sikh's serve side-by-side with Americans abroad.
"The policy doesn't make any sense because we have Sikh troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq as we speak with the militaries of Great Britain and, in Afghanistan's case, with Canada," said Coalition spokesman Amardeep Singh.
Turbans, long hair and beards are considered a mandatory religious uniform for all Sikhs. Keeping uncut hair is required according to the Rehat Maryada, the Sikh instruction for living. In the 18th century, Muslims forced Sikhs to convert by cutting their hair and removing their turbans, the group noted.
Of the four taboos listed for Sikhs, adultery is as forbidden as cutting one's hair.
"The fact that cutting one's hair is a moral transgression as serious as committing adultery speaks to the immense significance of uncut hair in Sikhism," lawyers for the Sikh Coalition wrote in a letter to the inspectors general.
"The Army places a high value on the rights of soldiers to observe their respective religious faiths; however, the Army does not accommodate the exceptions for personal grooming standards for religious reasons," said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks.
The restriction forces soldiers to meet "health, safety and mission requirements," Banks said, and facial hair prevents an airtight seal on gas masks.
But lawyers representing the soldiers say the policy poses a "burden on their exercise of religion" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, and has been unevenly applied given some Sikhs in the U.S. Army were allowed exceptions and served for decades.
Col. Arjinderpal Singh Sekhon, a Sikh, retired in January, one day after his 60th birthday, due to Army age restrictions.
"My battalion right now, which I trained, is in Afghanistan as a combat support hospital," he said. "I ran the best 68-whiskey program," referring to combat medics.
"I did all this, and these two young people can do the same, maybe better than me," he added, because they sought out the Army and are eager to join.
The coalition's complaint added: "Shutting Sikhs and other devout citizens out of our armed forces not only reinforces the stereotype of these groups as the 'other' but also robs them of an opportunity to integrate into American society. In addition, it is important that our nation's armed forces reflect the diversity of its population."
Rattan, who emigrated to the U.S., called the Army's policy "deeply unfair" to ask him to choose between religion and country.
"I am willing to lay down my life for America. In return, I ask only that my country respect my faith," he said. "My turban and beard are not an option -- they are in intrinsic part of me."
#1
Ease up on them hammers, Tex. For many years, Sikhs served in the US military with honor and distinction. They wore OD turbans and had beards and were not inclined to leave before retirement as senior NCOs.
I might add that it was far more likely to see them branched combat arms than anything else. The Special Forces had a bunch of them, as did the Rangers.
The reason is that they are a militant, pro-military and nationalist religion. They dominate the Indian Army officer corps, and serve loyally in any army they are allowed to enlist. If they screw up, they are not just in trouble with their military leaders, but with their religious leaders as well.
They were only pushed out in the 1980s because they couldn't wear protective masks against chemical weapons. And there were a LOT of soldiers who were sad to see them go.
Hell, we "discovered" Sikhs in WWII, and the Japanese were scared half to death of them. There was one instance where on a Pacific island, four Sikhs so terrified a Japanese battalion that they surrendered without firing a shot or anybody getting hurt.
#2
Turbans, beards, and hair down to your a** walking around in the rear, or on a parade field might look interesting or distinctive to some, but it makes pulling on a protective mask, helmet, HALO or SCUBA gear a bit of a challenge. Last time I checked this was still the United States Army.
#4
Its a tough situation because in a combat medic, combat lifesaver situation, or forward operation lives are at stake for the lifesaver who has to run, walk, and carry victims off the battefield in a chemical environment.
I know I had trouble getting a seal on my mask in seconds at times as a female combatant with only a shoulder length head of hair back in a bun. True story, I ended up bobbing my hair shorter.
As for the regs here, it kind of dilatory of the Army to begin deliberations on these fellows cases now. They've already given a lot of service, perhaps a deal can be struck. But to be combat ready, a soldier has to be able to wear a mask, or else they'd be best off serving in strictly non-field situations. But its not like its a big deal, we had plenty of asthmatic soldiers who couldnt don a mask, who were put in job areas they could do. Its doable.
#5
If they want to have their own dress code and not be combat ready, I'm fine with that so long as their pay reflects reflects that fact and we have a qouta on how many non-combat ready personnel we have. Neither of those will happen as they are discriminatory. Therefore I have no choice but to be against allowing them a waiver on dress code.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/15/2009 18:05 Comments ||
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#6
True, being in the Army entails sacrifice. Why should they be treated any different? And yes, if you can fully do a combat job, rank and pay should be in full effect, if not, then take the dock in pay and quit bitching.
