An American veteran who said he parachuted into Normandy as part of the D-Day landings in June 1944 has been exposed as a liar.
Howard Manoian, 84, had been awarded the prestigious French award the Legion d'honneur for bravery. He claimed he had landed in Sainte-Mere-Eglise in France - the setting of a fierce battle immortalised in the John Wayne film The Longest Day.
But his military records reveal he spent the war behind the front line.
Mr Manoian was a local war hero in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, with a plaque erected in his honour.
He said he had served with the famous 82nd Airborne Division, and would tell vivid tales of his parachute mission. "Even in the aeroplane I was wondering what it was going to be like. They are going to start firing at us when we get near the land," he said. "One planeload jumped and landed in the square by the church and of course the Germans were already up and they were firing as they came down... Half of them were killed and wounded immediately. That was the first time I saw a person dead face to face."
In fact Mr Manoian served with the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company, which operated well behind the front line.
He spent most of the war looking after a supply dump in northern France after arriving on Utah beach by supply ship.
Mr Manoian claimed he had been hit by German machine gun bullets in the left hand and both legs during a fire fight on 17 June 1944, and then again by a Nazi plane that targeted the hospital where he was recovering. In fact his only war injuries were a broken middle finger while on standby in England and then heavy bruising to another hand.
The lies came to light when military records were obtained by the Boston Herald. Those had to have been secondary records, as most of the primary veterans records were destroyed in a fire in 1973.
#1
Those had to have been secondary records, as most of the primary veterans records were destroyed in a fire in 1973.
My personnel section was trying to reconstruct a soldier's record when he decided to return to active duty. We dutifully sent off the request for files to receive a reply back they were destroyed in the Great Fire. The problem was the individual separated from service on his previous tour in 1975, years after the fire.
#2
Didn't the big fire turn out to be not so big. I wanted to look at the records of my ancestors who fought in WWI and even WWII. Can these records usually be found or are they indeed lost in the fire?
A Russian woman has set a new world record, lifting a 14-kg. glass ball with her vagina muscles. Tatiata Kozhevnikova of Novosibirsk, aged 42, has been exercising her intimate muscles for fifteen years, and has already made her entrance into the Guinness Book of Records as the possessor of the worlds strongest vagina, she proudly told Life.ru.
After I had a child, my intimate muscles got unbelievably weak. I read books on Dao and learned that ancient women used to deal with this problem using wooden balls, she said. I looked around, saw a Murano glass ball and inserted it in my vagina. It took me ages to get it out!
The embarrassing first experience did not scare Tatiana off. She developed quite a taste for vagina fitness, and now she has her exercising balls custom-made. You insert one of the balls in your vagina, and it has a string attached to it with a little hook at the very end. You fix a second ball onto this hook.
The Russian recommends vaginal exercises to all women who want to improve their sex life. Its enough to exercise your vagina five minutes a day, ladies, and in just one week youll be able to give yourself and your man unforgettable pleasure in bed, she says.
#3
Dude, at least, tonight, I'm off to bed after having learned something new. Don't know if I'm really smarter from that new tidbit of knowledge, though. Thanks, Rantburg U.
Her father had just won agreement from the Russians to cut back on the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
And Barack Obama's eldest daughter was obviously keen to make her own statement on the issue - even if it was merely a fashion statement.
Just 48 hours after the U.S. President signed agreements with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to reduce weapon stores, 11-year-old Malia Obama was spotted wearing not one, but two T-shirts with an anti-nuclear message.
She wore the tops emblazoned with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's famous logo as her father prepared for three days of G8 talks in Italy.
First there was a grey T-shirt bearing the CND logo to visit the Colosseum in Rome with her mother Michelle and seven-year-old sister Sasha. Then during the visit she swapped it for a mottled white and grey top also bearing the logo.
The symbol, designed for the CND in 1958, is now widely used to signify peace and is also an international sign for anti-war protesters.
Mr Obama spent two days in Moscow this week meeting president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister and former president Vladimir Putin.
There the American and Russian leaders agreed a landmark deal to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
The 'joint understanding' would see the two countries - which between them have 95 per cent of the world's nuclear firepower - cut the number of warheads to around 1,500 from current levels above 2,200. At the height of the Cold War both sides had some 40,000.
Mr Medvedev agreed to the weapon reduction targets despite the lack of a U.S. promise to scrap plans - vehemently criticised by the Kremlin - to deploy missile defence facilities in former Soviet satellite states.
Malia is apparently a fan of her father's work, though the deal is simply a 'guide' for negotiators as the nations work toward a replacement pact for the START arms control agreement, which expires in December.
The CND, a British campaign, aims to rid the world of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.
