#1
Gaea is taking care of us, the sea level will be kept constant no matter how much global warming there is, the water just runs out at the bottom. It really is "turtles all the way down."
In our favored version, an Eastern guru affirms that the earth is supported on the back of a tiger. When asked what supports the tiger, he says it stands upon an elephant; and when asked what supports the elephant he says it is a giant turtle. When asked, finally, what supports the giant turtle, he is briefly taken aback, but quickly replies "Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down."
#4
Hupack Elmereter said: #3 The outer diameter of the mantle is a thousand degrees farenheit.
The inner diameter is 3700 farenheiht.
These scientists punch a hole in that stuff, we may have a volcano on our hands. A new Hawaii may develope.
They sure better know what they are about to do down there while punching holes.
Um, methinks thou shouldest goest back to school.
The outer diameter of the crust is about 7500 miles. The inner diameter of the mantle if about 7470 miles. The crust is believed to be about (on average) 30 miles thick except at various locations such as deep ocean volcanic vents where the crustal thickness is believed to be as low as 5-25 miles (it's thicker under mountain ranges for examples than it is under deep ocean ridges).
The upper mantle and the mantle proper are believed to comprise about 70% of the total mass of the Earth (the core occupies about 30%). The total thickness of the mantle is believed to be about 2500 miles thick (2900 km).
From Wikipedia,
In the mantle, temperatures range between 500°C-900°C (932°F-1,652°F) at the upper boundary with the crust to over 4,000°C (7,200°F) at the boundary with the core. Although the higher temperatures far exceed the melting points of the mantle rocks at the surface (about 1200°C for representative peridotite), the mantle is almost exclusively solid. The enormous lithostatic pressure exerted on the mantle prevents melting, because the temperature at which melting begins (the solidus) increases with pressure.
Also from Wikipedia,
The second attempt to retrieve samples from the Earth's mantle is scheduled for 2007 [2]. As part of the Chikyu Hakken mission, it will use the Japanese vessel 'Chikyu' to drill up to 7000m (23,000 ft) below the seabed. This is nearly three times as deep as preceding oceanic drillings, which are preferred over land drillings because the crust at the seabed is thinner. The first attempt, known as Project Mohole, was abandoned in 1966 after repeated failures and cost over-runs. The deepest they managed to penetrate was about 180m (590 ft). In 2005 the third-deepest oceanic borehole hole reached 1416 meters (4,644 feet) below the sea floor from the ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution.
I would recommend that next time you try to post here, you try to attend class before spouting drivel on this site that mixes up terminology a second grader could have figured out , but let me explain it to you in detail,
"diameter" is the distance through the center of a spherical object (generally).
"farenheit" is a standard (fairly) measurement of temperature.
While both diameter and temperature are units of measurement, they have no physical connection in terms of what they measure.
You've wandered onto a site where there are a LOT of very intelligent people. Do your homework next time. You'd have been flunked in any high school physics or geology exam for your comment.
Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometres in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earths crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle - the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many kilometres thick - is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface.
Goreball Worming blamed in 5, 4, 3....
Personally, I blame Bush.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/05/2007 18:29 Comments ||
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#7
Excuse me, if it's 3 thousand meters below the surface, it's not "exposed"!
One assumes that this is a complete misunderstanding of the reporter of what he has been told.
The actual depth of the mantle in the example he is (apparently) trying to explain is 3km below the surface of the bed of the ocean which is an unknown (and unspecified) depth below the surface of the ocean.
This appears to be a suboceanic vent and would appear to be well within known geophysical phenomena - not a friggin open wound in the surface of the earth as is tring to be portrayed in this ill-informed and badly written article!
#8
Okay FOTS since you seem to know what you are talking about.....
how much heat 500 - 900 C mantle is warming up the ocean? How much of an effect would that have on overall Gorebal Warnening? (Specifically, since warm water gives up CO2 is this helping to add CO2 to the atmosphere? If so, how much?
Is this accounted for in the "models" (snicker, joke, chortle)?
#9
Well the fishing was bad and the boat laid up
Now me and the lad weren't shirkers
When this chap comes to our village pub
and he say he's looking for workers
Talked like a bit of a yank I thought
And he stood us a couple or three
And he say they're building an oily rig
to get oil out of the old North Sea
There's plenty of riches for all
And gas as well as oil
And all he wanted from us local chaps
was some help with the work and the toil.
