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Arab League seeks end to Leb crisis
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Regional N-war could spark climate change
New scientific modelling shows that a regional nuclear conflict between countries such as India and Pakistan could spark devastating climate changes worldwide, a team of researchers said on Monday.
I think climate change is going to be the least of our troubles, given a regional nuclear exchange.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FREEREPUBLIC.com > Scientists' forecastings/
predictions differens on severity of new Solar sunspot cycle.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  They also say one above ground bomb could cause horrible climate change.... Seems they have no record of pre-testban days. And the bomb they said could do it was nothing at all like the Tsar bomb... so... something smells...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/13/2006 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  using supercomputing analysis not available two decades ago, the team calculated a devastating impact from the exchange of 100 nuclear weapons

The holy computer oracle.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/13/2006 0:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Now I know I'm getting old. Nuclear Winter is coming round again.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/13/2006 1:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Ima thinking the immediate concern would be devastating terrain changes.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/13/2006 2:03 Comments || Top||

#6  A few nukes in the major oil fields would cause devastating economic changes worldwide, no supercomputer needed for that.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/13/2006 2:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Now I know I'm getting old. Nuclear Winter is coming round again.

Things are shaping up nicely. Just as global warming begins to kill us off there will be a half-dozen or so regional nuclear exchanges to bring the global climate right back into line.
Posted by: AzCat || 12/13/2006 3:10 Comments || Top||

#8  It's not that simple, Az Cat, but we're giving it our best shot. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Posted by: Halliburton Global Catastrophe Co-Ordinator || 12/13/2006 3:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Please refrain from raining on my parade but do pass along the location of the prime seats for the end of the world once you've got this all worked out.
Posted by: AzCat || 12/13/2006 3:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Azcat, you gave me a Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy flashback moment there. I used to play the tapes from the radio show all the time in my car, and I mean all the time. My girlfriend at the time got so sick of it, she dumped me.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 3:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Were you wearing your Don't Panic! glasses all the time?

Actually, I think it's cuz wymyns are aliens. She wuz just protecting her identity from anyone who might overhear...
;-)
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 3:54 Comments || Top||

#12  If 100 nuclear bombs detonate and the vast majority of them are not ours, it will signal a distinct failing of our military doctrine. I doubt that India and Pakistan would exchange that sort of inventory before halting to catch their collective breath. One of the only other alternatives is Israel excercising the Sampson Option and, as mentioned, it would mean that we had rather dramatically failed an important ally. As others have said, subsequent to such an event, climate change would be low on the list of worries.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/13/2006 4:17 Comments || Top||

#13  No, but I did have a towel immediately to hand.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 5:29 Comments || Top||

#14  I believe in the Global Warming theory, but these nuclear nightmare scenarios are tailored to promote political agendas. During the Reagan era anti-nuke groups claimed that large nuclear explosions would ignite the Earth, causing burning down to the Mantle. Then everything would go. Didn't believe it then; don't believe the new variations.

Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 || 12/13/2006 5:52 Comments || Top||

#15  How will the arrival of the great white hankerchief affect global climate?
Posted by: Zarquon Pebbles in Blairistan || 12/13/2006 6:20 Comments || Top||

#16  So the Halliburton Global Catastrophe Co-Ordinator is the one person in charge of the Earthquake Division, Tsunami Division, Climate Change Division, Weather Modification Division, and Zionist Death ray Division?

Whoa! Thanks for stopping by! You are one busy dude!
Posted by: Bobby || 12/13/2006 6:27 Comments || Top||

#17  If we have Global Warming going on, won't Nuclear Winter kind of cancel it out and bring us to, well, normal? And wouldn't it still be all our fault if it doesn't because we didn't sign Kyoto?
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 12/13/2006 7:20 Comments || Top||

#18  ...women, minorities hardest hit.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 8:30 Comments || Top||

#19  I believe in the Global Warming theory

I believe in the Easter Bunny too.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 12/13/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#20  ...I have a suspicion that the folks pushing this one are relying on memories of Carl Sagan's TTAPS study, which said that a full-blown nuclear war would result in a 'nuclear winter' more than capable of exterminating the human race - and which has also since been proven to be one of the greatest scientific hoaxes ever perpetrated. Sagan later admitted that perhaps he'd been a bit overzealous (the original TTAPS computer models assumed EVERY single nuclear weapon ever built detonated at once on a computer modeled Earth that was flat, had no variable winds, and had the same climactic effects at the North Pole as it did at the Equator)but never admitted how far beyond the pale he'd gone to make his point.
The chances of even an Indian-Pakistani war getting to the point where a hundred weapons are let go is a slim one - though admittedly not impossible. Remember that Pakistan is a third-world military dicatorship, and not a particularly well-run or effective one. The first few bombs might go but when an Indian second strike comes back, anything resembling a coherent change of command will be gone - and with it the few officers who know how to launch the damn things. The surviving weapons crews down at the tactical level will most likely be running for their lives. On the Indian side, once bombs start detonating there will be a scond strike, but it won't last long - the Indians are smart and efficient, but they don't have the kind of robust C3 systems needed to fight and win a drawn out nuclear battle. (I also think that on both sides the bombs aren't assembled until just before launch/delivery - nukes lying around are way too tempting to some folks). Personally, if it went past 10-15 weapons detonated between the two, I'd be surprised. The real horror will be the MILLIONS of refugees from the target areas and the political warfare as local strongmen or military commanders try to take national power.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/13/2006 8:57 Comments || Top||

#21  I believe Cheney should ask this group exactly how many kilotons would be required to offset global warming.

I think they'd shit themselves and then probably reverse their predictions overnight.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/13/2006 11:33 Comments || Top||

#22  "Nuclear war: the solution to Global Warming" -- this meme has legs.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/13/2006 12:22 Comments || Top||

#23  When your best case for climate change is to speculate on the potential of nuclear wars, then you might not have a credible argument.

Because if you follow this line of reasoning, George Bush might be able to meet US Kyoto targets by invading Iran.
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 12:23 Comments || Top||

#24  George Bush might be able to meet US Kyoto targets by invading Iran.

HA!
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 12:28 Comments || Top||

#25  mcsegeek1:

Why believe in global warming? Snow caps have almost melted on all the high Equatorial mountains. The North Pole ice cap is breaking up. Average recorded temperatures are rising. Polar Bears are adjusting predatory ranges to accomodate climate change. For the first time, Tuna can be caught off Washington State and further north. Sub-species - like frogs - that don't adjust well to climate change are dying off.

Global warming isn't all Al Gore rhetoric. Caveat: we are at a threshold where denial is a political liability.

Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 || 12/13/2006 12:52 Comments || Top||

#26  Sneaze Shaiting3550, check your facts. I'll not debate the global warming fantasy here. For every anecdotal scrap and pre-concluded "study" the GW folks dredge up, 50 more credible scientifically plausible explanations can attribute it to another cause. If anything, average global temperatures have actually dropped in the last 100 years, not warmed. The problem is regional. We're not talking regions, we're talking "global".

The entire theory is nothing more than a fantasy dreamed up by those who would tax, regulate and control every free society until it conforms to their progressive leftist socialist blueprint. Then, only the elitists would be allowed to have a "carbon footprint", and the rest of us would be relegated to the stone age. To HELL with them and their ilk.

Oh, and to HELL with the idea that not believing in a fantasy is a political liability.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 12/13/2006 13:16 Comments || Top||

#27  But if you insist on evidence it's a fantasy, check here, here, or maybe here.

Or you could just google global warming myths, global warming fantasies, or global warming lies.
All debunked by the way, with REAL science.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 12/13/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||

#28  If I sold you a used car as new, you'd call me a fraud.