I'd wanted to wear a large cross dangling outside my uniform, have my long hair flowing in the breeze and have long fingernails, but all were prohibited, and were cut off or removed. I made my sacrifice to serve in the Army, so should anyone else. You change to be fit for the Army, the Army doesn't change to fit you.
#7
Ultimately this has nothing to do with the Sikhs, particularly, and everything to do with the Muslim demands to come. If they don't want to assimilate and do things the Army way, then they should be released to civilian life. That would be too bad, but less bad than what would follow.
#8
You change to be fit for the Army, the Army doesn't change to fit you.
Hooah GT! Lastly, try beards and long hair for a while in 115f-130f desert heat, blowing sand and dust. You'll be making tracks to the Haji barber, or initiating a do-it-yoself trim job pretty damn fast.
#9
GT: I'm a lung doctor. You mean asthmatics can serve? I had always been told that asthma was an automatic medical discharge.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2009 19:29 Comments ||
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#10
Sometimes soldiers "develop" asthma or breathing disorders after theyre already in. I saw accomodations being made for folks with inhalers. I dont know if they were eventually med boarded or not. I think in many cases no, due to needing bodies.
#12
These "needs of the Army" arguments are silly. From 1943 or so until the 1980s, Sikhs were fighting with the best of us. They are hardcore warriors and were some damn fine soldiers. If things were harder on them because of their turban and beard, you wouldn't hear them bitch about it.
"The Sikh Regiment is one of the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first class Indian Order of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours...and 1596 other gallantry awards."
Geez. Like dismissing the 82nd Airborne Division because their berets were the "wrong" color.
#13
" If things were harder on them because of their turban and beard, you wouldn't hear them bitch about it"
Im sure thats true they are fierce and wouldn't bitch about it.
Trivial as it seems, still, meeting boilerplate requirements is part of being a soldier. It is a shame such fine soldiers are dispensable due to wear of the uniform. Could their religion give them some slack in the hair and beard areas?
Back to my point, being in the Army regardless of Military Occupational Specialization boils down to meeting boiler plate requirements.
At present (im not the definitive judge if these are the guage of a good soldier or not) the first req. is knowing your Military Specialization. The second is qualifying on your assigned weapon a minimum of every six months. The third is passing your run, sit-ups, and push ups. And the fourth is not being Red (for no-go) for things like your gear, or pro-mask. Lastly, you have to be up to date on vaccinations... Not to mention you have to pay all your bills on time and abide by all regulations. Dont have one of those elements, your status is not fully combat ready.
When not fully combat ready, its not okay to be in a war-zone because you endanger your own life and the life of others. Its nothing personal or categorical against Sikhs, who no doubt sound very formidable.
#14
If they cannot don CW gear in a deployable unit I cannot see their use except as an "undeployable". You might note that most were formerly used in situations that did not require the ability to deal with Chem-Bio-Nuc Warfare. Times have changed and they have not or will not. That narrows their options but the Military should not relent in this case. The regs are there for a good reason. And I agree with #7, NS. Too bad, so sad. Deal with it.
#15
Yea, if they want to keep a beard and do their own wardrobe things, they'd have to go SF, but still that leaves the CF question. A little late for that, I suppose.
Where does SF even fit in with dentistry and/or physicians commisions, IDK? I give up, would these men just realize they joined the Army, man up, and shave or whatever.
The only living Indian 5 star general - Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh.
He strafed Pashtun tribals in the NWFP, flew against the Japanese in the Arakan, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944, commanded the IAF during the 1965 and 1971 wars. Has flown over 60 different types of aircraft from Pre-WW-2 era Biplanes to Jet fighters.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 22:16 Comments ||
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#17
In the Indian Army, Sikhs wear ballistic patkas, which can accomodate the cloth patka which wraps the hair (normally worn over the Pagadi turban)
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 22:38 Comments ||
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#18
There is a condition sycosis barbae whereby man doesnt need to shave by doctors orders if the man gets sycosis barbae from shaving.
In these certain cases a soldier doesnt have to shave but must trim beard. As for the long hair and turban, I cant shed any light of ideas or solutions on that one, because of the need to wear Kevlar helmets.
May the United States Army solve its problems, and hope for the best for our best.