How much would we earn, I ventured to ask
Oh 20, 30 pound or so
Is that a month, I says and he laughed
No, he says, a week and even more.
Well I went home and told the Mrs this yarn
I said I heard these yarns afore
Don't see what good would become of it
drilling these holes offshore.
I'd rather work the boat with the boy
but the mrs she sit and she fret
You'll earn more there in a week she says
than a whole bloody year with your net!
Well, in the end, I took the job
And the boy he's on the tug
Thought some good would come of it
If only some beer in me mug.
We worked on this great big platform thing they made
and the drill it went Wheee Wheee Wheee
And we drilled this great big bloody round hole
In the bottom of the old North Sea.
Welllllllll, there weren't no gas and there weren't no oil
not a bloody sight we found
Till one day, the boy he shouts to me
Hey dad! The tug's aground!
I looked over the side and the boy was right
and everywhere I spied
there were boats and ships and liners aground
and the fish, all high and dry!
It looked just like a desert, boy
Enough to make a man afraid
with the last of the sea going glug glug glug
down that bloody great hole we made.
Then a hiss and a roar, and a cloud of steam
out of our hole it came
And out popped the head of the devil himself, saying
What's your bloody game??????!!!!!!!!!!
Youve flooded me furnaces and put me fires out
And hell is cold and sodden wet
You puddin-headed lout!!
Blast yer bloody hoily rig, you'd make an angel sob
I'll never get hell hot again,
I'll lose me bloody job!!!
Quite riled he was
Well, I just laughed cause I don't give a mite
You'll never get hell hot again
without a bloody light
So in the end, we did some good with our hoily rig
We sure doused Hell in a hurry
So if you die, there's only heaven
So no more need to worry.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/05/2007 21:04 Comments ||
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#10
"New Hawaii" > why not? A few yarns ago there were publicly announced proposals to build underwater roadway tunnels stretching alongst flat, mostly linear seabeds from CONUS to other continents. RR's and underground transits have thier "break/transfer" stations - COME ON, LETS MAKE TEDDY ROOSEVELT PROUD!
#11
> These scientists punch a hole in that stuff,
> we may have a volcano on our hands. A new
> Hawaii may develop.
I CLAIM IT IN THE NAME OF ME!! Henceforth (after it cools down), it will be known as DMFDLand. There will be no taxes, minimal government, and we'll generate income by selling MP3's from the DMFDLand data-haven. Harrrrrrr!!! Avast ye scurvy downloaders!!
HARGEISA - A Somaliland court sentenced four journalists on Sunday to jail terms ranging from two to two-and-a half years for defaming the countrys president and revoked the licence of the paper that employed them. Three of them had been detained since January while the fourth was sentenced in absentia. They worked for the local daily HAATUF and were accused of defaming Somalilands President Dahir Rayale Kahin.
Doesn't really seem to matter much who's in charge in what country in Africa, does it -- 'freedom of the press' remains an unknown concept.
The regional court in Hargeisa also fined the newspaper 5 million Somaliland shillings and revoked its licence, drawing criticism from a rights groups accusing Somaliland of muzzling the press. The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, a little-known group, said the journalists had not received a fair trial. It said the 5 million Somaliland shillings was equivalent to $800.
The international community needs to speak out on the conduct of justice in Somaliland, it said in a statement. I call upon the government to lift the ban on HAATUFs publication and allow the media to flourish as part of an ongoing democratisation process, it quoted its chairman Hassan Shire Shaikh as saying.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
With state controlled media you get lies and distortions to support agendas. With a 'free' press you get lies and distortions to support agendas. Just put me down as cynical about the issue.
Civil society organisations in Mauritania are relying on 800 observers spread out across the country to monitor the course of the presidential elections and ensure that it is conducted with full transparency and fairness.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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In a resignation letter to the Amir, Sheikh Nasser said since Sheikh Sabah assigned him to form a government on July 2, 2006, his cabinet was working to continue the process of reforms and development. "This process cannot be fruitfull without a genuine and constructive cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities which, in line with the articles of constitution, is based on the segregation between authorities yet stipulates cooperation," added Sheikh Nasser. "This is a major necessity to preserve unity and stability of the country," he added.
Sheikh Nasser commended the trust bestowed upon the government by the Amir, but said he has no option "vis-a-vis impossibility of continuation of the government to work but to place my resignation and the resignation of my brother ministers in the government so Your Highness can take appropriate decision for the higher interests of the country."