If I sold you rewarming as new warming you'd award me a grant.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 13:31 Comments || Top||

#29  Any climate modelers care to put the Kuwait oil fires data into their models? That had to put out many cities worth of soot before the fires were put out several months later. But then, we already know the resultant global climate change (nada).
Posted by: ed || 12/13/2006 13:41 Comments || Top||

#30  I put nuclear winter into my globar warming model, and I got a longer nuclear winter, but not as cold, so you prolly will need to continue mowing your lawn, or if in California, shearing your sheep.
One interesting result will be the migration of Imams to (you guessed it) California.
Posted by: wxjames || 12/13/2006 14:50 Comments || Top||

#31  I think climate change will be of huge importance to a majority of Americans should a conflict like this happen (NOT likely!) especially if it occurs in the Northern Hemisphere.

The link below is a talk from one of the researchers that is referenced in the article. I didn't hear anything about "Global Warming" nor anything resembling a single N creating horrible climate change.

Consequences of Regional Scale Nuclear Conflicts

You will need Real Player to view the talk (decent bandwidth and an hour of your time as well).
Posted by: Gir || 12/13/2006 15:14 Comments || Top||

#32  There is a reason why Greenland got the name "Green-land" around the beginning of the last millinium.

"Global warming" is nothing new. The planet is still coming out of the last major ice age, and the planetry heat engine is still readjusting.
Posted by: anymouse || 12/13/2006 17:58 Comments || Top||

#33  If we have Global Warming going on, won't Nuclear Winter kind of cancel it out and bring us to, well, normal?

Projections from another supercomputer model clearly show that nuclear winter will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Global warming on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Sunday will be wintery on even days and too hot on odd days. During leap years ...
Posted by: DMFD || 12/13/2006 20:02 Comments || Top||

#34  Hope not, DMFD. That kind of temperature change is hell on the Tsar's sinuses. ;)
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 12/13/2006 21:55 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Mengistu Convicted of Genocide in Ethiopia
An Ethiopian dictator known as "the butcher of Addis Ababa" was convicted Tuesday of genocide in a rare case of an African strongman being held to account by his own country.
Not a bad precedent, though...
Mengistu Haile Mariam, who has been living in exile in Zimbabwe since 1992,
and whose kids and hangers-on have been emailing me since 2002,
was convicted in absentia after a 12-year trial. He could face the death penalty at his Dec. 28 sentencing, but Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said he won't deport Mengistu if he refrains from making political statements or comments to the media.
Birds of a feather, flocking together...
The trial focused on Mengistu's alleged involvement in the killing of nearly 2,000 people during a 1977-78 campaign known as the Red Terror that targeted supposed enemies of his Soviet-backed regime.
2000? That's it? I suspect that's an indication of poor corpse counting, rather than the actual total.
A panel of judges, sitting before a packed courtroom, convicted him of instigating genocide, committing genocide, illegal imprisonment and abuse of power.
Wonder what Omar thinks of all this, in Sudan?
Mengistu ruled from 1974 to 1991 after his military junta ended Emperor Haile Selassie's reign in a bloody coup. Some experts say 150,000 university students, intellectuals and politicians were killed in a nationwide purge by Mengistu's Marxist regime, though no one knows for sure.
That's more the figure I heard than that piddlin' 2000 they actually tried him for...
When deposed in 1991 by rebels led by Meles Zenawi, now Ethiopia's prime minister, Mengistu fled to Mugabe's authoritarian regime in Zimbabwe, where his army had helped train guerrillas in their struggle for independence from white rule. The asylum was brokered by the United States and Canada to end the Ethiopian civil war as quickly as possible. Mengistu has been seen in public in Zimbabwe only twice since 1992, once in a restaurant and then browsing in a bookshop. In 1998, he told The Associated Press over the telephone in a rare interview that he was a "political refugee" who spent most of his time "staying at home and reading and writing something about my country."
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  150,000 isn't genocide, it's merely mass murder -- still worthy of trial, conviction and hanging, but not at all the same thing. Unless certain tribes were wiped out to the last baby, of course.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2006 11:19 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zim: President accepts aid with no strings attached
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe, has said that aid to Zimbabwe is welcome as along as it does not have any strings attached, Zimbabwe’s State Radio has reported. Mugabe said this during a meeting with James Morris from the World Food Programme (WFP). He said that he would only accept aid from WFP as long as the body keeps out of Zimbabwe’s affairs.

Zimbabwe has been receiving some aid from WFP. According to Morris, limited cash is going to force the body to cut down on the provided aid. Zimbabwe is reeling under the world’s highest inflation rate that stands at four digits. This situation needs the intervention of aid from international bodies to salvage.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gosh, ZimBob, I don't know. How do you feel about strings with no aid attached?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/13/2006 1:49 Comments || Top||

#2  INVESTOR'S DAILY > WORLD QUIETLY GIVES UP ON MUGABE. Yep, its so bad in Zimbabwe we actually want = hope the Radic Terrorists will attack agz Zimbob.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 2:06 Comments || Top||

#3  The only string this b*****d deserves is around the neck!!
Posted by: rpg7 || 12/13/2006 14:47 Comments || Top||


Zimbabwe suspends passport issuing
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwe’s economic crisis has left no office affected. Amongst these is Zimbabwe’s registrar general office that has suspended issuance of passports and other identification documents. The suspension is because the office can no longer afford the required goods for the making and printing of passports.
Horsehockey. They just don't want anyone leaving.
All it can do now is to give out temporary travel permits in cases of emergency. Zimbabwe’s registrar office can only make 20 passports on any given day and yet it has a work load of 300,000 passports already.

The office is also suffering with a debt of about $1.7 million, a report presented before Zimbabwe’s parliament revealed. The office is complaining of gross underfunding by Zimbabwe’s government. Processing a passport in Zimbabwe now takes a record 19 months. While Zimbabwe’s 2007 budget accorded ZIM$27-billion to the office, the money is only enough for the period between now and March.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  who will care about passports when the refugees en mass start crossing into Kenya and Zambia.
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 12:34 Comments || Top||

#2  John sadly to say it doesn't only affect the "masses" in Zimbabwe - it affects us too - recently applied for a renewal of my daughter's Zim Passport (February 2006) in Ottawa - we are still awaiting for it's return - looks as if we have a rather long wait. How do I explain to the Officials in the Immigration Department here in Canada, this disgusting turn of events - Omg! I shudder to think!

Please see below further turn of events:


Passports Office Closes


Financial Gazette (Harare)

December 7, 2006
Posted to the web December 7, 2006

Stanley Kwenda
Harare

THE Registrar-General (RG) has abruptly shut down the passport office,
turning away thousands of people that had hoped to be issued with a passport
ahead of the holidays.

Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede yesterday sent a circular to all passport
offices throughout the country instructing them to immediately suspend
operations.

"We were just told to stop whatever we were doing and order members of the
public out of the building as we were not supposed to accept any more
applications for passports until further notice," said workers at the
Makombe Building, which houses the main passport office in Harare.

Other officials added that they had been instructed that only applications
coming from the RG's office and carrying his signature would now be
processed.

"It is now only the prerogative of the RG to process passports. Only special
cases whose merits will be determined by the RG will be considered," said
the sources.

A high-ranking official in the RG's office confirmed that they had stopped
processing passports with immediate effect, but would not give any further
details.

"It's true, we have closed the office to the public. We are no longer
processing any passports until further notice. Something is being done by
the government at this office but I can not tell you, you will have to phone
Mr Mudede," said the official who refused to be named.

Mudede was not reachable for comment.

Further enquiries by this newspaper at the RG's Market Square office
revealed that an order had been sent out reading in part: "With immediate
effect, no more passport forms will be issued as per the Registrar-General's
instruction." Officials at Market Square said the closure could have been
necessitated by the need to clear a backlog of more than two years.

