A South African businessman is refusing to leave Croatia until he finds a girl who he spotted across a crowded bar. Across a crowded room...
Keith Van Der Spuy has never even spoken to the girl but says she was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He has cancelled his flight home and taken out adverts in local newspapers in the port town of Split. Mr Van Der Spuy says he lost sight of the pretty young woman shortly after she smiled at him across the bar. Or so he thinks.
But he's convinced she was a local because he heard her calling to a female friend shortly before he lost sight of her. Van Der Spuy, who is also the head of the South African water-polo association, said he could not get her out of his mind and when he got to the airport realised he could not board the plane. He has already extended his holiday for four months, and says he is prepared to stay in Split for as long as it takes. He'll soon be the John Kerry of Water Polo, missing all those meetings...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2005 17:43 Comments ||
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#2
I've had the same feeling, before. Usually lasted mebbe 20-30 minutes... Then I screwed up... just once. I was still young and dumb enough to act upon it without, say, a month or three of heavy reflection. I've deeply regretted that decade-long lapse of judgement ever since.
#6
They're wonderful. What I married only appeared to be a wymyn. It had the appeared thingy down pat, too. I was #1 in a line that numbers 5, now. She calls every once in awhile to tell me how she misses those early days - it's just never been the same, sez she. I couldn't agree more. I usually throw up within minutes of hanging up.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/17/2005 20:11 Comments ||
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#10
Worthy. On my Top 5 list. Saw another one on that list last night, "Being There" - Peter Sellers. Only thing Shirley McClain did worth watching - hysterical.
Anyway, Serial is absolutely awesome. Best send-up of the Marin Country crowd imaginable. See it if you can find it. The cast was perfect - especially with Christopher Lee (Man with the Golden Gun) as the leader of a Gay Biker Gang. Anyway, one of the characters reminds me of my ex...
#13
I think I missed that one. Is that anything like Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/17/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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Yes - only hysterically funny. Pretense and snobbery are mercilessly lampooned.
There's a scene where a kid is talking to Mull after he wakes up from being hevily sedated - seems he phreaked out when they held a phony "Indian" ceremony as the funeral for his best friend's death - he threw the ashes in everyone's faces, heh.
Anyway, the kid tells Mull:
"In an insane society, the sane man must appear insane."
#23
It was Oslo, in '87. Her name was Annaliese. She didn't walk, she danced. She didn't speak, she sang. I ordered a beer, she brought it, and she floated out of my life...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2005 21:49 Comments ||
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This has happened to me on four occasions: once in Acapulco, once in Berlin and twice in Moscow. The first resulted in a few days of bliss and a month of embarrassment; the next two resulted in nothing; the last resulted in marriage. :-)
Can't voch for the accuracy,but I found this funny.
There has been some reporting of the Clint Eastwood comments to Michael Moore at a National Board of Review awards dinner where Clint threatened to Kill Moore if he showed up at his house carrying a camera. Since I attended this dinner, I was surprised at how much the news coverage left out, so I thought I would share the entire exchange with you here.
Rest at the blog site. It isn't true but it's humorous.
Posted by: raptor ||
01/17/2005 10:16:29 AM ||
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On the other hand: if you're gonna shoot, shoot ---don't talk.
The comments section on this 'article' is amusing..
Following the tsunami, conspiracy rumours have been circulating on the internet of how the US base at Diego Garcia managed to avoid casualties while other islands suffered huge losses. The US Navy's official Diego Garcia website said the island wasn't hit by the devastating tsunami because it is surrounded by deep waters and the grade of its shores does not allow for tsunamis to build before hitting land. The site said the earthquake generated a tidal surge on the island estimated at six feet.
Let us know what you think. Is this just anti-US sentiment on the web or something more worrying?
Posted by: Pappy ||
01/17/2005 11:24:23 AM ||
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Because Allah is not mad at US, Allah is mad at the jerks who commit infammies in His name?
#3
Its because we didn't target it with our Zionist Death Ray
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/17/2005 12:49 Comments ||
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Because there's YES/NO setting in the program for Diego Garcia on the Halliburton Earthquake/Tsunami Machine. It was obviously set for "no".
I thought all the moonbats knew that
#5
The Navy's explanation is correct. If you're familiar with wave physics, a glance at the Diego Garcia nautical charts would lead you to expect little or no tsunami effect. In engineering parlance, the island presents a "poor acoustic impedance match" to the surrounding ocean because of the abrupt falloff in depth very close to shore. And that, in turn, means that very little of the tsunami's energy gets transferred to the shallows and thus to the land.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/17/2005 13:06 Comments ||
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Lefties at DU are also making much of the fact that DG was "warned" and the poor, brown folk were not.
The B-Beast and other Hate America outlets know, of course, that the average Moonbat is geographically illiterate and would have no idea that Diego Garcia is several thousand kilometers farther from the epicenter than Sri Lanka or Aceh. This not only mitigated the effect of the wave, it allowed plenty of time for warning through official channels, something Diego Garcia had but that the governments of the other areas did not. If nothing else, service personnel at DG could already see news reports on the Aceh and Sri Lanka impacts by the time the wave reached them.
#8
There's a tsunami reflector constructed by Halliburton resting on the ocean floor that surrounds Diego Garcia. It can be observed by any research sub. Honest.
#9
The Eurabian Empire's revered icon of media authority, the B-Beast, practically endorses the DG/tsunami conspiracy theories by:
(a.) applying a tone of skepticism to the official explanation, even though this is basic, easily verifiable science; and
(b.)leaving the question wide open, thereby assigning equivalent credibility to terrorist conspira-liars and basic science alike. ("Let us know what you think. Is this just anti-US sentiment on the web or something more worrying?").
Incidentally, they did the same with the shit-stupid Moon-landing hoax conspiracy theories a couple of years ago.
