Righteous Seething alert!
The British teacher who let her pupils call a teddy bear Mohammed appears in court in Sudan today amid a furious diplomatic row between London and Khartoum. Gillian Gibbons faces 40 lashes and a year in jail after after being charged with insulting Islam.
She was charged after behind-the-scenes political moves to avoid a court case collapsed amid growing Islamic anger in the east African country.
A powerful Sudanese newspaper urged authorities to call a hardline Islamist leader linked to Osama bin Laden to give evidence at her trial, to stress how offensive the case was to Muslims. Extreme Islamic groups said Mrs Gibbons "must die" and urged Muslims to hold street protests after prayers tomorrow. How about they all gather in the main square tomorrow at noon. Anybody who disagrees should move to about 1km away until they see a sign from God ....
In London, Foreign Secretary David Miliband called in the Sudanese ambassador , while Downing Street made it clear that Gordon Brown was 'disappointed' the 54-year-old teacher had been charged. "Disappointed", eh? I'm "disappointed" you couldn't come up with something a bit more "appropriate". Welcome to reality, Gordon.
The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "appalled" at the decision. Hmm, now who is on whose side now? Perhaps the MCB should be the PM of GB! :-)
Legal sources in Khartoum said it is possible the case could be dealt with in a single hearing. One lawyer said that if Mrs Gibbons pleads guilty and makes profuse apologies, she could emerge with a "relatively minor penalty", such as a hefty fine or a jail term equivalent to the four days she has already spent in custody. Or both. And 40 whacks. And death.
But he warned that rising anger in Sudan, as news of the case spread, might affect the court's decision. How islamic.
Yesterday, Mrs Gibbons met British consular officials in the jailhouse where she is being held. She looked tired and pale as she was escorted across the dusty courtyard with a blanket around her shoulders. Mrs Gibbons, a former deputy head in Liverpool, moved to Khartoum in August to fulfil her dream of teaching abroad after her marriage broke down last year. Shoulda picked North Korea.
Or Watts. Or Soweto ...
The mother of two grown-up children was arrested on Sunday after parents were said to have complained she had insulted Islam's prophet by naming a teddy bear Mohammed as part of a class project. However, a boy of seven came forward on Tuesday to say it was "all his fault", as he and his classmates at the Unity High School had voted to call the bear Mohammed after his own name. Careful kid, they'll have to either eat crow or kill you.
He insisted his teacher had not intended to insult Islam. Shut up, kid. They've worked hard at coming up with a perfectly reasonable excuse to kill someone and you're threatening to spoil the fun!
Mrs Gibbons technically faces three charges - insulting Islam, inciting religious hatred and contempt for religious beliefs - each of which carries a maximum penalty of 40 lashes and a year in jail. But it is believed she will stand trial on only one. How generous.
One's all that's needed.
Abdul Daem Zumrawi, the Justice Ministry's undersecretary, said: "What will be applied is at the discretionary power of the judge." How 'bout the judge grows some discretion and deports the clueless one?
Mr Brown's spokesman said: "We are surprised and disappointed by this development." I wonder what you'd say if you found yourself staring at the business end of the cane.
Mrs Gibbons's former husband, Peter Gibbons, 54, said last night that he and their children Jessica, 27, and John, 25, had been horrified at the news that she had been charged. "The children are not coping very well, they are upset," he said. "We are praying and relying on the Foreign Office and the embassy out there. Could be worse - it could be the US State Department.
"My son is waiting on advice from the embassy to see if it's possible to go over there. Although I understand the sentiment, those folks don't. I would have some serious second thoughts about doing that.
"Gillian is an innocent in all this, she would not want to cause offence to anybody." Sorry, can't find "intent" in the Koran's index . . . .
One of Khartoum's biggest papers, the pro-government Akhir Lahza - Last Moment - said Hassan Al Turabi, once seen as the Islamic ideologue behind the government, should be called as an expert witness in the case to stress how offensive the teacher's action had been.
I'm sure he's quite an expert. Rolls his eyes clean 'round the back of his head, he does ...
The religious and Islamist political leader is thought to have been instrumental in institutionalising Sharia law in the north of the country.
That alone would get him into Alcatraz in any decent society ...
He personally invited Osama bin Laden to Sudan and the Al Qaeda leader based his operations there from around 1990 to 1996. Perhaps you could get UBL to show up at the trial, too.
The newspaper's editor-in-chief also called for politicians to avoid meddling in religious affairs and not to argue that Sudanese foreign relations would be affected. It already has.
Not that it matters ...
At the same time, Sudanese legal scholars warned that an increase in rhetoric would make it difficult for a deal to be done quietly behind the scenes. They're barbarians. Might as well talk to a fencepost. At least you wouldn't risk offending it. Probably.
Professor Eltyeb Hag Ateya, director of Khartoum University's peace research institute, said Sudanese president Umar al-Bashir would not want to be seen to back down in the face of Western pressure. "One of main criticisms of the government is that they are giving too much away to foreigners," he said. They're always using paper instead of stones, always stepping into the latrine with the wrong foot first,
"If imams at Friday prayers turn this into a much bigger thing, then no one will listen to the facts." That will make them all that much more powerful and righteous, won't it?
Sudan's legal system is based on laws introduced during British colonial rule, but aspects of Sharia law were incorporated in 1991.
'Aspects'? Thought it was an all or nothing issue ...
Sudanese reaction to the case had been muted until yesterday, when demonstrations took place at one of Khartoum's student campuses. Speakers took turns to denounce Mrs Gibbons, brandishing a newspaper bearing her photograph. A statement circulated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood - a multinational Sunni Islamist movement and the world's most influential political Islamist group - also condemned her actions.