The office says it will only issue emergency travel documents (ETDs), but
also at Mudede's discretion.

The RG's office faces serious problems in the production of passports, the
main one being a chronic shortage of the special materials used for
passports due to shortages of foreign currency to pay suppliers. The RG's
office has also struggled to maintain sufficient supplies of the new plastic
identification cards due to a shortage of materials, which are also
imported.

The demand for passports has been increasing sharply as Zimbabweans seek to
escape the deepening economic crisis.



What can I say!!!
Posted by: rpg7 || 12/13/2006 15:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Well it won't bother this guy...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe said on Wednesday it was not considering the extradition of former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was found guilty of genocide following a trial in absentia in his homeland.

Mengistu, who has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since he was ousted in 1991, was convicted on Tuesday in a 12-year trial that focused on the killings of thousands of political opponents during his military government's 17-year rule. "Mengistu applied for asylum and we granted him ... the position remains the same," Paul Mangwana, Zimbabwe's acting information and publicity minister, told Reuters. "We have no control over the judiciary process in other countries but we are also a sovereign state and as I am talking now that position we made has not changed," Mangwana said.

President Robert Mugabe's government, which regards the former Ethiopian ruler as a friend of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, routinely refuses to discuss Mengistu and has largely shielded him from the media. When asked whether Zimbabwe could change its position if requested to extradite Mengistu, Mangwana said: "If there are any other changes it will be announced, but as of now he remains our guest and we will continue to accommodate him."

Zimbabwe's main opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change, said Mengistu's stay in the southern African nation should be ended. It noted that many Zimbabweans were unaware the former Ethiopian leader was living in their midst.

Once dubbed the "Butcher of Addis," Mengistu, along with his family, lives in a government villa in Harare's plush Gunhill district, surrounded by a high security wall and guarded around the clock by an army and police unit.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 16:25 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi military chopper plunges into sea; 1 missing
A Saudi military helicopter plunged into the Red Sea Tuesday during a training exercise, Saudi Arabia's official news agency said. Authorities had rescued the pilot and co-pilot but were searching for a third crew member.
Inshallah maintenance?
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Inadequate training of someone with the right connections who thought it would be cool to be a helicopter pilot ("Look, the twitch in his right eye is matched by the one in his left hand -- it'll balance out, trust me!")
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Stick to the desert...
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Picking up the "ambassador" maybe?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK: key witnesses in Litvinenko case suddenly missing
(Xinhuanet) -- The sudden disappearance of a number of key witnesses in the Alexander Litvinenko investigation will make it even harder for British detectives, whose inquiry has now spread across five countries, The Times reported Wednesday.

Scotland Yard was struggling to gain access to vital witnesses with former associates of Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, claiming that they were too scared to come forward. Interpol on Tuesday joined the investigation into the poisoning of Litvinenko, saying that it hoped to exchange information coming from Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.

Russian officials have suggested that the poisoning may have been an attempt to discredit Moscow, The Times reported. The former agent had been arrested several times before fleeing to Britain with his wife and son in November 2000 and was granted asylum. He became a British citizen last month.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 08:35 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  like you couldn't see that comming....
Posted by: 3dc || 12/13/2006 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Must be something they ate.
Posted by: ed || 12/13/2006 13:13 Comments || Top||

#3  They whacked him! I can't believe they fuckin' whacked him!
Posted by: Jimmy Conway || 12/13/2006 18:57 Comments || Top||


The Final (lol) Word On Di & Wiretapping BruhahaHubbaBubba
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Clinton's Epitaph: "I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman."

Grafitti: "Yeah, right"
Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 || 12/13/2006 6:13 Comments || Top||


Britain signs F-35 fighter jet deal with Pentagon
Britain signed an agreement Tuesday committing to the next development and production phase of the new Joint Strike Fighter, resolving a dispute between the Pentagon and its biggest overseas partner over sharing technology for the advanced fighter jet.
So, we're spilling the secret beans and the *sniff* fears are allayed.
Or it was just all posturing to please the rubes back home ...
Cynic, lol.
Lord Peter Drayson, Britain's arms procurement minister, said the country has not fully committed to buying the jets, though preliminary plans call for it to buy 150 of the fighter jets, known as the F-35. After 10 years of development, lead contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Maryland, is moving to the early stages of production for what could eventually be thousands of fighter jets for the American military and eight countries.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Negotiating tactics for cheaper per unit price. Typical.

BTW, LM is not moving to early stages of production ... this already happened. They are gearing for LRIP now.
Posted by: bombay || 12/13/2006 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  ...I suspect the UK got a few cruumbs to satisfy everybody. The UK is technically capable of doing everything we've done on the F-35, if they would just spend the money. They were already committed to the new CV, which could operate F-18s(maybe)or the French Rafale (definitely). Political considerations would rule out Rafale and the F-18 isn't a sure thing, especially in the new E model - so they were pretty much stuck with the -35.

Mike

Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/13/2006 9:10 Comments || Top||

#3  And I am certain an American aerospace firm could eventually figure out BAe's VTOL system (though it has been tried before). F-35 technology is not all flowing west to east across the Atlantic.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/13/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  The lift fan is L-M invention and the swivel nozzle (I think) is Yakovlev tech licensed by L-M and built by BAE.
Posted by: ed || 12/13/2006 13:06 Comments || Top||

#5  I would have thought they'ld just stick with the Eurofighter?
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 12/13/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Excal,

No worries on that end, that certain aerospace company is going to build 30 - 35% of the planes, they already know.
Posted by: bombay || 12/13/2006 14:54 Comments || Top||

#7  The shaft-drive is L-M patented but otherwise the kit is indeed supposedly patterned after the Yakovlev Yak-141. However, this never went into production, as I am sure you know. There is a reason Rolls-Royce was contracted to develop the 3BSN nozzle for the F-35 and BAe is handling the flight-control software... as mentioned in my previous comment.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/13/2006 15:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry, to be more clear, Boeing will end up building the plane as well. So not only LM, but Boeing will have access to the technology as the integrator.

LM get's most of the pie, but Boeing's there to reduce single supply risk.
Posted by: bombay || 12/13/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Castro DEAD?
"Spanish Radio said to have reported Castro dead. Miami police on alert."
Multiple Sources including a few blogs (Bablublog and Michelle Malkin), and including RUMINT, and some folks I know that are in certain jobs in SOUTHCOM that got called in. No official word though, so it could be just another set of rumors liek this spring. OK to post tracking reports here?
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/13/2006 01:45 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This probably doesnt belong in WOT Ops. I forgot to sort it into non-WOT. Sorry. Late and Im heading back into work.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/13/2006 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll move it.
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 1:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Just for good measure ..call in Van Helsing
Posted by: Dunno || 12/13/2006 2:25 Comments || Top||

#4  wait for the
COMPLETLY DED TOES UP report

Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 2:36 Comments || Top||

#5  What, again?
Posted by: Grunter || 12/13/2006 3:04 Comments || Top||

#6  A perfect reason to party.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/13/2006 4:19 Comments || Top||

#7  That's the true test, Zenster. Wait for the parties to break out in South Florida....
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 12/13/2006 7:03 Comments || Top||

#8  He's dead, Jim.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 12/13/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#9  but not as we know it !
Posted by: MacNails || 12/13/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Van Helsing isn't necessary, just a shot to the head to put the shambling zombie menace down.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/13/2006 11:37 Comments || Top||

#11  http://www.deadcastrodance.com/
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 12/13/2006 12:33 Comments || Top||

#12  It's possible Castro may die more times than did Arafat.
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 12/13/2006 13:22 Comments || Top||

#13  Just have him stuffed like one of those animatronic creatures at Disney. That outta be good for another couple of decades.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/13/2006 14:44 Comments || Top||

#14  Golly, that's very sad, I was just beginning to get used to him.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/13/2006 15:38 Comments || Top||

#15  I've ignored him all my life, it's no harder to ignore him dead, as it was to ignore him alive.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/13/2006 19:48 Comments || Top||

#16  Van Helsing isn't necessary, just a shot to the head to put the shambling zombie menace down

Personally, I prefer a chain saw.
Posted by: Ash || 12/13/2006 19:50 Comments || Top||

#17  He's as stable as Arafat was.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 12/13/2006 19:51 Comments || Top||


Tributes paid at Pinochet funeral
That's the polite thing to do when somebody's dead.
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unless you are on the Left, but then I expect we will say some less than polite things when it's confirmed Castro is titzup.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 3:09 Comments || Top||

#2  I say Let rip. If "he wasn't as bad as Allende" is the best you can do then his death is still a net gain for team world.