This article starring:
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Respected Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, who reported on military affairs, mysteriously plunged to his death from the 5th floor of his apartment building Friday, making him the 14th journalist to die under questionable circumstances in Putin's Russia, according to statistics compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. "They killed Ivan. They killed Ivan," said a distraught former U.S. intelligence staffer familiar with Safronov when he learned the news today. "Another Russian journalist is dead. Ivan fell out of the window with his coat and hat on? Come on," said the former official who frequently visits Moscow and asked to remain anonymous.
Last October, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in the elevator of her apartment building as she unloaded groceries just days before she was scheduled to publish a story about the use of torture by Chechnyan officials. Polikovskaya's killing, the 13th since Putin took office, led the Committee to Protect Journalists to declare Russia "the third deadliest country in the world for journalists" after Iraq and Algeria in their recent report, "Deadly News." All of the cases remain unsolved.
According to a report in this morning's Moscow Times, Safronov, who wrote for the Russian business newspaper "Kommersant," fell head first and fully clothed from a 5th floor window although he lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the building. The Times reported the FSB -- the Federal Security Bureau, which is the successor agency to the KGB -- was unhappy with Safronov's reporting on sensitive weapons systems.
Safronov's death adds to the list of critics of the Putin regime and the FSB, who have died or been injured in strange circumstances in just the past six months:
- Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down last October. The killers have not been caught.
- Former spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned last November in London by the rare radioactive substance polonium, which was slipped into a teapot.
- And just last week Russian scholar Paul Joyal was shot and wounded in an attack outside his suburban Maryland home, a few days after appearing on NBC News in a program about the Litvinenko case. So far, Maryland police have said the shooting appears to be the result of high crime in the area.
Russians would be a lot better as assassins if they would both concentrate on WoT Imams, and learn that whole "plausible deniability" thing.
#2
I've got a little list.
I've got a little list,
Of folks who won't be missed
Of folks who won't be missed,
From the Queen's hand maiden on down.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:46 Comments ||
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#3
Just to be clear about that... if any FSB agents (whom I do fully respect and look up to, as they are the Elite of today's Russia) are reading RB, let me assure you, dear sirs, that I have a very positive view of Vladimir Putin, who is certainly the most under-rated, yet important, leader of our times. Go Putin!
(please, don't kill me)
#5
Rosa Kleb and Red Grant. Grant is telling Bond what a fool he is because he knows what kind of wine to order but that he, Grant, is the one who is now holding the gun. The ensuing fight scene on the train was one of the best I'd ever seen. In the novel From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming the bad guys were from SMERSH, Stalin's very real Death to Spies branch of the KGB. In the movie they changed it so the bad guys worked for SPECTRE, a fictitious crime syndicate, in the interest of better relations with the Soviet Union. In a strange way I kind of miss the bad old days of the Cold War because of all the highly entertaining spy novels that came out of it. But it looks like that Litvinenko story would make a great novel.
#6
SMERSH comes from the Russian words for"Kill all spies" which was a Stalin order in the '30s. But realizing that their embassy people would be targeted by pissed off Euros and Americans, it was decided to withdraw the order.
I wish I could remember what the words are, being an ubergeek I would insert the words at every opportunity into any conversation.
#7
SMERSH, short for SMERt' SHpionam (СМЕРть Шпионам), or "Death to Spies." I don't think Stalin's order was ever rescinded. Hundreds if not thousands of people were murdered by SMERSH in the west. One of their coolest roles during WWII was executing their own troops retreating in the face of German attacks. See wiki
See this BBC article on a sentimental get-together of SMERSH veterans in 2003.
#11
FREEREPUBLIC + LUCIANNE Posters > are speculating or arguing that RUSSIA is contempor devolving into a genuine GLOBAL MAFIA STATE, disguised as a SHADOW COMMIE STATE disguised as a FASCIST-STYLE? "LIBERAL" = NATIONALIST-RIGHTIST STATE, where Commies = Fascists/Nationalists = Mafiacrats???