In April, Mr Obama made a speech in Prague committing to nuclear disarmament which was 'warmly welcomed' by the CND.
It has also welcomed this week's agreement between Russia and the U.S., claiming the 'first step has been taken' in abolishing nuclear weapons.
Mr Obama's family are accompanying him at the G8 summit in the Italian town of L'Aquila for three days of talks on global issues such as climate change, trade and financial reform with Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,and Russia.
#2
Mr Obama's family are accompanying him at the G8 summit
Wife, kids, granny, personal secretary, cooks, doc, dog, photographer, guide, Secret Service detail, Dip Security Detail, extra limo's, second plane and third plane, NO PROBLEM!
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/09/2009 14:49 Comments ||
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#4
Because everyone pays as much attention to unemployed pre-teen girls as English newsies do. Let's just hope she doesn't get her father in as much trouble as the wife of the Moroccan ambassador to Italy did him.
#8
It's such a small thing, but at JammieWearingFool, the Obots arose "to her defense!" After Palin and her children were savaged with the most pernicious despicable lies (yes, Andi "Milky Loads" Diseased-brain. I'm talking about you), I won't stand by for that double-standard, and NO, talking about their t-shirt emblems doesn't compare to talking about bastard parentage, pre-teen rape, nor anything else you p*ssy libs refused to condemn when said about the Palins. It's war and you just lost the "Whinging" rule. Eat it
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2009 23:28 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The day after an estimated billion people watched Michael Jackson's star-studded funeral, attention returned Wednesday to the role of drugs in his death with reports that his body was riddled with needle marks when he died.
Did anyone expect anything else?
" I say that anyone who makes someone an addict or gives a person potentially dangerous substances directly to them to use, like propofol is a criminal "
Arnold Klein, dermatologist
The marks could indicate use of a powerful sedative that has been at the center of the investigation into the superstar's death that includes an investigation of five doctors who were treating him.
CNN and ABC News cited unidentified sources involved in the probe as saying multiple track marks and several collapsed veins were discovered after Jackson's body was examined following his death on June 25.
The marks on Jackson's body "could certainly be consistent with the regular IV use of a drug, like Diprivan," CNN quoted the source as saying.
Several bottles of Diprivan, the brand name for the potent sedative propofol that is usually only used in hospitals ahead of major surgery, were reportedly found at Jackson's home after his death.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Did anyone expect anything else? Apparently the local law enforcement people didn't expect anything like that & so neglected to seal the place immediately after MJ's death until it could be adequately searched for evidence.
#2
Just because he looked like a skinny pincushion it doesn't necessarily mean he was abusing drugs. We don't know what true medical problems he may have had.
#5
Perhaps it was just because his personal doctor had to try over and over just to find a spot of living flesh, one with some vein, to do an hypo??? You can't inject anything if your needle is stuck in a spongy-like necrosed organic matter, can you?
#6
He was videotaped doing dance choreography on the day before his death. He looked healthier than most 50 year olds. I suspect there was some lethal combination of legal chemicals.
#7
Thus far, and all afflictions equal, I've seen nuthin on the MSM-Net to disprove that "the Gloved/Nosed/Moon One" did NOT suffer from massive depression, and twas NOT person/suicidally starving himself to death = back to his CHILDHOOD [WEIGHT = 112-Ibs] WHEN HE WAS LAST A HAPPY JACKSON.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Morocco's ambassador to Italy Nabil Benabdallah was sacked from his post after his wife got into a "fight" with the wife of the Kingdom's foreign minister during a fine arts festival in the Italian city of Venice, according to Moroccan press reports on Thursday. Yeah, what's a fine arts festival without a good catfight...
Al-Jarida al-Oula newspaper reported that King Mohammed VI of Morocco discharged ambassador Benabdallah because of an "argument" and a "fight" that broke out between his wife Kawtar Sounni and Fatiha el-Tahiri, the wife of the more powerful Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri during a fine arts festival recently held in Venice. "I curse your moustache, bitch!" "I'll cut ya, bitch! I'll cut ya!!"
The dispute between the wives of the two senior officials broke out when el-Tahiri "tried to prevent" Sounni from sitting in a front seat reserved for first class ladies, according the report, which quoted witnesses as saying the dispute developed into a bitter fight. Excuse me there, baby, but you ain't no "first class lady".
Who the hell are you, Barry friggin White!
By the end of the dispute, the wife of the foreign minister warned Sounni that her husband would soon be sacked as ambassador, which is what reportedly happened. "I'll get you, my sweetie! And your little husband too!"
A few days later when it became clear that Ambassador Benabdallah would be discharged, his wife tried contacting the royal palace's office in order to save her husband from an imminent lay-off, but to no avail . Can I get a rematch? Winner take all.