#12
It means the ocean waves just reflect off the steep sides of the Diego Garcia seamount like sound waves reflecting off a brick wall. And so they just get a little blip, instead of a huge amount of water piling up like it would if they had extensive shallows.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/17/2005 14:40 Comments ||
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Vintage Beeb. This one deserves a good trolling.
A modest proposal: Rantburger(s) with a credible grasp of underwater acoustics or naval experience should send earnest, anonymous fake emails to the Beeb with details of the grand conspiracy.
Y'know, act like a Sy Hersh source. The Beeb's readers are even more gullible than Sy's.
MAURITIUS - Red tape stopped scientists from alerting countries around the Indian Ocean to the devastating Boxing Day tsunami racing towards their shores. Scientists at the Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii - who have complained about being unable to find telephone numbers to alert the countries in peril - did not use an existing rapid telecommunications system set up to get warnings around the world almost instantly because the bureaucratic arrangements were not in place. But wait! It only gets better.
Senior UN officials attending a conference in Mauritius of small island countries - some of them badly hit by the tsunami, now recognised to have been the deadliest in history - revealed that the scientists did not use the World Meteorological Organisation's Global Telecommunication System to contact Indian Ocean countries because the "protocols were not in place". The system is designed to get warnings from any country to all other nations within 30 minutes. It was used to alert Pacific countries to the tsunami, even though it affected hardly any of them, and could have been used in the Indian Ocean if the threat had been from a typhoon, officials said, but it could not be used to warn about a tsunami. Sounds like a noun problem to me.
Dr Laura Kong, the director of the International Tsunami Information Centre which monitors the warning system in Hawaii, said: "The [meteorological organisation's] system has been set up but the protocols are not available for tsunami warnings except in the Pacific. So it was used on 26 December but only in the Pacific." A senior official at Unesco, which runs the information centre and the warning system, explained that this meant no agreement for information-sharing on tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. I should think a nice loud, "GET THE F&%K OUTTA DODGE!!!" would have sufficed.
But there were "approved communication channels" for warnings about tropical cyclones in the area. Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the meteorological organisation, said the system had proved to be particularly valuable last year, which was bad for hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Pacific. But the Governments around the Indian Ocean rejected repeated pressure from Unesco and other UN bodies for a tsunami early-warning system in their area because it was expensive, they had many calls on their resources and there had been no tsunamis in the ocean for more than 100 years. Just like an atom bomb, it only takes one to ruin your whole day. It isn't that there was not enough wealth in the region to finance such a thing. It's just that there was too much corruption. Tsunamis are inherently driven by earthquakes, not the weather. Intervals mean nothing.
The UN now says that the Boxing Day tsunami was the deadliest ever. The only one that even begins to rival it smashed through the Mediterranean around 1400BC after the destruction of the island of Santorini. On that occasion 100,000 people are estimated to have died.
* This week several international UN meetings begin in order to establish tsunami warning systems in the Indian Ocean and worldwide over the next 2 1/2 years.
EMPHASIS ADDED I know that 20/20 hindsight is easy, but the relative cost/benefit ratio of a warning system is insignificant. Too bad so many had to die in the process of finding out.
Posted by: Zenster ||
01/17/2005 2:00:33 AM ||
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And you'll notice that not a SINGLE bureaucrat, on either side, was willing to circumvent THE OFFICIAL SYSTEM by using a device called "the telephone" to call Tsunami-affected area news media or anyone else. A single person, even calling a countries telephone "information", could have been connected to a few others who could have saved tens of thousands of their countrymen.
#2
It isn't that simple, Moose. Suppose I had been at the seismograph station when the quake registered here. I wasn't but I might have been. We would have localized it within a couple of minutes. What then? I could have done a quick google search, gotten the relevant numbers in, say, Thailand and started calling: "Hello? Is this the Bangkok Gazette? Good, this is Dr. R in Texas. There has just been a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in the Andaman Sea west of you. God's Own Breaker is headed your way. You have 30 minutes to get everyone off the beaches." -click- buzzzzzz.
The same would have happened if I had called the Ministry of the Interior or Defense or whatever. Someone did warn the Ministry of Tourism, but they decided not to issue a public alert, lest the tourists stampede out and never come back.
The problem is not just warning, it is credible warning. The world is full of cranks. Those with the power to order evacuations must be absolutely sure who is warning them, where their information comes from, and what their credentials are. Without prior arrangements, verifying all this just takes too long.
The same will happen if astronomers detect an asteroid on a collision course with a short warning time. If it's a matter of hours rather than weeks or months, it could easily be too late by the time the authorities, who are not astronomers, figure out that it's real.
#3
AC - That's a good point about being believed. I was a geologist and I knew the moment I heard about the quake they're probably be a tsunami of some kind, big or small. That was too big a quake not to have one.
I also knew about the Pacific warning system and figured there would be a warning passed out. Didn't realize that the Pacific system was unique, though, and apparently "local".
Even if I had, I have no idea who to call. "Hey, Thailand, this LotR, and I saw on TV about the quake and I also know from my book-learnin' that there's gonna be some waves. Maybe big'uns. Ya'll clear out dem people out."
At the very least these countries should provide a phone number to the Pacific warning center so they can get called. The Pacific system knew about the quake, but they classified their alert on no danger to the Pacific. They at least could tell other parts of the world to watch out, and be believed by somebody in authority in each country.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/17/2005 12:58 Comments ||
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But the Governments around the Indian Ocean rejected repeated pressure from Unesco and other UN bodies for a tsunami early-warning system in their area because it was expensive, they had many calls on their resources and there had been no tsunamis in the ocean for more than 100 years.
Here in CA, even safe drivers are required to carry insurance.
#9
Horse is gone, time to close the barn door.
Not having had a tsunami recently makes it all the more important to have a warning system. Now that it's happened, that section of fault almost certainly won't generate another 'big one' for at least another century.
They're not quite random events... they're accumulations.
