ARVIN — Central California was rattled Wednesday by substantial earthquakes on two different faults that caused no major damage or injuries, but the temblors were close enough in time and location to leave scientists wondering if they were linked.
A magnitude-5.0 earthquake rattled Kern County on Wednesday, just hours after a pair of apparently unrelated aftershocks from a 6.0-quake Tuesday jolted another part of Central California.
The Kern County temblor triggered a rockslide on a state highway, but there were no reports of damage or injury and the road was quickly cleared.
The earthquake struck at 3:54 p.m., 17 miles northeast of Arvin, said Anthony Guarino, a seismic analyst for the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
The quake was felt as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Redlands, Guarino said. It also was felt in Las Vegas.
It was centered about 150 miles southeast of Parkfield in Monterey County, where a magnitude-6.0 quake scared residents on Tuesday.
"This is actually a new earthquake, this is not an aftershock," Guarino said.
There have been more than 500 aftershocks to the Parkfield quake. Two of the biggest, 5.0 and 4.5, shook the region around 10 a.m. Wednesday. The largest aftershock rattled window blinds in San Jose.
The Parkfield and Arvin quakes would be examined by scientists who for the past decade have been looking at links between separate quakes in California that occur far apart, Guarino said.
"The likelihood is that both this earthquake and yesterday's earthquake will have their own aftershocks," said Susan Hough, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist. "Those sequences will continue to die down, and there's maybe a one in 20 chance that one of these earthquakes will be a foreshock to something bigger."
For example, the deadly 6.7-magnitude temblor that hit the Northridge area of Los Angeles in 1994 was preceded by an earthquake sequence in the Salton Sea area, Guarino said.
Arvin, a rural community of about 14,000 is 79 miles north of Los Angeles and lies at the eastern end of the White Wolf fault, which ruptured in a magnitude-7.5 quake in 1952.
Bakersfield police spokeswoman Mary DeGeare said dispatchers received about a dozen calls from people reporting the earthquake.
"It was obvious it was an earthquake. It was more of a jolt than the rolling sensation they felt yesterday," she said.
Aftershocks to the Parkfield quake, which erupted on the San Andreas fault, continued Wednesday morning with temblors measuring magnitude 5.0 and 4.5, which made them among the strongest of more than 500 aftershocks roiling the area.
The Parkfield earthquake and its aftershocks have not caused any major damage or injuries, but they could be a boon to researchers who hope intense scrutiny of the state's earthquake capital may help predict future temblors.
The aftershocks were centered five miles northwest of Parkfield at 10:10 a.m. and 10:12 a.m. Since the 6.0 quake at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, there have been six aftershocks of 4.0 or greater.
Harry Miller, who grows 170 acres of wine grapes alongside the San Andreas fault, was checking on the cases of wine that were tipped over in Tuesday's earthquake, trying to assess his loss, when aftershocks hit Wednesday.
His home is near Parkfield, about 150 yards from the San Andreas fault, but Miller said the building, and other buildings on the farm, seem to have withstood the shaking.
"It doesn't really appear any buildings are really damaged that much," he said. "It just takes time to sort through these things."
Parkfield, population 37, is subject to small, unfelt shocks all the time. Temblors are so prevalent that the USGS named its long-term earthquake research project the Parkfield Experiment. A major quake in the same area killed two people last year.
Dozens of sensors — seismometers, strainmeters, creepmeters — dot the remote, sparsely populated region. Drilling is underway there to go 1.4 miles down into the bowels of the 800-mile-long fault that forms the boundary between immense geological plates that grind and produce ground movement.
"It's going to be a lot of data that we can look at," said Andy Snyder of the U.S. Geological Survey. "It ensures a good payoff."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/29/2004 9:57:00 PM ||
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I didn't feel a darned thing again and this time it was only about 35 to 40 miles due east. That is the fault that wiped out Bakersfield the year of my birth. I'd ratehr have this than tornados and hurricanes.
The lava dome in the crater of Mount St. Helens apparently is growing and moving slightly northward, a top volcano scientist said today. "There seems to be some movement in the lava dome," Jeff Wynn, chief scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash. The pressure could come either from a buildup of gases within the 8,364-foot mountain, which erupted with devastating force 24 years ago, or from molten rock moving into the dome, Wynn said. Seth Moran, a seismologist at the observatory, estimated the initial movement at 4 centimeters, about an inch and a half. Wynn said the movement "sort of suggests that we're getting closer" to an eruption that could hurl rocks and ash a few thousand feet into the air. He emphasized that the estimates were highly preliminary and inexact because there is only one measuring device on the dome. He estimated scientists will need about 48 hours to interpret the data more clearly.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2004 2:36:32 PM ||
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I question the timing of this. First, the series of hurricanes, then the quake by Paso Robles, now this.
The VRWC is obviously trying to distract us from the upcoming debate.
Some women on the British Pacific colony of Pitcairn have criticised sex abuse trials due to get under way on the remote island on Wednesday.
"Yeah! We wuz abusin' them, too!"
Seven men, or half the adult male population of the tiny community, are facing more than 50 charges.
Of diddling half the female population of the tiny community?
At a public meeting on Pitcairn, female residents claimed it was customary for girls on the island to have sex as young as 12. Some alleged victims of abuse had been coerced into testifying, they said.
"If you don't testify, you don't get no candy!"
The accused include the island's mayor, Steve Christian, and his son Randy. Also facing charges are Len Brown, his son Dave, Jay Warren, Terry Young and Dennis Christian.
"Bring up the babes, Mr. Christian!"
"Aye-aye, Mr. Christian!"
Many of the women of Pitcairn, one of the world's most remote communities, believe that the charges against the seven are unfair.
"We wuz havin' fun, 'til them bluenoses showed up!"
The wives, daughters, sisters and mothers of some of the accused have spoken out to declare the men's innocence. They have insisted that while under-age sex was a traditional part of island life, it was consensual.
"So butt out! We got nothin' else to do on this gawdfersaken rock!"
Prosecutors have said there is an ingrained culture of using children for sex on the island, a tiny volcanic speck that lies half-way between New Zealand and Peru. The seven men are charged with various offences including rape.
Presumably statutory...
They are expected to mount a defence based on a challenge to Britain's authority over the island.
"Yeah! Piss off! It's our island! You got yer own island!"
Judges, lawyers and other court staff have made the long journey from New Zealand for the trial.
"Now looky here, Mr. Christian: we wait 'til the bluenoses are settled in, then you sneak Daisy into the judge's room and Mr. Christian'll sneak Trixie into the lawyer's room. Then Mr. Christian'll come bustin' through the judge's door with a camera an' Mr. Christian'll come bustin' through the lawyer's door with a camera! That'll fix 'em!"
"I dunno, Mr. Christian. Daisy's only nine!"
"Yeah, but she's got the body of a 12-year-old!"
The islanders are descendents of mutineers who seized control of the British navy vessel HMS Bounty in 1789. They landed on the uninhabited island of Pitcairn a year later with a group of Polynesian men and women and remained undiscovered for almost 20 years.
... and guess what they spent the time doing?
Posted by: tipper ||
09/29/2004 11:58:41 AM ||
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Fletcher Christian must be spinning in his grave...
#2
Hardwicke's Marriage Act 1753 (England): The Act fixed the lower legal age of marriage as 14 for men and 12 for women. This was raised to 16 for both sexes in 1929. The Act applied only to England & Wales and came into force in 1754. Scotland and the Channel Islands were exempt from the legislation.
Therefore, it appears to me, that, since the island was so remote and they followed the customs of the time they settled on Pitcairn (1789)â¦they were just behind the times a bit, rather than flaunting the law.
#3
of course, if they were muslims this would all be OK and they would be crying "racism!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2004 12:38 Comments ||
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#4
heck didnt the first islanders, mutineers and accompanying tahitians, pretty much come close to killing each other off over women? Maybe its something in the genes.
#5
Within the Muslim community in Afghanistan and Pakistan, although the accepted age of marriage for girls is 16, that's predominately in the urban areas. In rural areas, marriages as young as 10-12 are not uncommon. Should the daughter defile herself by having sexual relations, either before she's married, or with someone other than her spouse, she can be killed by either her father, male family members, or husband.
Therefore, for you Pitcairn folks...a conversion to Islam does hold hope...if you women are willing to accept the consequences.
#6
There is no other way to put this: adults having sex with 12-year-olds is wrong. It's wrong in France, it's wrong in Alabama, it's wrong in Vietnam, so it's damn well wrong on Pitcairn Island too. Right and Wrong are universal, immutable, and non-cultural.
Does the English government have the right to enforce its laws out there? Maybe not, but I'm not real sympathetic in this particular case.
#8
#6: Yeah, you're right. But the idea of flying an entire tribunal halfway across the Pacific to supervise the activities of a couple dozen people who're of no account at all to the rest of the world seems a bit over the top.
They've had 200 years to sort themselves out. There are a total of 14 men in the adult population of the island, with a total population well below 100. It seems to me that Darwin's doing a more effective job than the New Zealand legal beagles can ever do.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 13:33 Comments ||
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Folks - Here's somethig else in the mix. Back 150 years ago Seventh-Day Adventist missionaries went there and converted everyone...
#10
Secret Master: There is no other way to put this: adults having sex with 12-year-olds is wrong. It's wrong in France, it's wrong in Alabama, it's wrong in Vietnam, so it's damn well wrong on Pitcairn Island too. Right and Wrong are universal, immutable, and non-cultural.
Right and wrong are universal. What is defined as right and what is defined as wrong isn't. Specifically, the definition of adulthood isn't universal at all. In non-Western countries, the onset of puberty is defined as the point of adulthood. Note that these countries are typically much more conservative than the West, and unlike in the West, premarital sex at puberty is pretty much non-existent.
#11
SM: Right and Wrong are universal, immutable, and non-cultural.