On Tuesday Ambassador Benabdallah was summoned to the Kingdom and he was seen at the foreign ministry building in Rabat, Al-Jarida al-Oula reported, adding that Hassan Abou Ayoub, Morocco's ambassador to France, was expected to replace him. Hey! I didn't do nuthin!
Next time, bring the junior wife... assuming she knows her place better than the senior one.
The foreign ministry has not issued any official statement about the issue and its press office declined to confirm or deny the news, widely circulated in the Moroccan press. Al-Massa newspaper described the incident as a "disgrace" that tarnished the image of Moroccans, especially women, in international events.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A top Egyptian preacher has called on the government to allocate more land for Christian's to build churches and blamed sectarian tension in Egypt on extremists from both sides, press reports said Tuesday.
Someone please fetch the fainting couch, and douse a handkerchief with cologne to dab at my temples -- I feel decidedly faint.
Sheikh Khaled al-Gindi said in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat that the government should allow Christians to build churches the same way Muslims expect to be able to build mosques in the West.
Decidedly quite faint.
"As we demand that the West allows us to build mosques, we have to do the same here (in Egypt) with churches"
Sheikh Khaled al-Gindi
"All citizens have the right to practice their religious rights," Gindi said. "As we demand that the West allows us to build mosques, we have to do the same here (in Egypt) with churches. This is what Amr ibn al-Asdid."
Gindi went on to say that the tension between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt does not mean there is a sectarian strife but rather communication problems, for which he held extremists on both sides accountable. "These problems have always existed, but did not come to the surface before. Extremists who incite hatred are more dangerous to Muslims than they are to Copts," Gindi said, adding extremists were behind the clashes that have erupted over the years between Muslims and Copts.
"Extremists have caused the Muslim mind to be afflicted with psychological disorders. Therapy is what Muslims need now. Islam has become torn between the ignorance of its followers and the helplessness of its scholars," Gindi--who is regarded as a moderate--said.
W
hat brought on this outburst? Has Sheikh Gindi had a brainstorm or a mid-life crisis of some sort... or is it merely that we just noticed him?
Married to a Christian
" Islam allows a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman. As for the schools, if I trust a Christian woman enough to marry her and have kids with her, then I will definitely trust schools she came from with my kids. Otherwise, I will be contradicting myself "
Gindi
In response to a question about whether he really married a Coptic woman and enrolled his children in Coptic schools, Gindi said it is true. "Islam allows a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman. As for the schools, if I trust a Christian woman enough to marry her and have kids with her, then I will definitely trust schools she came from with my kids. Otherwise, I will be contradicting myself."
Gindi added that Muslim children in all Arab countries join Western schools to learn foreign languages, which is the case with his two daughters who speak English and French fluently. Gindi divorced his Coptic wife a few years ago.
Gindi also criticized some scholars at Egypt's al-Azhar University, the leading institution of Sunni Islam, for not standing by him as he plans to launch an Islamic channel. Al-Azhar has refused to supervise the channel, set to start broadcasting in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which bears its name and accused Gindi of trying to make a profit by using its name. "I belong to al-Azhar in spite of all of them," he said, adding he would be launching a channel called Azhari, Arabic for affiliated to al-Azhar, and said "I will not allow anyone to obstruct its success."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I expect we will be reading about the late Sheikh Khaled al-Gindi in short order.
[Maghrebia] Nine candidates are competing for the presidency in Mauritania, in a campaign that runs from July 2nd through the polls on July 18th. Observers believe a balance between majority and opposition leaders in the election -- agreed in June's Dakar Agreement -- will ensure transparency.
After 10 months of turmoil brought on by the August 2008 coup, political leaders committed to the power-sharing arrangement in the interest of stability. Ousted president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi submitted his resignation willingly and signed the decree appointing the transition government of national unity.
Also on July 2nd, the members of Independent Elections Committee were sworn in to serve the electorate, in the presence of Constitutional Council President Abdallah Ould Ala Salem. He urged the committee members to discharge their duties with "integrity and a spirit of responsibility".
Campaign workers set up camp across Nouakchott and other regions to promote ten candidates, but one -- Askir Ould Embarak -- withdrew from the race on Monday (July 6th). Of the remaining nine, six represent parties and three are independents.
Campaign events at night in the capital have taken on a festive air; prospective voters are treated to musical soirées and receive appeals over loudspeakers from the various camps.
One camp supervisor, Toumn Mint Saydat, said the campaign began peacefully. "Everyone sits together regardless of their political affiliation," she told Magharebia. "I think that Mauritanians are currently living in an encouraging democratic atmosphere."
Observers identified a great deal of overlap between the different candidates' platforms.