#19
trouble is - you start accomodating one, you accodate all. The military has succeeding by grinding down personal affectations in the interests of uniformity as an American soldier/sailor/marine/etc.
You become a member of a team, not an individual. Welcome Sikhs, conform or leave
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2009 22:43 Comments ||
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#20
No problem in Canada...
Sikh soldier returns
By CARY CASTAGNA -- Edmonton Sun
Taliban fighters aren't the only ones clad in turbans in Afghanistan.
Maj. Harjit Sajjan, who finished a nine-month tour of duty in September and received his Canadian Forces service medal at Rexall Place yesterday, says he never doffed his turban in the Middle East.
"I can wear a helmet. I can wear a gas mask. There's nothing that my turban or my beard can prevent me from doing in the military at all," said the 36-year-old Sikh from Vancouver.
"To put a helmet on, you have to have an inner liner. My turban acts like an inner liner, so I just wear the kevlar shell over top."
Interestingly, these Sikh Soldiers have been wearing gas masks for a while
Sikh soldiers using gasmasks while defending Ieper, Belgium in April, 1915.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 22:45 Comments ||
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#21
accodate? or accomodate....long day...mea culpa
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2009 22:45 Comments ||
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#22
That should be "under" rather than "over".
The cloth patka covers the hair. The big turban covers that and is normally removed.
Regulations state that beards must be trimmed or pulled back so as not to interfere with masks etc.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 22:53 Comments ||
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#23
Thanks John Frum, you just answered that last unanswered question about the hair and kevlar logistics. It is up to the Pentagon. I hope they do include Sikhs, but its not up to me.
The thing not covered much here is the intangibles of being a soldier. Part of the invisible inculcation process is being stripped of your bodily individuality and being one of the team, mentally as well as through the uniform.
Feeling you have control over your own body and the clothes on your own back is a privelege you HAD until you enter the U.S. Army.
Once youre in they tell you when to go to the bathroom, how to stand, eat, sit, shower, everything.
How well would Sikhs do at being controlled absolutely by the United States Army if they cannot let go of religious tangibles?
#24
The military has succeeding by grinding down personal affectations in the interests of uniformity
Indeed, it helps if you have a lot of them
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 22:59 Comments ||
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#25
Its a great sight, but it still doesnt tell me how they would take to being controlled absolutely and how would they be received by other soldiers in their unit who might be small minded or bigoted against them for their "otherness" Plus, Officers have the double problem of being regarded as impractical, pompous and uppity. Add to that a demand for accomodation, and now we're talking real differences.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/15/2009 23:24 Comments ||
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#27
The Armed Forces desperately seems to need more manly men such as in these photos, not more homosexuals and women. I hope they do get some solution to allow Sikhs, a picture is worth a thousand words, and these seem like ultra capable Men.
Growing numbers of children of illegal immigrants are being born in this country, and they are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty than those with American-born parents, a report says.
The study released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center highlights a growing dilemma in the immigration debate: Illegal immigrants' children born in the United States are American citizens, yet they struggle in poverty and uncertainty along with parents who fear deportation, toil largely in low-wage jobs and face layoffs in an ailing economy.
The analysis by Pew, a nonpartisan research organization, estimated that 11.9 million illegal immigrants lived in the U.S. Of those, 8.3 million were in the labor force as of March 2008, making up 5.4 percent of the U.S. work force, primarily in lower-paying farming, construction or janitorial work.
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Posted by: ed ||
04/15/2009 09:16 ||
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[Mail and Globe] Critics of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy are planning nationwide "tea parties" on Wednesday -- and not for the sake of polite conversation.
Coast-to-coast demonstrations against Obama's big-spending economic stimulus package are promised for the day that is also the deadline for filing federal income tax returns.
Whether Republicans -- in disarray since losing the presidential election last year -- can deliver is open to question. Pro-Republican organisers say they are plugging into widespread popular anger at Democrat-led Washington.
An even bigger claim is that the catchy "tea party" idea and heavy use of internet tools such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs signals a historic first attempt by Republicans to rival Obama's renowned e-network.
"Conservatives may be catching up with their liberal counterparts in building a web-driven, grassroots campaign to push their agenda," the conservative Fox News television network said on its website.
Skeptics point to Republican disunity in the wake of last year's electoral defeats and pan the protests as a skillful fake.
"The tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf [fake grass roots] events, manufactured by the usual suspects," liberal economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said on Monday.