I'm defo going to enjoy castros dirt nap.
Posted by: Zarquon Pebbles in Blairistan || 12/13/2006 6:23 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Interpol joins investigation into Litvineko poisoning
Interpol has joined the investigation into the killing of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, the Interfax news agency reported today. The investigation so far has pulled in witnesses in three countries: Britain, where Litvinenko fell sick and died after being poisoned with polonium-210, Russia and Germany. Some of the men who met with Litvinenko before he fell ill travelled from Moscow and Hamburg to London.

British investigators yesterday questioned Andrei Lugovoi, a key witness in the killing, in the Moscow hospital where he was undergoing radiation checks, Russian news reports said. Lugovoi told the agencies that he had been questioned for three hours. “I gave testimony exclusively as a witness. I was officially informed of that before the interrogation,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. “They made no charges against me.”
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Organlegging ring operating in Ukraine.
Does anyone have a jpg for The Island handy? It fits
Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.

Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them.

Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world.
"The Dark Side of the Science is the pathway to many cures, some considered to be miraculous."
There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.

But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

Wall of silence

The BBC has spoken to mothers from the city of Kharkiv who say they gave birth to healthy babies, only to have them taken by maternity staff.

In 2003 the authorities agreed to exhume around 30 bodies of foetuses and full-term babies from a cemetery used by maternity hospital number six.

One campaigner was allowed into the autopsy to gather video evidence. She has given that footage to the BBC and Council of Europe.

In its report, the Council describes a general culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth, and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate.

The pictures show organs, including brains, have been stripped - and some bodies dismembered.

A senior British forensic pathologist says he is very concerned to see bodies in pieces - as that is not standard post-mortem practice.

It could possibly be a result of harvesting stem cells from bone marrow.

Hospital number six denies the allegations.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Korora || 12/13/2006 12:31 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does anyone have a jpg for The Island handy? It fits

Eh. Use the original movie -- "Parts: The Clonus Horror".
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/13/2006 16:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Only watch the MSTied version, though, Rob. Otherwise, you might end up dead.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/13/2006 18:53 Comments || Top||


French mutiny brewing against the euro
Posted by: mrp || 12/13/2006 08:34 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...and so it begins.

Euro was always potentially bridges to nowhere, as symbolically printed on some bills.

Not mentioning their phone directory of legal code that passes for constitution.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/13/2006 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The funny thing is that the people most vocal about the need to retake soveriegnity are Segolene Royal and Vippein who campiagned for the "Constitution" who handled still more powers to the BCE and made more difficult to modify them (teh mecanisms for reveising the Constitution were far more restrictive than for the US one, in fact it was nearly impossible).
Posted by: JFM || 12/13/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  French retreat immanent mutiny brewing against the euro
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/13/2006 12:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

The flag of the Holy Roman Empire (really).

Also known as "The roadkill crow".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/13/2006 15:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Bet the Brits are glad they dodged that particular bullet.
Posted by: DMFD || 12/13/2006 19:51 Comments || Top||

#6  "Germany ... Teutonic Tiger" > Yoo hoo, Perfesser, make that five Dagwood giant sandwiches to go please, wid extra Spam + Jalepenos. SO MANY GERMAN EXPORTS, NOT ENUFF ONION SAUCE - How can we win the War???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 21:12 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Chicken Little lives at watchingamerica.com - enjoy
Posted by: 3dc || 12/13/2006 11:44 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Breaking: Balance of Power in Senate at Stake - Not Stroke
Posted by: Shater Grinens9070 || 12/13/2006 20:18 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think it's Reagan's GummyBear Gambit bearing fruit.
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 21:12 Comments || Top||


Breaking: Senate in the Balance, D'crat Senator has stroke
Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible stroke Wednesday and was taken to a Washington hospital, his office said.
Johnson became disoriented during a call with reporters at midday, stuttering in response to a question. He appeared to recover, asking if there were any additional questions before ending the call.

If he should be unable to continue to serve, it could halt the scheduled Democratic takeover of the Senate. Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the November election. South Dakota's governor, who would appoint any temporary replacement, is a Republican.

Johnson spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said he had walked back to his Capitol office after the call with reporters but appeared to not be feeling well. The Capitol physician came to his office and examined him, and it decided he needed to go to the hospital.

Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 17:24 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nah, they'll just wheel'm in on a chair.

Customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The owner does not respond.)

C: 'Ello, Miss?

Owner: What do you mean "miss"?

C: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

O: We're closin' for lunch.

C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

O: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.

C: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

O: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

C: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

O: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

C: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up!

(shouting at the cage)

'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you show...(owner hits the cage)

O: There, he moved!

C: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!

O: I never!!

C: Yes, you did!

O: I never, never did anything...

C: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!!

Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

C: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

O: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

C: STUNNED?!?

O: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.

C: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

O: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.

C: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?

O: The Norwegian Blue prefers kippin' on it's back! Remarkable bird, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!

C: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

O: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

C: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

O: No no! 'E's pining!

C: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!

'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig!

'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!


But he could be a voting Senator from South Dakota.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||

#2  That never stopped one before. Look at Murtha.

In any case, at least you improved the odds of him voting correctly to 50%. :-)
Posted by: gorb || 12/13/2006 19:21 Comments || Top||

#3 
Redacted by moderator. Comments may be redacted for trolling, violation of standards of good manners, or plain stupidity. Please correct the condition that applies and try again. Contents may be viewed in the sinktrap. Further violations may result in banning.
Posted by: Rob06 || 12/13/2006 20:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Procopius2k

skit from brit, LOL!
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 21:29 Comments || Top||

#5  I hope he recovers. Strokes are not something one wishes on anyone.

If the Repubs want control of the Senate, I'd rather they win it legitimately.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/13/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#6  I call for Kennedy next - stroke or better, anal aneurysm that leads to brain death -
Posted by: Rob06 || 12/13/2006 20:01 Comments || Top||


When Castro dies, they know the drill
Picture this: Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies, Cuba's military battles protesters on the streets, and frantic Cubans take to the seas. In South Florida, exiles board boats and head for Cuba to pick up desperate relatives -- or to help start an armed insurrection against the 47-year-old dictatorship. The Florida Straits get jammed with boat traffic on choppy seas. People drown. Chaos erupts.

The U.S. government believes this could happen. On Tuesday federal, state and local authorities accelerated preparations for Castro's death -- starting a two-day drill on how authorities plan to respond to a mass exodus to Florida. As 400 emergency officials and others held the tabletop exercise at the Broward County Convention Center, Miami police sent an e-mail to reporters Tuesday afternoon warning of unsubstantiated rumors about Castro's ''possible death,'' and even Gov. Jeb Bush was alerted about the buzz in South Florida.

MORE SPECULATION

Castro's absence at a military parade Dec. 2 in Havana to mark his 80th birthday has stoked the rumors -- just as U.S. officials mulled over scenarios to prepare for a change on the communist island. Journalists in Havana said Tuesday that the rumors of Castro's death were rampant there as well, but that no unusual activity or military presence was noted in the streets. The U.S. Interests Section said there were no new reports on Castro's health.