Come to think of it, the problem with this statement is much more general. I think we need to come to terms with the fact that our values are not universal. Our enemies don't see themselves as the bad guys. During WWII, the Germans and the Japanese saw themselves as the guys in the white hats. Despite public declarations that the War on Terror involves common values, this is really a clash of civilizations. And the Muslims recognize it, although they shrink from all-out war because they recognize that in an overt war, they would be completely destroyed.
#12
Sounds like the bureaucrats were getting bored and needed a salacious and titilating field trip to add zest to their otherwise boring lives. There are a few small communities in Alaska that have this problem, too, the names of which I will not mention.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 17:52 Comments ||
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Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has issued an edict barring the use of cell phones with built-in cameras, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" -- a final resort after a ban on their sale and import to the kingdom failed to dent their popularity.
It's those Arabia wimmin. Y'just can't control 'em. As soon as they lay hand on a camera, they stick 'em under those abayas and take photos of their genitalia. Then they call all their friends and gab all afternoon...
Camera cell phones have caught on fast throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East, particularly in oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, prompting concerns about privacy in places where people undress, "theft" of reading materials at book stores and newsstands, and corporate espionage by employees. As a result, the devices have been banned by gyms, retailers and companies in many nations. Even in the United States, where camera phones have taken longer to gain popularity, there is a bill in Congress that would make the taking of illicit photos on federal property a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and fines.
... which has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Taking illicit photos isn't the same thing as owning a cell phone with a camera in it...
But the concern goes even further in conservative Muslim societies, where religious authorities complain camera phones are misused to photograph women without their knowledge.
"They're nekkid under those robes, y'know? Nothin' there but round, firm titties; smooth, inviting thighs; smooth, rounded buttocks... By Allah! Bring me my gun! I need to... I need to... I need to shoot off!"
A wedding in Saudi Arabia ended in a brawl over the photographing of women, and young men in the glitzy malls of the United Arab Emirates have been warned by police not to surreptitiously photograph female shoppers. In Egypt, a women-only beach on the northern Mediterranean coast bars cameras and all cell phones are checked on entry to make sure they don't have cameras.
"[Sob!] Shapely Egyptian bosoms! Slender, tanned wenches, coming out of the water, their skin all goose-bumpy..."
So far, however, only Saudi Arabia has taken the drastic step of banning the import or sale of camera cell phones and declaring them religiously forbidden.
"Y'can't have 'em! It's religiously forbidden! It's in the Koran someplace. Go look it up!"
The phones are still available despite a ban in March on their sale and import, easily smuggled in from neighboring Bahrain or the Emirates. But cellular shutterbugs risk having their phones confiscated, being fined or even spending up to a year in jail.
... after a thorough beating by the religious brute squad...
Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, announced the religious edict Tuesday in remarks to al-Madina daily newspaper. The devices, he said, were "spreading obscenity in Muslim society," the newspaper reported Wednesday. "All citizens should renounce this (the use of cell phones with cameras) ... for it can harm everybody without discrimination," the paper quoted him as saying. Violators "should be strictly confronted and punished."
"And I'm warnin' youse! If this don't work, we're bannin' titties altogether!... Anybody got a tissue?"
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/29/2004 3:24:40 PM ||
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If this doesn't work we will gouge out both the eyes, and lop off both the hands. Let 'em try to use a camera-cell phone then. IT IS WRITTEN!
Posted by: Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik ||
09/29/2004 19:21 Comments ||
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#2
Do NSA guys spend all day monitoring Saudi cell phone calls for a peek under the veil?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/29/2004 19:33 Comments ||
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#3
The pix might be the only thing(s) that wouldn't end up in the backlog of uninterpreted traffic.
#4
What else do we expect from a country which has a whole Ministry for Morals. And a seperate moral police. They have to justify the money being spent on them by coming up with creative new ways of "preserving the chastity of Arabic Bitches". You gotta keep the Merchandise in best condition untill you are able to sell it. After that the guy who bought the woman is responsible. This ban is likely to be most strictly enforced on the expat workers. The soddy nationals get away with pretty much any thing.
I'm sure there's a HUGE demand for the secrets of Saudi companies.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2004 20:08 Comments ||
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#6
Well, there you go. Give the pic phones away and the whole society will erupt. Just have to find a way to get onto the local cell system. And that can be done by a gratuity. We can infiltrate faster than al Q using this system!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 21:39 Comments ||
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#7
...prompting concerns about privacy in places where people undress
Didn't know they were allowed to undress. It's in the Koran someplace, isn't it?
Authorities do not know how to penalize a restaurant owner who took advantage of an ambiguous regulation to employ two Saudi women, Al-Hayat newspaper reported yesterday.
Oh, horrors! Oh, hold me, Mahmoud!
What's the dispute: stoning or beheading?
Restaurant owner Nabil Ramadan created commotion last month in the eastern coastal city of Sihat when news spread that there were women working at his food outlet. Although Saudi employment laws are unclear on the issue, the authorities closed down his restaurant but have yet to decide what punishment to impose on Ramadan, Al-Hayat said. Meanwhile, Ramadan said his move appeared to be supported by many. "When I began looking for employees, I received dozens of applications from women who want to work. Why shouldn't women be allowed (to work) given it's a job done in public?" he asked.
Posted by: tipper ||
09/29/2004 11:39:39 AM ||
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"...Effendi, I know there's no law against it, but we gotta be able to charge him with sumpin' - this is Soddy Arabia!! I know - alk runnin'!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/29/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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I got a suggestion for Nabil on a new name for his restaurant... "The Burnt Out Shell".
#3
Just imagine if we open a Gentleman's club there. Employing just Soddy women. Hahaha. I bet the Mullahs will want that sealed for public but open for just them to "evaluate the evil effects"
Lee Glendinning
Thursday September 30th, 2004
The Guardian
Ancient herbal remedies used for centuries in Indian cooking and in preparing dishes in the far east have the potential to control diabetes and treat cancer, according to a team of London scientists.
Researchers from the department of pharmacy at King's College London say they have found scientific justification for the use of alternative medicine.
Scientists believe that the Indian curry leaf - an ingredient in many curry dishes and used in traditional Indian healing, may contain agents that slow down the rate of starch-to-glucose breakdown in people with diabetes. The tree's leaves could control the amount of glucose entering the bloodstream.
Professor Peter Houghton, who headed the research team of 20, told the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester yesterday that plants used in traditional Thai and Chinese medicine appeared to have cancer-fighting properties.
During the research six plants used in Thai cancer remedies were extracted according to traditional methods and showed "promising activity" against lung cancer cells.
The best results were found in the aquatic weed known as Ammannia baccifera from Thailand and star anise, a plant extract which tastes of licorice and is often used in Chinese cooking.
The findings also revealed that common cattle feed might contain anti-fungal properties and could be used in a cream to treat athlete's foot.
Prof Houghton said the findings from three years of research were the first step in the discovery of new drugs based on plant extracts, but warned against people with diabetes or cancer taking the plant extracts immediately.
"This is the first time many of these plants have been looked at scientifically, but it is a long way from saying they will be placed on a doctor's prescription pad," he said. "Pharmacists believe herbs are of value, but they are not completely safe. There is now a rapidly diminishing number of doctors who believe they are old wives' tales, and now see that herbal remedies must be treated with respect."
He said although it was quite possible that people who ate curry leaf regularly as part of their diet could help control their diabetes, sufferers should first consult their doctors.
"When people find a new chemical of interest, there is a one in 10,000 chance of it becoming a good medicine," he said.
"Obviously if someone is eating the curry leaf regularly and is known to be diabetic there is no harm in carrying on taking it, but if someone is going to start taking it in conjunction with other medicines they should definitely check first."
Researchers also interviewed traditional healers in Ghana to identify plants that are used to help wounds heal. The Ashanti, one of the largest ethnic groups in Ghana used a plant known as the climbing flower which was shown to have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal qualities and prevented infections.
But Professor Edzard Ernst, who researches complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, said it was important for people to realise clinical trials had not yet been carried out on the plant extracts.
"This research needs independent confirmation, and even if it all goes like a flash of lightning, which it never does, we could see something in five years," he said.
"I think it's very encouraging but I think any claims of a cancer cure or a diabetes cure are misleading to patients."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/29/2004 10:00:36 PM ||
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Pro-hunt demonstrators dumped animal carcasses and women went topless amid noisy protests on Tuesday outside Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party conference. Blowing horns
... at the honkers...
and waving signs that read: "Fight Prejudice, Fight the Ban" and "Fox-Off Blair," about 8,000 demonstrators against plans to outlaw fox-hunting marched along the Brighton seafront, flanked by hundreds of police in riot gear. Several women dressed in black bathing suits removed their tops and jumped into the chilly English Channel waters as part of the protest. They were joined by members of "Surfers 4 Hunting" riding surfboards.
"Dewd!"
Tempers flared between some protesters — who defend hunting as an essential part of Britain's rural heritage — and a handful of hunt opponents who denounce the centuries-old pursuit as a barbaric bloodsport. Witnesses said the carcasses of two calves were left close to the conference center while a dead horse was deposited outside. Two men were arrested.
"Put yer 'ands up and step away from the dead horse, Trevor!"
Parliamentarians from Blair's Labor Party overwhelmingly voted on Sept. 16 to ban hunting with hounds on a day that saw some 10,000 hunt supporters protest outside parliament and a handful break in to the historic debating chamber. Protestors say a ban would cost thousands of rural jobs and is based purely on class prejudice. No good pics. Damn
No source on this. Damn.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
09/29/2004 8:22:36 AM ||
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#1
The source was Rooters.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6354992
Why can't I link?
#6
Now, don't everyone go nuts on me, but isn't fox hunting somewhat unsportsmanlike?
The anti-fox hunting groups say that the fox hunters:
" . . .will say that a fox is always killed by hounds with a quick nip on the back of the neck, thus severing the spinal chord. It may finally die this way, but it is likely that it will suffer multiple agonising injuries before the final 'nip' is given. "
Now I've had dogs, and fox hunting dogs, are not skilled "snipers" or even trained retrievers. If they catch a fox, they will tear it shreds, and have a "fun ol' time of it," too. Everybody that has owned dogs already knows they behave that way--so what's up with the fox hunters trying to make it "pretty" and "sanitized"? It is what it is.