Saudi Arabia says it is ready to host more than two million pilgrims at this year's haj after tightening security and safety to ensure the annual Muslim rite passes without incident. The authorities want to thwart possible attacks by al Qaeda, which has waged a 20-month campaign of violence in the kingdom, political demonstrations by pilgrims from Iran or Libya and crowd stampedes of the kind that killed 250 people last year. Speaking after a parade of special civil and military defence forces during a tour of the holy sites ahead of the pilgrimage, which begins on Tuesday, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said there was extra security this year. "We hope nothing will happen to disturb haj security (and) we are sure that everyone coming here is doing so to perform haj," he told a news conference. "But security incidents do not declare themselves in advance. You cannot guess what a criminal can do," he said, adding the kingdom was doing all it could to stop militants using haj as a staging post for crossing into neighbouring Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Call me crrraaazzzyyy, but i'd love to blow that place up.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
01/17/2005 1:27 Comments ||
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#3
I wonder if they'll be writing 'USA' on the stone thingy that represents the devil, this year.. (was that ever proven?). Hundreds of crushing deaths in 5.. 4.. 3..
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/17/2005 4:08 Comments ||
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Circling...circling...circling...spiraling in closer to the rock....grinding closer to the rock....hold on to your dresses boys!!
Sure it is, and I've got a bridge for sale ... Shut up and keep buying. HONG KONG — Few countries are benefiting as much as China these days from the international status quo - and Beijing knows it. So, as American criticisms of China have shifted from human rights to the value of its currency and the aggressiveness of its trade practices, Chinese leaders have tried hard to keep the peace while exporting ever more. China's economy is doubling in size every 10 years, and personal incomes have been climbing steeply, especially in the cities. Trade with the United States plays a huge role in that growth, as investors around the world pour money into Chinese factories that make goods destined mainly for the American market.
China's trade surplus with the United States now equals slightly more than a 10th of its entire economic output - an extraordinary figure, considering how much of the country's economic output is inherently unexportable, from haircuts and construction to the Big Macs and grande mochas at the proliferating McDonald's and Starbucks stores. China is both a huge beneficiary of American consumer appetites, and profoundly dependent on them.
That dependence makes China nervous, especially when the Bush administration imposes restrictions on Chinese shipments to the United States - everything from steel to bedroom furniture to brassieres. "The Bush administration should have a vision and play a leading role in globalization and international trade, rather than sending a message to the world that 'We care more about our own businesses than anybody else's,' " said Xu Xiaonian, a prominent Shanghai economist, voicing a common sentiment. Restrictions are inadequate. It's like trying to "restrict" a hurricane.
China needs a prosperous America, with economic policies that not only steer clear of protectionism but also encourage consumption and keep the dollar fairly stable. Low interest rates and big budget deficits have helped in the short term, by fueling a consumption binge in the United States. Helped who? Certainly not the United States.
While China has stayed focused on providing jobs for the millions of workers coming off its farms or losing jobs at inefficient state-owned enterprises, geopolitical issues like the war in Iraq have been only a secondary concern. China needs secure sea lanes for its ever-rising oil imports, and like the rest of Asia, it implicitly relies on the American Navy to keep the tankers safe. Oh goodie, another NATO scenario. What's not to like?
From Beijing's point of view, although not Washington's, the thorniest issue is also the oldest: America's continued support for Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. China has warned again in recent weeks that the United States should stop providing military support for the island. All it takes to solve the problem is for China to go democratic.
But with the planned purchase of I.B.M.'s personal computer division by Beijing-based Lenovo, China's main message is, "Want a desktop computer to go with that microwave oven?"
EMPHASIS ADDED Meanwhile, America's politicians rearrange deck chairs on the deck of an economic Titanic.
Posted by: Zenster ||
01/17/2005 2:10:28 AM ||
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And China will soon export cars to the US. Let Detroit try and compete with $100/month labor.
Posted by: ed ||
01/17/2005 2:22 Comments ||
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ed: And China will soon export cars to the US. Let Detroit try and compete with $100/month labor.
Detroit can compete, by opening plants in Southeast Asian countries that pay $300 per month, like Thailand. (Why Thailand? Because the odds are that Uncle Sam will never go to war with Thailand). Because big labor has its forearms around Detroit's throat, this will never happen, and Detroit will die slowly, instead of being able to take advantage of cheap labor abroad while harnessing American design skills.
#3
Zenster, do you realize that every time you post an article on China, you erode my faith in democracy? Dammit man! :P
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
01/17/2005 3:04 Comments ||
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China needs secure sea lanes for its ever-rising oil imports, and like the rest of Asia, it implicitly relies on the American Navy to keep the tankers safe. And this is why they have been building and buying an enormous, deep water navy in a crash program for 20 years--so that they can protect their merchant marine. Unfortunately, it also means that they MUST have Taiwan, or their entire southern coast, and its shipping, can be neutralized. But if they do have Taiwan, they have the de facto control of the Pacific that Japan wanted in WWII.
#5
China may buy, export, and reverse engineer, but they will never innovate. So much for a closed "commodity" society.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/17/2005 9:53 Comments ||
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Anonymoose - Not sure that having Taiwan would give them control of the pacific. No matter how big a navy they build in the next 20 years, I think the US will have the ability to annihilate any and all merchant shipping world wide, right up to their very ports.
The reverse won't be possible. China could cause chaos, sure, but a long term naval war still ends like WW2 did for the Japanese, with their fleet sunk and US carriers and subs off their coast.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/17/2005 10:06 Comments ||
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Oh, Detroit may go down, but the US auto industry is doing fine. I'm talking those American companies like Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Mazda. They all have plants in the US and design centers here (often Orange County). Toyota is going to be the largest automobile maker in the world within 10 years.
I really doubt that China can really compete with them. Do they have an original product? Do they have good build quality? Will their system allow them to change quickly in response to market events? Is their basic economy on a sound foundation?