At the command post exercise, Amos Rojas Jr., South Florida regional director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said authorities want the public to respond with calm when Castro dies and stay off the streets -- and seas.'The message we want to send is, `Do not throw yourself to the waters and try to head to Cuba,' '' Rojas told reporters in Spanish. ``Be patient, the trip is very dangerous.''

In one scenario, Raúl Castro would authorize ''use of force to quell opposition'' to his government once his brother Fidel dies. ''Demonstrations in Cuba are met with open force causing injuries and deaths to civilians,'' a one-page scenario stated. 'U.S.-based Cuban resistance groups have begun issuing inflated and false press releases describing the dire actions in Cuba. These groups are advocating the violent overthrow of the Raúl Castro regime to `liberate Cuba forever.' ''

``Some local Cuban-Americans began arming themselves and heading to Cuba to either fight for the [country's] liberation, or to bring back family members to the United States.''

Among the real options on the table Tuesday: closing all marinas in South Florida; shutting down airports; even limiting fuel sales. U.S. Border Patrol could monitor traffic on roads leading to marinas, stopping drivers hauling boats with extra gasoline and provisions for a days-long trip, said spokesman Steve McDonald. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said authorities will monitor for key indicators coming from the island, including an uptick in raft-building, Cubans en masse heading for the beaches and a spike in migrants in the Florida Straits and off the eastern tip of Cuba.

Key to the intelligence gathering are the Miami police Strategic Information Unit and the local FBI's Cuba squad, which are participating in the drill.

WORST-CASE SCENARIOS

About 400 officials and emergency workers -- including the Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and police departments in Coral Springs and Broward, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties -- dealt with worst-case scenarios, seeking to expose any gaps in the plan.

There were staffing concerns -- like a dearth of Spanish-speaking agents -- and communication glitches.

In one scenario, a child injured at sea and brought aboard a Coast Guard cutter needed to be airlifted to the mainland. Precious minutes passed as officers in the command center tried to determine whether to call the Key West or Miami Coast Guard office. In another example, two boats with about 25 people landed in Pompano Beach and a dozen showed signs of the measles, so healthcare workers scrambled to determine the best way to transport and quarantine the migrants -- without exposing others.''This is a run-through to see what holds water and what doesn't work. The goal is to be as realistic as possible,'' O'Neil said.

This week's drill will be evaluated, with corrections made, and then another run-through -- using boats, planes and emergency personnel -- is scheduled for March 7 and 8, unless conditions change on the island.

''In the military, you always plan for the worst-case scenario,'' said James Brooks, spokesman for the Naval Air Station in Key West. Zachary Mann, Special Agent for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the goal is to prevent chaos and save lives. ``What we're trying to do is discourage the illegal migration -- it's extremely dangerous.''
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 16:48 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shade of fall of BERLIN WALL - still remem media footage of all the East Euros + Russians walking, biking andor in their cars, even in animal-powered wheeled carts, heading westward.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 20:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Mr. Wife was over there when the exodus began -- before the wall actually went down, the East Germans were going through nearby countries to get to W. Germany, and ended up in temporary camps where they were lavished with affection and things -- from toiletries to televisions, as I recall. As soon as the wall came down almost all went home, because they didn't want to leave, they just wanted the things.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2006 23:34 Comments || Top||


Coburn blamed for killing bills
TULSA, Okla. Senator Tom Coburn is being blamed for killing bills in Congress that would fight breast cancer, help keep former convicts out of prison and help feed the hungry.

Senators can place holds on bills to prevent them from coming to a vote and Coburn has used the privilege to block bills he says is a waste of taxpayer money.

The breast cancer bill would have provided 30 million dollars over five years to study environmental causes of breast cancer.

The bill to help former inmates stay out of prison called for 100 million dollars to expand programs to providing housing, education and drug treatment for released inmates.

Coburn lifted his hold at the last minute on the bill to increase funding to local anti-hunger organizations but the House later declined to vote on it.

Bills that don't pass by final adjournment automatically die and must be reintroduced when the new Congress convenes next year.
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 04:30 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Killing a breast cancer fighting bill sounds all cruel and horrible, especially since it would only cost about 2 cents per person per year, but we don't have enough information. Was there some other garbage attached to it? Was it really just a way to funnel 'research' money to somebody's brother-in-law? Was it to support research that was already done but gave the 'wrong' answer about somebody's pet villain? I think I trust Coburn's judgement more than that of the rest of the DC crowd.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/13/2006 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Here, here glenmore.
You're probably right, there was probably some sort of ridiculous rider on there that earmarked 300million for Kwanza decorations for the national black caucus or something. We have no way to know unless we get a copy of the draft. I don't think I've ever seen one of those either.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/13/2006 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  "...environmental causes of breast cancer..."

That's the cue. The breast cancer is an excuse, the real focus is spending vast amounts of money on things that *might* cause breast cancer.

Ponies, cheese-whiz, meteorites, Nostradamus, whatever. Vast amounts of money can be spent without doing anything more than subsidizing leftist scientists.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/13/2006 8:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Tons of added on garbage and questionable science that profited pork patrons were in those bills, and they were NOT properly presented nor debated nor publicised the way spending should be.

What you're seeing here is the MSM bing used by the old porkers (Dem and Repub) to smear a reformer.

Dirty pool and mindless cheapshotting by the press. Expect to see more of it.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/13/2006 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Who's the AP rookie that wrote this one up?
Jeezus, kid. Right in the first line!(R-Oklahoma)! That's gotta be there! People be thinking this guy's a Democrat or something. Keep this up and you'll never work in this town again!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 10:13 Comments || Top||

#6  On the breast cancer study: if it was worth doing, it was worth putting through the usual process: allocate the money to NIH in their budget, have the NIH issue an RFA (request for applications), review said applications at a study section, and have the appropriate council at NIH approve the highest-scoring applications.

That's how it's done (full disclosure: I've sat on NIH study sections and am currently an NIH grant holder).

The issue here was that the earmark wasn't going through the usual process. I get angry when I see money spent on biomedical research outside the NIH process, because then there's no review and no guarantee of the quality of the proposal, let alone the work. Coburn was right to stop it.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/13/2006 10:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Thanks for pointing that out, Dr. Steve. Coburn is a very important fighter to eliminate waste on these earmarks. He's the very one who stopped the "bridge to nowhere" funding ,and made the jackass Ted Stevens (R., Sen. Alaska)boiling mad. I'd hate to see a smear campaign damage Coburn in any way. He's what is needed in government. Dinos like Stevens are what need to be eliminated.
Posted by: SpecOp35 || 12/13/2006 11:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Back in the early 70s, Nixon declared a 'War on Cancer'. Trillions of dollars spent on unending academic/medical research welfare has yield very little in the terms of effectiveness. The money was and is more important than the disease victims to the institutions. They wrap in all the right PC speak, but its the same freak show barker in front of the tent selling a show and not return on the investment both of money and trust of the people.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 13:05 Comments || Top||

#9  The final decade of my father's career was financed by Nixon's initiative, Procopius2k. Interferon was one of the results, although Daddy never got to follow through on his initial experiments.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2006 13:35 Comments || Top||


MN: Workers say 400 detained in Worthington raid
It's the Mnpls Star Tribune. There is enough CogDis, spin, and obvious fabrications in this baby to last your average Spin Junky for weeks. It's pointless to point it all out - the whole damned article would be bolded, lol. Seal your tear ducts, tighten your facemask, slap on your waders, grab an extra oxygen cannister, and secure your boggle before proceeding...
Federal agents, looking for illegal immigrants who allegedly used stolen identities to get work, targeted six Swift & Co. plants in six states Tuesday, including the one in Worthington, Minn.
WORTHINGTON, MINN. - An early morning raid Tuesday shut down the nation's No. 2 meatpacker, as federal agents launched a six-state hunt for illegal workers who allegedly used stolen identities to get hired.