The protests are named after the 1773 Boston Tea Party in which disgruntled Americans rebelled against British colonial taxes, an iconic moment in the path to US independence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
Astroturm my ass Krugman. I've never been to a demonstration as a participant before (a number as law enforcement) and I'm going because I'm mad as hell and frightened for the future of my country.
#5
Got in from ours about an hour ago. 2500 to 3000 people turned out in the cold drizzle. Lots of honking and waving from cars going by, too. I like to froze my butt off (also toes and hands). Where the hell is the gerbil worming I was promised?
If I knew how, I'd post pictures.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/15/2009 21:37 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Three people were killed and five others injured in an armed clash between two groups over a land dispute in Vehari on Tuesday. Following the incident, families of the deceased staged a protest by keeping the dead bodies in the middle of Maitla Chowk. According to reports, the unfortunate incident took place when people of Dangrah clan started to harvest the standing crops of Shah clan who resisted. On this, armed people of Dangrah clan opened fire on their rivals, killing three persons, identified as Nazar Hussain, Muhammad Javed and Shamshad Ahmed on the spot, while wounding five others. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital. Following the incident, the affected family held a protest demonstration on Mailta Chowk against the killing. Acting DPO Vehari Hafiz Kashif and local people made a failed attempt to hold talks with the affected family as the protest continue. The victims' family vowed that the protest would continue unless accused were not arrested by the police. On the other hand, police officials suspended two junior police officers, Sub Inspector Ghulam Mustafa Qureshi and Sub Inspector Khalid Hussain after the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A bloc of Islamic states accused of undermining human rights standards set by the United Nations have taken matters into their own hands and set out to establish their own independent human rights commission Sunday.
The Organization of Islamic Conference, a 57-nation bloc of Muslim nations and the largest organization after the U.N., met yesterday at its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to establish an independent OIC human rights commission.
Eklemeddin Ýhsanoðlu, the OIC Secretary-General, stressed in a statement Monday that "human rights and man's dignity are an integral part of Islam and core components of Islamic culture and heritage."
Refining Cairo hr declaration
All human rights are subject to sharia, or Islamic law.
Member states also discussed "refining" the OIC's 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI), which gave an overview of the Islamic perspective on human rights and stated that all human rights are subject to sharia, or Islamic law.
The OIC has over the past decades sponsored the "defamation of religion" resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, the latest of which was a resolution condemning the Danish cartoons of the Prophet.
It will seek assistance from other international bodies such as the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Geneva Institute for Human Rights in setting up the new commission. Ýhsanoðlu said in his speech that such a commission would drive OIC member states to reform intellectually and politically. "An OIC human rights commission would promote tolerance, and fundamental freedoms, good governance, the rule of law, accountability, openness, dialogue with other religions and civilizations, the rejection of extremism and fanaticism, and the strengthening of the sense of pride in the Islamic identity," he said.
Sharia vs. human rights
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused Muslim countries including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Tunisia among many others of human rights violations against women and religious minorities despite many states being signatories to international human rights conventions.
Western human rights groups argue that some of the ways Islamic law is applied can lead to discrimination against women, religious minorities and converts to other faiths.
However, Islamic scholars and leaders have continued to refute western claims that sharia is incompatible with international norms of human rights and freedoms, arguing instead that the interpretation and application of Islamic law is what can lead to negative human rights outcomes.
Just as U.S. courts ruled that detainees in the "war on terror" could be held indefinitely without trial or permitted torture in contravention of internationa human rights norms, some sharia-based courts twist Islamic law to sanction cruel punishments.
Compatible with the west
In their defense of Islamic law experts refer to its protection of women's property rights and the rights of the socially marginalized like orphans or the elderly. Steven A. Cook, an expert on Islamic law and the west, said that interpretations of what Islamic law means are so variable that in some western societies it can be incorporated into non-Islamic political systems easily.
None of the 14 OIC states that are considered "electoral democracies" are Arab.
Ihsanoglu in his speech also suggested the compatibility of the Islamic notion of human rights and international norms, saying that refurbishing the Cairo human rights declaration will be "in keeping with the current global human rights discourse," though he did not specify how this would be done.
Several OIC member states follow sharia law, which has been compared to the Western tradition of common law, for personal status and criminal issues. None of the 14 OIC states that are considered "electoral democracies" are Arab.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Mail and Globe] The lobster had been grilled to perfection, the lights were low and the music tinkled softly in the background -- all that was missing were the 16 foreign leaders.
