A gunman was arrested after fatally shooting another man Sunday inside a crowded mall, Boynton Beach Police said. The shooting started after a fight broke out inside the Boynton Beach Mall around 2:30, Boynton Beach Police Lt. Jeffrey Katz said. A "couple" of other men were also being questioned about the shooting, but Katz could not give an exact number.
"The suspect ran through the mall and began to fire at officers as they were chasing him through the mall," Katz said. SWAT team members arrested the suspect after he barricaded himself inside Dillard's. No officers were hit and no shoppers were injured, Katz said.
It was not immediately clear what started the fight. The names of the victims and the shooter have not been released. Mall officials said the mall has been closed for the rest of the day.
Donald Trump is suing this oceanside town for $10 million after being cited for flying an oversized American flag over his Mar-a-Lago Club. Attorneys for the club filed a complaint Thursday, saying that flying the flag is a constitutionally protected expression of free speech _ and that the large flag is a proper match for the size of the real- estate mogul's patriotism.
"A smaller flag and pole on Mar-A-Lago's property would be lost given its massive size, look silly instead of make a statement, and most importantly would fail to appropriately express the magnitude of Donald J. Trump's and the Club's members' patriotism," the lawsuit says.
Town officials said Trump violated zoning codes when the lavish club hoisted a 15-by-25-foot flag atop an 80-foot pole on Oct. 3. The citation was for having a flagpole taller than 42 feet, for not obtaining a building permit and for not getting permission from the landmarks board.
A phone message left at the mayor and town council's office was not returned Saturday.
In the lawsuit, Trump's attorneys accuse the town of selectively enforcing its ordinances. Other locations in the town display flags that violate statutes, the lawsuit alleges. All damages awarded to the club would be donated to veterans of the war in Iraq, the lawsuit said.
Trump had until Nov. 27 to apply for approvals or else he faced a Dec. 21 hearing that could have resulted in fines costing $250 per day. It was unclear Saturday whether that meeting took place.
"The day you need a permit to put up the American flag, that will be a sad day for this country," Trump said in October.
Should be fun. I don't like "permits" or regulatory boards, on general principles. I did some business before a Zoning Board once. They were mostly wannabe idjits and busybodies. Maybe the pole height makes sense - if his place is 100 yds from the end of an airport runway, lol.
#3
Maybe the Lord of the Combover has a bit of partiotism in him.
Then again, maybe he's just a showboating whorish self-aggrandizing asshole who can't bear to have his name out of the limelight for more than three minutes at a time.
For more than 600 years, Spaniards have believed Prince Sancho de Castile's uncle poisoned him to become king of Spain, but studies of the boy's mummified body show the seven-year-old died of natural causes. One of Spain's great royal legends may have been put to rest by medical tests that show Sancho, son of King Pedro I "the Cruel" of Castile, and a successor to the throne, was likely to have died in 1370 of a lung infection such as pneumonia.
Examinations of the prince's body have found no trace of cyanide, arsenic, mercury or any other poison his uncle, Enrique, was believed to have used to kill him, according to the convent where the prince's remains have lain since 1409. "It appears the prince wasn't poisoned after all," the convent's Sister Maria Jesus Galan said on Saturday. "Never mind."
The study led by the University of Granada and the pathology unit of Barcelona's Hospital Clinico found Sancho had inflamed lungs after chronic exposure to smoke, which was likely to have come from an open fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
There's also stories that Isabella poisoned both of her brothers in order to assume the throne of Castile.
Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from a certain species of dog called "raccoon dog." "First these jackets were falsely advertised as faux fur, and then it turned out that the fur came from a type of dog," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.
Pacelle added that the issue is an "industry-wide problem" and its investigation demonstrated that retailers and designers "aren't paying close enough attention to the fur trim they are selling." He added that the issue is especially problematic when "the fur is sourced from China where domestic dogs and cats and raccoon dogs are killed in gruesome ways."
Raccoon dogs which are not domestic animals are indigenous to Asia, including eastern Siberia and Japan, and have been raised in large numbers because their fur closely resembles raccoon, Pacelle said.
That's why they call them 'raccoon dogs', you know.
Orlando Veras, a spokesman at Macy's, a division of Federated Department Stores Inc., confirmed Friday that the retailer had removed the jackets, releasing a statement saying that it has a "long-standing policy against the selling of any dog or cat fur." He continued, "This policy is clearly communicated to all suppliers." The Sean John jackets one a snorkel style, the other a classic version had been labeled "raccoon fur," but were advertised as faux fur, Pacelle said.
In a statement by Sean "Diddy" Combs released by his publicist Hampton Carney, the designer said: "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material, but as soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled off the Macy's floor and Web site. I have instructed our outerwear licensee to cease the production of any garments using this material immediately."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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In devoutly Muslim Afghanistan, Christmas is like any other day _ people go to work, there are no blinking lights lining the streets and pine trees remain unadorned _ except on Flower Street, where local tree vendors are making an extra buck from the foreigners' holiday.
Located in the heart of Kabul, Flower Street is different at Christmas from any other time of year, transformed into a festive place full of trees decked with multicolored tinsel garlands and lights. "After the Taliban, we started to make Christmas trees because lots of foreigners are around, and they are asking for them," said Eidy Mohammad as he decorated a tree at his shop, the Morsal Flower Store. "Business is growing _ we had only the wedding season before, but now we have Christmas as well."