"We want to express our boiling anger and deep sorrow about this case caused by this British teacher," it said. "We want to tell you that the majority of Sudanese are Muslims so we love our Prophet Mohammed so much and we decry this careless way of dealing with our beloved Prophet."
One of its authors, 27-year- old Elsheikh El Nour, added: "If she made an innocent mistake and did not mean Mohammed the Prophet (when naming the bear) there is no problem. Sounds somewhat logical!
"But if she did mean Mohammed the Prophet, she must die." Whoops. Cancel that.
Leaflets distributed outside Khartoum's Great Mosque urged Muslims to march tomorrow in protest at Mrs Gibbons' actions. They condemned what they described as "flagrant aggression" against the Prophet Mohammed and asked imams to address the subject Friday prayers. The leaflets added: "What has been done by this infidel lady is considered a matter of contempt and an insult to Muslims' feelings and also the pollution of children's mentality as an attempt to wipe their identity."
The Muslim Council of Britain was furious at the decision to charge Mrs Gibbons. "This is disgraceful and defies common sense," said Secretary-General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari. "There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith. Willing to go to war with the "extremists" on this one?
"The children in Mrs Gibbons's class and their parents have all testified as to her innocence in this matter. We call upon the Sudanese President, Umar al-Bashir, to intervene in this case without delay to ensure that Mrs Gibbons is freed from this quite shameful ordeal."
#2
The teddy bear story is in the WaPo this morning and even in the children's page.
This story has some legs.
Of course some organized Muslim groups in the US and elsewhere in the West will denounce it and say that the Sudanese judges who have studied Islamic law for dozens of years each don't understand the love and wonder of Sharia.
It comes at a convenient time because of the Saudi rape victim getting lashes.
Many an Islamic apologist will have to call their office today.
#3
If they do say they will flog the poor woman, then the Brit PM should call their ambassador in and offer him the starring role in a re-enacted drawing and quartering.
Course, if the Brit PM really had a spine, the woman would mysterious vanish from jail, leaving behind only a horde of bullet riddled corpses and a nice package that says, "Welcome to Gomorrah. This bomb will detonate before you can move. Panic." and has a yield measured in kilotons.
#8
90% of the student body was Muslim, mostly children of the Sudanese "elite". Since the school had a Christian identity, those squishy Muslims had to be taught a lesson.
#10
One of the big problems here are the loudmouths who try to inflame the situation. What is needed, the minute these a-holes call for somebody to be killed, is for some anonymous person to call for the agitators to be killed, for calling for murder.
In other words, turn it right back on them, and see how they like it. Since they are cowardly dogs, many of them will shut up and quickly, not even liking the possibility that someone might want them dead, too.
If nothing else, it would throw a lot of them into a blind panic.
#11
This crap will never end unless one side completely destroys the other, as in full dhimmitude or nuke Mecca. Either way will bring about the final end to this brainless victimization process. I know that Bush, Rice, Brown and Rudd are working toward a final dhimmitude atatus, but some of us would rather kill first.
#14
I think the obvious lesson here is that these Sudanese savages don't need (or deserve) the benefits of Western education, and the idiots who feel compelled to offer it need to think again.
#17
Nuking Mecca wont stops Islam any more than nuking St. Peters Cathedral would stop Christianity.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/29/2007 16:15 Comments ||
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#18
Any muslims out there reading this blog? Any muslim apologists reading this blog?
I don't know if any muslims read this blog. I do know this blog gets it's fair share of apologists for islam. Tell me, explain to me...how do you square this circle? How do you justify this woman even being arrested let alone spending so much as one night in jail for the BS offesne of insulting the so called religion of peace? How? Explain it to me. Please, don't try. You can't. You know you can't.
Muslims...your religion is just not compatible with civilized society. You don't get it, do you? You really don't understand, do you?
I read a theory the other day suggesting that the REAL reason there hasn't been another 9-11 type of attack on American soil is that the muzzie powers that be here in the USA understood that such an attack would propel into the office of the prez a Repub rather than a Dem. The theory holds that Homeland Security isn't all that good and that the muzzies among us could hit us hard anytime they want, but they won't for fear of aiding the election of a Repbub in 2008 rather than a weak ass Dem. I believe in this theory.
What the theory does not take into account is the wrath of the real American people. The average joe six pack - when the time comes, when push comes to shove - can be ruthless. Ruthless beyond your imagination.
You muzzies and your apologists won't take this as a warning. If I were you I'd laugh too given the state of affairs in Europe and Asia. But this land - the USA - will be harder to take than you think. Your plan is to take the USA slowly, very slowly. Understand this: we are not Europe. We are not Asia. We will bite back and when we do.....
God help us and - perhaps - forgive us for what we must do.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
11/29/2007 19:14 Comments ||
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#19
Its a very fair verdict, she could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation, said Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, adding they would not appeal the decision.
Brilliant. Brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Everything's been stolen out of what was once a prosperous country. Any opposition has been suppressed, with knobs thumped on its head. People are starving and oppressed. Let's form a committee.
A reconciliation committee, to boot!
Boot was sold for 100 jakillion Zim dollars ...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I really think they're "over-thinking" this.
Although, it would be a handy committee to have as soon as Bob is gone.
A group of 14 African nations yesterday raised the stakes ahead of next weeks EU-Africa summit by threatening to pull out unless European leaders agreed not to single out Zimbabwe for criticism. Officials in Brussels, however, said there was no way that President Mugabe could escape a lecture on the dire straits of his countrymen if he turned up to the meeting in Lisbon.