Instead, reporters, junior officials and even a few soldiers in camouflage tucked into a gourmet dinner intended for heads of state after protests forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit in the Thai beach town of Pattaya.
The intended guests of honour -- including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso -- had been airlifted out of the hotel venue hours earlier after 1 000 anti-government protesters smashed their way in.
Waitresses in traditional outfits glided around the grand ballroom in the five-star Royal Cliff Beach Resort on Saturday night serving their new guests after the Thai government decided not to let the food go begging.
"The hotel arrangements had all been made and rather than letting everything which was prepared go to waste it was decided to invite people who were still at the venue," said Thai Foreign Ministry official Thani Thongpakdee.
On the menu were local delicacies including mango salad, fried catfish, Tom Yam Kai (a spicy chicken soup), Kai Pad (fried chicken with cashew nuts), beef red curry and, of course, the lobster, reporters said.
A live performance of traditional Thai music was cancelled, however, after the band that was due to perform fled the advancing red-shirted demonstrators earlier in the day, officials said.
The only other missing element was wine -- one bottle of red was available for a table of high-ranking officials but for everyone else it was soft drinks on tap.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Former naval aviator Don Boecker isn't too proud to say he was scared out of his wits on that July 1965 day in Laos when he dangled by one arm from a helicopter while enemy soldiers took aim below.
Boecker had spent the longest night of his life in the thick jungle, evading capture and certain execution while awaiting rescue. The Navy aviator had ejected after a bomb he intended to drop on the Ho Chi Minh trail exploded prematurely.
His rescuers that day, however, weren't from the American military, who couldn't be caught conducting a secret bombing campaign in Laos.
They were civilian employees of Air America, an ostensibly private airline essentially owned and operated by the CIA.
Boecker, now a 71-year-old retired rear admiral, plans to tell the story on Saturday at a symposium intended to give a fuller account of an important outfit that alumni say is still misunderstood by the American public.
The University of Texas at Dallas event coincides with the CIA's release of about 10,000 previously classified Air America records, which will become part of the school library's extensive aviation collection. The CIA declassified the documents following a Freedom of Information Act request by UT-Dallas.
"These Air America documents are essential to understanding a large untold history of America's involvement in Southeast Asia," said Paul Oelkrug, a coordinator at UT-Dallas' special collections department. He said they speak to "the covert side of the Cold War."
The records consist mainly of firsthand accounts of Air America missions and commendation letters from government officials, said Timothy N. Castle, a historian at the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence.
Included are accounts of the chaotic evacuation after the fall of Saigon in 1975, the investigation into a mysterious 1964 plane crash apparently caused by sabotage, and a letter from President Richard Nixon commending employees for their bravery in Laos.
More documents detail the rescue of the wounded from a mountainous Air Force radar station in Laos known as Lima Site 85, where a North Vietnamese raid in 1968 killed 11 Americans. It was the largest single loss of Air Force personnel on the ground during the Vietnam War, Castle said. The survivors were rescued by Air America.
Such operations were the norm for Air America pilots, and the inspiration for the title of the symposium: "Air America: Upholding the Airmen's Bond." Between 1964-65, Air America personnel rescued 21 downed American pilots. Detailed records weren't kept after that, but "we know there were scores and scores more (rescues) through the years," Castle said.
"That's the airman's bond. There is another airman who is down. Everything stops until you try to rescue them, because if it were you, you knew they would do it for you, too."
Air America's public face was that of a passenger and cargo airline that operated in sometimes dangerous places. It formed after World War II under the name Civil Air Transport, and did contract work for the Chinese Nationalists.
Control of Air America eventually shifted to the CIA, which set up shell companies to disguise its true ownership. Planes kept flying scheduled passenger flights out of Taiwan, but they also began flying covert missions in Laos and South Vietnam to supply anti-communist forces. Air America also had numerous government contracts, and was involved in humanitarian work though a deal with the State Department.
One of Air America's finest - and most iconic - moments was evacuating American and Vietnamese civilians after Saigon fell in 1975. A famous photograph shows an Air America helicopter atop an apartment building as a long line of people wait to board it.
Brian K. Johnson, a former Air America helicopter pilot and past president of the Air America Association, said flight crews would race to be the first to pick up downed military personnel. These untold stories of the Vietnam War, he said, could help change Air America's image.
Johnson laments that the perception of Air America is more about heroin than heroism, due largely to the 1990 movie "Air America," starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. The film depicts the company as corrupt and its pilots as drug runners. It remains a sensitive topic among former employees.