Unlike many non-Christian countries in Asia, Afghanistan does not recognize or celebrate Christmas. But thousands of foreigners who live in Kabul working with the United Nations, non-governmental organizations or international military forces, celebrate the holiday quietly in restaurants and behind military barracks. Many shop at Flower Street for their holiday trees.
"Christmas is a good season for flower stores in Kabul," Mohammad said, adding that during the Taliban's rule, nobody was allowed to make Christmas trees in Kabul. He has sold about a dozen Christmas trees, earning anywhere from US$20 to US$200 _ a hefty sum for Afghans, many of whom make only about US$50 a month. The trees are from across Afghanistan and are adorned with Chinese-made artificial materials.
"I was amused when I saw trees with lights," said 29-year-old Abdul Qader. He thought the lit-up trees were a new fad in Afghan home deco, but he later found out they were for Christmas. "They looked beautiful to me," he said with a smile.
I think someone needs to grab the photo from the article. It may be a Rantburg Christmas classic.
#1
"Business is growing _ we had only the wedding season before, but now we have Christmas as well."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry that the Afghans are learning capitalism from Christmas. Either way, gotta go. My Frink-O-Matic irony meter is smoking.
THE government will this week close a chapter in Britains wartime history by completing the repayment of a loan taken out with America more than 60 years ago, just after the second world war. Treasury officials said the repayment of the US war loan taken out under a 1945 agreement would be completed by December 31.
The loan dates back to September 1945. From 1941, Britain and other allied nations had received large quantities of equipment and supplies under Franklin Roosevelts Lend-Lease programme.
Britain received about $30 billion of goods just over £7 billion at the prevailing exchange rate during the war years, in effect gifts from America. But in September 1945 the US abruptly announced an end to the Lend-Lease programme, despite the need for large-scale reconstruction and with Britain on its knees economically.
Goods already in Britain or in transit were sold to the UK government at heavily discounted prices one-tenth of their value the amount paid being in the form of a loan. The amount, together with a line of credit, was $4.34 billion with a 2% interest rate, originally intended to be paid back over 50 years beginning in 1950.
Some critics, including Lord Keynes, saw the loan as a means used by America to subjugate Britain after the war.
As it was, keeping up the payments was often difficult. There were six years when Britain deferred payment as a result of economic crises and pressure on the official reserves. But this weeks £43m remittance will pay it off. Many war loans are never repaid.
Britain borrowed money from America during the first world war but never fully settled the debt. This was because President Herbert Hoover declared a debt moratorium during the global financial crisis of 1931. At the time of the moratorium, Britain was owed more in war debt by other countries than it owed to America.
#4
Hay B, you still in the box?? If so thanks for bein there for us. Take care.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2006 10:34 Comments ||
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#5
Yea, but it's safer here than in my home town. Surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed 19 and 20 year olds, and way too much DFAC chow. The American people are absolutely the best. God Bless them all. You would simply not believe the hundreds of boxes of goodies that these troops get every day from folks back home and people they don't even know. Good stuff too! Stuff they can use. Family, friends, school kids, churches, VFW, American Legion, it comes from everywhere. It makes an old man emotional, very emotional to see it all. I've seen it before in other places, but nothing like here. You talk about a morale builder, wow. Merry Christmas to all and thanks for supporting these young men and women. The hope for America is not found in Washington, it's found in these young people, I can tell you that for sure.
#6
Merry Christmas to you and all the troops overseas
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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#7
After about five years of war the public still love and support the troops. The msm's should be ashamed of their coverage of this war. I hear every day about how this generation of kids are fat, lazy, don't care, etc... but then when I go to work and see the troops, see how they are at the JSOTF's, listen to them talk, I understand they have a clairity most of us did not have at their age, at least not me, and understand the world in ways our political leaders only wish they understood. I for one am very proud of them, as they grow older and become civic leaders in America I see great things in our future, Kissinger can kiss our ass. Until then we need to continue to bitch slap our inept politicians and seditious MSM's.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2006 11:03 Comments ||
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#8
The hope for America is not found in Washington, it's found in these young people, I can tell you that for sure.
Amen. Preach it, brother!
And grateful Christmas wishes to all the troops from whatever countries who are putting it all on the line for us.
#9
God bless you and the outstanding young men and women you're over there with, B. They are the hope of this country, the true "best and brightest". I've got a pint here; consider yourself and your friends saluted with it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!
Posted by: mac ||
12/24/2006 14:54 Comments ||
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A leading Spanish surgeon has flown to Cuba to treat Fidel Castro, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday. Castro, 80, has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July. Since then here has been little information from Cuba regarding his condition. Castro has placed his younger brother, Raul, in charge of government.
Barcelona-based El Periodico said Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, was taken to Havana, the Cuban capital, Thursday on a Cuban government chartered flight. The newspaper said he took with him medical material not available in Cuba.