Now in more stable industries, or those in which original content is very small (ripoffs of western IP), they can do well.
Concurrent with this national policy shift, a change in the location of auto industry investments took place. Sites in the north became more attractive for the establishment of auto plants oriented towards greater integration with US industry. These included plants in the states of Aguascalientes (Nissan, 1985), Durango (Renault, 1982), Coahuila (GM and Chrysler, 1981), Chihuahua and Sonora (Ford, 1985).
As a result of the trend towards greater integration of the Mexican auto industry with US and international production, today, road vehicles make up the largest proportion of exports from Mexico to the US [US Department of Commerce, 1996, p. 800], and automobiles, transport equipment and auto parts make up the largest part of both imports and exports [Bank of Mexico, 1996, see Table 49]. Although Ford had only a fifth place participation in domestic sales in the Mexican market, the plant in Hermosillo placed the company at the forefront of automobile exports from Mexico. Before the plant opened in 1986, Ford did not participate in exporting automobiles from Mexico. Its Cuautitlán plant, built in 1964, served the domestic market. In its first year, the Hermosillo plant boosted Fordâs participation to 32 percent of total units exported from Mexico (163,073 units overall), and, after increasing plant capacity to 170,000 vehicles per year in 1990, the plant represented approximately 27 percent of the installed capacity for producing automobiles for export [Micheli, 1994, p. 225]. This figure illustrates the importance of the plant to Mexicoâs economic strategy of North American market integration and export-oriented growth.
Posted by: ed ||
01/17/2005 18:34 Comments ||
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John Q - I believe that's "rest in pieces." ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/17/2005 16:44 Comments ||
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...although it has been largely overlooked, perhaps the most remarkable statistic from the 2004 election is the record of those candidates for whom Clinton campaigned: all eight lost.
It seems like a remarkable statistic. If the Dems think it's not worth a little more nuanced and sophisticated concept than that Americans are stupid and that they really need just one more taste of Clinton to see what a genius he is, they should go for it. It'll make for good SNL.
#4
Amogst other things, like Fidel or Kim 2, etc. the covert anti-American Commie Clintons are out for DYNASTY - sorry, boyz, as much as I wanna believe, Clintonism and Clinton-led/centric anti-Americanism and PC treason WILL NOT END UNTIL HILLARY AND CHELSEA FAIL TO BECOME POTUS, ESPEC HILLARY! Hillary's realistic windows are 2008 and NLT 2012/2014, if the Failed/Angry Left keeps to their own 2020 maxima timeline for the USA to be suborned to Socialism and Socialist OWG-SWO, by any means necessary. 2020 > America will be either suborned = non-sovereign unto Socialism; or else militarily destroyed!
#5
We are in World War 3 - we are in a de facto clash of civilizations, clash of nations, clash of empires, and clash of -isms! Failed Leftism-Socialism-Communism, aka "SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WARLORD/RAIDER/GENERAL/PROFITEER" gone PC and legal, is in "FINAL STRUGGLE/CONFRONTATION/
CONFLICT" mode - we are at War because the Failed/Angry Left intends no peace or co-existence, etc. no matter their rhetoric to the contrary! As illustrated by Kerry-Dean's anti-Dubya-GOP 2005 post-campaign campaigning, and by Ted Kennedy recent ranting, THE CLINTON-LED US LEFT INTENDS TO ALL BUT OFFICIALLY DISCARD THE LABEL "DEMOCRATIC PARTY", AS IT DID AT CONVENTION FOR "LIBERALS" - NOT NOW, BUT EVENTUALLY!? I think we in the pro-America blogosphere all know what PRO-RUSSIA/CHINA FAR LEFT-RADICAL LEFT-ULTRA-LEFT "-ISM" THE DEMSLEFT WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME!
Youse know the Left - "SOLYENT GREEN" IN NORTH KOREA, FUTURE "SOLYENT GREEN" IN CUBA, RIOTS IN CHINA AND RUSSIA, ...etc. ERGO AMERICA MUST [STILL] BECOME COMMUNIST!
Our ports are secure. Our ports are secure. (keep repeating)
Thirty-two Chinese stowaways were found in two cargo containers in Los Angeles after surviving a nearly two-week ocean journey from Hong Kong, officials said. The 32 would-be illegal immigrants were taken into custody on Saturday after a crane operator in Los Angeles port spotted three men climbing out of a hole cut in the side of a container, police said. The containers with the men inside were loaded onto the ship two weeks ago in Shekou, China, police said. The men were in good health, officials said. The stowaways, all men, had equipped the containers with supplies and ventilation to allow them to survive the perilous journey across the Pacific Ocean, said Los Angeles Port Police Lieutenant Titus Smith said. "They had ventilation holes cut into the bottom of the container. They had a fan system set up that ran on batteries, they had ample food and water, juices, sleeping bags," he said.
The group of 28 adults and four teenagers lived inside two 40-foot long shipping containers, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The men were aboard the ship NYK Athena, but police said that it did not appear that the vessel's crew was aware of their illegal passengers, Smith added. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are investigating the stowaways pending a decision on their fate and will work with Chinese authorities to repatriate them. One of the stowaways claimed to have paid 3,000 dollars for his passage to the United States, but investigators say smuggling fees for migrants from China typically range from 30,000 to 60,000 dollars, according to immigration agents. Blue light special
$30-60,000 gets you shipped Fedex.
Chinese immigrants have long risked their lives by stowing away illegally on ships in a bid to enter the United States.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/17/2005 5:39:39 PM ||
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Unless they're leaking radiation, what are we going to do?
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States is promoting Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to replace Carol Bellamy as head of the UN Children's Fund, a post that has traditionally gone to an American, UN diplomats said Tuesday.
The choice is up to Secretary General Kofi Annan in consultation with UNICEF's board and no decision has been made, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since UNICEF was created in December 1946 to help destitute young victims of the Second World War, it has been led by an American and the United States has been the largest donor.