The raids targeted six plants of Swift & Co., including the pork-processing facility that employs 2,300 in Worthington, Minn., in what the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement termed "a large identity theft scheme that has victimized large numbers of U.S. citizens and lawful residents."

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 04:02 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Won't someone please think of the children." [/Mrs. Lovejoy]

All the howling over the poor widdle kiddies. Gee, didn't the parents bother thinking about what would happen to their spawn if they happened to be trundled off by la mirge?
Posted by: Zenster || 12/13/2006 4:42 Comments || Top||

#2  When people make a point out of liberal California I am always glad that there is Social Democratic Minnesota which is even worse.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/13/2006 4:53 Comments || Top||

#3  "What it demonstrates is that employers need people to work," Duthoy said.

There mustn't be any unemployed citizens in Minnesota.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 12/13/2006 6:23 Comments || Top||

#4  "The question is, is it fair to the kids? They're the ones who are getting hurt in this deal."

Yeah!…C’mon you bunch of selfish bastards. So what if you’re the victim of identity theft. Suck it up…sheeesh. Think about the kids.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/13/2006 9:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Regardless of where one stands on immigration, it's a violation of the law to use a phony ID or social security number to get a job. It corrupts the system. If the Feds are cracking down on this more power to 'em.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/13/2006 10:47 Comments || Top||

#6  This whole episode smells, and I think we're getting played. It does appear that this company has been trying to comply with Federal law. I see almost nothing in the story that indicates they are going after the suppliers of tthe IDs.

Most importantly, this bust is designed to hit all of us in the pocketbook, and one week before Christmas feasting. This company is obviously one of the major meat suppliers in the US, and their production has been totally disrupted. Much of the meat scheduled for processing will rot while the feds take their sweet time 'investigating'. This was designed to get lots of press and manipulate the public. They could have easily arrested 10,000 landscapers and only a few ppl would notice.

Yes, I know these are illegal immigrants, and yes I know they are using stolen IDs, but this bust IMO is designed to push the RINO and Dem amnesty program.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/13/2006 11:43 Comments || Top||

#7  PS Keith Ellison will come out of this as the Shining Congresscritter on the Hill, standing up for the legitimate rights of the Opressed Brown Persons.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/13/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Yet another example of why I need to get out of Mexisotastan.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/13/2006 12:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Clue

a Nation State is only as good as it's 'covenant', 'promise', 'agreement' between it [sic the Nation] and it's

citizen, member of a state, native or naturalized, who owes allegiance to the government of the state and is entitled to certain rights. Citizens may be said to enjoy the most privileged form of nationality; they are at the furthest extreme from nonnational residents of a state (see alien), but they may also be distinguished from nationals with subject or servile status (e.g., slaves or serfs; see serf, slavery). (It should be noted, however, that in Great Britain and some other constitutional monarchies a citizen is called a subject.)

The term citizen originally designated the inhabitant of a town. In ancient Greece property owners in the city-states were citizens and, as such, might vote and were subject to taxation and military service. Citizenship in the Roman Empire was at first limited to the residents of the city of Rome and was then extended in A.D. 212 to all free inhabitants of the empire. Under feudalism in Europe the concept of national citizenship disappeared. In time, however, city dwellers purchased the immunity of their cities from feudal dues, thereby achieving a privileged position and a power in local government; these rights were akin to those of citizenship and supplied much of the content of later legislation respecting citizenship.

Modern concepts of national citizenship were first developed during the American and French revolutions. Today each country determines what class of persons are its citizens. In some countries citizenship is determined according to the jus sanguinis [Lat.,=law of blood], whereby a legitimate child takes its citizenship from its father and an illegitimate child from its mother. In some countries the jus soli [Lat.,=law of the soil] governs, and citizenship is determined by place of birth. These divergent systems may lead to conflicts that often result in dual nationality or loss of citizenship (statelessness).

Although the Constitution of the United States, as written in 1787, uses the word citizen and empowers Congress to enact uniform naturalization laws, the term was not defined until the adoption (1868) of the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave citizenship to former black slaves. As this amendment indicates, the United States generally follows the jus soli. However, Congress has also recognized, subject to strict rules, the principle of jus sanguinis so that children born of American parents abroad are citizens during their minority and can retain this citizenship at majority if they meet certain conditions. In addition, in 2000, Congress granted automatic citizenship to most minor children of American parents who were adopted from abroad; previously such adopted children needed to be naturalized. Until the 1940s the United States recognized several classes of nationals who were not citizens, e.g., Filipinos and Puerto Ricans. Today, however, all U.S. nationals are citizens. The United States recognizes the right of voluntary extradition, and in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled that citizenship can be lost only if freely and expressly renounced; Congress does not have the power to take it away.


group 1 = the Citizens.

group 2 = everyone else.
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 12:24 Comments || Top||

#10  so solly about the bold....a tag got loose
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 12:25 Comments || Top||

#11  You know the citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico can freely travel between their generally autonomous island and the US. I'm sure the future citizens of the Commonwealth of Mexico will be able to do the same. You're going to get them and their problems anyway, why not get the whole damn place along with it.

Oh, and to get back at these companies and employers, when the Donks bring up raising minimum wage, add another category with the existing agricultural and non-agricultural definitions. Add illegals at triple the hourly rate along with the legislative wording allowing them to sue their employers for back wages with a second tripling of the award and all costs incurred for them and their torte lawyers. No need for the government to act, the privateers with letters of mark and reprisal lawyers will do it for them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 13:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Can someone please explain to me why the fuck the people that run these plants aren't in jail?!

Thank you Bush.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/13/2006 14:32 Comments || Top||

#13  "Swift has played by the rules and relied in good faith on a program explicitly held out by the president of the United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable immigration laws," the company's CEO, Sam Rovit, said.

We're shocked, shocked, that 400 of our 1000 first shift employees appear to be illegal!
Sound like he blames Bush, too...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/13/2006 14:35 Comments || Top||

#14  Grand Island Police Chief Steve Lamken said he refused to let his officers take part in the raid.
On other news, the Grand Island Police will be giving out more tickets this holiday season to help cover the loss of declining tax revenue due to a decline in the number of Swift meat packing employees. Special emphasis will be given to objects hanging from rear view mirrors, headlights or tail lights not working, low tire pressure, loud speakers, and other major social problems.
Posted by: wxjames || 12/13/2006 14:38 Comments || Top||

#15  He's mad 'cos even though he played propoerly by the rules of the 'wink wink nudge nudge' game with the Administration, they're now throwing him under the bus. I'd be mad too.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/13/2006 14:38 Comments || Top||

#16  'Tis a sad day for civil rights in America when people can be treated as criminals for merely committing multiple illegal acts.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/13/2006 18:43 Comments || Top||

#17  Good point SteveS. Lets not forget that these are ILLEGAL ALIENS who are also identity thieves.

I feel sorry for the kids but its the parents fault - they are the ones people should be pissed at not law enforcement.

Grand Island Police Chief Steve Lamken said he refused to let his officers take part in the raid.
Pull his federal funds then. If he's not going to enforce the law then he should not be getting any federal funds. I'm sure the illegals will help him with his bake sale.

Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/13/2006 23:54 Comments || Top||


Kucinich launches another presidential bid
He did so well last time...
Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich has launched his second bid for president. Kucinich, who was also in the 2004 race, says he was inspired to run because he disagrees with the way some of his fellow Democrats are handling the war in Iraq. He says the party is expected to get the U.S. out of Iraq. He told a crowd today in Cleveland that Democrats were put back in power to "bring some sanity back to our nation."
Izzat too graphic? That is a Kucinich bumper sticker he she it's holding...
Posted by: Fred || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


#2  Is there some rule now that you have to be totally nutso to run for Prez on the Democratic ticket?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/13/2006 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Obviously hasn't seen the latest Dubya poll from REALCLEARPOLITICS + Others. Dubya has lost a lotta points BUT THE DEMS ARE STILL RANKED WORSE THAN HIM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  what a riot that pic LOL!
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 2:52 Comments || Top||

#5  In Harry Turtledove's terrific WorldWar alt-history series, Stassen actually does become President in 1965.
Perhaps Harry can pen another one in which Gore wins in 2000, the US surrenders to Al Qaeda, and Kucinich becomes Pres under the Caliphate's leniency policy. I'm sure he would love the job.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 12/13/2006 5:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Dennis the Menace, former mayor who led Cleveland into filing for bankruptcy, is remembered by his union and welfare supporters for removing all of the tax incentives for companies like Sohio, Republic Steel, US Steel and told them "we don't need no stinkin' companies like you !".
Well, they shut down and Sohio closed their refineries, ....left the offices only.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger || 12/13/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Proof that functional portals to alternate universes exist.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 13:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Is there some rule now that you have to be totally nutso to run for Prez on the Democratic ticket?

No, but it really helps you get support from the base.
Posted by: DMFD || 12/13/2006 19:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Credit Suisse Says India Will Overtake China's Growth in 2007
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 01:41 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also WAFF.com > FPIF.org articles > US USES INDIA TO CONTAIN CHINA, + SINO-CENTRIC ORDER IN EAST ASIA.
Posted by: Uniting Jolung8859 || 12/13/2006 1:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorry - #1 suppos to be me, AGAIN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/13/2006 1:48 Comments || Top||

#3  We guessed.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/13/2006 2:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Uniting Jolong sounds like a Nork code phrase. I'm getting more suspicous of you by the day.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 3:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Means continued high oil, high commodity prices, and China will continue to expand its influence in Burma and the Straits in an effort to flank India.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/13/2006 8:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Growth rates may be higher but the Chinese economic base is much larger. They started economic reforms a full decade before India and India is saddled with a lot of commies who really believe in communism (unlike their masters in China).
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 9:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Even the current 9% rate isn't enough for real poverty relief. India could get 13-14% growth if it bit the bullet and implemented labor reforms.

Here is one silly example - small scale reservations.

Certain categories of goods within India may only be manufactured by small scale enterprises. This is a lovely Gandhian idea and quite stupid.
These enterprises are inefficient.

A company wishing to mass produce toys for example cannot. Meanwhile the Chinese mega factories get orders throughout the world.
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 9:37 Comments || Top||

#8  And the Indian communist leaders return from visits to Beijing and launch strikes against the Japanese joint ventures that are successful - car exports etc.
They prevent reforms of labor, infrastucture, banking etc that would enhance economic growth.

China plays its Indian cards well..
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 9:43 Comments || Top||

#9  When Mr. Wife was starting up factories there in 1989-'91, he told me that 70% of Indians were economically uninvolved -- that is, never touched actual money from birth until death. I'm sure that's somewhat improved now, as I'm under the impression that India hadn't started opening up at that point (he was working with a pre-existing company that his had bought, or gone into partnership with), but what are the statistics now?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/13/2006 11:09 Comments || Top||

#10  were economically uninvolved -- that is, never touched actual money from birth until death

Reminds me of some wealthy liberals.
Posted by: DMFD || 12/13/2006 19:54 Comments || Top||

#11  I'm glad Joe cleared that up for us.

Joe, buddy, I'm begging you man. Take it easy on the caps lock.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/13/2006 23:01 Comments || Top||


Feticide means 7,000 fewer girls a day in India
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Seven thousand fewer girls are born in India each day than the global average would suggest, largely because female fetuses are aborted after sex determination tests, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

The problem of female feticide has significantly worsened since 1991, UNICEF said at the India launch of its "State of the World's Children 2007" report.

Out of 71,000 children born every day in India, just 31,000 are girls -- giving a sex ratio of 882 girls to 1,000 boys.

But the global sex ratio -- which is 954 girls to 1,000 boys -- suggests that 38,000 girls should be born in India every day.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So.. SanFran will eventually become a roll model for ... ducking...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/13/2006 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Not a good long term idea, but it beats infanticide.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/13/2006 0:59 Comments || Top||

#3  It's their national survival instinct kicking in. If they're going to survive the century they're clearly going to need as many angry young men as China and Pakistan.
Posted by: AzCat || 12/13/2006 3:13 Comments || Top||

#4  It is interesting that they fail to disclose that the majority of the women aborting female fetuses are from the largely illiterate 80% of the population.

These would be the uneducated masses that cling slavishly to the old ways.

AzCat: It's their national survival instinct kicking in. If they're going to survive the century they're clearly going to need as many angry young men as China and Pakistan.

They already have plenty of angry young men with no hope of finding a wife. And they tend to trend younger than the Chinese. When the balloon goes up, Pakistan will disappear in a blink, China will take a little longer. I have my money on India.
Posted by: Mick Dundee || 12/13/2006 9:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Literacy rate (2001 Indian census) - 65.38%
(Male 75.96% Female: 54.28%)

Even well educated and prosperous groups within India - like the Patels of Gujarat (who own about 50% of the motels in the US) have severely skewed sex ratios.

Faced with unmarried sons, they have begun to seek brides from other castes- tribals etc, from Bangladesh, Nepal etc.

Many poor fathers with daughters now find dozens of wealthy suitors lining up outside their front door.. all wishing to court their offspring.

So this might not be such a bad thing.. it is removing traditional caste barriers and increasing the status of women in Indian society.
Posted by: john || 12/13/2006 9:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Hmmm...a generation down the line with an unhealthy proportion of males needing direction. Given how muzzies take their behavior and channel it into killing and terrorism, this may just be the ticket to send the Indians swarming on a grand adventure into the Northwest Territories and Persia. This may not be a bad thing in the long run.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/13/2006 9:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Literacy rate (2001 Indian census) - 65.38%
(Male 75.96% Female: 54.28%)


John, these literacy rates are over stated. My Indian wife, and family (most of them educators) say the literacy rates are 20% to 25% maximum.

And yes, a man with a daughter can get a fair price. However, most middle and upper middle class families do not practice the dowry/bride price system anymore. It is viewed as low-class/low-caste. Mostly, it is the *G.U.M.'s that still cling to the old ways.

*Great Unwashed Masses.


Posted by: Mick Dundee || 12/13/2006 9:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Actually, China is in the same boat as India. Chinese peasants have long killed or otherwise disposed of female babies (note that every single chinese child adopted by Americans is female). The single child policy greatly exacerbated the problem.

China Male-Female Ratio Worsening
SHANGHAI, China -- The lopsided male-female ratio in China caused by sex-selection abortions is worsening, pushed up to 120 men for every 100 women, a government newspaper says.

The report Thursday by the Shanghai Express newspaper on statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences did not give an official explanation for the disparity, but cited unnamed experts who blamed it in part on pro-abortion attitudes that value boys over girls.

"This kind of imbalance also surely has something to do with the family planning policy" of one child per couple the newspaper said.

Foreign groups blame the one-child policy for encouraging couples who want sons to abort female unborn children or kill baby girls. The resulting shortage of women has meant that tens of millions of men remain unmarried and childless.

On average in the rest of the world, 106 baby boys are born for every 100 girls, but more boys die in childhood and the numbers tend to even out by adulthood.

China has enforced the pro-abortion one-child limit since the early 1980s to coercively slow the growth of its population.