Although aware of Castro's condition, Sabrido was to examine him in person before deciding whether the Cuban leader should undergo more surgery, El Periodico said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Castro, recently denied reports that the Cuban communist leader was suffering from cancer. No one was available Sunday at either the Gregorio Maranon hospital or the Cuban embassy to comment on the Spanish report.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 14:39 ||
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Russia's use of energy supplies as a political weapon should be a wake-up call to Britain and the West to deal urgently with the threat, senior Conservatives said last night.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, stepped up Tory calls for a Nato-style "energy pact" after Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled energy giant, forced the pro-Western former Soviet republic of Georgia to accept a doubling of gas prices.
"While the West has been focused on the Middle East, we have seen the resurgence of Russian nationalism and a willingness to use natural resources as a political weapon," he said. "Given the nature of Russia's political leadership, this is hardly surprising. Following events in Ukraine, and now Georgia, it is high time for a wake-up call to western politicians. We have been warned."
Georgia declared the price increase "unacceptable" and "politically motivated" but was forced to accept when Russia threatened to cut off supplies. Last night the president of Azerbaijan, another former Soviet republic that is being asked to pay twice the price for its gas, accused the Russian company of "ugly" behaviour and said his country would not be bullied into accepting. President Ilham Aliev said that if Moscow insisted on doubling the price of gas to $230 (£117) per thousand cubic metres, Azerbaijan would be forced to "change the balance of power" and rely on its own oil reserves instead. That might mean restricting Azerbaijan's oil exports, which pass through Russia, in order to fuel domestic power stations, he said.
Although Azerbaijan produces only half the natural gas it needs, Mr Aliev told a Russian radio station, it would not give in to Moscow. "To take advantage of this deficiency is ugly," he said.
In the first sign of a regional backlash, he attacked Russia's use of energy as a tool of foreign policy, although he was careful not to name or criticise President Vladimir Putin personally. The price of oil and gas should "be a commercial matter", immune from attempts to "politicise it", Mr Aliev said.
That would be a first in that part of the world. And to the extent that the Gazprom price has been under western standards, it undercuts his argument.
The move by the Russian company is being portrayed by the Kremlin as merely bringing the price paid by former Soviet neighbours nearer to the market price paid in western Europe up to $300 per 1,000 cubic metres. But it has used its clout as a supplier of cut-price energy to try to force its neighbours into line on foreign and economic affairs.
European Union officials are alarmed at the heavy-handed tactics used by Moscow, which dramatically cut supplies and doubled the price of gas to out-of-favour Ukraine at the beginning of the year.
Gazprom already owns 25 per cent of the European gas market and bought Pennine Natural Gas in Britain this year. There are suggestions that it wants to take over Centrica, the owner of British Gas. It waged a campaign of bureaucratic harassment against Royal Dutch Shell until the company agreed to hand over control of a lucrative new project, Sakhalin-2, in north-east Russia last week.
Dr Fox said that the West had been ignoring the threat posed by Russia to energy security for too long. He has called on both Nato and the EU to "come together as a consortium of energy consumers to bring their collective weight to bear".
Alexander Medvedev, head of exports at Gazprom, said: "Despite the rhetoric of some politicians that Gazprom's price request is politically motivated, economic sense has prevailed and commercial companies have signed contracts."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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(Kyodo) _ North Korean leader Kim Jong Il plans to provide more karaoke machines to the country's military after finding they help boost morale, according to a recent report in the country's official newspaper.
And I have just the song for them to try!
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live
They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet
Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Round here
The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers Party of Korea, quoted Kim as commenting on the plan in its Dec. 10 edition. "I plan to send more song-accompanying machines to the People's Armed Forces," he was quoted as saying.
According to the report, Kim said during his meeting with military commanders in March that "the atmosphere changed completely" in divisions that were provided with karaoke machines. Kim also noted soldiers and officers were competing with each other to obtain high marks on the machines that assess their singing, the newspaper said.
Though you'd better believe that no one sings as well as our ronery clooner.
The Rodong Sinmun quoted Kim as saying he provides the military with karaoke machines after making calculations based on the number of karaoke machines that have already been sent as well as those that will be sent in the future, which he writes down in his notebook.
Right next to the nuke formula and his golf scorecard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Collecting and analyzing fragmented reports, researchers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum say they have pinpointed some 20,000 places of detention and persecution _ three times more than they estimated just six years ago ...
How many more than just six million actually perished?
They are about to have their first access to millions of documents locked away for a half century in the sprawling archive of the International Tracing Service, an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the central German resort town of Bad Arolsen ...
Of every three Jews in Europe at the start of the war, two were dead.
#2
And the public is just now getting access to the archives because the ICRC has long held that releasing information about Holocaust victims -- even to surviving relatives -- would violate their privacy.
#3
This is exactly why we will eventually have to nuke Iran. We do not want 61 years from now an investigation of why the records in the US State Department Archives and the records UN Security Council Archives are not released to the general public to clarify the reasons why Israel was nuked by Ahmadinajad while all the world powers stood watching and mumbling " but we did put sactions on them ..."
NEVER AGAIN !
NEVER AGAIN !
NEVER AGAIN !
äáà ìäåøâê , äùëí ìäåøâå
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/24/2006 6:02 Comments ||
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#4
Yet another report to shove down the throats of the Holocaust Denying pigs over at the Institute for Historical Review and they're admirers like this pastor -- see pages 5-6 of IHR Newsletter.