This says a lot more about the 14 African nations than it does about the EU.
The threat from the Southern African Development Community was last night seen in Brussels as a provocative attempt to influence the agenda being drawn up by the Portuguese hosts, and certain to put Africa at loggerheads with the EU. The SADC threat escalated the presummit row over Mr Mugabes attendance which has already seen Gordon Brown confirm his own boycott of the summit, a move followed by Mirek Topolanek, the Czech Prime Minister.
Tomaz Salomao, executive secretary of the SADC, said that its 14 members including South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania as well as Zimbabwe, would pull out if Zimbabwe was on the agenda. SADC will not go to Lisbon to discuss Zimbabwe because the summit is not about Zimbabwe, but about relations between the EU and Africa, he said.
Those relations appear to be characterized by quite a bit of misplaced arrogance on one side and quite a bit of misplaced humility on the other.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Is it possible that these nations don't want to talk about Zimbabwe because they don't want to do anything about Zimbabwe?
After all, there's probably not a lot they can do except feel guilty about not helping.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/29/2007 2:28 Comments ||
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#3
Is it possible that these nations don't want to talk about Zimbabwe because they don't want to do anything about Zimbabwe?
Two words : ethnic. solidarity.
Bob is doing what they all want to do, or already do in some form or an another. Not that that will prevent them from using white guilt to get more money, more aid, more african migrants in Europe,... French-speaking africans have an expression which sez "la connerie des blancs", literally, the stoopidity of whitey. Africa is very resentful of colonization, this resentment fits very well with the soviet long term strategy of putting the third world against the West, and how it has been internalized by the western Enlightned Elites.
They're racist, that's just that. They're racist among blacks, and they're racist against the whites, whom they have almost expelled from africa, even when they were the actual creators of the country, like Rhodesia. And when africans immigrate to Europe, mostly, they still are racist, and they have a sense of entitlement, because all their misery is of course the fault of the whites, so they are due what's for them, and the (white) Enlightened Elites agree with that.
#6
Follows from yesterday's Mail&Guardian is an example of their rasist, tribal thought process:
Zimbabwe's government newspaper offered a chilly, racially tinged welcome on Tuesday to the new United States envoy.
In his column in the government mouthpiece Herald, political editor Caesar Zvayi said James McGee had criticised Zimbabwe's democratic and human rights record in statements to the US Senate before his arrival and, as an appointee of US President George Bush, was likely "to turn out to be the house Negro". McGee is black.
McGee, who began his assignment in Harare last week after formally presenting his diplomatic credentials to President Robert Mugabe, declined to respond to the state newspaper's remarks.
Though "one of our own, at least as far as skin colour is concerned", McGee was a Vietnam veteran who earned three flying medals for "bombing hapless villagers" there, Zvayi wrote.
But "Zimbabwe welcomes the Son of McGee and hopes he will not shame the ancestors in whose loins he crossed the Atlantic to his adopted home," Zvayi continued.
#7
You drop out of the conference you forfit your right to development aid. Most of Africa is a sinkhole that nobody would miss. Perhaps an end to aid and catering would result in and end to bribes and payoffs that keep the military in line and might result in some proper government where it is desperately needed.
Last night CNN en Español aired the above image, which captions at the bottom "Who Killed him?" by "accident". The image of President Chavez with the caption about killing him below, which some could say subliminally incites to assassination, was a "production error" mistakenly made in the CNN en Español newsroom. The news anchor had been narrarating a story about the situation between Colombia and Venezuela and then switched to a story about an unsolved homicide but - oops - someone forgot to change the screen image and President Chavez was left with the killing statement below. Today they apologized and admitted it was a rather "unfortunate" and "regrettable" mistake. Yes, it was.
On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers", and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela. The memo summarizes the different scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it's phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.
Officer Steere emphasizes the importance and success of the public relations and propaganda campaign that the CIA has been funding with more than $8 million during the past month - funds that the CIA confirms are transfered through the USAID contracted company, Development Alternatives, Inc., which set up operations in June 2002 to run the USAID Office for Transition Initiatives that funds and advises opposition NGOs and political parties in Venezuela. The CIA memo specifically refers to these propaganda initiatives as "psychological operations" (PSYOPS), that include contracting polling companies to create fraudulent polls that show the NO vote with an advantage over the SI vote, which is false. The CIA also confirms in the memo that it is working with international press agencies to distort the data and information about the referendum, and that it coordinates in Venezuela with a team of journalists and media organized and directed by the President of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell.
CIA Officer Michael Steere recommends to General Michael Hayden two different strategies to work simultaneously: Impede the referendum and refuse to recognize the results once the SI vote wins. Though these strategies appear contradictory, Steere claims that they must be implemented together precisely to encourage activities that aim toward impeding the referendum and at the same time prepare the conditions for a rejection of the results.
#1
I'd have more respect for the CIA if I thought it was still capable of this sort of mad-dog skulduggery.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/29/2007 16:07 Comments ||
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#2
Although "mad-dog" is kind of hyperbolic, now that I look closer at this. The Hillary presidential campaign is meaner than this. I was unduly excited by the juxtaposition of the words "CIA", "Operation" and "Pliers".
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/29/2007 16:09 Comments ||
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#3
BWA-HA-HA!