"We have done everything we can to change that perception, and I think we are getting there," Johnson said. The liberal Air America talk radio network brought new confusion, he added.
UT-Dallas was chosen by the Air America alumni group as the site of a Vietnam Wall-style plaque listing the names of the roughly 240 fallen employees.
"Most people don't even know it occurred. It was a secret society," said Boecker. "They flew in all sorts of danger ... flying every day in terrible wartime conditions. They did a beautiful job."
[Straits Times] POLICE issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for 14 leaders of an anti-government movement, including ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as protesters abruptly ended violent demonstrations in Thailand's capital. A day after red-shirted protesters burned buses and seized intersections in clashes with police and soldiers that left two people dead and 123 injured, their leaders called it quits, urging a group of 2,000 die-hard demonstrators to go home.
SOME protesters threatened to regroup after the arrest warrants were issued. About 200 protesters took off their red shirts but gathered in a field near Government House late on Tuesday. They were closely monitored by soldiers patrolling the area but no clash was reported.
Jakrapob Penkair, a protest leader who had not turned himself in, said the movement 'will continue fighting'. He did not specify what action they would take next.
The swift and unexpected resolution headed off the possibility of a confrontation with heavily armed troops massing around the demonstrators' encampment near the seat of government. Dispirited protesters quietly boarded government buses watched over by soldiers.
But few expected it was the end of a rural-based movement that has shown the ability to mobilise 100,000 protesters and cause the cancellation of a regional summit in its campaign seeking to force out a government dominated by urban elements and hold new elections.
Charnvit Kasetsiri, one of Thailand's most prominent historians, said the 'political convulsion' may be over for now, but the underlying tensions between the rural poor and urban elite highlighted during the demonstrations remain.
The demonstrations were a mirror of mass protests by urban groups last year that snarled Bangkok until the courts removed a government led by Thaksin's allies who were elected on the strength of rural voters.
The appointment of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva further angered many rural people, who were already upset by a 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin, and their disenchantment blew up into their own protest movement.
Three of the 14 protest leaders were in police custody, metropolitan police spokesman Suporn Pansua said, and the Bangkok Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 11 others, including Thaksin, who went into self-imposed exile last year before a court convicted him of violating a conflict of interest law.
The warrants accuse the protest leaders of creating a public disturbance and engaging in illegal assembly, which carry prison terms of up to seven and three years, respectively.
'This is not a victory or a loss of any particular group,' Mr Abhisit said in a televised address. 'If it is victory, it is victory of society that peace and order has returned.' But he warned that the threat from the red-clad protesters was not over.
'The operation under the state of emergency is not completed. There are still things to do,' he said. 'There are still protesters in some areas. The only difference is they aren't wearing red anymore.' The government announced it was adding two more days to the three-day Thai New Year holiday, which began Monday, to ensure safety and allow time for repairing damage from the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jakarta Post] Malaysia's ruling coalition was rocked by fresh political turmoil Tuesday amid suspicions that its legislators were trying to oust an unpopular leader in an oil-rich state.
The apparent revolt is the latest headache for new Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is trying to curb infighting in his bid to revive support for the coalition of the National Front.
But the effort suffered a setback amid intense speculation that some representatives were planning a no-confidence vote against Terengganu state Chief Minister Ahmad Said, who has become hugely unpopular after removing key officials he allegedly disliked.
In an apparent snub to Ahmad, 10 of the coalition's 24 lawmakers in the northeastern state did not attend a legislative meeting Tuesday, said Rahman Mokhtar, a National Front legislator who attended the meeting and opted out of the revolt.
Open revolts are rare in the ruling coalition and brings attention to factions that could undermine efforts to forge a more united, effective front against a resurgent opposition.
The rebellion is also a major distraction for the prime minister as he grapples with dissent among ethnic Indian and Chinese minority officials who have questioned decisions by Malay majority leaders.
At a news conference Tuesday, the 10 lawmakers said they avoided the meeting out of fears for their safety, the national news agency Bernama reported. Three of them alleged they received text messages with threats of violence and death.
Bernama quoted their chief representative, Rosol Wahid, as saying the group was not planning a no-confidence vote. However, several local media reports said such a vote was likely.
Ahmad has warned in recent days that any National Front lawmaker who introduces a vote against him would face disciplinary action, including expulsion from the coalition.