#5
The problem is that we view the documents as an archive of the Holocaust. The Europeans view it with nostalgia and the Iranians view it as an instruction manual.
#6
Sorry Zaen, it has happened again and agian since then, not to that magnitute, but places like Rawanda, Kosovo, Iraq, Croatia, Somalia and the Sudan have all felt the sting of genocide.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2006 10:30 Comments ||
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#7
The Europeans view it with nostalgia
Not my feeling; there's a religion of the Holocaust in Europe, the Establishment just LOVES dead WWII jews, their power is funded on an historical construction in which the nazis were right-wing, nationalism is right-wing, hence anything remotely nationalistical (including the use of legitimate force by a Nation-State) is nazi... while it actively antagonize Israel, subsidize modern-day muslim nazis (not just a rethorical figure), and even fuels antisemitism from the "Youths", VIOLENT antisemitism, by its MSM-enabled so-called antizionism.
A worrying side-effect is that the Establishment, even if it is actually opposed to the true interests of jews, not to mention israelis, is seen as dominated by the "zionists" (codeword for "jooooooooos"), based on that Holocaust religion, the PCness and its liberal jews enforcers.
And from there you've got strange allainces brewing on, like the french black leftist anti-white-racist-turned-antisemite stand-up comedian dieudonné who has rallied Jean-Marie Le Pen's FN along with his "ogres" Youth movement, and is now held in high esteem by part of the far-right (even some catholic traditionalists, he was invited by the Le Pen's passionaria Serge de Beketch in his talk-show for a very complicit interview, even if dieudonné is a catholic hater).
The FN now seeks with success the votes of the "Youths" and all the people disafranchized by the Establishment and its 40 years of cultural marxism.
Likewise, the antifeminist commie alain soral is now the speech writer of Le Pen, a friend of dieudonné and thierry meyssan (the "no-plane-on-the-Pentagon" original conspiracy theorist), and emmanuel todd, one of the most hysterical anti-US intellectual, writer of the famous "Après l'Empire" book, who predicts the coming fall of the USA and the return to a much saner "multipolar world" dominated by an enlarged Europe with russia and ties with china (cf. eurasism), is now the geopolitical reference of the FN.
Truth is, the common denominator among these people is "anti-zionism" and its twin brother, anti-americanism... BECAUSE the Establishment is seen as a tool of domination by the "zionists".
Always that Religion of the Holocaust thing.
You're damned right is wasn't "to that magnitude". And that remains a central point. Not so much to belittle the other abhorrent ethnic cleansing that has gone on but the Nazi killing machine with all it stood for in terms of anti-Semitism, eugenics and simple flat-out mechanized murder stands alone and must continue to serve as a prime example of man's inhumanity to man.
The Holocaust must retain it's place at this gruesome pinnacle so that those who seek to resurrect it are swiftly labeled for what they truly are. Iran in particular, and the Muslim world in general, must abandon their obsession with genocide or face their own holocaust.
The former vice-presidential nominee John Edwards is planning to announce on Thursday in hurricane-hit New Orleans that he is running for president in 2008. His choice of location reflects his desire to campaign on a strong anti-poverty ticket and capture the votes of the left in his battle against Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner.
Um, does she know about this battle thingy? I doubt it. *squish*
Edwards has spent a year courting activists in key primary states such as Iowa and Nevada in the hope they will deliver him the support to rival Clintons political machine.
Still boyish at 53, Edwards was widely considered to be the chief stop Hillary candidate until Barack Obama, the senator for Illinois, declared his interest. The inexperienced Obama has the same asset as Edwards lashings of charm with the advantage of novelty.
Edwards, the partys 2004 vice-presidential nominee, is choosing Christmas to launch his campaign in the hope of pre-empting announcements by Clinton and Obama in the new year. The former North Carolina senator is expected to make his candidacy announcement in the flood-damaged Lower Ninth ward in New Orleans before heading to Iowa. He will then take his campaign to New Hampshire and Nevada.
How absurd dramatic.
Edwards has practically been living in Iowa, according to local Democrats. He had been leading the polls for months, prompting Hillary-watchers to wonder whether she is electable in Americas heartlands. However, a surprise poll last week by KCCI, a local news station, showed Obama neck and neck with Edwards on 22% with Clinton on 10%.
Obamas likely entrance in the race has upset Edwardss anti-Hillary strategy. Dick Morris, Bill Clintons former adviser, argued last week that Obamas rise may be just the gift Clinton needs to assure her of the 2008 nomination because he was strong enough to keep anybody else from gaining serious traction without being able to win.
However, the primary calendar is suited to Edwards, who hopes to puncture the New York senators chances by winning Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina, where he was born, and New Hampshire the first four states to vote before she can notch up any states. Bill Galston, a Democrat who served in Bill Clintons White House, said: If Hillary manages to thread her massive organisation through this eye of the needle, she deserves to win.
Yawn.
Edwards has impressed Democrat activists by recanting his support for the Iraq war and is currently drawing up a plan for universal healthcare.
Edwards has had the guts to say his vote for the war was a mistake. Democrats are hungry for that kind of truth, said Al Sturgeon, a former Democratic county chairman in Iowa.
Yah shure. Thrilling stuff.