Anyway, fox hunting a BIG issue in Britain, and I just wonder why terrorism isn't.
For further interest: Here's one website at this link, which is devoted to dispelling myths the industry promotes about fox hunting. And the BBC has pages of incredibly extensive point/counter-point debate and information covering the issue, at this link , and another site, at this link has a video of a bunch of dogs tearing a fox to shreds, which is pretty much what happens, unless a dog "gets lucky" and kills quickly on the first try.
#8
I used to have ducks in my back yard that I liked. They were pretty harmless creatures who spent most of their time quacking, eating, and pooping, never really bothering anyone. Between the foxes and the weasels they're all gone now, and it wasn't pretty.
That wasn't sportsmanlike, either. I'm in favor of mounting up for foxhunts, and if anyone organizes a weasel hunt, just let me know. I'll rent a horse.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 15:54 Comments ||
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#9
Do they have weasels in Europe?
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/29/2004 16:03 Comments ||
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#10
Yea Rafael they are mostly named Jacques and Gerhard.
#12
It's interesting to see the proponents of fox-hunting, a decidedly rural and traditional practice, resorting to protest methods more commonly associated with pop-culture radicalism.
As a youngster I happened to attend a few fox hunts. (Normally, someone from my urban working class background would not have gotten within five miles of such an event, but one of my dad's old mates from Bomber Command was a peer of the realm and sometimes invited us out.)
Oscar Wilde famously defined fox hunting as "the inedible pursued by the unspeakable." Contrary to this and the sport's image here in the states, however, most of the participants were actually middle-class rural folk and not aristocrats at all.
When the chase was on, I was inclined to cheer for the fox, but I am not sure this impulse should be backed by the coercive power of the law.
#13
I think the foxes in the first 2 pix (foxes1 / foxes2) are for it - and I think the third (foxes3) one seems to be of foxes against the practice. Love the UK ladies.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 00:42 ||
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Article: Condor comprised a secret agreement between military governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, which cooperated in chasing down opponents and disposing of their bodies in each others' countries.
Looks like AFP's new designation for communists is "political opponents".
China on Wednesday accused Taiwan Premier Yu Shyi-kun of clamoring for war with threats to fire missiles at Shanghai if the People's Liberation Army (PLA) attacks the self-ruled island. Yu last week defended plans to buy T$610.8 billion (US$18.2 billion) worth of weapons from the United States, saying Taiwan needed a counter-strike capability to hit China's financial center of Shanghai with missiles if the PLA attacked the island's capital, Taipei, and the southern city of Kaohsiung. This move signals a sea change in Taiwan's response doctrine with respect to China. We had hints of this with mention of how Three Gorges dam was becoming a strategic target. This move only serves to concrete Taiwan's resolution against being bullied by the politburo's Mandarins in Beijing.
Taiwan has finally made clear the dramatic price China will have to pay should they seek to forcibly reunite Formosa with the mainland. The destruction of Shanghai would easily come close to cancelling any economic benefit China might gain from overrunning the ROC. It is precisely this sort of retaliation that China needs thrust in their collective face. Taiwan is finally coming of age in delineating a coldly calculated price that China will have to pay for landing on their shores.
One can only hope that as China slowly climbs the ladder of industrial development, they finally gain some degree of appreciation for just how much they have to lose through their interminably aggressive posturing. However, it remains to be seen whether the politburo fully grasps such a concept. China's enabling of North Korea still represents a fundamental inability to comprehend how instability in the East Asian quadrant continues to suppress all regional economies.
Should China fail to reach a complete understanding, the net result will be a nuclear armed Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Something that the politburo richly deserves, but the world community does not really need.
"Yu Shyi-kun's remarks are a serious provocation and clamoring for war," Li Weiyi, spokesman for the policymaking Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference. Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait as the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack the democratic island of 23 million people if it formally declares independence. Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, but trade, investment and tourism have blossomed since detente in the late 1980s.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Zenster ||
09/29/2004 1:50:15 AM ||
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#1
Make sure to spring for the mine-laying option for the 12 subs.
#2
This, not the lack of closer targets, is the reason I suggested attacking Chinese assets in other parts of the world.
Video of a torpedoed Chicom container ship going down just outside the St. Nazaire roadstead would have a powerful effect on China's trade partners.
#6
Dave, this decade is proving to be the time when we pay for the foreign policy sins of the last two Democrat Presidents, Carter and Clinton. Iran, NoKorea, Iraq, Al-Qaida, Red China, Pakistan, ... the status of every single major threat can be traced back to the Democrat's pseudo-pacifism.
Now imagine if you had Gore in power today. Or if you got Kerry next January.
#7
Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979..." Three guess who was president then
Well geez, louise, in 1979 the USSR was intact and looked strong, was on the march in Afghanistan and around the third world, Communists parties were strong in europe, esp the med, etc. We needed ANY stinking allies, and China was big and hated the Soviets. That move was OBVIOUS, and NECESSARY.
As for Iran, I dont see how Carter could have realistically stopped the mullahs from coming to power. If you think a conventional invasion could have done that, i say that was still on the table when Reagan came in. He didnt attempt to overthrow the Mullahs, now did he?
As for Iraq, that was a result of GHWBushes leaving Saddam in power, when we betrayed the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings against Saddam, a betrayal that haunts us in Iraq to this day.
As for Pakistan, the policy of cooperating with Islamist leaning military types was followed throughout the Reaganite 80s. Clinton is hardly responsible for Perv, and Pervs a damned sight better than folks there who Reagan worked with.
#9
What LH said. Reagan cut and ran from Beirut as well.
Different world now. We need to judge both parties on their strategic vision for dealing with it. The neocons have such a vision but it needs a reality adjustment; the Dems have nothing. We deserve better.
#10
It's really not about the money for the Sinofascists.
Quite the valid point, BMN. Talking with my friends while I was in Taiwan was quite illuminating. The Chinese concepts of mianzi or lianzi, both similar though different, deal with preservation or loss of face. Mianzi relates to social status, while lianzi is on a personal level.
All of this centers upon high-context and low-context societies, which relates directly to our current difficulties in the Middle East. Excerpts below are from a informative article by Sarah Rosenberg. I recommend reading the entire short piece for some dramatic insights as to why we are encountering so many complications in dealing with the Asiatic mind. Her comments regarding the French are exceptionally instructive. Here are some excerpts:
In general, the U.S. and other Western countries are considered low-context societies. This means that verbal communication is most often direct, and that there is very little concern or need for nonverbal cues in order for people to understand each other. Raymond Cohen, a respected researcher on culture and negotiation, explains that at the core of a low-context society is the belief in the freedom of the individual, hence the term "individualistic" societies.
In these societies, individual rights supercede blind duty to one's family, clan, ethnic group, or nation. People generally try to "say what they mean and mean what they say." In individualistic societies, "[e]quality is the prevailing ethic in society and politics. Status is acquired, not inherited..." and, more importantly, "...contract, not custom, prescribes the individual's legal obligation to a given transaction, role or course of action." In these societies, it is individual, personal guilt that serves as a moral compass. If one commits a social blunder as an adult, in most cases, there is no group shame involved, only personal embarrassment, and (one hopes) a desire to correct the wrong with a sincere apology. Conflicts are seen as a natural part of life; they are simply dealt with and then people move on. In individualistic societies, in theory if not always in practice, people are free to move and associate themselves with any groups they like. In light of all this, the place that face issues hold in low-context cultures is not nearly as important as in collectivistic societies. But when communicating with cultural "others," it is obviously extremely important to make oneself aware of possible differences beforehand. Face, it turns out, is quite a serious issue in many places.
High-context societies include countries such as Korea, China, and Japan in Asia, Middle-Eastern countries such as Egypt and Iran, and Latin American countries. Sometimes, these cultures are referred to as collectivistic, or interdependent. Very often, these high-context cultures are hierarchical and traditional societies in which the concepts of shame and honor are much more important than they are in low-context societies.
In high-context cultures, group harmony is of utmost importance. People in these cultures dislike direct confrontation, and for the most part avoid expressing a clear "no." Evasion and inaccuracy are preferred in order to keep appearances pleasant. There is a danger of losing face simply by not reaching an agreement with another person or group, if that was the goal. Being humiliated before the group, or losing face before one's constituents, can be a fate worse than death in some cases.
The Chinese term lian is the source for the concept of face. "It represents the confidence of society in the integrity of moral character." Loss of face occurs when one fails to meet the requirements of one's position in society. The cornerstone for the conflict resolution process in Chinese culture is for both parties to care about the other's face. In many cases, in order to save face, as in Middle Eastern countries, respected third-party mediators are needed to manage the communication between parties in conflict.
According to Harry Irwin, author of Communicating with Asia, in order to understand Chinese personal corporate and national identities, one must get a feel for all of the face work that is needed. For the Chinese, proper conduct of face maintenance is equivalent to being a moral member of society; the most important social value is creating and perpetuating group harmony. Gaining face is as important a concept as losing face. A primary goal in many Asian cultures is to increase one's face value or standing in society, while successfully avoiding the loss of face.
For results-oriented Westerners, the layered and contorted maze of social relationships in high-context societies comes across as archaic and hopelessly thin-skinned. Yet, this is what we must deal with today if we are to have any hope of overcoming the threat that these eggshell-ego cultures project back upon progressive societies that have dispensed with such cumbersome intracacies.
#12
"As for Iran, I dont see how Carter could have realistically stopped the mullahs from coming to power." - LH
The man didn't have too much problem with the authoritarian government in South Korea. He danced about reducing commitments, but didn't pull the rug out from under the rulers in Seoul. South Korea had a chance to evolve peacefully into the free democratic ranks.