But Annan has told diplomats that no country should have a monopoly on top UN posts, and Europeans and others are reported to be interested in the job. No problem, no chair, not the biggest donor. We have other avenues to give thru.
Bellamy, 62, a Democrat and former president of the New York City Council, was former president Bill Clinton's choice to head UNICEF. She was appointed executive director in 1995 and reappointed in 1999 to a second five-year term, which ends in April.
Traditionally, the heads of UN agencies serve a maximum of two terms.
Veneman, 55, a lawyer raised in California's fertile San Joaquin Valley, was the first female U.S. agriculture secretary. She resigned after President George W. Bush was reelected in November, but did not say what she would do next.
Bush appointed Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns, a Republican lawyer who grew up on an Iowa dairy farm, to replace Veneman.
UNICEF operates in 158 countries, with a staff of over 7,000 to protect the rights of children, promote girls' education, and help youngsters overcome poverty, violence, disease and discrimination.
"Tom Payne" of Silent Running almost lost his job over an interview w/a UN or NGO official a couple of years ago. Had to erase all his archives. This official, IIRC, to help children cope in a war-torn/warring area used...PUPPET SHOWS...on how to get along.
#2
South Africa used to be a First World country. Maybe they should implement the Marshall Plan?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2005 22:02 Comments ||
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I'd like to see some side-by-side vital national stats for South Africa ten years after apartheid's end and Iraq one year after fascism's downfall. Unemployment, the % of the female population that's been raped, % of the capital city's population that suffers violent crime (eg carjackings) in any week, and the % of the adult and child populations that's HIV+ ....
#4
I remember a description of a client of mine that lived there (Johanesburg) until '97: The living room was a steel vault. Or rather, there was a vault of almost the size of the room, inside his large living room. All amenities, water tank, stocked fridge, plenty of guns. It drove him nuts and far away (USA), later on.
Posted under the International - UN - NGO's section because Fred won't give us a Wank-o-matic Section. ;-)
More than 500 million people can escape abject poverty, 250 million people will no longer go to bed hungry and 30 million children can be saved if rich countries double development aid over the next 10 years to $195 billion, a new U.N.-sponsored report said on Monday.
The 3,000-word plan written by 265 experts says the money should be spent on both long-term projects and quick fixes, such as supplying mosquito bed nets and creating free school lunch programs. These would enable countries to meet global goals to combat poverty, hunger and disease that all nations promised at a U.N. summit in 2000.
"The goals are not utopian. They are eminently achievable," said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in accepting the report from Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor and lead author of the survey, labeled as the most comprehensive ever on global poverty.
The Millennium Development Goals, agreed on by all nations in 2000, include halving extreme poverty and hunger for at least 1 billion people living on $1 a day, reversing the spread of AIDS and malaria and providing basic education by 2015.
The new report lays out plans for achieving those goals by setting deadlines for specific, often simple, projects that experts say have been proven to work, rather than just calling for scattershot aid. They include providing fertilizer for farmers, fixing roads or eliminating school fees as well as opening markets to goods from poor countries. "The system is not working right now," Sachs said. "It has taken too long to figure out an approach that will work."
The report, "Investing in Development," commissioned by Annan, is to be presented to the Group of Eight countries meeting in July and to world leaders in September at the U.N. General Assembly, which is expected to set a global development agenda.
Government aid from rich countries should amount to $135 billion in 2003, rising to $195 billion in 2015 or about 0.54 percent of these nations' GNP, about twice the current level to reach the Millennium goals, the report said. World leaders have agreed on 0.7 percent of GNP for development aid for the Millennium goals and other projects.
UNITED STATES LAGGING
But the United States with its $12 trillion economy would have to raise its contributions considerably.
Although the United States is the largest donor in the world, it contributes the smallest proportion of its GNP to development aid among 22 industrial nations.
Washington spends some 0.16 percent or $25 billion and to reach a target of 0.7 percent of its GNP, it would have to spend $80 billion.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, is also low at 0.20 percent as is Italy at 0.17 percent, and Germany at 0.27.
Among industrial nations, only Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have spent more than the world target of 0.7 percent of their gross national product. Britain, Belgium, France, Finland and Ireland have made promised to reach the target before 2015.
"We are not asking for one new promise from any country in the world, only to follow through on what has already been committed," Sachs told a news conference. "We have the world's eyes focused on the tsunami of the Indian Ocean," he said. "But the world continues to overlook the silent tsunamis of deaths from malaria which take every month the number of people that died in the Asian tragedy."
Mosquito bed nets, for example, are cheap and could be distributed easily to save children from dying of malaria. "There is no black market for mosquito nets," Sachs said, acknowledging that many nations feared corruption.
The report says there are anywhere from a dozen to three dozen nations in Africa and Asia that could be put on a fast track for aid immediately.
But for nations like Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe, whose political leaders are widely criticized, "there is little case of large scale aid," the report said.
Aid should be channeled through humanitarian groups, who can monitor progress on the ground.
Middle-income developing nations, like China, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and South Africa, can afford the programs.
Former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, a contributor to the report, said Latin America whose growth had slowed over the past 30 years still needed to reorder his priorities to wipe out deep pockets of poverty in many nations. This is where Chirac's "tax" suggestion comes in, I believe...
#1
Eliminate third-world corruption, tribalism and Islam, and you can accomplish the same thing-- and much, much more-- quicker and easier. These countries aren't the shitholes they are because we're not doing enough for them: they're the shitholes they are because they're not willing to do what they need for themselves.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/17/2005 16:59 Comments ||
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#2
United States with its $12 trillion economy would have to raise its contributions considerably.
Here you go kids, a prime example of taxation without representation. Wonder how my ancestors would have handled it.
#8
Although the United States is the largest donor in the world, it contributes the smallest proportion of its GNP to development aid among 22 industrial nations.
I'd love to smack the author of this article in the hopes of knocking the envy out of this person. Really.