*splat*
"Ewww, look at the windshield, Hill. Yechhhh!"
"Don't be so squeamish, Bill, ya big hick pussy."
"Wot wuz it? It's too squished up to tell."
"Aw, just another little distraction. I'm on my way, Bill. Nothing can stop me now. Sit up straight."
#1
Might be an interesting if aggravating distraction for a little while. Two super rich lawyers without a scruple between them telling bald faced lies as the 5th column MSM goes into constant orgasm mode over one or the other.
My money is on the lying twat beating the lying twit like a red headed step child.
#2
I still think Hillary is going to be forced so far left by Obama that the Breck boy inheirits the centrists position. I like his dark horse chances. I figure he's got a 20% chance of winning the nomination.
#4
Edwards has had the guts to say his vote for the war was a mistake. Democrats are hungry for that kind of truth.
This guy nails it. For the Progressive movement it is the exhibition of regret that is seen as the virtue. The essence of this thought process has nothing to do with reformation, repentance, or even remorse. Edwards and his ilk are shrewdly soliciting forgiveness based on the mere appearance of regret. And in turn, without any heavy lifting, his admission is seen as strength to that particular audience. This pernicious ploy has been time tested, as evidenced by speeches from Bill Clintons I failed (to get Bin Laden) or Richard Clarks We let the American People Down. It is the same paradigm that motivates the Bush-bashing press to continually ask him to publically list the mistakes he has made. With his refusal to dance on their terms he therefore can be portrayed as billigerent or in denial. In short...an appearance of weakness. To the Progressives, appearance is all that is required as an indication of character. To that end, they believe that if America was to simply admit to its anguish over past misdeeds somehow our enemies would forgive us.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/24/2006 10:54 Comments ||
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#8
If I were running against him I would just call him by his full name. As often as possible. "My opponent, Barak HUSSIEN Obama yadda yadda yadda..." About 3000 times a day.
He can use my middle name too if he likes.
I would love to hear how he complains without sounding stupid.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is poised to announce his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in two phases early next month, a top adviser told The Associated Press on Friday. The Massachusetts chief executive is expected to file paperwork as early as Jan. 2 with the Federal Election Commission, establishing a presidential campaign committee and permitting himself to begin raising money for his race on the first business day of the new year. Romney will leave office on Jan. 4. As soon as the week of Jan. 8, Romney will hold a ceremony to officially declare his candidacy, said the adviser, a top aide who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official filing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Which Romney ? The neo-conservative, recently converted, born again right wing, anti-Islamic warlord ? Or the real former, liberal, PC governor of the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts ?
This time I want a real conservative, even a war president, not a compromise.
UN gets OK for $1.9B renovation
The UN General Assembly has finally given a green light to start a $1.9 billion renovation of the world body's landmark headquarters after years of delays. The 39-story East Side glass-and-steel building has not seen a major overhaul in its 54-year existence, and now violates safety and fire codes.
Finally.
Stressing its "serious concern at the hazards, risks and deficiencies of the current conditions of the building, which endanger the safety, health and well-being of staff, delegations, visitors and tourists," the assembly late Friday night approved the budget committee's plan to refurbish the building.
The Capital Master Plan will allow preparatory work on the phased renovation to begin immediately. The work is to be completed by 2014 at a total budget of $1.88 billion.
It will triple, at least, by 2014.
Member states will have the option of paying their shares in yearly installments or in one lump sum, but the resolution also asks incoming UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who takes over from Kofi Annan on Jan. 1, to explore the possibility of private donor funding.
Get Ted Turner to cover it. He's not doing anything useful.
The U.S. will pay 22% of the cost - the largest share - which Congress must approve.
Mebbe yes, mebbe no. If we didn't have the Dhimmis in Charge now, it'd be a close call...
On another matter, the UN Security Council yesterday condemned attacks on journalists during armed conflicts and urged combatants to stop singling out members of the media and respect their independence.
Yah shure. Hey! Don't shoot the scribblers, K? Lunch!
#4
Hey, DMFD, you're right! There's a great hotel there just waiting for new tenants. Google Ryugyong Hotel and you'll see it. Great idea, and Kimmie'd love it since both he and the UN share the same ideas on government...
Posted by: mac ||
12/24/2006 15:38 Comments ||
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COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger rebels seized a drifting Jordanian cargo vessel bound for South Africa carrying 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) boarded the Farha III vessel off the district of Mullaitivu on Saturday morning as the ship had drifted due to engine problems. The Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre in Britain picked up a distress message from the ship saying that it was under "armed pirate attack" off Sri Lanka. The vessel was carrying 14,000 tonnes of rice from Kakinada, India to Durban in South Africa.
The vessel, with a 25-member crew of Jordanian and Egyptian nationals, was on its way from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Durban, the ministry said adding that the Jordanian Embassy in India had been informed. Jordan has no Embassy in Sri Lanka. "This armed pirate act by the LTTE is a clear violation of the international maritime laws and the Navy has found it difficult to react due to the presence of the ship's crew," the ministry said.
Does indeed sound like piracy, huh?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Yo ho ho and a bag of rice...
Posted by: john ||
12/24/2006 8:34 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe they plan to make sake?