Sometimes in history it is only a choice between bad and worse. Jimmy elected worse when he failed to back the Shah. The Shah was at least trying to pull his country into the early 20th century. It was the correct step in the process to establishing an environment which could make democracy possible as in South Korea. Industrializing a country is not easy. Our own history is filled with blood spilled to retain order during numerous labor confrontations from Pullman to Detroit. Instead Jimmy was in his own decision making process was in a malaise for which we and the world now pay the price for.
The hostages at the embassy in Terhan, the weakness that gave the green light to the Soviets to do what they wanted in Afghanistan, the opportunity for Saddam to launch a war against the Iranians, the spread of Islamic Fundamentalism jihad, Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and the suppression of internal uprisings. Do a body count. How many have died and suffered? How many would have died and suffered if the Shah had been permitted to suppress the Mullahs in Iran rather than letting the genie out of the bottle? Sometimes the choice in history is between bad and worse.
Posted by: Don ||
09/29/2004 14:02 Comments ||
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Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, on Tuesday appealed against China's revocation of its Viagra patent in a case that may test the nation's commitment to stronger protection for intellectual property rights. Pfizer appealed the July decision by China's patent office in the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, Wang Xunbiao, a Beijing spokesman for the New York-based company, said by telephone. The China patent on Viagra, the world's best-selling impotence treatment, was due to expire in 2014. Pfizer and other drug companies are seeking evidence that their patents will be protected as they expand in China's $10 billion drug market. GlaxoSmithKline last month abandoned its battle to protect a patent for its top diabetes drug in China. Toyota Motor lost a lawsuit in Beijing last November against a Chinese automaker accused of copying designs. There's nothing like being forced to play in a rigged game. The international business community needs to realize that China will copy, imitate or just plain steal whatever it does not want to pay for. Only after the world economy has been bled of TRILLIONS of dollars will it begin to wake up to the closed shop that is China. The politburo will buy off any and all politicians necessary to ensure that global wealth pours into China. Just don't count on seeing any of it ever again.
"The foreign drug industry is shocked by China's decision to revoke Pfizer's Viagra patent," said Christopher Torrens, editorial director of Access Asia, a research consultancy in Shanghai. "It worries foreign investors, whose interests may be ripped off in China." The Viagra patent was revoked after a group of Chinese generic drugmakers convinced the State Intellectual Property Office that Pfizer did not provide full documentation showing that a key ingredient, sildenafil citrate, was the primary factor in preventing erectile dysfunction. You'd have better luck proving the existence of God to these people before they'd accept "proof" of your product's method of delivery. Does anyone remember Japan's hyper-restrictive auto import legislation that essentially used to require 100% crash testing of all arriving automobiles?
Full documentation required for Chinese patents may involve proprietary secrets that companies typically are not willing to publicize. Whoa, now there's a shocker! In order to get a patent, first you have to completely detail the synthesis or manufacturing process. By that time, you might as well just give the stuff away out on the street. Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Zenster ||
09/29/2004 3:47:57 AM ||
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#1
Just give it to them, Pfizer. Sure, you stand to lose money. But think of all the tigers and rhinos you'll save when people don't have to make their 'nads into soup anymore.
Unlike Hollywood or the auto industry, Pfizer like most Big Pharma companies derives the vast majority of its operating profits from only one or two blockbuster drugs. If they can't protect their blockbuster patents, they go out of business. Doubt we/Pharma will back down on this one.
#3
Well, revealing the secret is pretty much SOP for any patent. That's the whole purpose: to have a limited time monopoly in exchange for eventual public-domain knowledge.
Of course, that is talking about a reasonably honest government. That doesn't apply in the PRC.
An aircraft carrying group of the Russian Northern Fleet will set out on Wednesday morning for an ocean training campaign. The first to leave Severomorsk will be the big antisubmarine ships Severomorsk and Admiral Levchenko, which will participate in joint Russian-U.S. exercises in the North Sea. The warships will be followed by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, the destroyer Admiral Ushakov, the tanker Osipov and the rescue tugboats Altai and SB-406, fleet headquarters sources told Itar-Tass. Deputy fleet commander vice-admiral Vladimir Dobroskochenko is in command of the campaign.
Before leaving for the sea, the commander told reporters that all the ships would be for more than a month in the northeast Atlantic where the main part of the exercises will take place. Such an aircraft carrying ship groups of the Northern Fleet put out to sea for the last time eight years ago, the admiral said. The main tasks in the campaign will be mastering cooperation of ships to repulse attacks of an enemy and flights from aircraft carriers. Other two warships of the Northern Fleet - the big antisubmarine ship Admiral Chabanenko and the nuclear-powered missile submarine Vepr -- participate in joint Russian-French exercises. According to AFP (no link) "The aim is to practice working together in areas such as force protection, damage control, search and rescue missions, choke point transit and maritime interdiction." Busy, busy.
#10
Why would the Russians want US-Russian fleet exercise?(Esp.since any problems will be out in open?)Could be:
1)Professional developement.Watching US Navy at work is good,being able to talk on formal basis better,being able to ask "why'd you do that?" best.
2)Jerk Europe's(EU) chain.Remind EU Russia has options.
3)Baby steps on path to potential US-Russian Entente.Not a formal alliance,but a strong "understanding".
31/2)Increasing worry @ China.Who would you rather have as ally,US or EU?
4)WOT.Next time you shoot some cruise missiles at someone,would you mind if we fired some too?
5)Service infighting.The Russian Navy is not at top of list for funding.The admirals desperately need to do something to keep the surface fleet alive,so how about a nice anti-pirate campaign?Maybe attack a terrorist training camp in Sudan?All under command of US Navy-yeah it's demeaning,but if we get the US Navy thinking we're valuable,maybe we can get some money.
6)All of the above-it's Russians we're discussing.
BTW,the Russians have a class of "Battlecruiser" that carries helos and VTOL a/c on flight deck in back.
Posted by: Stephen ||
09/29/2004 20:07 Comments ||
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#11
Stephen,
That was the easy one. What's in it for the US that justifies giving all that to the Ruskies?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/29/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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#12
a sharp stick in China's/NK's eye
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2004 20:14 Comments ||
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#13
*poke* Hey! That hurt! Come back here! Mo-o-om!!!
Posted by: Lil Kimmie ||
09/29/2004 20:17 Comments ||
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#14
Mrs. Davis,
What's in US-Russian exercises for US?
1)Makes the State Department fell all warm and fuzzy.
2)Jerk Europe's(EU) chain.
3)Jerk China's chain.
4)The Russians sell their stuff to everybody,and this give US a chance to see how it really works.(Those liaison officers heads are going to be on a constant swivel.)
41/2)Nice to practice against real thing.
5)Good PR for Navy may mean more money.
6)Having the Russians along for next WOT campaign quiets all that unilateral talk.
7)LBJ Theory-having them inside peeing out of the tent is better than them outside peeing in(polite version).
8)Baby steps toward US-Russian Entente.
Posted by: Stephen ||
09/29/2004 21:03 Comments ||
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#15
Not much if you ask me, unless we get a lot of intel that I thought we already had.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/29/2004 21:11 Comments ||
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#16
I think that Stephen is right. I think that it is mainly about building relationships which can lead to trust and teamwork.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 21:17 Comments ||
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#17
Just FYI, Vepr is an Akula class.
I have to wonder how many engineering casualties they'll have? It'd really smart if they had to tow the whole fleet back to port.
#18
The Russian group will be operational and fully crewed. But I suspect that there will be quite a few ships pier-side in Severomorsk that won't be as a result.
#19
Pappy, would they be capable of participating in coordinated escort duty through the Straits of Hormuz? if you understand me.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 23:08 Comments ||
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#20
I second Stephen's point about the Russians as a potential replacement for EU non-allies. France is on the other side in the middle east and is now cozying up to China; Blair is useless vs Iran. Outside of Afghanistan, NATO is all but useless.
I'd add that our Russian naval entente should consider including the Indian Navy as well. They've been increasingly active in combatting piracy on the Asian high seas-- that's no joke. It's already a huge problem, and will get bigger when AQ and the other jihadists make alliances with the criminal groups.
Label the US-Russian-Indian naval entente a force to combat piracy and nuke proliferation.
#21
The Indians makes sense in a lot of respects. The Russ are a bit sketch for me.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/30/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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#22
When was the last time they put to sea? 8 years ago?
I am going to scratch my head and go to bed soon. Maybe I'll sleep through anotehr earth quake.
... So it's no wonder that the press has taken a backseat to reporting the misdeeds of this administration.
... since they couldn't keep up with bloggers.
It's not surprising that the press failed to ask the hard questions leading up to the war in Iraq, when a more informed public still had time to speak up.
... and would have said the same thing.
Never mind that CBS's story included substantive and uncontested evidence that Bush didn't show up for duty when he was supposed to, that he skipped a required physical that grounded him from flying, and that he mysteriously received an honorable discharge.
Forgeries, Babs! 4-ger-ies! False! Lying! Plants! If the keystone of your argument is made up of 4-ger-ies then the remainder of your argument is suspect.
Yes...the documents CBS presented could not be confirmed for their authenticity, but these details of Bush's military record have been out for public consumption for years.
"Could not be confirmed for their authenticity" = 4-ger-ies. False. Lying. Made up.
Why is the media not discussing the facts behind the story instead of just focusing on CBS?
Because it was CBS that turned into a second, unique story, using forged documents that it should have been able assuming even minimal competence to prove or disprove. Instead, they went with what they wanted to be true, whether it was true or not. SeeBS as a result has lost the reputation it built over many years and was only destroying by incremental degrees up to now. SeeBS's self-destruction became the story, and it's more important than Bush's actions in a national guard unit 30 years ago.
For example, Killian's secretary said those memos accurately reflected the Colonel's feelings.
And his wife and son, who presumably knew him better unless he was banging the secretary, said they didn't.
Ben Barnes, former lieutenant governor of Texas, admitted that he pulled strings to get Bush into the National Air Guard.
