Health workers in several African countries are battling to contain outbreaks of cholera that have already killed hundreds of people. The most recent cholera outbreak has occurred in Somalia where more than 100 people have died of the disease. Flooding in the centre of the country has contaminated drinking water and hundreds of people have been hospitalised with suspected cases of the intestinal disease. Cholera causes diarrhoea and in developing countries, where sanitation is poor, it can quickly lead to death from dehydration.
The disease can also spread quickly. This is the fear of health workers in Somalia and in the Republic of Congo, where cholera has spread to the capital Brazzaville. Zimbabwe is also in the grip of a cholera epidemic following the breakdown of the country's water and sewage systems.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
suspect that the decimal point will move steadily to the right. Without functional governments the necessary sanitation measures to control this cannot be put in play. With few exceptions, Africa is a basketcase. Somalia, ROC, and Zimbabwe are not those exceptions. I wonder if any of the surviving citizens of Zimbabwe long for the bad old days when it was called Rhodesia?
#2
Bishop Muzorewa said that Mugabe was worse than any white Rhodesian had ever been, just before the government silenced him several years ago. He also stated that the majority of Africans lived better under the Rhodesians versas Mugabe's regime.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday partially demolished former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed's house beside the Buriganga river. Salahuddin encroached upon the riverbank and built part of the house and its stairs during the four-party alliance rule. The BIWTA had earlier served on him several notices for removing the illegal structure. "But he did not listen to us," said a BIWTA official.
Meanwhile, around 1,500 illegal structures were demolished yesterday in the city's Shyampur and Mirpur and Purbachal project area in Rupganj of Narayanganj under the ongoing eviction drives by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and the BIWTA. The BIWTA knocked down 90 illegal structures along the Buriganga from Postogola to Kadamtali. Of those, at least 20 were concrete structures. An influential land grabber, Golam Hossain, had built some of these structures, BIWTA sources said.
BIWTA official Sharif Afzal Hossain said they will continue their drive against the land grabbers. Rajuk yesterday demolished around 1,000 illegal structures, mostly residential, in Purbachal project area . Local people encroached upon the project land though Rajuk had paid them compensation for their land acquired by it, Rajuk sources said. "We paid them compensation for the acquired land. But many of them are still living in the project area. So, we demolished those structures," said Magistrate ASM Emdadud Dastagir, who headed the Rajuk eviction team. "Now the authorities would conduct development work there."
Rajuk will conduct an eviction drive at Nikunja today, and tomorrow it will knock down the remaining illegal structures at Purbachal. The DCC yesterday demolished around 500 structures in Mirpur from Section 10 to Section 12. Anwar Pasha, magistrate of the DCC, said many of the locals having roadside houses extended those up to the roads. "So we demolished those." They also demolished a few hundred temporary structures.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The joint forces arrested 1,482 people on various charges and seized 20 firearms and 26 bombs in the last 24 hours, ending at 6:00am yesterday. Besides, the army personnel arrested general secretary of BNP Sharsha upazila unit Khairuzzaman Modhu with a pistol at his house in the upazila in Jessore, a college pricipal on charge of corruption in Jhalakathi and Titas upazila Jubo Dal President in Comilla yesterday.
Army men along with a team of Barisal Education Board went to Rajpur Degree Collage and arrested its Principal Abdul Haque Sarder and cashier Abdus Salam Talukder, according to the UNB. Titas upazila Juba Dal President Salahuddin was arrested at upazila headquarters. He was allegedly involved in criminal activities in the upazila.
A home ministry news release said of the 1,482 arrestees, 94 were held by army men and the remaining 1,388 by Rab and police personnel. Army men seized four firearms while Rab and police the rest 22, the news release added.
Our Satkhira correspondent reports: the joint forces arrested four people, including a stamp vendor, at Tala upazila settlement office yesterday. According to our Gazipur correspondent, army personnel in separate raids arrested a man with fake stamps in Dhirasram area and six gamblers in Gazipur Stadium area.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
20 guns for all those guys?
Brings a new meaning to the word "sharing."
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/06/2007 19:26 Comments ||
Top||
Perhaps this is why President Putin thinks he can do as he wishes with impunity.
Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is growing concern in Western capitals over the state of Russian democracy. But for many in this country's emerging middle class, the freedom to shop seems more important. "If democracy means having to live like we did in the '90s, people starving in the streets and girls prostituting themselves to feed their families, then no thanks," said Valeria Batunina, 32, clutching two bags of clothes she had bought at Mega Mall Tyoply Stan, which claims to be Europe's busiest shopping center. "Now people can afford to buy a new car, nice clothes, even travel somewhere warm in the winter," she said. Possibly even have a baby or two?
With the economy booming thanks to high oil and gas prices, incomes have soared and Russians are spending as never before. Soaring international energy prices have made life in Russia -- the world's largest exporter of gas and second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia -- better than anyone can remember.
After seven years of steady decline through the late 1990s, Russia has recorded eight straight years of economic growth, with expansion for 2006 estimated at 7 percent -- more than three times the rate in the European Union. President Vladimir Putin boasted at a press conference last week that Russia's gross domestic product topped $1 trillion last year, while adding that his top priority was still to raise living standards. "Russia has one of the fastest-growing income and consumption rates in the world," said Mikhail Terentiev, a consumer analyst at Moscow's Troika Dialog investment bank. "People who could never afford to buy quality goods now can."
Car sales have risen sixfold since 2001, with Russians spending $32 billion on cars last year. Only 3 million Russians owned mobile phones in 2000, but today, more than 80 million do. From less than 5 percent in 2001, the number of households owning a personal computer has jumped to about 20 percent. Consumer lending is also booming, and many Russians are getting their first taste of credit cards.
A flat income-tax rate of 13 percent and remnants of the Soviet system, such as subsidized housing and utilities, mean that many Russians have more disposable income than typical Western consumers. Salaries still lag far behind those in Western countries, with the average income in Moscow only about $800 a month. Millions of Russians, especially pensioners and rural residents, continue to live in abject poverty.
Most Russians credit Mr. Putin with fostering the economic boom by ensuring stability after the political chaos of President Boris Yeltsin's rule in the 1990s. Mr. Putin's approval ratings often surpass 80 percent, even as his image in the West has deteriorated since he began his second term in 2004.
Western critics accuse Mr. Putin of backtracking on democratic reforms, but few Russians agree, and most support his attempts to consolidate more power in the Kremlin. In a poll released by the Pew Research Center last year, 81 percent of Russians said a strong economy is more important than a good democracy. When both the economy and rule of law are weak, the peepul tend to turn toward a strong man who can deliver paying jobs and order.
"What the Western critics and newspapers don't understand is that Russians feel they have more personal freedom now than they did under Yeltsin," said Sergei Markov, a political analyst with close ties to the Kremlin. "Russians see freedoms as not just political, but also social and economic. Democracy is about more than just the rules of political competition, it's also about if people's children can get a good education or if they can travel to another country." The freedom not to starve. The first level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Shopping in Mega Mall's enormous grocery store with her granddaughter, Svetlana, 48, laughed off suggestions of a return of Soviet-style dictatorship in Russia. "Nobody would say that who was there at the time. People are forgetting how bad it really was. You used to need connections just to get tangerines for the holidays," she said, looking out over rows of fresh fruits and vegetables imported from around the globe. "It can never go back to the way it was." I hope you're right, Svetlana.
#2
"If democracy means having to live like we did in the '90s, people starving in the streets and girls prostituting themselves to feed their families, then no thanks,"
Basically the core of the "Democratic" Party platform. You see it here first boys and girls.
Lawyers in South Korea have vowed to appeal against a three-year jail sentence for the head of the country's biggest car-maker. The chairman of Hyundai Motor company has been found guilty of embezzlement and fraud. Chung Mong-Koo was found guilty of having directed the equivalent of more than $100 million from Hyundai Motor into a slush fund used to bribe politicians and government officials. The 68-year-old has been sentenced to three years' jail, although he remains out on bail pending an appeal.
The ruling judge said the court could not help but find Chung responsible and his behaviour had dealt a blow to corporate self-regulation. Business groups have urged the courts to "generously" view Chung's appeal. Hyundai Motor and its affiliates account for more than 5 per cent of South Korea's exports.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Now if only they could use some of that money to design headlights that don't need replacing every 5000 miles.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
02/06/2007 10:54 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Master Mechanic here
Headlights that fail after 5000 miles are usualy put in by folks that do NOT know you must NEVER touch the bulb with your bare fingers, you leave fingerprints (Oil) that cracks the bulb due to stresses caused by the extremely high temperatures the bulbs normaly run at.