Me, I'd create all sorts of false memos and leave them around, just to see how Chavez reacts when one of them is inevitably found.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
11/29/2007 16:27 Comments ||
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#8
It seems Hugo bought more than just a bunch Russian weapons. Soviet black propagandist were also included in the purchase order. Must say nice touch with the 3-name CIA agent. Gives an air of snobbish authenticity.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2007 20:21 Comments ||
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#9
WAFF.com > Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has cut formal ties wid COLOMBIA. Colombia claims Hugo's been sponsoring/suppor FARC group and related violence. See also TOPIX > EPIC BATTLE FOR CRUDE OIL AND US DOLLLARS. Moud + Hugo.
CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan students in gas masks clashed with National Guard soldiers on Wednesday in protests against President Hugo Chavez's planned reforms to the country's constitution. Soldiers outside the Metropolitan University in Caracas fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators and students were seen carrying peers as smoke wafted through the air.
Meanwhile, Chavez took fire from one of his two ex-wives who urged Venezuelans to reject the slate of proposed constitutional changes that would greatly expand executive power. Urging Venezuelans to vote "no" in Sunday's referendum on the changes to the nation's charter, Maria Isabel Rodriguez compared approving the referendum to a "leap into the dark."
Rodriguez, a journalist, also urged opponents to go to the polls to prevent possible vote-rigging. "It will be more difficult for fraud to take place if we all vote," Rodriguez said at a news conference Tuesday. She divorced Chavez in 2004.
The president's differences with his ex-wife reflect the polarization across Venezuela, as rallies for and against the constitutional changes are surging. More protests were planned. Such gatherings have raised tensions ahead of Sunday's referendum on reforms that would allow Chavez indefinite re-election, increase presidential terms from six to seven years and help the Venezuelan leader establish socialism in Venezuela.
In Caracas on Tuesday, about 300 placard-waving students gathered outside the Catholic University Andres Bello, occupying a highway for four hours and causing rush-hour traffic jams, to urge Venezuelans to vote "no" on Sunday. The students contend the new constitution would give Chavez authoritarian powers. "We students will keep coming out onto the street to demand freedom and democracy," said Roberto Diaz, a 21-year old law student at the university. Dozens of police and national guard monitored the demonstration that ended Tuesday evening without incident.
In Puerto La Cruz, 150 miles east of Caracas, at least 300 students protesting the referendum clashed with Chavez supporters outside the private Santa Maria University, police said. Some Chavez supporters appeared to have guns, an officer said. "They are hitting each other and there have been gunshots," police officer Alexander Gonzalez said by telephone from Puerto La Cruz. He said there were no reports of injuries.
On Monday, a man was shot to death after he tried to cross a protest, near the city of Valencia. Chavez blamed violent elements within the opposition for the killing.
Some polls show Chavez faces considerable resistance in the referendum. The government cites polls suggesting Chavez has an advantage, while the Caracas polling firm Datanalisis in a nationwide survey this month found 49 percent of likely voters opposed Chavez's reforms and 39 percent were in favor.
While the pollster has predicted some of Chavez's past victories, its results haven't always been on-target. A poll released by the firm in June 2004 found that 57 percent of Venezuelans would vote to recall Chavez, but the president handily won the vote two months later.
Chavez himself has suggested that if it loses, his government "would have to enter a period of profound reflection." Yet, in a speech at an air base west of Caracas, Chavez was optimistic saying Venezuelans will vote "yes."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
" 57 percent of Venezuelans would vote to recall Chavez, but the president handily won the vote two months later."
Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a former top defence bureaucrat as part of a widening investigation into alleged collusion between defence contractors and the ministry. The investigation, reminiscent of the inquiry into the Lockheed scandal that destroyed the reputation of Kakuei Tanaka, former prime minister in the mid-1970s, came to a head on Wednesday when Takemasa Moriya, who was vice-minister of defence until August, was shown on television being driven away by prosecutors.
In parliamentary testimony in October, Mr Moriya had admitted to being treated to hundreds of rounds of golf by Motonobu Miyazaki, a former executive with a trading house specialising in defence, in breach of his ministrys entertainment guidelines. But he denied that he had extended preferential treatment to Yamada, the company for which Mr Miyazaki worked.
Mr Miyazaki was arrested this month for alleged embezzlement of more than $1m.
Allegations of corruption have cast a shadow over the defence ministry, which was upgraded from an agency only last year. Yasuo Fukuda, prime minister, on Wednesday said the ministry would have to work hard to regain public trust as the scandal threatened to scale the reaches of the ruling party.
The upper house controlled by the opposition Democratic party has summoned Fukushiro Nukaga, currently finance minister but previously director of the Defence Agency, to answer questions on the alleged collusion with contractors.
The investigation into Mr Moriya has centred on contracts to supply engines for the Japanese air force. The defence ministry is well known for paying inflated prices for equipment, though that is partly because Tokyo insists that a high proportion is manufactured in Japan.
The probe has further emboldened the DPJ, which in October stymied a bill to extend Japans six-year mission to the Indian Ocean, the countrys contribution to anti-terror operations in Afghanistan. The opposition has also threatened to veto a new bill aimed at restarting the operations under a more limited mandate.
A further retreat by Japan will embolden both China and the Islamicists in Indonesia. Not good.
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls are preparing for a challenge unlike anything they've faced as they step onto the stage for their party's first CNN/YouTube debate Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Republican hopefuls will face off Wednesday in a CNN/YouTube debate, just as Democrats did in July.
The candidates will be fielding video questions submitted by the public via the YouTube Web site, just as Democratic White House candidates did in July. CNN's political team has viewed nearly 5,000 videos for the GOP debate -- about 2,000 more than they saw for the Democrats' debate.