And his own daughter called him a liar.
And Robert Mintz, retired National Guardsman who served in Bush's unit in 1972, doesn't remember seeing him there.
Didja ask Bush if he recalls seeing Robert Mintz? Maybe they were ships passing in the night. Maybe they weren't people who needed people...
And in contrast to Senator John Kerry, who said "send me" when given the option to go to Vietnam, according to the LA Times, when asked the same question, Bush checked the box stating "do not volunteer for overseas."
Probably because he was in the National Guard, not in the regulars. Babs is working on the mistaken assumption that the regulars resented the reserves and National Guard. That's not the case, and it wasn't even the case way back then...
The media's attention is diverted from the real story because we now live in a time where the fear of revenge by this administration sends a chill through the corporations that control our media and overwhelms the press' responsibility to investigate, educate and hold our leaders accountable.
Oh, yasss! Look at the Dire Revenge the administration's taken on... ummm... Helen Thomas. And for what? Just because she's become senile? And look at Molly Ivins! Look at what they've done to her!... Oh. Sorry. She did that.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 2:01:01 PM ||
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I'm still waiting for Robert Smith to turn into a giant butterfly and put the smack down on her azz.
And just as dumb. This is the standard Democratic talking points. All allegations by the left is always true (even when they have been proven to be a forgery) while all allegations from the right is always false and a 'plot of the vast right wing conspiracy' (even when they are proven to be true -- blue dress anyone?).
#4
What is this "revenge" this old twit is talking about. I haven't read or seen any. It's more leftist BS there is no "revenge" that is a liberal thing from what I can see.
#5
...and how come the Air National Guard doesn't have combat air patrols over my house to protect me from those pesky helicopter papparrazi bastards? Huh? Huh?
I'm a national treasure, dammit!!!
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 22:47 ||
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I had rather hoped that the execrable Dr. Ellsberg had long since emigrated to the socialist utopia of his choice and died. Another bad memory from VietNam brought forth by Senator Kerry and friends.
#2
Gawd, another one who just can't let go of the 1960ies! People! It is over! It has been over for 30+ years! Go play your Doors tapes, in a quiet room, have a beer and LET IT GO!
China's government has announced the takeover of the biggest mining company in Canada. Chinese firm, Minmetals, which is owned by the Chinese government, is said to be paying about $US5.7 billion, for Noranda Mining... [In] Alberta province, it has also been reported that the Chinese oil company Sinopec, which is controlled by the Chinese government, is in talks to acquire a large lease of oil bearing land... The two investments are the largest international deals by Chinese companies to date... The Chinese have enormous foreign currency reserves - more than $US466 billion and growing by about $US10.8 billion every month.
#4
Chinese firm, Minmetals, which is owned by the Chinese government ...
Anyone else see a pattern here? As I was mentioning over in the Pfizer ripoff thread:
"Remember, the military and politburo often have de facto control of many large industrial combines and banks."
Chinese intentions DO NOT include the expansion of free market trade practices, domestically or abroad. Any appearance of doing so is merely lip service and window dressing to appease the WTO and America's idiotic trade imbalance.
The Chinese have enormous foreign currency reserves - more than $US466 billion and growing by about $US10.8 billion every month.
Considering how America's annual trade deficit with China is some $127US BILLION, all of their "$10.8 billion every month" seems to be coming directly out of our own pocket. Isn't it time to change that in a big way? Don't depend on your politicians to do so, they've all been bought off by the Chinese or those who profit from doing business with them.
A day after WorldNetDaily's story publicizing a proposed monument to honor draft dodgers from the Vietnam War, there is word the project itself is facing abandonment. The bronze tribute slated for Nelson, British Columbia, sparked outrage in both the U.S. and Canada, and now the town's online community bulletin board indicates the project is expected to be dropped:
Administrator's note:
I have been informed by two good sources that the proposal to build a "monument to honour draft dodgers from the Vietnam War" has been abandoned.
THERE WILL BE NO MONUMENT.
An announcement to that effect will be made later this week.
City officials have now confirmed the monument will not be constructed. The message on Nelson's bulletin board continued:
This issue has caused a lot of frustration and division. This website is no longer able to serve its purpose, and has become a discussion about this one topic. The discussion is no longer relevant. The proposed monument was spearheaded by an American living in Canada as a landed immigrant. The idea was digusting to myself and 90 percent of other Canadians. The media did a great job of blowing the whole issue out of proportion. Now the proposal is dead. Any Americans who didn't like the idea would do well to shut up about it and build their own monument to antagonize Canadians.
The confident aren't so easily enflamed.
The "landed immigrant" in charge of the project is Isaac Romano, who was very positive when the project was first made public. "This will mark the courageous legacy of Vietnam War resisters and the Canadians who helped them resettle in this country during that tumultuous era," he said. Mayor David Elliot also seemed delighted when a press conference was held announcing plans to build the monument. ''I think it's the right place for it,'' he told the Nelson Daily News. ''We have a lot of open-minded people in this area and certainly people who are conscious of the efforts that happened in the Vietnam War.''
His office was subsequently flooded with negative reaction, and he's now singing a slightly different tune. "I made an innocent comment, off the cuff,'' Elliot told the National Post. ''Yes, I am a peace activist. But I wasn't speaking as mayor when I said I liked the idea. I wasn't even talking about the sculpture, which I don't support. We don't have a lot of public art here.''
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 11:07:38 PM ||
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What he meant to say was "I am a total ass hat and have been told in no uncertain terms to drop this if I want to keep my job and comfortable life."
#2
Did anyone get run over when Mayor Elliot was in head-long retreat from his strong anti-war stance? He was probably against it before he was for it (or vis versa). I hope our northern cousins remember his statement come time for elections. Aint Democracy wonderful?
#3
Now a monument to the tens [or hundreds] of thousand of Vietnamese who didn't make it through the South China Sea in their escape attempts and the million and half Cambodians annihilated in the third Holocaust of the 20th Century would make a nice piece to remind people of the consequences of abandoning their fellow man to bondage and slavery. Then we can add a set for the millions of Ukranians and middle class Chinese who suffered a similar fate at the hand of the Communists in the Soviet Union and China. Not like there was any pattern to the behavior.
Posted by: Don ||
09/29/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
09/29/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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#6
His office was subsequently flooded with negative reaction, and heâs now singing a slightly different tune. "I made an innocent comment, off the cuff,ââ Elliot told the National Post. ââYes, I am a peace activist..."
Nothing more need be said. Once again, "peace activist" and "idiot" prove to be interchangeable.
#7
Interesting story in today's NYTs on Canada and what is being called its "pessimistic" outlook and emaciation of its national character. Intellectuals are gnawing and wincing over the lost of importance and standing in the world. Of course, they blame all of this on its proximity to America but falsely equate that inferiority as the same as Belgium has being so close to France. Actually the Flemish population in Belgium laughs at France and is more determined to not be anything like them and also not anything like their Dutch cousins. But the article is interesting in that it concludes that you need more than a single-payer health system and hockey to be a world power. They don't even have hockey this year and their health system is in the tank.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/29/2004 14:38 Comments ||
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#8
Ah, yes, that world-class health system that would be ditched by the public if they couldn't go around it for surgery and other procedures in the US.
The Lansing city clerk's office is sorting through thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms that have been turned in recently.
"Thousands." Not "a few." Not "dozens." Not even "hundreds."
The city is using $2,000 from its general fund budget to pay for two temporary workers to sort through 5,000 to 8,000 bad forms. "We're going to have them painstakingly compare each form to the qualified voter file," Lansing City Clerk Debbie Miner said.
Good idea. Gimme a call. I can set you up with a program to help.
Just throw 'em up on the web and let the pajama brigadeankle-biters bloggers have at it.
Officials believe the forms were turned in by the state advocacy group Public Interest Research Group In Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton said. The Ingham County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
"Yup. We're investigatin'. We think it wuz them..."
Yup, indictments any day now ...
Calls to PIRGIM's Ann Arbor office were not returned Friday or Tuesday. Bryanton said the investigation shows that some people took names out of a phone book and forged signatures. Meridian Township has been dealing with the same problem for the past few weeks. "They have no idea the problems they've caused," Meridian Township Clerk Mary Helmbrecht said. Helmbrecht said Tuesday that her staff hasn't requested extra help, but that her office has been flooded with extra forms. "We just got an envelope (Monday) with 100 more forms from that group," she said. "It's extraordinarily time consuming."
But if you just dump them all, you're "suppressing the vote."
I'm sure there's a reason why we can't require people to register to vote in person.
Last month, Helmbrecht's office notified Bryanton about registration form irregularities such as addresses that didn't exist or several people listed for the same apartment.
Are you checking for deaders, too?
Can't, they moved to Chicago.
The sheriff's investigation shows that members of PIRGIM, a statewide advocacy group that encourages voter registration, were paid $50 a day to collect registrations and were given bonuses for collecting extra forms, Bryanton said. The $2,000 Lansing is spending for two extra staffers for Miner's office came from an allocation in the city's general fund for temporary help for city offices. The request was approved at Monday's council meeting. The money comes at a time when Lansing may be facing as much as a $5 million budget deficit. "My own internal staff will be working with these people," Miner said. "We're working overtime every night as it is." Any form that looks similar to a form already in the qualified voter file will go into a separate "suspect" file, Miner said. Anyone who registered to vote by mail and did not provide proof of ID must show identification when voting, she said.
I know it suppresses the illegal alien vote, and the cons on the lam vote, and the dead vote, and the never-existed vote, but I still think you should have to show some sort of ID when voting. But in Ann Arbor they'd accuse me of setting fire to the Reichstag.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 4:30:35 PM ||
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Officials believe the forms were turned in by the state advocacy group Public Interest Research Group In Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton said.
How about a system where they send you a voting card that you take with you to the voting booth? No card, no vote.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/29/2004 17:06 Comments ||
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#3
Aaaaaarrrrrggggh! Rafael, I'm sorry! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. The Boris button was too close to the comment button. Fred, can we fix this?