When you install a headlight bulb use a plastic baggie over your hand when you grasp the bulb, they will then last for years.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2007 11:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Forgot to mention that baggie should also be used when you take the bulb out of it's package.
NO fingerprints is exactly what's required.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2007 11:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Redneck Jim -- Okay, that's good to know. I guess I assumed you could just pick the damn things up. I'll try this and see what happens.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
02/06/2007 13:20 Comments ||
Top||
#6
While you're changing the bulb, look clobely at th plasric lens, any cracks will let in rain, A single drop will bust a bulb in seconds (Cold Shock). if the inside of the housing is dirty, or has any moisture inside at all, you'll have to get a new headlighr assembly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/06/2007 22:24 Comments ||
Top||
#7
as someone who's replaced halogen bulbs quickly(because I did it wrong the first time...dammit), I concur with RJ's notes - he's on the money
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/06/2007 23:30 Comments ||
Top||
Fiji's sole armed police unit - the elite Tactical Response Division - is no longer operational on the orders of the military-appointed police commissioner. A statement says the unit was disbanded on February 1. "Lately the functions of the unit appeared to have been compromised when it was used for other purposes for which it was (not) intended," the statement said. "When its leader came under heavy suspicion by the (military) and its members showed overt signs of indiscipline, the division was disbanded by the Commissioner of Police (Colonel Jim Koroi)."
The military have made no secret of wanting the unit disbanded, and just hours before the police statement, a senior army officer said the unit had no significance and should be done away with. Relations between the military and the police have long been strained and on the eve of the military coup in early December, soldiers moved into the police barracks and disarmed the elite unit. Within days of seizing power, military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama sacked then police commissioner, Australian Andrew Hughes, amid claims Mr Hughes was "arming Fijians against Fijians," and replaced him with Colonel Koroi.
The police confirmation that the tactical response unit had been disbanded came as military Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti told the Fijilive website that it was not appropriate for the police to have such a division. "We want them to be removed because it's not appropriate for the police to have the unit and it's just a waste of taxpayers' money," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
180 Kilometers of Red Tape From the desk of The Brussels Journal
A new briefing note from Open Europe [pdf] shows that the EUs acquis communautaire the body of EU legislation which European companies, charities and individuals have to comply with now totals 170,000 pages. This contrasts with official assertions that the total is around 80,000 pages. By totalling up pages in the many volumes of the EUs Official Journal of legislation Open Europe found that the EU has passed 666,879 pages of laws since its inception in 1957, around 26% of which is currently active. If all the legislation the EU has passed were laid out lengthways it would be over 120 miles long, whilst legislation currently in force would be 31.7 miles long.
Open Europe Deputy Chairman Derek Scott, Tony Blairs former Economic Advisor, said: The growing burden of EU over-regulation is a serious problem for businesses and even voluntary groups. The EU needs to be redesigned to make it possible to roll back some of the unnecessary legislation.
We should always treat surveys [such as the FT-Harris poll which shows that most of the eurozones citizens would like to have their old national currencies back] with extreme caution because of the tendency of people to mix things up.
The European Commissions website claims it has 25,000 staff. The British Government thinks the number is about 37,000. But the total employed by the Brussels executive is actually more than 54,000, researchers at the Westminster think tank Open Europe have discovered. [...]
Lorraine Mullally, of Open Europe, said: The EU discreetly publishes a Statistical Bulletin listing staff levels at its agencies, but when we contacted these agencies directly we found they had far more staff than listed. Many of the agencies took months to answer requests. One, the European Police College, repeatedly refused to disclose its staff numbers.
Germany's economy minister has upped the ante in talks to restructure Airbus, threatening to cancel defense deals with Franco-German parent company EADS if the revamp claims too many German jobs. But commentators say it's an empty threat, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman has opted for a markedly softer tone on the issue.
German Economy Minister Michael Glos told Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag: "We insist that Germany remain a high-tech location for Airbus, especially where the manufacture of fuselages is concerned. If that isn't the case, Germany would have to reconsider its weapons orders at Airbus parent company EADS. We will not put up with the planned cuts to jobs and high-tech know-how in Germany under any circumstances."