Posted by: john ||
12/24/2006 8:35 Comments ||
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LOS ANGELES - More than 100,000 undocumented women each year bear children in California with expenses paid by Medi-Cal, according to state reports.
Such births and related expenses account for more than $400 million of the nearly $1 billion that the program spends annually on health care for illegal immigrants in California, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing state reports.
California long has been one of the more generous states in offering such benefits to illegal immigrants, covering everything from pregnancy tests to postpartum checkups.
Many illegal immigrants who might otherwise shy away from government services view care associated with childbirth as safe to seek. "I wasn't afraid at all," said Sandra Andrade, an illegal immigrant from Colombia who recently gave birth at a Los Angeles hospital. "I'd always heard that pregnant women are treated well here."
I knew the suckers would pay. Now I have my very own anchor-baby.
Nationally, a debate is simmering about the costs of providing medical care to illegal immigrants.
Anti-illegal immigration groups argue that "birthright" U.S. citizenship for babies born in America is an incentive for illegal immigrants to have their children here. "I think most Americans think that while they certainly don't want to do anything to harm children you cannot have a policy that says anybody in the world come here and have a baby and we have a new American," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, an immigration control group based in Washington, D.C.
Prenatal care is one of the most controversial aspects of providing health care to illegal immigrants. While labor and delivery long have been considered emergencies, entitled to some federal reimbursement, federal officials have often balked at covering prenatal care. Generally, the state and federal governments share the cost of Medicaid programs, called Medi-Cal in California.
Advocates of such coverage say it's cheaper to pay for prenatal care than risk complications that could saddle the government with huge medical bills. "Without prenatal care, there's a serious risk that a child will be born with severe disabilities," said Lucy Quacinella, a lobbyist for the Los Angeles-based social service nonprofit group Maternal and Child Health Access. "The cost of caring for that child over a lifetime is astronomical when you compare the cost of having provided the prenatal care."
Still, investing in pregnant illegal immigrants is costly.
Births and prenatal care are the biggest single outlay by Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants' health care, with the rest going for various other emergency treatments, limited breast and cervical cancer treatment, abortions and some nursing home care, according to the state.
In Los Angeles County's public and private hospitals, undocumented women accounted for 41,240 Medi-Cal births in 2004, roughly half the deliveries covered by the public program. In the four county-run hospitals alone, undocumented women and their newborns will receive more than $20 million in delivery, recovery, nursery and neonatal ICU services this year, according to a county estimate.
#5
Some of us have been fighting the righteous fight here in Caliphornia for over 20 years. Not the least of battles was prop #187 which passed with 60% vote here in CA!
Prop #187 was common sense reform. No tax dollars for illegal immigrants skooling, no tax dollars for baby drop anchors etc.
We Citizens were once again usurped by the Stench from the Bench almost concurrent with the general election.
The treasonus few, ie. On November 11, 1994, federal judge Matthew Byrne issued a temporary restraining order against it, on grounds that it exceeded state authority in the federal realm of immigration. The case worked its way through the courts. The multiple cases were consolidated and brought before judge Bitch Face Mariana Pfaelzer who killed the state wide effort by us the Citizens to get control of our borders, language, culture and treasure.
In 1998, newly elected Governor Gray Davis (who had opposed the proposition) had the case brought before mediation. Following this, he dropped the appeals process before the courts, effectively killing the law.
federal judge "Matthew Byrne" appointed by DemoCrap Lyndon B. Johnson.
Federal District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer, a self-professed "liberal" appointed by the worst President ever, President Jimmy Carter.
#7
And yet you people will fight against free abortions for these illegals.
That's too funny! Illegals are not coming here to have abortions...free or otherwise. Offer an illegal a "free" abortion, and they'll think you are loco in your cabeza! Pendejo!
#2
And if they're anything like the tide that came over in the 1960-1973 period, it will be to America's benefit.
BTW: A note to the occasional troll here and elsewhere:
I was born in the USA (Miami, FL before it became Havana Norte). Plus my ancestors, Spanish and Southern French, were here before a lot your ancestors. Of course, if you're Native American, ya got us all beat.
Dozens of illegal immigrants arrested in last week's meatpacking plant raids have been released for humanitarian reasons pending immigration hearings, a government official said Friday.
About 100 have been released from detention centers, many to care for children or ailing relatives, since the Dec. 12 federal raids on Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in six states, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesman Jamie Zuieback said. Many were released the day of the raids, she said. She wouldn't specify what other criteria the agency used to determine whether workers should be released for humanitarian reasons.
In all, about 1,300 workers were arrested in the raids. Detained workers were asked if they had minor dependents, Zuieback said.
Tim Counts, an ICE spokesman, said about two dozen workers were released from the Worthington, Minn., plant the day of the raid. About 25 workers at the Greeley, Colo., plant were released, as were 27 workers from the Grand Island, Neb., plant, all of whom either had dependent children or were pregnant, he said.
He didn't know how many had been released for humanitarian reasons since the day of the raid or how many were released from plants raided in Cactus, Texas; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Hyrum, Utah. "It was decided on a case-by-case basis," Counts said. "Those people who were released on their own recognizance still must be required to appear (before an administrative immigration judge)."
A phone message left Friday seeking comment from Swift & Co. was not immediately returned.