Posted by: DoDo || 12/13/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||

#9  So, long term...both India and China are gonna end up like San Francisco? This is a bad oman for Paki-Wakiland. Melikey!
Posted by: BA || 12/13/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||

#10  So how long till the tradition of a paying a dowry to the grooms family disappears? Or reverses?
Posted by: DMFD || 12/13/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli satellite tv drops BBC in favor of Al-Jazeera
Posted by: Thoth || 12/13/2006 12:05 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whats the Difference anyway? Hell latley I may even venture to say Aljizz definatley the english version Aljazera is less biased than the BBC are.

Or maye aljizz just hasn't figured out the in's and outs of photo shop yet?
Posted by: C-Low || 12/13/2006 15:15 Comments || Top||

#2  al jizz is more pro Israel.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 12/13/2006 17:57 Comments || Top||

#3  How can aljiz be pro Israel?
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/13/2006 21:49 Comments || Top||


JPA Blasts Beating of Jordanian Reporters
AMMAN, 13 December 2006 — The Jordanian Press Association (JPA) yesterday condemned what it called an “aggression” by lawmakers on a number of reporters and photographers during their coverage of the lower house session. The JPA council, which held an emergency meeting, said that several reporters were “beaten and their cameras either destroyed or smuggled” during their coverage of the House of Representatives’ deliberations.

“The JPA council condemns this aggression to which a number of colleagues were exposed as they performed their professional duties,” a statement said.

It urged the chief editors and journalists working in the country’s daily newspapers to “boycott until further notice” the sessions and activities of the lower house of parliament as a “gesture of solidarity” with their colleagues.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 01:28 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Fake snow in Alps, Moscow blooms: green Christmas?
GENEVA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Alpine ski resorts are churning out artificial snow, daisies are flowering by the Kremlin in Moscow and retailers are fretting that Europeans are simply too warm to go Christmas shopping with a record mild winter.
This has never happened before! That's why we have artificial snow machines!
It's the EU, they have rules about that ...
Butterflies have been seen in Denmark, some Nordic golf courses -- usually frozen for the winter -- have reopened and many farmers worry that crops are sprouting far too early and could be killed by frost.
Usually. So you're not saying always...
One historian says that Europe has just had its warmest autumn in 500 years. Experts say the mildness might be just a natural freak but many suspect it may be linked to greenhouse gases caused by human burning of fossil fuels.
Or it might be related to Britney's missing panties.
Whatever the reasons, a recent dusting of snow has been welcome at Alpine resorts, now gradually opening after long delays. "Everybody is happy that it has snowed. The whole atmosphere is more relaxed, it feels less stressed although the conditions are not totally perfect yet," said Joerg Romang, head of communications for the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana. "A lot of fake snow is being produced right now," said a spokeswoman for Austria's cable car association. Temperatures may rise again but the snow is easing fears that Christmas skiers may have to spend a snowless holiday hiking or at a spa.
Perish the thought. We dig avalanches.
In Russia, record December temperatures have kept bears from hibernating and flowers such as daisies and purple violets have been seen in and around the capital. Usually gripped by ice, Moscow basked at a record 7.7 Celsius (45.86F) on December 7. "Muscovites are smiling: they don't have to wear hats and the grass is green," wrote popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, adding that Siberia would become the world's granary if temperatures stayed warm.
*snicker* This is where you mention that yer hair would grow back if...
Retailers worry that shoppers are not cold enough even to start dreaming of a white Christmas. "Christmas business lacks impetus as there is no Christmas spirit in warmer weather," said Hubertus Pellengahr, a spokesman for the German retail trade association HDE. "Retail sales are far more weather related than one might assume."
American hegemony. Banish Christmas - it ain't yours anymore and you've forgotten wot it's about anyway.
But Berlin's construction industry is keeping going at a time of year when a winter chill usually forces a slowdown. "The order books are full and thanks to the good weather the contracts can be fulfilled," said Lutz Uecker, chief economist of the German building industry federation ZDB.
Bruno the Builder's happy.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch meteorological institute KNMI said 2006 was likely to be the warmest year in three centuries, and linked the record with global warming that many scientists fear will bring more floods, droughts and higher seas. "If you look at trends, then you can say that this (the 2006 record) is a signal of global warming," said Rob van Dorland of the KNMI atmospheric research department.
Microscopic trends lost in the noise of outliers. Give it up, you don't have data proving any of your schizophrenic Doomsday BS.
Farmers are worried that plants, confused by the spring-like temperatures, could suffer if harsh frost strikes. German asthma sufferers are complaining of pollen and Sweden has suffered rare December floods.
Hell, that happens in Texas every other year. Sheesh. Say Doom!
If crops such as rapeseed and autumn grains grow too much in the warmth "that could mean problems in snowless dry frost beyond minus 10 centigrade," said Andras Uhercsak, head advisor at the Hungarian farmers' group MOSZ.

In Finland, the Hartola golf club closed as usual because of snow at the start of November but reopened after a rare thaw.

A report in science journal Nature this month said 2006 had the warmest autumn since around the time Columbus sailed the Atlantic, about 2C (3.6F) warmer than the long-term average. The autumn beat the record-warm autumns of 1772, 1938 and 2000, according to Elena Xoplaki of the University of Berne.
By how much? You have these "exceptional" events which show up on your radar screen, even in your pitiful little sampling of data, much of it old and demonstrably inaccurate, and you want to say we're doomed? Stats Squirrels. Wank...wank....
Posted by: .com || 12/13/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is more evidence the medieval warm period was both longer and warmer than currently. Elephant seals ranged much further south in Antartica over areas that are now ice covered.

Recall the catastrophic global warming theory relies on positive feedbacks that have not been previously triggered. The existence of the mdieval warm period kills the theory stone dead, becuase if these feedbacks existed they would have been triggered and the last thousand years would have been 8C (or whatever) warmer than it actually was.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Further proof: I wear skimpy thongs outside to get my mail....my neighbors shriek, I assume it's in light of the obvious Global Climate Change™ that allows me to do so..

am I wrong?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/13/2006 0:30 Comments || Top||

#3  You puzzled me there for a moment, Frank. Couldn't figure out why your neighbours would shriek at rubber sandals.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/13/2006 1:46 Comments || Top||

#4  http://www.titlis.ch/index.php?id=120

Look close, you can almost see the palm trees swaying in the breeze!
Posted by: TZSenator || 12/13/2006 4:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Further proof: I wear skimpy thongs outside to get my mail....my neighbors shriek, I assume it's in light of the obvious Global Climate Change™ that allows me to do so..

am I wrong?


eeeeaaaaggggaaadddd!! myeyes

where's the BLEACH! :-)
Posted by: RD || 12/13/2006 21:37 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-12-13
  Arab League seeks end to Leb crisis
Tue 2006-12-12
  Hamas gunnies kill three little sons of Abbas aide in Gaza
Mon 2006-12-11
  Talabani lashes out at 'dangerous' Baker report
Sun 2006-12-10
  Lahoud refuses to endorse Hariri tribunal accord
Sat 2006-12-09
  Chicago jihad boy nabbed in grenade plot
Fri 2006-12-08
  Olmert vows to do nothing ''show restraint'' in face of Kassams
Thu 2006-12-07
  Soddy forces, gunnies shoot it out
Wed 2006-12-06
  Sudan rejects U.N. compromise deal on Darfur
Tue 2006-12-05
  Talibs "repel" Brit assault
Mon 2006-12-04
  Bolton to resign
Sun 2006-12-03
  First blood drawn in Beirut
Sat 2006-12-02
  Hezbers begin campaign to force Siniora out
Fri 2006-12-01
  Hundreds killed, wounded in south Sudan clashes
Thu 2006-11-30
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Wed 2006-11-29
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