Government spokesman Thomas Steg, asked to comment on Merkel's position regarding Airbus, told a regular news conference on Monday: "We're clear what Germany's interests are, but we don't make threats."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Barbara Scolaut, pass the Lo-Carbon Gourmet Popcorn, please.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/06/2007 0:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Poor Airbus - the red-headed stepchild of the skies. Are these folks trying to build airplanes or is Airbus simply a giant make-work project to create euro-jobs?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
02/06/2007 3:02 Comments ||
Top||
#6
And yesterday UPS announced it was buying 12 Boeing 767 Freighters. Did not say it was due to Airbust's incompetence, but UPS is the last confirmed order for the A380 Freighter, since Fedex already bailed.
Another plus for this is that it allows Boeing to keep the 767 line open for awhile until the USAF tanker contract is awarded.Airbust / Northrop-Grummand have already whined that they may not even bid if the requirements language is not to their liking. They were successful in getting anything that even remotely sounded like anti-EU stricken from earlier drafts, but if the requiremetns would feasibly allow Boeing to bid a 777 tanker they would most likely stick around, but a 767 sized aircraft only is probably a non starter. They are basing their bid on the A340 4-engined dinosaur.
KIEV - A senior Kiev official attacked US plans to set up an anti-missile defence system in Eastern Europe, saying they posed a threat to Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.
"Yes sir, Mr. Putin, right away!"
Mykola Azarov, the countrys First Vice Prime Minister, made the remarks on a nationally-televised news programme. A widely-respected government worker with a reputation for apolitical service, Azarov pulled no punches when asked for his opinion of the US project, dubbed by its critics Son of Star Wars.
The anti-missile defence systems Washington wants to emplace in the Czech Republic and Poland undermined Ukrainian national security, he argued. If the system is set up, then those installations will become targets (for opponents of the US), Azarov said. We are neighbours...and we cannot look quietly on the increased possibility of violent attacks next door.
You could end up real unhappy as well if an Iranian IRBM aimed at the French fell short.
The US policy of going forward with the National Missile Defence project without consulting Kiev undermined NATOs already-weak reputation in the former Soviet republic, he added.
Azarov was the first senior Ukrainian official to criticize the US missile plan openly. Ukrainian officials in previous weeks had taken non-commital positions on the matter, usually saying whether or not the system should be built was a matter between Prague, Warsaw, and Washington.
Ukrainians generally are wary of NATO, pointing to NATO operations in Serbia and Afghanistan as proof the alliance is not defensive, and that US political need decides NATOs actions. NATO officials have said Ukrainians are poorly informed about the organization.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
WAFF.com > Chirac was in favor of Saddam + Saddamist Sunni-controlled Iraq having nuke bombs, NOW ITS IRAN'S = SHIAS' turn,as Chirac doesn't mind iff Iran had "one or two" nuke bombs.
#3
Tell you what: we guarantee not to intercept any missile headed for the Ukraine. In fact, once we know that's the target, we won't even pass along tracking info. Happy?
#4
Azarov is an ethnic Ukrainian who was born, raised, educated, and worked in Russia. He moved to Donetsk a few years before the Soviet collapse. So his sentiments are not a surprise.
Posted by: ed ||
02/06/2007 8:27 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Victor Yanokovich, the new Prime Minister of Ukraine was one of Kuchma cronys and Putin's tool. Not suprising that one of his appointees would take the Russian autocrat's position.
Rudolph Giuliani today took another big step toward launching a full-fledged campaign for the White House, filing paperwork formally declaring himself a possible candidate in next year's election. Giuliani filed a "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission today, an FEC official said a relatively routine move but one Giuliani had resisted up until now.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
JAKARTA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Two more people in hard hit Indonesia, a 15-year-old girl from an upscale Jakarta neighbourhood and a 30-year-old man in West Java, have caught bird flu, a Health Ministry official said on Tuesday.
The girl, who lives in the capital's Menteng district where many high ranking officials and foreign diplomats reside, had caught a wild bird which died two days later, Joko Suyono of the ministry's bird flu centre said.