TOKYO (AP) Japan will not apologize again for its World War II military brothels, even if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution demanding it, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament Monday. Abe, elaborating on his denial last week that women from across Asia were forced into sexual slavery in the 1930s and 1940s, said none of the testimony in hearings last month by the U.S. House of Representatives offered any solid proof of abuse. "I must say we will not apologize even if there's a resolution," Abe told lawmakers in a lengthy debate, during which he also said he stood by Japan's landmark 1993 apology on the brothels. "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion," Abe said. "There was no testimony based that had any proof," he told lawmakers Monday. Beyond the pale
Historians say that up to 200,000 women mostly from Korea and China served in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia during the war and in the years leading up to it. Accounts of abuse by the military including kidnapping of women and girls for use in the brothels have been backed up by witnesses, victims and even former Japanese soldiers. Victims and their supporters have pushed unsuccessfully for official government compensation. Japan set up a private fund for compensation in 1995, but has refused to provide government money. The fund will be dissolved at the end of March.
The prime minister, who is slumping in the polls since his election in September, was accused by the opposition of endangering Japan's international standing as a nation supporting human rights. "Unless Japan offers an apology ... I am afraid the international community will think Japan has not learned the lesson on human rights or from the war, which Japan started," Democratic Party lawmaker Toshio Ogawa said. comfort-women.org
#1
Even with the argument that there is no evidence, this guy has really stepped in a pile. Any idiot politician knows you give public support for people who have been sexually abused. All it would have taken would have been for him to speak at some length about the wrong in forcing people into any kind of sexual behavior, in any time or any place. But no, Japan clings to an outdated sexual mentality, just as much of Asia does, and they are hobbling themselves with it. This story seems to have a durable shelf life in European news right now.
#2
I can see his side. They already apologized. The fact that other nations demand it over and over is a bit much. I am tired of people demanding over and over that everyone apologizes for everything. Life sucks, people and nations do shitty things. If they apologize, get over it and move on.
De-funding the compensation I think is a bad move and claiming there is no proof is also going too far. That does little for the PM's position of resolve.
#3
I'm here in South Korea. Things between Japan and SK have been bad. This is going to make them much worse. The Koreans see it as a horrible stain on their honor to have had so many of their young women taken and forced into being unpaid whores for the Japanese Army. If Japan was as apologetic as it could be it would still be a bone of contention. Japanese defiance will bring relations to a new postwar low.
Posted by: mac ||
03/05/2007 10:11 Comments ||
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#4
Darth I was thinking the same thing at first. But the evidence is overwhelming and to have Shinzo Abe claim it never happened, well it's just stupid slander towards the victims. Japan's refusal to fund the program shows clear intent of a "pretend apology"
The Nazis were humanitarians compared to the Japs during WWII. And how many Japanese where hung for war crimes? No wonder Abe thinks such a bullcrap lie can be thrown into these women's faces.
My brother worked in a Sex Crimes Unit and I guess my view of this bastard may be biased. I'd still like to see him share a cell with Bubba in a deep south jail. When he came out half hosed to death the surviving women could hand him a t-shit. "I volunteered for this treatment that never happened".
#5
Black folks want an apology for Slavery, since there's no slaves alive today, and no slaveowners, this seems only designed to stir up trouble.
Same idea exactly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:52 Comments ||
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#6
The Koreans see it as a horrible stain on their honor to have had so many of their young women taken and forced into being unpaid whores for the Japanese Army
From the people whose politicians use the Americans as their own little whipping boy to heap blame upon while ignoring that their liberty and prosperity was made possible by said Americans. Honor indeed. Very selective.
#7
A democratically elected government of Japan does not need to apologize for the actions of Japan's fascist pass. It does, however, have to acknowledge Japan's fascist past. I want an apology from Japan for its ongoing denial of this past. This is a sin of the present; not of the ancestors.
· China 18% rise in military outlay is largest since 1995
· World's largest army to undergo modernisation
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Including up to SIX SSBN-type subs, which Net speculators say China will keep at least TWO OF SIX ON PATROL, OSTENSIBLY PC AGZ JAPAN BUT IN REALITY TO ALSO TARGET THE USA[Russia?]???
#2
See also FREEREPUBLIC > USA, INDIA, & JAPAN TO HOLD MIL EXCERCISES, near Japan + northern Pacific in alleged reaction to China's announcement of Mil spending increase. Also, VALIANT SHEILD 2007 ANTI-TERROR MILEX/NAVEX - largest Terror MILEX in history to be held in WESTPAC near Guam-Marianas. * TAIPEITIMES > EDITORIAL > CHINA'S MILITARY SENDING A SIGNAL article - Chinese Foreign Ministry may NOT had known about missle test used to destroy one of China's own satellites.