The issues on the minds of the YouTube voters in this debate, to be televised on CNN at 8 p.m. ET, are vastly different from what came in for the Democrats, said Sam Feist, CNN's political director. The topics that came up most often for the GOP debate included immigration, conservative values, economic issues and taxes, according to David Bohrman, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president for CNN.
While CNN producers won't say which 40 or so questions are going to make the cut, viewers can expect to see divisive questions, controversial questions, and questions that will set the candidates apart. "This debate is to let Republican voters pick from among their eight candidates," Bohrman said. "We are trying to focus mostly on questions where there are differences among these candidates."
This article starring:
David Bohrman
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Well...
I did a crude word count (words spoken) at the debate :
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/29/2007 2:13 Comments ||
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#4
I watched parts of it. Appeared to me that Huckabee came out good as they gave him a few softball questions about religion - he's a preacher so that was like putting an eclair in front of rosie o'donnel and expecting it not to get devoured.
I'm so sick of hearing other GOP'ers talking about staying home next Nov. Grow up people - you may not like rudy, mitt or whoever but if you don't vote - then yes, you are partially to blame for a victory by "her thighness" Hilary Rotten Clinton.
Either way, whoever the trunks pick I'll vote for whether I have to hold my nose or not remains to be seen.
#6
CNN has once again screwed the viewers of the Republican debate. See who was which YouTube videos When clowns like CNN's senior vice president David Bohrman and the rest of the CNN political team are the ones selecting the videos, it is no surprise. Here is why, see this video to see what they have been doing to us.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/29/2007 11:03 Comments ||
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#7
Turns out General Kerr was also on the Veterans for Kerry steering committee. CNN has gone way past blatant bias.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/29/2007 12:00 Comments ||
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#8
As I type this, Limbaugh is dragging a five bottom plow across CNN's face over the issue.
Listening to Limbaugh should be a requirement.
India said on Wednesday it would continue to host and protect a controversial Bangladeshi Muslim woman writer, Taslima Nasreen, who has fled from city to city since her radical Islamist critics stoked violence last week.
Taslimas fate, who had been in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata since 2003, has become a hot political issue for New Delhi with the Hindu nationalist opposition accusing the government of pleasing the Muslim minority by trying to get her out of the country. But Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that historically, India had never refused shelter to those who had sought the countrys protection. While guests are in India, the union and state governments provide them protection, he said. This will also apply in Taslima Nasreens case.
Indian clerics had issued a decree against her in August, urging Muslims to kill her.
Authorities rushed award-winning Taslima from her home in Kolkata last week after protests against her by Muslim groups led to riots, forcing the army to be called in. Indian clerics had issued a decree against her in August, urging Muslims to kill her. After the riots, police moved her to a hotel in the western state of Rajasthan and then she was quickly sent to Delhi at the weekend under police protection.
Sentiments: Wednesdays assurance that India would continue sheltering her came with a warning. It is also expected that [she] will refrain from activities and expressions that may hurt peoples sentiments, he said, an apparent reference to the outspoken Taslima. Nasreen fled Bangladesh for the first time in 1994 when a court said she had deliberately and maliciously hurt Muslims religious feelings with her Bengali-language novel Lajja, or Shame.
This article starring:
Pranab Mukherjee
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Freaking scary prospect.
I still remember monitoring how the Russians were going to deal with NATO and KFOR after landing in Pristina Airport in Kosovo. Fortunately, nothing worse came out of it after. General Sir Mike Jackson, K-For's British commander told everyone that he wasn't going to challenge the Russian Army and a 3rd World War. I think the U.S. military under General Clark at the time seriously consider running the Russian Army out.
He and General Mike Jackson had a heated tete a tete over this according to a BBC story.
Anything that goes on the in the Balkans can blow up; forgive the pun, in a negative way for everyone pretty. I hope that everyone treads carefully if things in the Balkans deteriorate.
#2
The Russians are indeed being scary at the moment. Unfortunately I'm on their side vis a vis the independence of Kosovo and giving the Muzzies another base for their terror operations.
The Balkans are one of the biggest *ups in the world in general and the early 90s mess was a perfect example of why.
#4
Nato and company want out of the Balkins. Russia is a Great Power desperately in need of something to look Great about. They also want to protect their brother slavs.
We should hand over all peacekeeping duties to the Russians. Done deal. If the Kosovars want to start a war over their independence they should know they can't do it while hiding behind Western Peacekeepers.
#5
"Protect their brother SLAVS" > ANOTHER 1980's GORBACHEVISM FOR REAGAN-BUSH 1, i.e. Gorby's not-so-covert PAN-SLAVISM premise vv PERESTROIKA-GLASNOST, where Pan-Slavism = under the USSR/RUSSIA.
Brought to you, Army-DIA-CIA-NSA + USG-DOD, etc. by MADONNA + MTV's HEADBANGERS BALL. YOU HEAR ME, OSAMA, NOT WHITNEY! Madonna's pre-teen daughter LOURDES was reportedly just offered her first acting role - LOURDES reminds me a great deal physically of PENN STATE's TAMMY WALLACE!
D ***NG IT, OSAMA, BUY MADONNA A LIP RAZOR FOR LOURDES!
#6
As for the Brits > Russian Medias + Politicos have brought attention = argue that the USA has stopped or delayed plans to significantly downsize its milfors in Germany and other NATO areas. The Russ see this as "proof" of US Euro-imperialism + threat to Russia in coordin wid proposed basing of GMD missles in Czech-Poland.