The West Java man lived in an area where many poultry had died, he said. There will be a big surge in reported cases when the Jakarta floods recede. Suspect/possible cases were running at 5 to 10 a day prior to last Thursday.
#1
Hopefully, we won't care about the bird flu, because WWIII or IV will have already erupted after the shapeshifting reptiloid posing as the "Mahdi" comes out of its well. That's a relief.
#2
I've been greatly relieved by some of the common sense ideas I'm seeing as to how to respond to Avian flu when it does happen. The end result is far more predictable and better when people think things through first.
Stupid people will do stupid things that get themselves and their families killed. That part is unavoidable, as is the loss of unfortunates who just had bad luck.
Municipalities and States that want to screw around, like New Orleans and Louisiana, who knew about the hurricane problem long ago yet did little, deserve what happens to them, as cruel as that sounds.
There will be municipalities and States that do stupid things, or through omission, neglect to do inexpensive and common sense things, that will get many of their residents killed. This can be both from under or overreaction. There will be local martinets who see the epidemic as a chance to seize great personal power.
But as a rule, the vast majority of our public will respond by not just listening to good advice and instructions, but taking them as well. And that is a powerful thing.
The vast majority of Americans who will perish will be those who embrace illusion instead of realism, those who are mentally imbalanced, and those who cannot control their behavior enough to save their own lives. In other words, there will be a sharp decline in the numbers of the mentally ill after the pandemic.
It is already obvious who these people will be.
The religious, who flock together to pray the plague away; the mentally ill who meander into the path of the disease unaware or indifferent to it; those people whose daily routines are so rigid that they cannot waver from them, or rationalize that they "have to" continue performing their personal rituals. Being unemployed is better than dying.
Lots of others will join them. People who volunteer to help the sick and dying; those who steal from the dead; those who cannot bear to stay away from their sick and dead loved ones and pets. And those who are incautious about their personal hygiene.
There will also be those who have other medical conditions who will be denied care because of a lack of available care. Routine sicknesses and injury can become deadly if untreated.
Finally, though probably not widespread, there will be some panic, resulting in otherwise sane people doing risky and dangerous things, like trying to break a quarantine against armed guards.
But if enough sane people do smart things, it will fire break the epidemic, both in range and time; and thus a disease that will last for over a year in Asia, may be effectively ended in the US in a month or two.
#3
I agree, be prepared. I also see many co-workers that feel it is 'up and above' the call of duty to come into work and share whatever plague they are fighting. Guys - put your think'in caps on.
Australia and the United States have provided emergency relief for victims of floods that have displaced almost 340,000 people in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. That's mighty nice of us. It won't stop them from the occasional riot and/or murder of our nationals once things dry out, of course.
Indonesian rescuers, police and troops in inflatable boats are helping to evacuate residents stranded in severe floods that have killed 29. Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer says the contribution of $A150,000 will provide thousands of emergency food parcels and hygiene kits to be distributed by the Indonesian Red Cross. "We are in close contact with the Indonesian Government and other humanitarian agencies and stand ready to provide further assistance as required," he said. He also offered Australia's condolences over the victims of the disaster.
The US embassy says it will give $US100,000 ($A129,000) in emergency assistance through the Red Cross and other organisations to provide emergency supplies and items such as plastic sheets, cooking utensils and sleeping mats.
Tens of thousands of houses have been inundated after rivers and canals that criss-cross Jakarta burst their banks following days of torrential downpours in the city and the adjoining towns of Tangerang and Bekasi. Health ministry officials have estimated the number of displaced at nearly 340,000.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Wow! $100,000 will buy a lot of religious policemen and headchoppers!
You didn't think the aid will get to the victims do you?
From Barnabas Fund: In the past few weeks there has been an upsurge in the persecution of Christians. In a village near Banda Aceh seven houses built by a Christian organisation for Christian victims of the 2004 tsunami cannot be occupied by the Christian families they were intended for. Local Muslims organised public demonstrations outside the houses, protesting at the imminent arrival of the Christian families, who dared not then move in. Signs were erected outside the houses to say that Christians were not allowed. The same Christian organisation had built over 200 houses for Muslim victims, but only Christians were prevented from occupying their houses.