This "proportion" blathering got old the first day it was trotted out.
#1
defense attorneys, like trolls, are unaffected by shame or logic.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/17/2005 20:36 Comments ||
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#2
This is not a problem with the gay-marriage amendment. This is a problem of the police not charging the violent offenders with the plain old charges of assault and battery. Nice twist, Ars.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/17/2005 20:41 Comments ||
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#3
The article doesn't say whether or not it worked... which probably means it didn't.
#4
Notice how the story starts with "in at least two cases" then slides to "in the two cases". Also note that it's an "attempt", not a success; odds are they'll fail.
Also note that it was the PUBLIC DEFENDER'S OFFICE that tried this. Anyone want to bet it was the same lawyer in both cases, and that the lawyer involved is an advocate for a special-interest group?
Ah!!!
I was right. It always helps to go to the original source, something Aris needs to learn. Granted, I have a bit more knowledge of why Cincinnati.com is not the best place to look for news out of Cleveland, but no doubt Aris' original source could have done a bit of digging:
(You may need to do a stupid age/sex thing to read it)
"The thing is, you can only get a domestic-violence charge now if you are a wife beater, not a girlfriend beater," said Jeff Lazarus, a law clerk for public defender Robert Tobik and chief architect of the motions to dismiss.
*snip*
"Hopefully, instead of the [domestic-violence] statute, it will blow out the constitutional amendment," said Ruden, who co-authored a leading legal text on Ohio's domestic-violence law.
That, Lazarus acknowledged, is exactly why he concocted the public defender's line of attack.
"Personally, when I was brainstorming this, it was with an eye toward, 'How could we make this amendment look not so good?' " he said Wednesday.
Basically, an activist decided he didn't like the result of a referendum, so he's going to play cute with the courts to try to get it overturned.
Justice be damned, democracy be damned, the voters of Ohio be damned, a third-year law student (check the article!) is going to have his way or else women across Ohio are going to be beaten to a pulp!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/17/2005 22:54 Comments ||
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#5
Thanks for the additional link, Robert. I'd received the link to the original article from a friend of mine.
I object to such mind-games; I don't believe a public defender's job is to apply laws in *order* to make them look bad -- that feels abusive. But if the article's correct, it does seem accurate, regarding the effect of the amendment: "This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage"
The previous domestic violence law seems however to recognize cohabitation that approximates marriage as worth. As such: it seems (to me) to have become unconstitutional.
As for "women across Ohio are going to be beaten to a pulp", refer to the suggestion of Tom at #2 about charging the violent offenders with the "plain old charges of assault and battery". If that's sufficient for you.
#6
Now, now, what a moment. In defense of Dr. Summers, the piece reads, "Summers told the Globe he was discussing hypotheses based on the scholarly work assembled for the conference, not expressing his own views. He also said more research needs to be done on the issues.
Conference organizers said Summers was asked to be provocative, and that he was invited as a top economist, not as a Harvard official.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/17/2005 18:41 Comments ||
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#7
A common trait with economists is that they make wide-ass speculations without adequate proof, just check the divergence amongst economists who speculate on the future of the US economy.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/17/2005 18:43 Comments ||
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#8
In support of your last post, CA, I offer the NYT who claims Krugman is an "economist". I'd say Krugman serves nicely as the anchorman for the low end of your scale. Or he could be a doorstop. Or a paperweight.
#9
.com, can you imagine going to work in the morning at the NY Slimes and bumping into Dowd and Krugman in the hallway? Talk about a good start on a shitty day. Mr. Goom and Ms. Doom
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/17/2005 21:56 Comments ||
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#10
Men can't give birth or milk.
Women can't do math as easily.
Therefore men make the money and women stay at home.
#12
Give Summers some credit for affirmative action. The New Home Ec department provides ample opportunities for women who were denied acceptance into the Engineering and Science Depts.
America's groupthink quality media are now wading through the Slough of Despond. Our self-flagellation, handwringing and narcissism threaten our mission to act as the public relations department for the crazy-ass wing of the Democrat Party counterweight to government power.
I thought Chirac is always saying that's Europe's job...
Hear the wailing: The bloggers are coming! The Bible-thumpers are cursing our secular inhumanism! The plumber judges are plugging our leaks! The Yahoo president ducks our questions and giggles at our gaffes! The guy in charge of Google must be pissed at being ignored....
News is slyly slanted as bias rears its head! Cheer up. Despite the recent lapses at CBS and previous mishaps at The Times and USA Today, nice way to put it, Safire...
here's why mainstream journalism has a future:
1. On the challenge from bloggers: The "platform" - print, TV, Internet, telepathy, whatever - will change, but the public hunger for reliable information will grow. Blogs will compete with op-ed columns for "views you can use," and the best will morph out of the pajama game to deliver serious analysis and fresh information, someday prospering with ads and subscriptions. The prospect of profit will bring bloggers in from the meanstream to the mainstream center of comment and local news coverage. Translation: Once those little brats grow up, they'll be JUST LIKE US!! Really!
On national or global events, however, the news consumer needs trained reporters on the scene to transmit facts and trustworthy editors to judge significance. So.....why don't you hire some?
In crises, the Cartoon networkESPNthe Oprah Winfrey show large media gathering-places are needed to respond to a need for national community.
2. On resentment of media elitism by awakened cultural and religious voices: They're not crazies. Their opinions on stem cells and same-sex marriage are newsworthy and not an assault on church-state separation. Protests at "wardrobe malfunction" and campaigns against state-sponsored gambling are neither bluenosed nor repressive. But there is no need for sensible seculars in mainstream media to feel an urgent call to get right with religion. It's O.K. to say "Merry Christmas" at the end of a newscast without worrying about equal greeting for Ramadan and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and all the rest. You ignored Festivus, you $%#@-ing bastard!!