#7
I'm not sure JosephMeniola is a real person. Seems almost like a program that takes a quote and then follows it with jibberish. If you are real Joe, slow down and edit yourself because I don't think anyone on this site has ever understood a single one of your posts.
Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has thanked Muslim religious leaders for an October letter to Christian leaders in which they stressed better relations between the two faiths, the Vatican announced Thursday. In a letter dated November 19 and signed by the Vatican's second highest official, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the pontiff also invited the 138 Muslim leaders to engage in further dialogue with the church.
The Vatican letter was addressed to Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal who heads the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, an Amman-based non-governmental organization, that issued the appeal by the 138 Muslim leaders on October 13, a date coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
"The pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to your royal highness and to all who signed the letter," Cardinal Bertone wrote in the Vatican's response, the contents of which were made public by the Vatican Thursday.
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A large-scale, coordinated campaign to steer users toward malware-spewing Web sites from Google search results is under way, security researchers said Tuesday.
In the past 30 days, I've wiped and reloaded two of my machines and spent an entire Sunday afternoon cleaning a friend's machine. My opinion is that these bastards should be shot.
Users searching Google with any of hundreds of legitimate phrases -- from the technical "how to cisco router vpn dial in" to the heart-tugging "how to teach a dog to play fetch" -- will see links near the top of the results listings that lead directly to malicious sites hosting a mountain of malware. "This is huge," said Alex Eckelberry, Sunbelt Software's CEO. "So far we've found 27 different domains, each with up to 1,499 [malicious] pages. That's 40,000 possible pages."
Those pages have had their Google ranking boosted by crooked tactics that include "comment spam" and "blog spam," where bots inundate the comment areas of sites with links or mass large numbers of them as bogus blog posts.
Those pages have had their Google ranking boosted by crooked tactics that include "comment spam" and "blog spam," where bots inundate the comment areas of sites with links or mass large numbers of them as bogus blog posts. Attackers may be using bots to plug links into any Web form that requests a URL, added Sunbelt malware researcher Adam Thomas.
There's no evidence that the criminals bought Google search keywords, however, nor that they've compromised legitimate sites. Instead, they've gamed Google's ranking system and registered their own sites. "They get themselves on to Google, then redirect people to their malware pages," said Eckelberry. Most users wouldn't suspect anything's amiss with the rogue results, although the ultra-wary might be suspicious because many of the malicious URLs are just a jumble of characters, with China's .cn top-level domain at their ends.
Once shunted to a malware-hosting site, the user might face a fake codec installation dialog. If the user doesn't bite, the page's IFRAME will get him, said Thomas. "This is what's doing the most damage," he said. "It's loaded with every piece of malware you can think of, including fake toolbars, rogue software and scareware."
One site that Thomas encountered tried to install more than 25 separate pieces of malware, including numerous Trojan horses, a spam bot, a full-blown rootkit, and a pair of password stealers. All the malicious code pitched at users is well-known to security vendors, and can only exploit PCs that aren't up-to-date on their patches. "I ran into one, and it hosed my VM [virtual machine]," said Eckelberry. "Completely hosed it."
While Eckelberry called the scam "impressive" in scope, Thomas echoed his boss in describing the attack's magnitude. "It's like they've colored any possible search term you can think of," said Thomas. "There are tens of thousands of [malicious] pages out there."
Sunbelt's company blog sports screen shots of several Google search results lists, with malware-infecting sites identified, as well as images of the bogus codec installation dialogs and the code of one of the malicious IFRAMEs.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
The moditorial staff has been sweeping a lot of rat droppings out of the RB holding tank lately.
But not to worry, we almost always use the hand sanitizer afterwards.
#3
I hit this sort of crap after using a top-of-the-page volumetric recipe conversion site. These maggots need to be hauled out and shot.
Why is it that Washington cannot bring themselves to classify malware and spyware as a form of vandalism? Ever listen to your disk drive chatter like a frozen esquimaux after being hit with some keystroke software? This shortens the life of your hardware and is nothing less than flat-out vandalism. Nowhere do these phuques request your permission to install this crap and it is the equivalent of telecom "slamming" for them to serruptitiously install software on your computer without permission. Cookies are one thing but drive cycling spyware is another. After clicking on a hallmark.com electronic greeting card email, both my Word and Excel apps were corrupted. I'm faced with the delicate task of uninstalling these critical applications.
We need laws that require anyone trying to install anything more complex than a cookie to request user approval with a mandatory click-through before this shit can infest your 'puter.
Either that or impose simple torture, mayhem, disfigurement, sterilization and physical maiming for those who do this on a routine basis.
#5
I vote we give all these bastards a flying cock punch. With a hammer.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/29/2007 2:12 Comments ||
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#6
Again, let's all give thanks to Microsoft for making the web browser based attack a reality. Before Internet Explorer, it was laughable that a computer could be infected via web browser.
#8
Here on Guam, I've noticed that computer stations remain linked/tied to external sources despite being logged off andor rebooted. AS A FELLOW NETTER ONCE REMARKED, 'TIS "INFORMATION CONTROL OF THE SHEEPLE. THE WOT IS WAR FOR CONTROL OF SHEEP[SHEEP'S WAR]"???
#14
Which is why Zenster's fervent wishes for DC control are doomed to be frustrated for a long while.
You can, of course, set your browser security settings very high to avoid the malware installation. Unfortunately, it will also prevent many sites from working at all for you.
#15
Here on Guam, I've noticed that computer stations remain linked/tied to external sources despite being logged off andor rebooted.