#3
I believe the embassy can only give 50K and the Red Cross can match funds. Splitting hairs, I know, but then all the funds go through the Red cross with the correct burdon, all the food and supplies must be bought locally, and it will say Red Cross/cresent and not US when it is delivered. Lots of room for corruption.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/06/2007 13:31 Comments ||
Top||
Wash. Initiative would Force Married couples to have kids
02:34 PM PST on Monday, February 5, 2007
KING5.com Staff and Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. - An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled.
Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage.
Under the initiative, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriage would be subject to annulment.
All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in those marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.
For many years, social conservatives have claimed that marriage exists solely for the purpose of procreation ... The time has come for these conservatives to be dosed with their own medicine," said WA-DOMA organizer Gregory Gadow in a printed statement. If same-sex couples should be barred from marriage because they can not have children together, it follows that all couples who cannot or will not have children together should equally be barred from marriage."
Supporters must gather more than 224,000 valid signatures by July 6 to put the initiative on the November ballot.
Opponents say the measure is another attack on traditional marriage, but supporters say the move is needed to have a discussion on the high court ruling.
#1
GENTLEMEN, IT'S TIME FOR YOUR ANNUAL "AM I GAY?" SELF-EXAMINATION
1. If you are over forty, and you have a washboard stomach, you are gay. It means you haven't sucked back enough beer with the boys and have spent the rest of your free time doing sit-ups, aerobics, and doing the Oprah diet.
2. If you're single and have a cat, you are a Flaaaaming homo. A cat is like a dog, but gay - it grooms itself constantly but never scratches itself, has a delicate touch except when it uses its nails, and whines to be fed. And just think about how you call a dog ... "Killer, come here! I said get your ass over here, Killer!" Now think about how you call a cat ... "Bun-bun, come to daddy, snookums!" Jeeezus, you're fit to be framed, you're so gay.
3. If you suck on lollipops, Ring-Pops, baby pacifiers, or any such nonsense, rest assured, you are a Gaylord. A straight man only sucks on barbeque ribs, crab claws, raw oysters, crawfish guts, pickled pigs feet, etc. Anything else and you are in training and undeniably gay.
4. If you refuse to take a dump in a public bathroom or piss in a parking lot, you crave a deep homosexual relationship. A man's world is his bathroom; he defecates and urinates where he pleases.
5. If you drink decaf coffee with skim milk, you are on the road to gayville. Coffee is to be hard, strong, black, and full aroma. A straight man will never be heard ordering a "Decaf Cafe Latte with Skim" and he will never, ever know what artificial sweetener tastes like. If you've had NutraSweet in your mouth, ugh!
6. If you know more than six names of colors or four different types of dessert, you might as well be handing out free passes. A real man doesn't have memory space in his brain to remember all of that crap as well as all the names of all the players in the Major League, NFL, NHL, college ball, PGA and NASCAR. If you can pick out chartreuse or you know what a "fressier" is you're gay. And if you can name ANY type of textile other than denim, you are faggadocious.
7. If you drive with both hands on the wheel, forget it. A man only puts both hands on the wheel to honk at a slow-ass driver or to cut the punk off. The rest of the time he needs that hand to change the radio station, eat a hamburger, hold his beer, or play with his honey in the passenger seat.
#5
Did they even think about this first, or did they deliberately want to piss off the rest of Oregon? I think even those that supported gay marriage would respond to this with a rousing "Fuck You".
#6
it seems this is making fun of the folks who say marriage is about kids. Even look at the name of the group. Obviously some folks dont know when theyre being made fun of.
#8
WTF? Any good debater since Lincoln uses humor. Some of the best stuff the last few years has come from Scrappleface. Heck, some of the best is right here on Rantburg - ya know thats one of the reasons I started coming here, for the dark humor approach to the WOT. Helps get ya through the day.
I dont trust folks who dont have a sense of humor.
#10
No, really, entertainement is one HUGE tool for pushing agendas, much more than hard news; make people laughs at the good targets, make sure they understand that if they don't conform to certain dogmas and behaviors, they are to be laughed at.
Just think at the representation of the dad in many, many sitcoms and series, as opposed to mommy.
This is particulary true in France, with humor being used to turn into derision anything and everything that is even remotely linked with "frenchness" and conservatism.
Humor is VERY powerful, especialy in its derision form, where it help further moral equivalency and relativism.