#4
Detained workers were asked if they had minor dependents, Zuieback said.
And thank you INS spokesperson Jamie Zuieback. You just have to love the politically correct double standard. What you bet State and Federal pens are just chucked full of inmates who would love to be asked: Oh by the way, do you have minor dependents?
Now this is some funny shit. Looooong NYT Mag article about a Femi-Mummykins in the midst of a Dowd-ish Life Crisis as she tries to figure out how to steer her 3 yr old daughter through the marketing minefield of girlie girl fantasies, torn, conflicted, or Royally pissed off at almost every turn... All the while, the kid is cool. Magically cool. Major cool. In fact, the kid's frickin' awesome. The kid "gets it". She's gonna rock. Enjoy. Lol.
By PEGGY ORENSTEIN - December 24, 2006 - I finally came unhinged in the dentists office one of those ritzy pediatric practices tricked out with comic books, DVDs and arcade games where Id taken my 3-year-old daughter for her first exam. Until then, Id held my tongue. Id smiled politely every time the supermarket-checkout clerk greeted her with Hi, Princess; ignored the waitress at our local breakfast joint who called the funny-face pancakes she ordered her princess meal; made no comment when the lady at Longs Drugs said, I bet I know your favorite color and handed her a pink balloon rather than letting her choose for herself. Maybe it was the dentists Betty Boop inflection that got to me, but when she pointed to the exam chair and said, Would you like to sit in my special princess throne so I can sparkle your teeth? I lost it.
Oh, for Gods sake, I snapped. Do you have a princess drill, too?
#2
"The kid is, well, the kid. She is herself, not some extension of Femi-Mummykins."
You nailed it,.com.
This is something I see all the time, moms with one kid only who treat the child as if it's a fifth limb and actually part of their body.
They refer to the kid as "mybaby". Not "my baby" (two words) but "mybaby", and what they mean is "me". For all of their lip service to individualism, these new-age femi-mommies see parenthood as a process by which they will mold the kid into an exact (immortal, they believe) duplicate of themselves without having to go through all the horrible trauma of dealing with the patriarchy, or something to that effect.
Yeah, there's a few dads who do this with their kids and sports, but nothing like the scale I see with the femi-moms and this type of angst.
Good post, and good comments, .com. I thought I was the only one noticing this crap!
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/24/2006 8:13 Comments ||
Top||
Sara Crewe: I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?
[Apparently Peggy's father didn't. He was probably correct in this instance.]
Sara Crewe: Well, not just me, all girls are princesses. Even snotty, two-face bullies like you, [ed: Peggy] Lavinia!
Not, just racism. No, she doesn't chaw terbakky and drive a pickup so she can fit her racists view of anti-black racists but she f*cking well should be...
#10
The princess stage. We inherited ours from the older girl cousins, complete, with the Barbie additions from my mother-in-law, so I didn't have to do much. The trailing daughters started at two years old, had moved on by six. What I recall most vividly is that while the girls enjoyed it, and Halloween costumes were homemade Butterfly Princess (leotard, tulle skirt, wings and a crown), Ballerina Princess (leotard, tulle tutu, ballet slippers and a crown), etc, the theme was really pushed by mommies and aunts and grandmas giving all the things they'd most dreadfully desired at that stage... and hadn't gotten themselves. It was so easy: get the girl a little pink princess thingy, get the boy Matchbox cars or a Star Wars sword. But the kids took that stuff, then went to play trains all together, or wild animals in the jungle.
And the same mommies who fretted that their girls insisted on dressing all in pink were the ones who bought them nothing else. Just as this preciously concerned mommy uses the princess thingy to get her daughter to keep her underpants dry and not cry.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 15:46 Comments ||
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#14
You're scarin' me, Frank...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/24/2006 15:55 Comments ||
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#15
Jebus, this woman is a basket case. Where the hell is dad?
I was Princess Leia for Halloween. I was a ballerina and a Lady Di junkie. I had an easy-bake oven, the Barbie dream house, and everything covered in lavender frills. I had a lavish Easter wedding for Pooh Bear and Miss Piggy.
But thanks to dad, I could also hit a mean line drive, learned basic carpentry, and cleaned his friends' clocks at poker. I understand football, learned algebra by age 8, and can still out-burp a truck driver.
A balanced upbringing serves any child well. I sure do feel sorry for that kid.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/24/2006 20:19 Comments ||
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#17
#15 exJAG: "Where the hell is dad?"
Dad? These women femidiots don't need a man to raise a child - just ask 'em.
I grew up without a Dad - and I can tell you my growing years and my adult life would have been a hell of a lot better/easier if I'd had one. As it was, I had to spend far too much of my adult life teaching myself the things a Dad could have taught me.
Your family did it right.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/24/2006 20:27 Comments ||
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#18
In Whiskettes4Hilali's #4 you'll find the link to the author's website. Daddy is a "filmmaker", according to her bio. They're "special, shiny people".
------------------------
Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap (Paperback)1995
by Peggy Orenstein "Weston, California, sits at the far reaches of the San Francisco Bay
#20
Well, Barbara, dear old dad fucked me and mom well and good in the end. I'm grateful for my childhood, but if I'd known what was in store, I think I'd rather have taken the hit as a child.