3. On judges jailing journalists for refusing to reveal sources: Mainstream media have good reason to be angry about being unfairly jumped on, and no reason to be depressed and docile for fear of seeming self-interested. If the press can't promise sources that we won't rat on them, coverage would cease to be inbred and repetitiverobust and uninhibited; government and corporate corruption would go unreported. See our stellar reporting on Oil-for-Food, Palestinian Authority kleptocracy....
But why should mainstream media be alone in resisting this nationwide judicial assault on the people's right to know wrongdoing? Where is the legal profession, which should not only see danger in an unrestrained judiciary, but would be next in line to lose much of its own privilege of confidentiality with clients? Hey journo boy....most judges ARE lawyers....it's called "professional courtesy".
Where are consumer groups, often reliant on whistleblower revelations in newspapers? Nader's still out there....and how. And where are the preachers who may be threatened with contempt of court for not testifying about penitents engaged in peculation?
4. On mainstream media's feeling that President Bush doesn't give a hoot about what we say or write: That's his loss more than ours. He may deliver an uplifting second Inaugural Address, but still does not appear thoughtful or adept at answering questions. We're taking our bat and our ball and going home. Nyeah!
The reason: Bush holds quarterly, rather than the traditional monthly, news conferences. This lack of regular rehearsal gives those lucky bastards on the White House beat plenty of time to shop online costs him familiarity with issues, and costs his administration the discipline of deadlines for suggested answers. As the debates showed, Bush gets better with practice. He is not as good as he thinks he is when winging it.
5. On widespread suspicion of political bias in news coverage: Here's the good news: Right again!!
Bad news is newsier than good news. Even when media try to be "fair and impartial," they can be expected to annoy rather than please the party in power. That's because clean government needs a snooping adversary, not a cheerleader; the Outs need help from the press to hold the Ins accountable. Today that media bias is undeniably liberal. That's natural when your profession is dominated by 60's dinosaurs who still relate EVERYTHING to Vietnam and Watergate conservatives are the Ins; five years ago, the bias often ran the other way. Safire's SO funny!
And the way he says "it's natural" makes me think of an Allenist piously agreeing that dhimmis are naturally inferior...
As future elections near, that tilt must disappear from news pages to let the voters do the tilting. Some mainstreamers flopped on necessary election evenhandedness in 2004 and should be grimly thankful for a corrective kick in the teeth from other media, bloggers and righteous right-wingers. And the voters....you know, the 51% who didn't vote the way you ordered them to?
Get out of that Slough, counsels Worldly-Wiseman: Pulitzer-quality journalism lies just ahead. Yeah, just like the horizon....
Poor Bill, suffering from too much exposure to his own opinions, ass-kissing from his coterie of followers, and endlessly riding the Moonbat CockTail Circuitâ¢. He'll never get it, because he never ventures outside the Media Bubbleâ¢.
Who was it (and where was the link?) that posted a Chris Matthews quote, where he momentarily pulled his head out of his ass, about the Blue Staters' real failure in this election year is that they all live in RustCoast / LeftCoast Media Centers and only listen to / interact with others who, obviously, support their POV - whereas the Red Staters out in flyover country have perspective and realize just how far out of tune the MSM is, due to this circle-jerk blindness?
I would dearly appreciate the RB poster to let me know - so I can credit them and plagiarize, heh.
#2
our mission to act as counterweight to government power
Same mission statement as for Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally, and Lord Haha during WWII. First step in recovery is to acknowledge you do work for the enemy during time of war.
Posted by: Don ||
01/17/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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#3
What the NYT, CNN, BBC, and the rest of 'old media' forget is that 'Freedom of the Press' is all well and good but along with any freedom comes sober responsibility. In this case to be fair, balanced, responsible, unbiased, and above all merely an 'observer' and not a participant. Dan Rather and Maples violated that trust then the became 'participants' in the election and used fake documents to get Kerry Elected (and no, I dont think Dan and Mapes are stupid enough *not* to know they were fake).
Another example is when the MSM 'participated' in the murder and rape of those school children in Russa by giving the Islamist 'cover' for their evil deeds and protraying them as 'freedom fighters'....
#5
On national or global events, however, the news consumer needs trained reporters on the scene to transmit facts and trustworthy editors to judge significance.
The blogosphere has yet to blow holes in this last redoubt-- mainly because foreign bloggers have yet to catch up-- but the fact is that most NYT reporting from overseas sucks. NYT journos in Russia typically don't know the language, don't have any sources inside the institutions that matter, ie the security services and their allies in corrupt resource-trading outfits, and therefore end up relying again and again on spin from the local Carnegie Endowment office director or other think tankers based in the US. I'd be surprised if NYT coverage of Japan or Pakistan or China or Brazil is any better.
#6
On national or global events, however, the news consumer needs trained reporters on the scene to transmit facts and trustworthy editors to judge significance.
Yeah..and Gutenberg was a hack because the masses can't read and even if they can, they need someone to tell them what they are reading. True for many, but not for most.
#5
In today's security-obsessed, post-9/11 era, one might think that it would be difficult to haul a convincing replica of an atomic bomb across the country. Not so, as John Coster-Mullen inadvertently proved in October 2004.
And the purpose of this opening paragraph is?... (/editor mode)
Capt Hammad, who has been accused of raping a woman doctor in Sui that sparked a serious crisis in Balochistan, has pleaded innocence to any involvement in the case. Talking to various Pakistani TV channels, Hammad claimed that he was not present at the spot or any where near the site when the lady doctor was allegedly raped.
"Lies! All lies!"
A report from Karachi said the medical board, which examined the lady doctor Shazia, has confirmed that she was raped by more than one person. Another report from Sui also quoted the police as saying that preliminary investigations have confirmed the rape allegation. Police have recovered several items from the scene of the incident as evidence confirming the rape.
"Inspector! Lookit dis! It's a wallet! It musta fallen outta the rapist's pocket when he was pulling his pants down!"