#3
All those dollars that the Chinese have stockpiled are getting put to good use. China is going to build a mighty navy, bristling with anti-carrier missiles.
#5
Once again, I would be interested in asking the Navy types if they think it would be a good idea to sell the USS Kennedy to India, for them to reverse engineer, so that they could build a carrier fleet far better than what the Chinese have?
#7
I read a comment here (Had to be here, the Burg is the only site I visit) not long ago that stated something to the effect of the Kennedy being such a goofy collection of updates, that it was almost it's own class of carrier. If that's the case, it's probably not the best piece for India to reverse engineer.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/05/2007 13:45 Comments ||
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#8
Can we please slap tariffs on all the plastic crap that we import from China now?
A couple weeks ago I needed a new printer for my computer. I went to Costco and found a reasonably priced Hewlett-Packard printer. I didn't even think to check if it was made in China because I though HP would never do that. Dell, yes, but NOT HP! But I got it home and looked and, sure enough, it was Made in China. Damn it, if we can't do better than that we deserve to be defeated.
#9
I didn't even think to check if it was made in China because I though HP would never do that. Dell, yes, but NOT HP!
LOL!
You need to take that Chinee shit back to Costco right damn now Ebbang. Then find an old IBM LinePrinter with a parallel port. You'll shitloads better. You'll have shit for a printer, but still, that warm cockel thing is worth something no?
#10
Shipman, I used to have a daisy wheel printer with a serial port. It wasn't much for graphics but it did put out letter quality documents. Noisy as all get out but solid as a rock. Made in USA.
The mother of an 11-year-old girl is unhappy with the way the rules division of international soccer's governing body handled the issue of Muslim girls wearing traditional headgear during organized matches.
The International Football Association Board was asked to consider the case of Asmahan Mansour, an Ottawa-area soccer player recently ejected from an indoor game in Quebec for wearing a hijab. The referee of the game in Laval, north of Montreal, said the scarf was a safety concern.
IFAB officials concluded Saturday in Manchester, England that existing rules for on-field equipment are adequate. "If you play football, there's a set of laws and rules, and law 4 outlines the basic equipment," said Brian Barwick, chief executive of the English Football Association, which is one of the board's members. "It's absolutely right to be sensitive to people's thoughts and philosophies, but equally there has to be a set of laws that are adhered to, and we favour law 4 being adhered to." Law 4 states that players "must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewellery)."
Maria Mansour, the girl's mother, said the ejection "humiliated" her daughter. She hoped the IFAB would be sensitive to the issue. "As far as the decision, it is disappointing because... IFAB should clarify and be more sensitive to these cases," Maria Mansour said Saturday by telephone from Ottawa.
"I truly think they should have (overridden) what Quebec's rule is. (Asmahan) is still hoping that Quebec will remove that rule someday so she will be able to play (in Quebec). There's nothing that has been accomplished."
The Nepean Hotspurs under-12 team pulled out of the Canadian indoor championship last Sunday when a Muslim referee ruled Asmahan could not wear a hijab during a game. She has worn a the headscarf during games played in Ontario, where they are permitted by the provincial association.
Quebec's Soccer Federation said the traditional scarf violated a no-headgear rule set by the sport's governing body for safety reasons. Valmie Ouellet, co-ordinator of regional technical services for the QSF, later said the referee was simply enforcing rules set by FIFA. Ouellet declined to comment about IFAB's decision on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the director of the Canadian Arab Federation - who is also a Level 2 referee for the Ontario Soccer Association - maintains that traditional headgear such as hijabs, turbans and yarmulkes are worn by soccer players in Canada and around the world.
Mohamed El Rashidy believes this is strictly an issue in Quebec. "To me, this ruling does not change anything because nothing needs to change," El Rashidy said by phone from his home in Mississauga, Ont. "The hijab, when worn safely, has already been allowed in the past and will continue to be allowed in the future under FIFA rules." El Rashidy said female Muslim soccer players make up a large percentage of athletes at the world's elite levels and they wear hijabs on the field.
Mansour said Asmahan was back on the field Saturday in the Ottawa area. "She had a great game today and scored two awesome goals," she said. "For now, she's happy to play in Ontario."