And regarding "real" agitprop from leftists/trotskysts, it usually involves ridicule and outrageous behavior (think gay pride), like act up France crashing in during a mass at the Nôtre-Dame Cathedral to celebrate a mock homosexual marriage.
IMHO, this married-with-children initiative is not innocent, tongue-in-cheek humor, it's another blow in the culture war (AKA the forward drive of the Forces of Progress, always loking to gain ground, and never losing any inch of the ones they've gained).
#14
"Humor is VERY powerful, especialy in its derision form, where it help further moral equivalency and relativism."
Actually i think relativism is one of the more fun thinks to crack jokes at. Humor is a weapon against ANY fanaticism, and against anything thats not well thought out. See our posts here about Bangla keystone cops, about Palestinians and popcorn, about, oh a hundred different things. If you dont like political humor, i really dont see what youre doing at Rantburg.
#16
I'm just surprised that no one did this sooner, especially considering that so many opposition to gay marriage groups kept going on about "marriage is for raising children" to the point of nausea. Obviously, it's not, since there is no current fertility test requirement in any state.
No guy could marry an 80 year old woman, or one who has had her tubes tied or a hysterectomy. And no woman could marry a guy with a vasectomy or persistent impotence. Contraception would not be allowed for married couples, only singles. If childbearing and rearing was the real reason for marriage, refusal to have children could be used as a reason for divorce like it is a reason for annulment in the Catholic Church.
All they're doing is calling those groups' bluff. Put up or shut up. I'd like to see if those same groups opposing gay marriage on childrearing grounds will support this initiative or will find some way to weasel out of it.
#18
Sorry... Oops my comment was directed at the other males, as the Besoeker post 's list implied... We'll put up a pix of that Navy Doc who will be on the reality TV show this spring, "The Bachelor" for the women posters... same comment would then apply...
Lt. Andrew (Andy) Baldwin, MD
#21
Thanks fo rthe clarification, Big Ed. Between your post and Besoeker's I was pretty convinced that I must be a male homosexual, too. You can't imagine how relieved I am to find that isn't necessarily so (and thank goodness Mr. Wife is safely ensconsed in Japan, 'cause he'd have found the situation quite unacceptable). ;-)
#22
"entertainment is one HUGE tool for pushing agendas, much more than hard news; make people laughs at the good targets, make sure they understand that if they don't conform to certain dogmas and behaviors, they are to be laughed at.
Just think at the representation of the dad in many, many sitcoms and series, as opposed to mommy."
It's just another example of Gramscianism.
And nowadays, the distinction between news and entertainment has been so blurred that the term "infotainment" seems most useful to apply.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/06/2007 19:34 Comments ||
Top||
#23
lol, TW. Reminds me of the t-shirt this dork used to wear at school (a guy). "I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body".
Posted by: BA ||
02/06/2007 20:49 Comments ||
Top||
#24
Yeah, tw. But a lot of the local dudes here wear them for surfing (the occasional cold water and jellyfish).
Delivery giant UPS unveiled a multibillion-dollar order for 27 Boeing freighter planes, while keeping Boeing's rival Airbus on tenterhooks over the fate of a superjumbo order. The new order triggered speculation over the separate order from UPS for 10 of the Airbus A380 freighters. Airbus has been plagued by delays to its gigantic plane.
But UPS said in a statement: "The order for the 27 B-767s is not related to UPS's ongoing review of its order for 10 Airbus A380 freighters." The A380 "superjumbo" is now two years behind schedule, with Singapore Airlines due to receive the first passenger version this October. The cargo version is not due until mid-2010. UPS is the only remaining customer after FedEx pulled out last year. "We want to know, is it going to be there on that schedule or do we have to look at alternatives?" UPS spokesman Mark Giuffre told AFP.
#2
I still like the way George Will described it - Airbus fought hard for a knowingly bad/lousy contract, then made things worse for itself by knowingly designing = producing a bad/lousy airplane.
#3
I gather Boeing now has something like 1,100 aircraft on back order, which is about 50 more than they have ever had. And several of their non-aircraft divisions are also under capacity production, such as making JDAM conversion kits.
#4
Boeing better have more than that since Airbus has a 2500 plane backlog. End of 2006, Boeing had $174 billion backlog of commercial airliners or over 6 years at current production.