#7
I hope these townships keep careful account of exactly how much this is costing.
And, after conviction, the judge makes these PIRG wankers pay treble damages, in addition to a hefty fine and some jail time.
And they can't get the money from Soros.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 17:55 Comments ||
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#8
Lemee see - MSM SPIN
Absent voter requests in Iowa...
Registration in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida all favoring Dems...
What is apparently happening is the following...
Registration Fraud in Michigan
Registration in Florida has more GOPs and lots of soldiers overseas vote...
Ohio registers a lot of Dems, but not many vote...
Iowa Dems front load absentees, GOP has them closer to election to be sure they are turned in correctly.
Pennsylvania is the same situation as Florida without quite so many military...
And Gay Marriage Amendments on the ballots of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio...
#9
I was under the impression that fraud, including voter registration fraud was illegal - you know, as in fines, jail, etc. Is there some sort of special dispensation if the fraud is committed by left-wing groups?
#12
After watching Brit Hume interview a political analyst, one thing is clear: This election will be Florida 2000 x 20.
With Soros and other 527 funding, there have been MASSIVE voter registration drives in all of the battleground states. In New Mexico, which had a difference of less than 400 votes in 2000, the Dhimmicrats claim to have registered over 100,000 new "voters".
Additionally, there are "legal teams" in all of these contested states. No doubt fraud will run the gamut from subtle to brazen. What is new is the magnitude we can expect. LBJ would truly be farkin' jealous.
This will be very bloody before it's over.
Where I was once confident that the Forces of Darkness would be defeated - I have now decided that anything is possible.
The obvious idea that voters should be required to present simple photo-ID in order to vote (something I've always had to do, at least thus far, in my adult / voting life) brings on screams and howls of discrimination. WTF? There is only one valid conclusion to draw from this reaction: Fraud will be rampant.
Dear God, I hope not; but if it is, at least I'm armed. I think what disturbs me most is the growing feeling that the Left will do anything, absolutely ANYTHING, to get themselves in power.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/29/2004 19:29 Comments ||
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#14
I think you've summed it up, Dave. And what will they do with it, once they've got it?
#15
Dave D: They will. Wait and see...and keep your barf bag handy at all times. The tip off was the pre-positioning of the legal teams. Remember, the Dems actually believe the last election was stolen from them - they now feel entitled to the same.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/29/2004 19:53 Comments ||
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#16
"And what will they do with it, once they've got it?"
Oh, gosh, I dunno... hmmm, how about some new Federal agencies?
The Fairness Enforcement Administration will act to ensure that everything is absolutely fair for everybody, everywhere, in every way. No one will be allowed to have any more than anyone else, no matter what they do. All oppressed victims will be escorted to the head of the line ahead of their oppressors, and receive chits good for second helpings at every Free Lunch.
The Gender Equity Commission, although somewhat redundant with the above, will focus its zeal on gender equality in the workplace. Equal numbers of men and women will be placed in all jobs, at equal pay, regardless of qualification or job performance. The Federal government will assign all of us jobs, to avoid the discriminatory effects of the current free choice system; and all workers throughout the country will belong to one Federal union.
The Voting Rights Rectification Commission will ensure fair distribution of voting rights to all: no more of this "one person, one vote" crap. Designated victim groups will receive extra votes to compensate them for past discrimination and other wrongs.
The Slavery Reparations Administration will oversee the redistribution of illicit wealth (such as salaries, etc.) from the evil descendents of white slaveowners into the pocketbooks of those who really deserve it.
The Ministry of Truth, headed by Dan Rather, will...
You get the picture...
(Remember, though: all pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.)
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/29/2004 20:09 Comments ||
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#17
Hey Rafael...if you're still reading Rantburg, send me an email and I'll get you some whiskey and a harmonica while we wait for Sheriff Fred to spring you from the slammer...
#18
Fred, I am for a national ID card with respect to voting/driving/employment. The problem with local cards is that the absentee voter applications have made fraud a given. I want to see SSN's that vote in more than one location (state) face federal charges. They are making a mockery of voting - one of our most basic freedoms. I am willing to see the government issue Driver's licenses to those who can't pay the filing fee or can't pass the driver's test. I would stipulate that the bearer doesn't have driving privileges in the police database where appropriate.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 20:55 Comments ||
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#19
Actually, PIRG was one of Nader's brainchildren back in the '70's - they're all over the country, especially in college towns. They knock on doors in my neighborhood more often than Jehovah's Witnesses with some petition or other and a donation jar. Don't know how connected they still are to Nader today.
#20
I'm sick of Soros interferring in our election process. I wish he'd drop dead from a painful heart attack. This guy has caused more trouble in the world than one man should be allowed to cause.
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson joined the campaign of Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday as a poll showed support for the presidential candidate slipping among black Americans, a critical Democratic constituency. The Pew Research Center said Tuesday its latest poll showed 73 percent of blacks supporting Kerry compared to 12 percent supporting President Bush. In 2000, Al Gore won 90 percent of the black vote. Democratic groups have aired campaign ads criticizing Republican efforts to woo black voters.
"WE own those black voters! Keep your hands off!"
The Kerry campaign said Jackson, who will serve as a senior adviser, will travel to battleground states to energize Democratic support for Kerry and running mate John Edwards.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2004 2:20:39 PM ||
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#1
The final nail? OH PLEASE, PH PLEASE, OH PLEASE!
#6
So, who's making the popcorn? This could be a lot of fun, watching JFK Part Deux and his whole campaign implode. Sort of like the Martians in "Mars Attacks", only messier.
#8
Sgt. Mom - I've got the popcorn concession, but I'll be glad to split it with you.
Or you can have the beer franchise.... :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 16:32 Comments ||
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#9
Is it just a coincidence that this happened right after Kerry became a candidate of (orange) color?
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
09/29/2004 16:35 Comments ||
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#10
Is this another damn crosspost from ScrappleFace? No? Well, I still blame Scott Ott for this. It's like his twisted imagination is channeling that episode of the Twilight Zone where little Billy only has to imagine things for them to happen.
Knock it off, Scott. We can't take much more of this; not after Al Sharpton making speeches at the Democratic Convention.
Or maybe not. I'm sure Gorebot is more in tune with Nader.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 17:58 Comments ||
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#13
Maybe they're planning to have Gore endorse Bush and hope there's a resulting backlash.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/29/2004 18:21 Comments ||
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#14
TGA, this is actually an American political rite that happens every four years. They bring Jesse onboard within the last month. He goes house to house in Philadelphia and shakes hands ensuring 110% voter turnout in the projects.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 19:09 Comments ||
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#15
Rev Jesse Joins Kerry Campaign As Adviser
...like it or not, honky.
Posted by: The Reverend Jesse Jackson ||
09/29/2004 20:53 Comments ||
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#16
Rev. Jesse Jackson: "what's in it for me my people, honky?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2004 20:58 Comments ||
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#18
Jessie still wants 40 acres and a mule, while more and more blacks are getting educated, getting good jobs and raising strong families. The latter just does not make the noise that the **ahem** Reverend **ahem** Jackson does, and they find that shakedowns are poor examples to set for the children.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 21:20 Comments ||
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#19
Nascar driver, Lug Nuggy Nut, was quoted as saying, " Jesse shook down NASCAR fo a whole lot o money. He hasn't even give me a extra set o tars."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/29/2004 21:27 Comments ||
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#20
Call it like I see it: Jesse and his family are shakedown artists, whores, and pimps, selling out their race for their own profit...ask about the Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Chicago...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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#21
Hope he is not a "Spiritual Advisor" he knows what happens to them.
NEVER IN MY LIFETIME has a presidential campaign tried to get a candidate elected by insulting America's best allies, even as they are putting their sons' lives on the line. That's exactly what Sen. John Kerry has been doing for months now. And, as he has slid in the polls, Kerry's band of spinners has ratcheted up its ally bashing.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi came to Washington last week to assure Congress that progress in Iraq is real, and that elections will occur as scheduled. So the reaction of Kerry campaign honcho Joe Lockhart? "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand beneath the shirt today moving the lips," he said. *snip*
U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, who is training Iraqi forces, wrote in the Washington Post this weekend that "more than 700 Iraqi force members have been killed and hundreds of Iraqis seeking to volunteer for the police and the military have been killed as well." I'm curious.
Are those 700-plus Iraqis puppets, too? To the Dems? Well, yeah.
*snip*
"I understand how to bring those countries back to our side," Kerry has said of the countries that did not join the coalition. His formula must be: Dismiss the British, Aussies, Poles and Italians -- for gun-shy France and Germany? Au contraire, all Kerry has done is shown that he is a foreign-policy swell who hardly notices the blood spilled by America's true friends. Ouch!
*snip*
Asked whether it was appropriate for Kerry/Edwards to undermine Allawi, Sen. Ted Kennedy told CBS' "Face the Nation," that it was more than appropriate: "I think absolutely. I mean, it was Thomas Jefferson who said that dissent is the essential aspect of patriotism."
This clown must be drunk 110% of the time. Nobody sober could say something so blindingly stupid.
They could say they think the war was wrong, and leave it at that. But Kerry voted to authorize the war in Iraq. So his aides invent distinctions that make war harder for America's real allies, they make excuses for America's fair-weather friends, they advocate cutting and running from a war that has already cost more than 1,000 American lives, even though they are so smart they must be aware that a precipitous exit would make America less secure. They make it harder for Iraqis, Americans and U.S. allies to win the war. Then they call themselves patriots.
They are patriots. Just not for America.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 1:27:30 PM ||
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#1
Barbara S-
Hate to disappoint you, but Debra Saunders is on our side, and always has been. It must be tough for her in the environment in SF, with all those "loonies" storming the Chronicle, with torches and a rope, asking for her head all the time...