#1
Good for you, Quebecers! If that Muzzy chick doesn't like your rules, she can go back to where she came from and stay there. Tell her not to let the door hit her in the butt on the way out.
Posted by: mac ||
03/05/2007 6:47 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe if the family moved to a Middle Eastern country she could pay while wearing her hijab. Uh no, that wouldn't work they don't have girls sports teams. Oh well, tough luck.
#3
Guess who would be the first to hire a lawyer if the girl had been injured during a game because of her hijab? They might even make it into a hate-crime if she gets injured.
WASHINGTON Doctors found a blood clot in Dick Cheney's left lower leg on Monday and have put the vice president on blood thinning medication to be taken for several months.
Cheney visited his doctor's office at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates in the afternoon following mild calf discomfort, said spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride.
Cheney, 66, has previously been treated for a heart condition and has a pacemaker to regulate any irregular heartbeat. His annual physical in July showed his overall heart condition was stable. At the time, an electrocardiogram was also taken to check on repaired aneurysms on the back of his knees that were repaired through surgery in 2005.
Cheney has had four attacks; the first in 1978, when he was 37, and the fourth on Nov. 22, 2000, after the election that made George W. Bush president.
Cheney has been traveling a lot and air flight is frequently blamed for blood clots. He recently returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Monday's ultrasound revealed a deep venous thrombosis or DVT. The vice president was not admitted to the hospital and has since returned to the White House to resume his schedule, McBride said.
"He'll maintain his regular schedule," McBride said. "He feels fine."
Thomas F. Eagleton, a former United States senator whose legislative accomplishments were overshadowed by his removal as Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1972 after revelations of mental illness and electroshock therapy, died today in Richmond Heights, Mo. He was 77 and lived outside St. Louis in Clayton, Mo.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Gaaawd, brings me back to the future of McGovern and '72. NIXON vz the MAN-CRIER wid the MENTALLY ILL VEEP - D *** ng it, wonder who'd won???
President Musharraf, claims Newsweek, is reaching out to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was removed from office in 1996 for alleged corruption despite the fact that he blames his exiled foe for the countrys economic and political woes, according to Western diplomats in the region who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject.
It said that the two would make a perfect match because personal issues aside, both politicians share a liberal, secular outlook. A Musharraf-Bhutto alliance could increase political stability and energise Pakistans moderates prior to elections later this year. Musharraf would likely hold onto the presidency, adding some democratic credentials, and Bhutto would be allowed to return home and perhaps even play a hand in selecting the new prime minister, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Michael Moore, the celebrated left-wing film-maker, has become the unwilling subject of a new documentary that raises damaging questions about the credibility of his work.
The director and star of successful documentaries such as Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore has repeatedly been accused by his right-wing enemies of distorting or manipulating the material in his films. On his website he dismisses his critics as wacko attackos.
Yet the latest assault on Moores film-making techniques has come from an unexpected quarter. In Manufacturing Dissent, a documentary to be shown for the first time at a Texas film festival on Saturday, a pair of left-wing Canadian film-makers take Moore to task for what they describe as a disturbing pattern of fact-fudging and misrepresentation.
When we started this project we hoped to have done a documentary that celebrated Michael Moore. We were admirers and fans, said Debbie Melnyk, who made the film with her husband, Rick Caine. Then we found out certain facts about his documentaries that we hadnt known before. We ended up very disappointed and disillusioned.
Melnyk and Caine are best known for their previous documentary Citizen Black, about Conrad Black, the Canadian-born former proprietor of The Daily Telegraph. Last week both of them acknowledged an important debt to Moore for popularising the documentary genre.
Yet when Caine and Melnyk began to follow him as part of their own documentary, their efforts to interview him met with the same kind of obstruction, denial and, ultimately, physical ejection that Moore had suffered when he tried to track down Roger Smith, the former chief executive of General Motors, for his first film, Roger & Me.
It was in Flint, Michigan, Moores former home town, that Caine and Melnyk made the first discovery that they say rocked their confidence in his approach. Roger & Me was a hugely successful account of what Moore portrayed as a fruitless task to force Smith to answer questions about GMs policies in closing the car manufacturing plants that had long been Flints economic lifeline.
Caine and Melnyk claim that Moore interviewed Smith on camera twice. But the scenes were left on the cutting room floor, apparently for greater dramatic effect.