Posted by: ed ||
02/06/2007 11:23 Comments ||
Top||
CEO of FedEx, says that 98 percent of the weight of international commerce is shipped by sea, but the 2 percent moved by air constitutes 40 percent of the economic value.
#8
Now that EADS has failed with the airbus, lets get them to fail sonner than later on the LUH. They boast they have delivered their first aircraft, in reality they delivered the one test aircraft they had. They have no where to produce the next aircraft.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/06/2007 20:40 Comments ||
Top||
Oil prices rose again Monday, after falling earlier in the day on last week's surge fueled by expectations of cold weather in major US markets. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 27 cents to $59.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. Brent crude for March delivery on the ICE Futures exchange was still down 11 cents to $58.30 a barrel. The Nymex contract on Friday rose $1.72 to settle at $59.02 a barrel on colder-than-normal US weather and supply worries driven by a second round of OPEC production cuts.
Oil prices had earlier fallen as low as $49.90 a barrel after an unseasonably warm January.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
dang, and we were just under $2.00 a gallon of gas.
#2
Damn, that's a 20% rise per barrel in about 2 weeks! There's a lot of financial manipulation of the oil market going on, it's not just supply & demand that influences the price per barrel.
OTOH, notice the following chart:
Getting flat towards the end of 2006, even with the record high prices of last year. $59 a barrel is probably cheap!
#4
I mean the oil futures people, of course. Most of us are hoping that something will happen to Iran in the near term, which mostly likely will affect its oil exports.
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.
Health workers in several African countries are battling to contain outbreaks of cholera that have already killed hundreds of people. The most recent cholera outbreak has occurred in Somalia where more than 100 people have died of the disease. Flooding in the centre of the country has contaminated drinking water and hundreds of people have been hospitalised with suspected cases of the intestinal disease. Cholera causes diarrhoea and in developing countries, where sanitation is poor, it can quickly lead to death from dehydration. 
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday partially demolished former BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed's house beside the Buriganga river. Salahuddin encroached upon the riverbank and built part of the house and its stairs during the four-party alliance rule. The BIWTA had earlier served on him several notices for removing the illegal structure. "But he did not listen to us," said a BIWTA official. 
Lawyers in South Korea have vowed to appeal against a three-year jail sentence for the head of the country's biggest car-maker. The chairman of Hyundai Motor company has been found guilty of embezzlement and fraud. Chung Mong-Koo was found guilty of having directed the equivalent of more than $100 million from Hyundai Motor into a slush fund used to bribe politicians and government officials. The 68-year-old has been sentenced to three years' jail, although he remains out on bail pending an appeal. 
Fiji's sole armed police unit - the elite Tactical Response Division - is no longer operational on the orders of the military-appointed police commissioner. A statement says the unit was disbanded on February 1. "Lately the functions of the unit appeared to have been compromised when it was used for other purposes for which it was (not) intended," the statement said. "When its leader came under heavy suspicion by the (military) and its members showed overt signs of indiscipline, the division was disbanded by the Commissioner of Police (Colonel Jim Koroi)." 
Germany's economy minister has upped the ante in talks to restructure Airbus, threatening to cancel defense deals with Franco-German parent company EADS if the revamp claims too many German jobs. But commentators say it's an empty threat, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman has opted for a markedly softer tone on the issue.
KIEV - A senior Kiev official attacked US plans to set up an anti-missile defence system in Eastern Europe, saying they posed a threat to Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.
Rudolph Giuliani today took another big step toward launching a full-fledged campaign for the White House, filing paperwork formally declaring himself a possible candidate in next year's election. Giuliani filed a "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission today, an FEC official said a relatively routine move but one Giuliani had resisted up until now.
Australia and the United States have provided emergency relief for victims of floods that have displaced almost 340,000 people in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. 
Oil prices rose again Monday, after falling earlier in the day on last week's surge fueled by expectations of cold weather in major US markets. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 27 cents to $59.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. Brent crude for March delivery on the ICE Futures exchange was still down 11 cents to $58.30 a barrel. The Nymex contract on Friday rose $1.72 to settle at $59.02 a barrel on colder-than-normal US weather and supply worries driven by a second round of OPEC production cuts.