#2
Typical. Someone questions Kerry's competence and sense in his hearing, and The Last Kennedy starts fulminating about attacks on Kerry's patriotism. The old saw is true - patriotism really is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/29/2004 14:09 Comments ||
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#3
BigEd - I know she is. I just think it's notable that this was published in Pyongyang-America, of all places. Hope she's got bodyguards. ;-p
She at least must have a great sense of humor to survive there.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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#4
title is wrong - should be "SFChronicle OP Ed..." the Chronicle itself is deeply into "peace, love and jihad"
#5
Pravda (aka SF Chronicle) has a couple of Conservative columnists that they run once a week. Think of it as window dressing, nothing more. The vast majority of the editorial staff is still waiting to see if those documents that CBS came up with are real. They also cling to the hope that many Expats will tip the scales for Kerry. Finally they also think that people in California favor Gay marriage and oppose three strikes. Contrary to the ballot "poll" conducted for each of these issues.
#8
The Bay Area is a good place for conservatives to hone their skills and toughen their skin. That's which Michael Savage has such an attitude. Now, if only Lee Rodgers would go national.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/29/2004 18:55 Comments ||
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#9
The Bay Area's a joke. SF is a small village with hideous architecture and second-rate cultural institutions that pretends it's another version of Paris. Filled with trust-fund hippies, burnt-out-effin hippies, homeless hippies, chicano gangs, a few wannabe hip yupsters and a hundred thousand or so flakes venusians pteradactyls and preverts. I couldn't leave that place fast enough.
#10
SF was on its way out after my grandma died. She was a native San Franciscan who was in an orphanage that collapsed in the '06 quake. Grandma volunteered at the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank and at an elementary school for 40 years. She typified the spirit of the city, which is now lost to homeless bums on the dole, perverts who are living petri dishes, and aging 60s hippies that became city muckity-mucks (no disrespect to Mucky!). When I see what has become of that formerly beautiful city, I wish that the big employers like BOA, Transamerica, Bechtel, et al, would either put the heat on the govt or pull out and let the socialists pound sand on Ocean Beach for taxes. Makes my blood boil. Just think, Tony Bennett or someone like him used to call San Francisco Baghdad-by-the-Bay. /venting, BP returning to 122/80
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 19:21 Comments ||
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#11
When I worked for the late lemented Crocker Bank in the early 1980s they sent me to the Corporate offices for seminars, etc. The Headquarters which were in the tenderloin district, right across from the Examiner offices on 5th street...
It was interesting to see the bums, even then come right up to cabs (going to and from the airport) and ask for money. The funniest incident, was this cabbie who would curse at them, and the look on their face was shock...
They were probably thinking, "This is San Francisco. I thought everybody loved everybody..."
#12
"...Joe Lockhart? "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand beneath the shirt today moving the lips," he said."
Wasn't that charge common during teh Vietnam years as well?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 22:45 Comments ||
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#13
Just think, Tony Bennett or someone like him used to call San Francisco Baghdad-by-the-Bay.
#14
So then you're saying that Thomas Jefferson was a stupid drunk? That's all Kennedy did: quote Jefferson a smidge. What's your problem with the founding fathers?
#1
"During the antiwar movement, the Socialist Worker's Party played a significant role in establishing antiwar committees on the campuses, and in organizing major antiwar demonstrations, such as the April 24, 1971 protest march on Washington.Â
John Kerryâs testimony before the Senate in 1971 took place only days before the April 24 protest, and was part of the drama and publicity for the march, which attracted perhaps a million people.Â
 From the point of view of the communists in the SWP, antiwar activity in the 1960s and 1970s was seen as part of a broader radicalization of sections of the American population, especially young people. The antiwar movement was seen as potentially playing a pivotal role in society and politics, helping to deepen the radicalization, providing opportunities to win people over to socialist ideas, and eventually to turn America from a âcapitalist, imperialist powerâ to a revolutionized âworkers stateâ that would pursue socialist policies."
Kerry was in the thick of it then, and he hasn't changed much. And NOW I know why the way Kerry talks reminds me of this one German political leader of yesteryear . . . Oh, never mind. Everyone will become "scandalized" if I bring that up again. But they still sound a lot the same to me.
#2
Kerry, as a young man, was a leader in an antiwar movement that advocated policies that weakened the United States. The antiwar movement succeeded in helping the Vietnamese and Cambodian communists to defeat the United States. Although we eventually won the Cold War against the Soviet Union, communist domination persists in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Again, the stakes are high, and again Kerry is advocating policies that would weaken us in the face of today's threat, Islamic fascisum, which is every bit as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than communism.
NOTE: The link leads to an archived page, so it may not last.
John Kerry Outlines Plan to Require Service for High School Students
Part of 100 days Plan to Enlist One Million Americans in National Service A Year *snip*
On September 11th, 2001, America experienced the most terrible and deadly attack in its history. John Kerry believes we need to think big and do better and get more young Americans serving the nation.
And what's his magic plan that will somehow prevent a massive, deadly attack? Drum roll, please:
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service. [emphasis added]
Yeah, that'll scare the terrorists. I'll switch my vote to Kerry immediately!
Apparently this page no longer appears on his web site. Wonder why that is? Think some enterprising reporter will ask him the next time he brings up the draft lie?
Naaahh, me neither.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 10:22:25 AM ||
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Mandatory service? And I suppose that conscientious objectors will be able to fulfill their duty in the Peace Corps?
#5
Strange, it's way the hell down in an otherwise unexceptional chunk of meaningless verbiage. I would guess that one of the draft loons works for the Kerry website, and slipped it in when s/he thought no-body was looking. It's particularly insane because it explicitly calls for the drafting of minors. That's wrong on so many levels, I can't even start in on it.
It's insane enough that I suspected a dirty trick, but I can find the url in question still on state-party "youth vote" websites, and the page is dead on the Kerry site - not what you'd expect if the archived page was a forgery based on an existing, identically named page.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/29/2004 11:45 Comments ||
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#6
My step-daughter tells me this a reqiurment for High School Graduation in Mo.
#7
So the Conscientious Objectors would go to the military?
Posted by: ed ||
09/29/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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#8
Wait, isn't that what the Soviet Union did?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
09/29/2004 12:13 Comments ||
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#9
Uh, guys, I'm pretty sure Kerry's "national service" has nothing to do with the military.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 12:32 Comments ||
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#10
So it's more in the nature of a corvee instead. I see. So they're peasants, not draftees. Very reassuring, I'm sure. Little bastards have too much free time on their hands, anyways. You know what they say - "Idle hands vote Republican".
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/29/2004 12:36 Comments ||
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#11
Probably has in mind sending tag teams of 22 year-olds into the benighted hinterland to lead sensitivity training seminars.
#16
Also should have an Athenian feature: forced five-year exile for not less than 100 citizens of the polis, as per write-in, nationwide absolute majority vote of the citizenry each November.
#21
Yes, let's only dragoon kiddies who can't vote!
One Hundred and Forty years and the same party still supports slavery!
Raptor - just awaiting a family with legal representation to sue the hell out of any system which thinks it can ignor the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the 13th Admendment. Only have to win once to ruin any organization which thinks that forced labor equals volunteer labor.
Posted by: Don ||
09/29/2004 16:32 Comments ||
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#22
It's particularly insane because it explicitly calls for the drafting of minors. That's wrong on so many levels, I can't even start in on it.
I'm not sure how it's any worse than forced labor for adults.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/29/2004 16:53 Comments ||
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#23
John Kerry spent his manditory High School service on Alpine slopes. Tough duty.
Posted by: david the trojan ||
09/29/2004 23:15 ||
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#1
I am really hoping that the left, in an act of rage and impotence after the election, blame Kenneth for Kerry's defeat. I guess for them it would consist of no longer inviting him to cocktail parties or paying him with public money to give speeches.
From the Harvard Asia Quarterly (Summer 2000), an article titled "An Uncertain Ally: The US Government and Tibet" by John Kenneth Knaus, the author of Orphans of the Cold War, a history of the US government's role in supporting the Tibetan resistance. He is currently an associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University. .... Doctor Henry Kissinger ... began crafting a policy course on China that would eventually foreclose any role for the Tibetans. His strategy culminated in President Nixon's dramatic and historic trip to China in February 1972 to meet with Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai. American policy had come full circle since the days when encouraging Tibetan resistance was part of an overall of the effort to do "anything we could to get in the way of the Chinese Communists." After their journey to Beijing Dr. Kissinger told his chief that "We are now in the extraordinary situation that, with the exception of the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China might well be closest to us in its global perceptions."
These global perceptions did not include the Tibetans. The participants in President Nixon's talks with Mao and Zhou and Dr. Kissinger's follow-up conversations with the Chinese leaders agree that the subject of Tibet or the support that the US was providing to the resistance did not come up in these discussions. By this time the CIA was in the process of phasing out its support for the guerrilla groups that it had maintained in the Mustang peninsula of Nepal since 1960. .... It was Gerald Ford who made the final disavowal of support to the Tibetans. When Ford made his prescribed visit to Beijing in December 1975 Deng Xiaoping, after laying down his dictum that "we do not believe in peaceful transition" in regard to Taiwan, also took a shot at the US relationship with the Tibetans. He raised the "small issue" of the Dalai Lama's "small office" in New York. Although Deng belittled it as a matter like "chicken feathers and onion skin," Ford solemnly reaffirmed that "we oppose and do not support any governmental action as far as Tibet is concerned." ....
The State Department has attempted to reclaim its prerogative to define the US position on the legal status of Tibet, inserting into the 1994 Congressionally mandated annual report on Relations of the United States with Tibet the declaration that "since at least 1966, US policy has explicitly recognized the Tibet Autonomous Region as part of the People's Republic of China." .... Similarly the President [Clinton], who had come into office after charging his predecessor of "coddling tyrants," among them "the butchers of Beijing," responded to Congressional pressure and made an improvement in Beijing's relationship with Tibet a condition for renewal of its most favored nation status. This condition became a casualty of the pressure for trade the next year. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/29/2004 6:37:32 PM ||
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China pays well, I see...