Manufacturing Dissent includes a long catalogue of alleged exaggerations or distortions in several of Moores films. In Bowling for Columbine, a scathing indictment of US gun violence, Moore visited Toronto to show parts of the city that were supposedly so free of crime everyone left their front doors unlocked.
Discovery Channel has put off the screening of controversial documentary - The Lost Tomb of Jesus - following protests from various Christian groups in India and abroad. The channel was to air the documentary produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron that contradicts major Christian tenets such as resurrection of Christ on Sunday.
According to the documentary, the caskets used to store bones discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family. Reports said names of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and other relatives were found on the caskets. The documentary also claims that Judah was Jesuss secret son from Mary of Magdalene. Cameron claimed that the ossuaries contained in the tombs that were used as coffins in the first-century Jerusalem were scientifically examined. According to the documentary, one of the tombs contained ten ossuaries belonging to the family of Jesus.
Earlier, archaeologists and clergymen in Jerusalem had trashed the claims. Discovery Channel has put off the screening following protests by Christian groups in US, Canada, Jerusalem and India against the documentary.
Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of Church in India, said documentaries of this sort will not go down well with anyone who respects religion and religious faith. The documentary is not based on proven historical fact. Historically speaking evidences closer to the event have more authenticity than evidences dished out after 2000 years. According to Biblical and non-Biblical sources, it has been believed that Jesus rose from the dead, and that is the basis of entire Christian faith and tradition, said CBCI spokesman Father Babu Joseph.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Funny!! I watched this program on the Discovery Channel, 7 pm MST, DirecTV, followed by 1 hour dicussion by various "experts" led by Ted Koppel. Perhaps they meant some other documentary?
#5
You can always tell when Lent starts, it's when the media begin Christian belief bashing.
You'll never see similar treatment given to Islam during their holy days - quite the contrary I've noticed.
Must have something to do with the western media elite being cowardly, effete, self hating pussies.
#6
The "documentary" does not bother me. I figure let him throw it out there, and see what sticks. My understanding from people who know are the tombs were actually discovered in the early 80s. The BBC did a report on them around 1996. Almost all biblical scholars, a number with no vested interest, have rejected the claim for years.
Can you imagine if Cameron had done the piece on mohammed?
#7
Mouse I read the original archaeologist's report completely disproving the whole thing. Cameraon would have to had know it was a fraud from the beginning.
After hearing about this Mocumentary, our local men gathered up all their torches and met at the the cable station. One of the guards asked us what the hell we were doing. He pointed out that we didn't qualify for murderous rioting. "You boys don't have diapers on your heads, ya an't Muslims are you? And what's up with the beer?"
Actually Hollyshit did a movie in 1976 about Muhamhead called, "The Message" (Anthony Quinn). You guessed it, they didn't actually show the Pedophile for Profit on screen. The film was a whitewash. The even had the High Islamic Congress of the Shiat in Lebanon involved. Akkad, director (executive producer of all 8 "Halloween" films.
March 9, 1977, a group of black Muslims attacked three buildings in downtown Washington D.C. and took 149 people hostage. They had plenty of demands, but the only coherent one was to prevent the upcoming release of "The Message." Thirty-nine hours later, the siege was over -- a reporter was dead and dozens of hostages had been stabbed, beaten or shot.
#9
Right you are, JerseyMike. A few years ago I cancelled my Newsweek subscription because of their annual pre-Easter Christianity bashing. Now U.S. News & World Report is doing the same thing and I cancelled that right before Christmas. They haul out all the Gnostics and other heretics right before Christian holy days and give them a cover story. There's no news involved -- it's the same theological dissident crap every year. A non-Christian couldn't learn anything about mainstream Christianity from these "news" magazines if they tried.
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HARGEISA - A Somaliland court sentenced four journalists on Sunday to jail terms ranging from two to two-and-a half years for defaming the countrys president and revoked the licence of the paper that employed them. Three of them had been detained since January while the fourth was sentenced in absentia. They worked for the local daily HAATUF and were accused of defaming Somalilands President Dahir Rayale Kahin.
Respected Russian journalist 
According to a report in this morning's Moscow Times, Safronov, who wrote for the Russian business newspaper "Kommersant," fell head first and fully clothed from a 5th floor window although he lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the building. The Times reported the FSB -- the Federal Security Bureau, which is the successor agency to the KGB -- was unhappy with Safronov's reporting on sensitive weapons systems.