What we need to do is set up linux livecd distributions that will use a home directory on a partition on a hard drive but run everything else from the CD/DVD.
#16
many of the malicious URLs are just a jumble of characters, with China's .cn top-level domain at their ends.
lotp: This is not coincidental.
They have the Great Firewall of China, they can more or less control what their people are allowed to see, but they're just helpless little anarchists if someone goes around planting viruses in western computers...
#18
Which is why Zenster's fervent wishes for DC control are doomed to be frustrated for a long while.
Yet one more reason why our politicians and the Chinese need to be separated using a crowbar. Much like Islam, China has so little to offer our world in comparison to the immense damage done wherever it goes. Just like the Saudis, it is only the Politburo's very selective redistribution to our politicians of the massive Western wealth being poured into their coffers that lends them any immunity. In the absence of such venal politicians, this would normally represent an intolerable interference in another countriy's political system. Without China purchasing so many Western decision-makers, more than a few militaries would be far more keen on taking down the communist Chinese.
#19
Simple solution: when Google's spiders crawl a site they chosulb e looking for malware as well, and ANY link that contains malware is dumped from thier database of searchable links.
#20
I wonder if they are hijacking the links. I had a worm some time back and when I would click on any search engine link, it would hijack me to a spider. I had to click on the cached version to get where I wanted to go.
#22
I run Ad-Aware twice a day. My older OS is just more vulnerable to this crap. There's no justifiable reason why the average user should have to put up with predatory bullshit like this.
Mutinous soldiers in the Philippines chose a five-star hotel as the scene of a bungled coup attempt in Manila today, before being overrun by tear gas and an armoured car.
The gang of several dozen soldiers led by a senator had escaped earlier in the morning from a court where they were standing trial for seizing a shopping centre during a coup attempt in 2003. They were joined at the Peninsular Hotel by a retired general, a bishop and other sympathisers.
A witness, Peter Parcel, said he had dropped in for coffee and "then all this coup stuff started". He added: "They just stormed in and took over the hotel."
Armed men took guard on the staircases and at the entrance. The police and army arrived outside and, after an ultimatum for the mutineers to surrender expired, shooting started. "It was terrible," Mr Parcel said. "Gunfire was pouring in through the windows."
At least two people were reported wounded.
The Philippines has a long history of coups and "people power" uprisings. In 1986, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was toppled after a mutiny sparked a popular movement.
This coup attempt was at least the eighth occasion since then when soldiers have tried to overthrow the government. President Gloria Arroyo herself came to power in a popular movement supported by the army against president Joseph Estrada in 2001.
The would-be coup leader this time was Antonio Trillanes, a youthful former naval officer who was elected to the senate in May while in detention awaiting trial for the shopping centre affair.
Inside the hotel, the conspirators launched a campaign of text messages and phone calls in an attempt to stir another popular uprising. Senator Trillanes's website declared: "If you believe you are a man of will and courage with unselfish motives and brave enough to fight against such tyranny, RISE UP AND BE COUNTED!" But no popular support appeared and as teargas was fired into the building, the final fiasco became inevitable.
Live television pictures showed the mutineers and journalists on the second floor of the hotel struggling to cope with the effects of the gas. By mobile telephone, Senator Trillanes announced: "For the sake of the civilians, we are coming out."
But even as he spoke, television footage showed an armoured car battering its way through the hotel's grand entrance, followed by soldiers in full combat gear and gas masks. As he waited for the gas to clear sufficiently for him to surrender and leave through the hotel lobby, an emotional looking Senator Trillanes told journalists: "Now, like soldiers, we are going to face this. They will do whatever they do to us."
Standing next to him, his ally General Danilo Lim, who is suspected of plotting a coup in 2006, warned: "There is unfinished business here." A priest led the group in prayer as they prepared to leave.
"All that's happened is these guys have bought themselves a few extra years in jail," said Erin Prelypchan, the director of operations at Pacific, Strategies and Assessments.
Richard Gordon, a prominent member of the country's senate, told the Daily Telegraph: "There is no popular support any more for changing leaders on the streets. We are only two years away from elections. There was no point in this, the whole country loses."
#1
Mutinous soldiers in the Philippines chose a five-star hotel as the scene of a bungled coup attempt in Manila today, before being overrun by tear gas and an armoured car.
Didn't they get that memo about not using the UN's playbook?
#2
I guess the ol Penn hotel needed some remodeling anyway. They forgot to mention that the ex VP Gingona was there as well. This is Lim's third or fourth Coup attempt.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/29/2007 13:20 Comments ||
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#3
I hear Joe, of the Jungle, was drinking at the Handle Bar and cheering as the Simba's remodeled the hotel.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/29/2007 13:23 Comments ||
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YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Thousands of Buddhist monks, a fixture in Myanmar's monasteries and temples, have vanished in the wake of the September crackdown by the military junta. A report in the Dec. 3 issue of Newsweek says the few foreigners, who managed to visit the country since September, have noted how empty these places look in cities like Yangon, formerly Rangoon, and Mandalay.
"What has happened to all the monks?" Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, was quoted as asking. "It's frightening. Something has happened. It's not like they all willingly left town."
Burmese generals imitate their sponsors, complete with gulags ...
The crackdown by the military junta, which has ruled Myanmar, formerly Burma, since 1989, began after pro-democracy protests were taken over by the monks. The junta's action led to the deaths and injuries of dozens of monks. The report, quoting numerous sources, said some the monks, who were imprisoned, were kept in deplorable conditions. Others were forcibly "derobed" and made to flee to the countryside or out of the country.