Having to teach yourself things a dad should have can't have been easy. But neither is finding yourself early in your career, with piles of student debt, having to clean up the mess when dad absconds with the bank accounts, property titles, and some chick, leaving your disabled mother and elderly grandmother to fend for themselves.
I think would've done okay without the burping lessons.
#21
I was Princess Leia for Halloween. I was a ballerina and a Lady Di junkie. I had an easy-bake oven, the Barbie dream house, and everything covered in lavender frills. I had a lavish Easter wedding for Pooh Bear and Miss Piggy.
But thanks to dad, I could also hit a mean line drive, learned basic carpentry, and cleaned his friends' clocks at poker. I understand football, learned algebra by age 8, and can still out-burp a truck driver.
I attribute a portion of your eventual success to gun ownership. So there!
Middletown, NY - December 23, 2006 - "We were right outside Bastogne, firing our guns on the Germans. Jesus Christ, it was bitter cold. They said it was the coldest winter in 50 years. There was no such thing as Christmas Eve. It was just firing continuously. Around the clock. All day long, and all night long. Night and day. We knew it was Christmas Eve, of course. But nobody said anything.
World War II vet Hugh Sonner, 83, originally of Walden, was a private in the 4th Armored Division of the 3rd Army who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He recollects what it was like so many years ago during the Christmas he was under fire from the Germans.
"I don't know how many rounds we fired. Thousands. The Germans were determined to hang in there. They just did not want to break that ring around Bastogne. Artillery was the only thing that stopped them.
"You wanted to get warm, you know? So you'd put your hands on the gun barrels. So hot, you couldn't touch them with your bare hands. You'd put your gloves on, put your hands on the barrel and that's how you'd warm up.
"You might have a lull in the firing, until the next fire mission came. Maybe half an hour. If you slept, you slept two men together. I'd have my back to you and after two hours, I'd say 'turn over.' You couldn't sleep by yourself. You'd freeze to death.
"If you had a little lull, you'd try to have a can of food. You'd keep a can of food up here (under your armpit). You'd have some food on you all the time. So it didn't freeze.
"We had a 155 mm gun. Ninety-five-pound shells. Four of us. Everybody did everything. Each man knew every job. Firing, loading. The way you're supposed to do it is: Two men lift a shell, and load it on a tray. Two more men with a ramrod load the powder charge and ram it in.
"In Bastogne we didn't do it like that. You'd pick up one of those shells yourself and ram it in as good you can. Two guys, all the time. One putting it in, one holding the next shell. We were the number one gun. We had 12 guns in our battery. Think about this: In some places, there were 26 batteries.
Continued on Page 49
#4
The debt we owe these men is immeasurable. Soon enough another tab will come due. I can only hope that those who face it have a fraction of the resolve these heroes brought to the field.
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.
Donald Trump is suing this oceanside town for $10 million after being cited for flying an oversized American flag over his Mar-a-Lago Club. Attorneys for the club filed a complaint Thursday, saying that flying the flag is a constitutionally protected expression of free speech _ and that the large flag is a proper match for the size of the real- estate mogul's patriotism. 
For more than 600 years, Spaniards have believed Prince Sancho de Castile's uncle poisoned him to become king of Spain, but studies of the boy's mummified body show the seven-year-old died of natural causes. One of Spain's great royal legends may have been put to rest by medical tests that show Sancho, son of King Pedro I "the Cruel" of Castile, and a successor to the throne, was likely to have died in 1370 of a lung infection such as pneumonia.
Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from a certain species of dog called "raccoon dog." "First these jackets were falsely advertised as faux fur, and then it turned out that the fur came from a type of dog," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.
THE government will this week close a chapter in Britains wartime history by completing the repayment of a loan taken out with America more than 60 years ago, just after the second world war. Treasury officials said the repayment of the US war loan taken out under a 1945 agreement would be completed by December 31.
A leading Spanish surgeon has flown to Cuba to treat Fidel Castro, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday. Castro, 80, has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July. Since then here has been little information from Cuba regarding his condition. Castro has placed his younger brother, Raul, in charge of government. 
Russia's use of energy supplies as a political weapon should be a wake-up call to Britain and the West to deal urgently with the threat, senior Conservatives said last night.
(Kyodo) _ North Korean leader Kim Jong Il plans to provide more karaoke machines to the country's military after finding they help boost morale, according to a recent report in the country's official newspaper.
The former vice-presidential nominee John Edwards is planning to announce on Thursday in hurricane-hit New Orleans that he is running for president in 2008. His choice of location reflects his desire to campaign on a strong anti-poverty ticket and capture the votes of the left in his battle against Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is poised to announce his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in two phases early next month, a top adviser told The Associated Press on Friday. The Massachusetts chief executive is expected to file paperwork as early as Jan. 2 with the Federal Election Commission, establishing a presidential campaign committee and permitting himself to begin raising money for his race on the first business day of the new year. Romney will leave office on Jan. 4. As soon as the week of Jan. 8, Romney will hold a ceremony to officially declare his candidacy, said the adviser, a top aide who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official filing.
COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger rebels seized a drifting Jordanian cargo vessel bound for South Africa carrying 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice, the defence ministry said on Saturday. 