A judicial inquiry ordered by the provincial government is looking into the allegations that officials of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) which manages the gas fields, concealed facts related to the case. The district police officer of Naseerabad, D.M. Jamal, has also sent written letter to PPL manager Prof Pervez Jamula to explain why the PPL administration failed to notify the police of the rape.
'cause no one thought it worth reporting, obviously.
Hammad said that at the time of the incident, he was attending a meeting with his army commander on law and order situation in the area.
Wanna bet the commander verifies the story?
After the meeting he went straight to his house and spend the night with his family. "I am ready to get a DNA or any other test conducted to prove that I am innocent.
Sure thing, but we'll need five liters of blood for the test. All at once.
"And when I am found innocent, strict action should be taken against those who have launched a campaign to defame me," said Hammad while pointing out that the allegations levelled against him has seriously disrupted his family life. Hammad was reportedly married only two weeks ago.
I dunno... I'm starting to get the idea that Captain Sahib is being framed. I'm gonna have to talk this over with Anna Comnena and Procopius...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/17/2005 1:07:15 AM ||
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#1
I might feel a need for further explanation if my husband were accused of rape following our wedding. But I'm funny that way.
In contrast to the other article that sez he'll be carried out of office with his boots on ...
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has cast doubt on whether he will run for a fifth term this year, triggering a fresh battle between the old guard and the young reformers in his ruling party. Asked in an interview with US public television broadcaster PBS this week about his political future, Mubarak refused to be pinned down on his plans for the next poll. "This is too early to tell you about that," he said. "I haven't decided yet. We have a long time for that. Ruling Egypt is not easy, I cannot walk on the streets like any citizen."
Wonder why?
Because he rules, rather than governs...
He declined to say whether he would decide before or after May, when the parliament will meet to elect a candidate to stand for the presidency, who wil subsequently be put for approval to the people at a referendum in September. "Maybe May. Maybe after May. It's not an easy job, to make a quick decision. It's not an easy job, especially here," he said.Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/17/2005 1:02:26 AM ||
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#1
Come a long ways in 5,000 years. Perhaps a massive engineering project will keep things on an even keel.
Big Ass Pyramids.... done that
Big Ass Lighthouse..... done that
Big Ass Dam.... done that
Big Ass Sewer System..... too expensive.
#2
Shipman -- they live in a gigantic litter box. Why mess with something that works? /snark
Actually, with all that ancient construction about, reverse engineering a modern sewage system would be awfully hard -- look at the difficulties the Europeans have in the hearts of their cities.
What happened to the story of the Coptic family being slaughtered in New Jersey? Are we going to let that story die?
I think we should keep it alive until the authorities find who did it!
#4
Don't worry, A4724. The story has legs...I heard it on newsbreaks on ABC radio this a.m. and Michael Graham spent an hour talking about it on his radio show also this a.m.
However, if you'd like to help RB follow the investigation, then find the links, use the "guest poster" feature here, and we'll publish the stories. Thanx!
#5
Whoa! TH has done the world a huge service by volunteering to put on the Level 4 gear and wade through the lower chambers. Just the summary-level he gives made me nauseous! I think this is afternoon - evening reading. It's early out here in the LeftCoast time zone and it was a bit more that I was ready for, lol!
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has given a strong hint that he would start another six-year term this year when he said in an interview he would not put on an act of pretending he planned to retire. But, in the interview broadcast by the Dubai satellite channel Al-Arabiya on Sunday, he also said that governing Egypt was hard work and he would like to relax "if it was up to me". Mubarak's remarks were the latest in a series touching on whether he will seek a fifth term this year, but it was still not fully clear what course he would take. "I could put on an act for you and say I won't stay. The world would rise up in protest and I would have messed everything up. I don't like to play these con games... I am a man who's serious in my work and I work from morning till I go to sleep every day," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/17/2005 00:00:00 ||
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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.
MAURITIUS - Red tape stopped scientists from alerting countries around the Indian Ocean to the devastating Boxing Day tsunami racing towards their shores. Scientists at the Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii - who have complained about being unable to find telephone numbers to alert the countries in peril - did not use an existing rapid telecommunications system set up to get warnings around the world almost instantly because the bureaucratic arrangements were not in place. 
Saudi Arabia says it is ready to host more than two million pilgrims at this year's haj after tightening security and safety to ensure the annual Muslim rite passes without incident. The authorities want to thwart possible attacks by al Qaeda, which has waged a 20-month campaign of violence in the kingdom, political demonstrations by pilgrims from Iran or Libya and crowd stampedes of the kind that killed 250 people last year. Speaking after a parade of special civil and military defence forces during a tour of the holy sites ahead of the pilgrimage, which begins on Tuesday, Interior Minister 
HONG KONG — Few countries are benefiting as much as China these days from the international status quo - and Beijing knows it. So, as American criticisms of China have shifted from human rights to the value of its currency and the aggressiveness of its trade practices, Chinese leaders have tried hard to keep the peace while exporting ever more. China's economy is doubling in size every 10 years, and personal incomes have been climbing steeply, especially in the cities. Trade with the United States plays a huge role in that growth, as investors around the world pour money into Chinese factories that make goods destined mainly for the American market.
Capt Hammad, who has been accused of raping a woman doctor in Sui that sparked a serious crisis in Balochistan, has pleaded innocence to any involvement in the case. Talking to various Pakistani TV channels, Hammad claimed that he was not present at the spot or any where near the site when the lady doctor was allegedly raped.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has cast doubt on whether he will run for a fifth term this year, triggering a fresh battle between the old guard and the young reformers in his ruling party. Asked in an interview with US public television broadcaster PBS this week about his political future, Mubarak refused to be pinned down on his plans for the next poll. "This is too early to tell you about that," he said. "I haven't decided yet. We have a long time for that. Ruling Egypt is not easy, I cannot walk on the streets like any citizen." 
Egyptian President 