The government says it has freed all but about 90 of the 3,000 monks and civilians initially jailed, but the report says the junta may yet pay a price for arousing the anger of a people known for their gentle nature.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2007 00:00 ||
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[0 views]
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#1
Looks like it backfired on them. The monks were supposed to put themselves in harm's way, get bonked, and then the country's military was supposed to get so inflamed by this that they rise up and do all the dying and overthrowing of the regime. The monks and their friends then swoop down and take all the credit. That was the plan, anyway.
Boeing and the US Air Force today said they have tested new technology that for the first time will let military aircraft launch bombs from aircraft moving at supersonic speeds.
Researchers from Boeing Phantom Works and the Air Force Research Laboratory used a rocket sled in combination with what researchers called active flow control to successfully release a smart bomb known as MK-82 Joint Direct Attack Munition Standard Test Vehicle (JDAM) at a speed of about Mach 2 from a weapons bay with a size approximating that of the U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber, Boeing said.
Active flow control is a tandem array of microjets upstream of the weapons bay that, when fired reduces the unsteady pressures inside the bay and modifies the flow outside to ensure the JDAM munition travels out of the bay correctly.Boeing said wind tunnel testing indicated that without active flow control, the JDAM munition would have returned to the bay.
The release of the test vehicle from the rocket sled bay was a bigger challenge than an equivalent release from an aircraft bay at altitude, due to the reduced dynamic pressure, reduced vibration and increased amount of time in which to release a munition, Boeing said.
"As it was, the active flow control microjets reduced the unsteady pressures inside the weapons bay and modified the flow outside the bay to ensure that the test vehicle went out of the rocket sled nose up," said Bill Bower, Boeing Phantom Works program manager in a statement.
Boeing also noted that the rocket sled used to test active flow control was a record setter on its own. The sled used in the High Frequency Excitation Active Flow Control for Supersonic Weapon Release (HIFEX), at 65,700 pounds, was 26,000 pounds heavier than any sled tested in more than 10 years but was faster by 400 feet per second. In the 57-year history of the Holloman High-Speed Test Track, it was the heaviest sled train to reach Mach 2," Boeing said.
Powered by two pusher sleds, the HIFEX sled achieved thrusts of 438,000 pounds for about 5.9 seconds on the first stage, 575,000 pounds for about 3 seconds on the second stage, and 115,000 pounds for about 3.6 seconds on the third stage. The JDAM test vehicle was dispensed during peak velocity, which was about 2,000 feet per second. The sled train accelerated to more than 13 g's to get to peak velocity, then decelerated at 7.5 g's for more than a mile to stop," the company said.
The test was designed by the U. S. Air Force 846th Test Squadron and the Support Systems unit of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Boeing and the Air Force are looking to use active flow control technology to develop weapon release systems for future U.S. Air Force Global Strike aircraft.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/29/2007 15:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Shoot-and-Scoot", "Fire-and-Forget", "Bomb/Drop-and-Run", brought to you by GLOBAL PROMPT STRIKE + SPACE STRIKE. Are STRONG IMPLICATIONS here for SPACE PLANE tech, i.e. desired HYPERSONIC-OR-HIGHER VELOCITIES, + LONG RANGE + HYPER/MEGA-RANGE. Also inclusive of ARMED DIRIGIBLES FOR GMD.
#3
...without active flow control, the JDAM munition would have returned to the bay.
whoa Certainteed!
The blood will drain from your face and you'll be jacked up way higher due to the huge pucker factor.
when winessed as the blood disapeared from your head the
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/29/2007 19:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
...without active flow control, the JDAM munition would have returned to the bay.
whoa Certainteed!
The blood will drain from your face and you'll be jacked up way higher due to the huge pucker factor.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/29/2007 19:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Outstanding. With active guidance to impact, precision bomb drops are no longer imperative. Coupled with reduced time-over-target, this represents a massive win-win for our fliers. Even better is how this technology easily migrates into UCV (Unmanned Combat Vehicle) airframes as well.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The economy barreled ahead in the summer, growing at a 4.9 percent pace. The performance was the strongest in four years, BUT isn't expected to last through the current quarter amid the continuing housing slump and credit crunch. Quagmire!
The Commerce Department's new reading of the gross domestic product from July through September, released Thursday, was even better than the government's initial estimate of a brisk 3.9 percent growth rate for period. Stronger U.S. exports to overseas buyers and more inventory investment by businesses were the main reasons for the improvement.
The big pickup in GDP, though, didn't change the picture forming in the current October-to-December quarter. And that scenario is somewhat grim, with indications the economy will lose considerable steam. Growth is expected to slow to a pace of just 1.5 percent or less in the final three months of this year.
GDP is the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best measure of the country's economic health.
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.
A group of 14 African nations yesterday raised the stakes ahead of next weeks EU-Africa summit by threatening to pull out unless European leaders agreed not to single out Zimbabwe for criticism. Officials in Brussels, however, said there was no way that President Mugabe could escape a lecture on the dire straits of his countrymen if he turned up to the meeting in Lisbon.
Mutinous soldiers in the Philippines chose a five-star hotel as the scene of a bungled coup attempt in Manila today, before being overrun by tear gas and an armoured car. 
YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Thousands of Buddhist monks, a fixture in Myanmar's monasteries and temples, have vanished in the wake of the September crackdown by the military junta. A report in the Dec. 3 issue of Newsweek says the few foreigners, who managed to visit the country since September, have noted how empty these places look in cities like Yangon, formerly Rangoon, and Mandalay.