It is widely known that most of the 10 dissenting legislators have been unhappy with Ahmad's appointment. He took office amid controversy last March after the state's constitutional ruler rejected the National Front's initial choice for the chief ministerial post in the coastal state.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who met with several Terengganu legislators prepared to discuss the conflict, said Tuesday it was "a matter of concern" because the problems in Terengganu would grow worse.
The rebellion is unlikely to affect the National Front's control of Terengganu, where it holds 24 of the 32 state legislature seats. Some political observers also believe Najib would prefer a new chief minister in Terengganu.
The National coalition has governed Malaysia for nearly 52 years and controls nine of Malaysia's 13 states. It retained power with its weakest parliamentary majority ever in March 2008 elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare wid TOPIX/WORLD MIL FORUM > THAILAND'S GOVT. ORDERS CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR EVACUATION OF LEADERS, FALL OF GOVERNMENT.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Archaeologists have found evidence suggesting that ancient Jews used human skulls in ceremonies, despite their religious beliefs.
Although there is a strict Halakhic prohibition on touching human remains, recently published findings suggest that ancient Jews might have ignored the rules.
Southampton University researchers said that human skulls were found in present-day Iraq (formerly Babylonia) that are believed to have been used during the Talmudic era.
According to researcher Dan Levene, some of the skulls bear Aramaic inscriptions and at least one of them seems to belong to a woman. "When I presented these findings in Israel, people told me, 'It is not possible that this is Jewish,'" said Levene. "But it is certainly Jewish."
Levene says many desperate people used talisman in the past and skulls were also used to ward off ghosts or demons, Haaretz reported. "The fact remains that belief in demons was widespread at this time among Jews as well as other peoples," writes Levene in a report published in Biblical Archaeological Review. "Incantation bowls are known not only from Jewish communities but from other communities as well."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
Well, at least we have the noble Iranians to put this on the front page of their non-Jewish-controlled press organ. How else would we learn about the tainted and profane Jooooos?
If we don't watch out, the Jews might try to one-up the Sedlec Ossuary... with the skeletons of Palestinian children, no doubt.
From the comments: "Amazing! My orthodox friends complain I don`t keep Kosher - at least I gave up my Babylonian skull. "- HA!!
They used them to drink the fermented blood of Mesopotamian children.
Now that we've gotten the obligatory blood libel out of the way, it seems as if this is a real article. It's about Talmudic-era witchcraft ritual objects. If any of you have ever read the Old Testament, this is the crap that the Prophets were always thundering on about, the endless cycle of backsliding into idol-worship and witchcraft followed by repentance & remorseful piety.
In particular, the ritual objects in question were probably used to traffic with, enlist, or repel 'liliths', demons of childbed fevers and other calamities associated with pregnancy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/15/2009 10:05 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I use a human skull every day. I suspect most, if not all, Rantburgers do also. It's good for holding brains.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran has discovered a new offshore oil field in the Persian Gulf with reserves of 1 billion barrels of heavy crude, says a top oil official.
The head of the Iranian Offshore Oil Co (IOOC) Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh said on Tuesday that the oil field was discovered by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in the Farsi block in the Persian Gulf, IRIB reported. He added that the amount of recoverable oil from the field, named Binaloud, would be announced later.
The National Iranian Oil Company announced last week that Iran has discovered seven new oil fields with 'considerable' reserves.
Iran, OPEC's second biggest oil producer, controls about 5 percent of global oil supply.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
It's pretty obvious that the left will not tolerate speech they do not approve of, so the response to that is to insure that violent acts are not permitted to accomplish their goal.
In a situation like this, I would get a dozen students discreetly armed with stun guns to stand behind the protesters. Then, for the particularly obnoxious ones, signal that they are to be given a shock, with other students without stun guns to say that they "fainted".
Other tricks involve using just a little bit of pepper spray spritzed on their cheek from behind, good old fashioned itching powder, half a dozen fire ants, superglue, etc.
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.
[Mail and Globe] At least four mortar shells pounded a northern working-class district of the Congo capital Brazzaville overnight causing heavy damage but no casualties, locals said on Tuesday. 
[Mail and Globe] carmaker General Motors would likely not be swift or simple despite the best efforts of the United States Treasury Department, turnaround experts warn. 
An opinion poll on the 4-7 June European Parliament (EP) elections shows that only 34 percent of possible voters surveyed across the EU say they are already certain that they will go and vote in June, while 19 percent of respondents said they were already certain that they would not vote. 