Addicted to Oil for Bribes. Ignore genocide for bribes, _____ for bribes... Kofi Listens...
#2
Mike, based on the natural resources available in Tibet and it position as a buffer between India and China, (i.e. Tibet serves as a forward operating base for the Chinese military) I can't see American soft power making much of a difference in with respect to getting China to leave Tibet. Are you suggesting a particular policy action by the US? Why is Kofi Anan in the title?
My opinion is that the Tibet occupation should be resolved with the regional players along with the Taiwan in a manner similar to what is being done with regard to the NK nukes.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 20:39 Comments ||
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#3
What about Nukes for Nepal....just kidding.
Tibet won't be free until China becomes free. That's the story.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/29/2004 21:29 Comments ||
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#4
Mike is taking time away from promoting jihadi propaganda to indulge in his "Uncle Sam is the root of all evil" schtick.
#5
ZF, is my idea for resolution and the reason that resolution cannot currently take place accurate in the slightest?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 22:30 Comments ||
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#6
Tibet is not our problem. It's not like they went out of their way to help Uncle Sam. John Knaus appears to think that the US is obligated to provide military welfare to Tibet, but it works both ways. It would have helped if the Tibetans had actually made real progress towards ousting the Chinese. Knaus is implying that the US used the Tibetans and then discarded them. The reality is that the Tibetans used the US but couldn't win it for themselves. It was a mutually beneficial relationship that foundered because the Tibetans couldn't make headway against the Chinese.
The US takes a lot of flak from China for hosting Tibetan exiles and letting them hold their conferences here. Every year, we put up various resolutions in their behalf.
We're not going to use military force to wrest Tibet away from China, but we have definitely done a great deal more than Kofi Annan. Mike Sylwester is saying that the US did not do enough. Kofi Annan has done *nothing*. We went some of the way, but had to give up on Tibet in favor of establishing an alliance with China against the Soviet Union. Kofi Annan won't even let a Tibet resolution show up on the agenda. Uncle Sam spent tens of millions of dollars on the Tibetan resistance movement (hundreds of millions in current dollars). Kofi Annan has given them the cold shoulder.
#7
SH: ZF, is my idea for resolution and the reason that resolution cannot currently take place accurate in the slightest?
The North Korean situation isn't being helped along by China. China has North Korea by the short hairs in a way that the US did not have over any of its Cold War allies. Without Chinese funding, the North Korean economy would collapse, and millions would starve to death. China could topple Kim Jong Il tomorrow, and have him replaced by one of his generals. But China will not, because they're not interested in shutting him down. Their primary interest in NK is as a conduit for ballistic missile and nuclear weapons proliferation.
Neither China nor the Chinese are interested in giving Tibet up. The only way Tibet will gain its independence is by either defeating the Chinese on the battlefield or through the lucky happenstance of a Chinese civil war. Since the Dalai Lama is more of a dreamer than a practical statesman, the first will never happen. What Tibet needs and doesn't have are the kinds of military men that the Chechens have in excess. The second scenario could come about, but only if the Chinese economy really falls apart, upon which a post-Communist China might break up into regions controlled by different generals. If this happens, there is a strong possibility that China could remain permanently fragmented, given the wealth of knowledge about good government available in the public domain. And that would work to Tibet's advantage. Unless Tibet can fight its way towards independence, a unitary Chinese state is incompatible with a free Tibet.
Libya has told the United Nations General Assembly that it deserves a permanent seat on the Security Council.
Bwahahahaha......Oh, that wasn't supposed to be a joke?
Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalghem listed a series of Libya's achievements as reasons for inclusion, including abandoning its WMD programme. He also highlighted Libya's key role in Africa and the influence of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Support is growing for attempts to expand the number of permanent members on the Security Council. The council's five veto-wielding permanent members are China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. The 10 other council members are chosen for two-year terms by regional groups.
"There can be no Mediterranean Sea without Libya," Mr Shalghem said.
Talk about delusions..
The Libyan minister also called for a transfer of key powers from the 15-member Security Council to the assembly. "Before we can talk about the lack of democracy in the world, we must first admit that it is lacking in the United Nations," he said. Mr Shalghem said that if powers were not transferred to the assembly, then the world should either "stop infusing money into this dead body" or enlarge the council's membership to include seats for the African Union, the Association of South-East Asian Nations and Latin America. The veto power held by the five permanent members would also need to be rethought, he said.
A senior commission of experts is to deliver recommendations to Secretary-General Kofi Annan by the end of the year on United Nations reforms which will be agreed ahead of next September's 60th General Assembly ministerial meeting.
Moves to increase the number of members of the Security Council have been gaining support, with Germany, Brazil, India and Japan seeking permanent seats on the council for themselves and one African nation. France and Britain, two permanent council members, have backed the move although Italy has expressed its opposition.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2004 8:27:30 AM ||
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Didn't the Solomon Islands also renounce WMD this week? Do they demand a seat now also?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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A married woman and a man were shot dead after the husband of the woman branded them karo-kari in Hasil Shar village, near Daharki, on Monday. Bagh Ali Shar suspected that his wife, Shahzadi, had illicit relations with Sono Pitafi. He went over to Sono's house and shot him dead. Later, he shot dead Shahzadi in his fields where she had been working, and fled. An FIR was registered with the Keenjhar police against Bagh Ali, Abdul Shakoor and Abdul Qadeer. However, no arrest was made till the filing of this report. This one no less condemnable was less gruesome. Usually it involves the "wronged" man hacking his wife, sister, daughter or mother to death with an axe. The woman is forced to wear bridal clothes and a whole procession takes her to the river bank where she is hacked to death.
Don't these people have anything else to do but diddle each other and commit murder? Don't they have jobs?
#3
Worse of all it is staunchly defended by the elected representatives of the region. They refer to it as a matter of honour in which the government cannot interfere. And usually the government doesnt.
#4
At least he was civilized and didn't behead her.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/29/2004 22:01 Comments ||
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#5
Makes me just want to be very unchristian and drop a thremo-nuclear device on the lot of them. They are just to stupid and backward to ever catch up with the rest of the world.
If he was here I would suggest that a pick-up truck and a rope would cure him permanently. There he will get a gold star next to his name down at the local mosque.
In response to a Wiesenthal Center protest, the Center expressed satisfaction that the WAL*MART superstores have stopped selling The Protocols of the Elders of Zion through its online store.
#2
I'm not sure it's a good thing. I have a copy of the Protocols, as well as the complete works of Lenin, Mein Kampf in translation, and sundry other things that I would't want my children to read until they're grown up.
In a free society you should be able to read anything. Having a banned books list would worry me plenty.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 17:14 Comments ||
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#3
The loons don't need an excuse to be loons. Let people read the Protocols. I've read them. Also Mao's little red book, Mein Kampf,etc. Let the nuts fall from the trees where they may, and let the crazies show just how crazy they are.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
09/29/2004 18:12 Comments ||
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#4
What moron in Wal-Mart allowed this rubbish to be sold in the first place?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/29/2004 21:58 Comments ||
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Kenya said it will push for an international ban on trade in lion trophies and skins, expressing concern Tuesday that the African lion is "under threat..." Pun. If you are one of the three people who haven't seen the cute flash animation: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/29/
#2
The answer to the question is Zimbabwe. All the big game hunters are descending on Bob-land. I little cash buys a liscence to kill anything short of the Yeti.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/29/2004 19:11 Comments ||
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#3
If Seigfreid and Roy had a gun, they'd still be headlining at The Mirage...
#4
How about Lions of the Desert� You can find them in Iraq, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Paki Pashtun lands. Commonly seen hiding behind women, children, kittens and baby ducks. Easy to handle when approached by a male, but watch out for the unprotected, weak and infirm (unarmed civilians, women, children and elderly are their prime targets). They'll take a head off, then slink back to their moskkk their grub-like existence
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/29/2004 20:26 Comments ||
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#2
"Governor Brown has retired and is now living in obscurity as Mayor of Oakland, CA."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/29/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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#3
every once in a while a spasm of sensibility strikes Jerry. He's pro-business now, too
Posted by: Dead and Non-Existent ||
09/29/2004 14:29 Comments ||
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#4
However, the roadblocks also swept up dozens of illegal immigrants without licenses or insurance, leaving many without transportation to get to work or the grocery store and causing hundreds of dollars in fines and fees.
SpaceShipOne, the craft that in June became the first private vehicle to take a person into space, is expected to return to flight this morning. Takeoff is set for 9:47 EST.
FoxNews has live coverage.
Pilot Michael Melvill, who became the first private astronaut in June, and weight equivalent to two people will be on board. The expected launch is the first of two scheduled flights that would earn the team -- led by designer Burt Rutan and financed largely by Microsoft's Paul Allen -- a $10 million prize for being the first to fly three people -- or one person and two dummies -- into space twice in two weeks.SpaceShipOne will head aloft underneath White Knight, a carrier aircraft. The larger craft will climb for about an hour and release the space vehicle above 45,000 feet. Then, a rocket will fire and the craft will head toward an expected peak more than 60 miles above the Mojave Desert. Such a flight would meet half the requirements for the Ansari X-Prize. Another flight could occur within seven days.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2004 9:41:29 AM ||
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#24
From Spaceflight Now: Mike Melvill just told reporters gathered at the runway that it was pilot error that caused the unplanned roll during the rocket engine firing of today's launch. He said SpaceShipOne performed properly and he was never worried during the flight, knowing he could damp out the roll motion. Once he knew the 62-mile target altitude would be reached, he commanded the engine to shut down. The cutoff occurred 11 seconds early.
Burt Rutan says the data will be examined closely, but at this point officials expect to conduct the second X Prize launch attempt within the next two weeks as required for the contest.
Melvill quipped that the craft just needs to be refueled and it'll be ready to go.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/29/2004 13:58 Comments ||
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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.