While candidate Massoud Ould Belkheir undertook to guarantee "justice and to enhance democracy", Mohammed Abdulaziz promised "to get rid of corrupters and to reform the administration".
Abdul Aziz, former junta leader and presidential front-runner, told supporters in Atar on Tuesday that he would put an end to corruption. "I shall bring to justice all those involved in stealing our public money, and I shall be firm and strong in dealing with them," he said.
Belkheir promised voters on Monday that he would support democracy and human rights and work with trade unions. "Democracy is the only way to enhance our national unity," he said. "It's no longer acceptable that man take advantage of his fellow man or to live on the results of his sweat. If I'm elected president, I shall work hand in hand with all trade unions in the country."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Libyan leader and current African Union Chairman Moamer Kadhafi, who is in Italy for the start of the G-8 summit on Wednesday (July 8th), erected his Bedouin tent in a sports field belonging to Italy's tax police, AKI reported. This is Kadhafi's second trip to Italy within one month.
He does like posturing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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The Israeli Embassy in London has made a donation to the Gurkha Welfare Trust at a meeting in central London on Tuesday.
The £300 donation was the money returned to the embassy by the Edinburgh International Film Festival in May, after the festival organizers succumbed to pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to return the donation.
At a meeting in Browns Hotel in the Mayfair area of central London, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor presented the donation to Joanna Lumley, the well-known British actress and lifelong campaigner for the Gurkhas - Nepalese soldiers who have been part of the British army for nearly 200 years.
During that period, the Gurkhas have won 13 Victoria Crosses and served gallantly in most of Britain's conflicts.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/09/2009 19:56 ||
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Much better use of their money.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/09/2009 20:08 Comments ||
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Good background article. People in Honduras, for the most part, didn't like what Zelaya was doing but think the military made a mistake.
Since the military were operating under direct orders from the Supreme Court, they didn't have much choice, although perhaps they could have allowed President Zelaya to put on pants before sending him via air mail to points unknown.
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS -- Alejandro Alvarez is no fan of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Internet consultant joined a group of young business leaders, lawyers, and analysts that formed weeks ago to stop Mr. Zelaya from operating outside the constitutional framework. The group, called Generation for Change, formed as self-appointed guardians of the rule of law. They were so angry at the prospect of Zelaya scrapping term limits that they staged an outrageous protest: four men -- wearing nothing but underwear, boots, large cowboy hats, and mustaches - marched on the presidential palace in a clear mockery of their president.
But when Mr. Alvarez awoke June 28 to the news that a coup had taken place in his homeland, his heart thumped. "No, it can't be possible," he thought. "They made a huge mistake."
The Honduran conflict is mostly painted in black and white. On the one hand is a deposed leader, sent to Costa Rica in his pajamas, with a base of supporters at home and world leaders calling for his reinstatement. On the other is a de facto interim government, led by Roberto Micheletti, defending its government as constitutional.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The lie that won't die COUP.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/09/2009 14:48 Comments ||
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Seventeen Senate Republicans on Wednesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urging the Obama administration to reverse its rhetoric and support the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
Good for them. More Pubs should have signed.
The GOP senators disagree with the administrations use of the term coup for the events in Honduras, saying that Zelaya was removed properly. The senators also urge Clinton to meet with a delegation of Honduran officials currently in Washington with whom they met earlier Wednesday.
Zelaya was removed from power last week after moving to hold a non-binding referendum to change the countrys constitution to allow him to remain in office. Obama and Clinton have reacted strongly, but the Republicans say Zelaya was corrupt and that the U.S. should not seek to return him to power.
It appears that the Honduran government operated under constitutional authority and that the removal of Mr. Zelaya from power was legal and legitimate, the senators wrote to Clinton.
Four of the letters signers held a press conference Wednesday to press their case, with Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.) leading the comments to charge that Zelaya was moving in a direction that was contrary to the countrys own constitution and rules and laws.
Martinez said the Honduran officials with whom he met Wednesday want the U.S. to stand with the democratic institutions of Honduras.
The letter to Clinton was signed by Republicans Jim DeMint (S.C.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), David Vitter (La.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), John Ensign (Nev.), Jim Bunning (Ky.), Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Kit Bond (Mo.) and John Thune (S.D.).
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Missing in action: Johnny-boy, putative Arizona rancher.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has prepared to meet the country's interim leader for the first time since his ouster late last month.
Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti are due to start two days of talks on Thursday to be mediated by the Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, at his home in San Jose.
The United States has been a prime mover in trying to resolve the political impasse triggered when Honduran troops, backed by a court order, roused Zelaya from his bed on June 28 and whisked him out of the country.
The coup -- the first in years in Latin America -- triggered global alarm and the 34-member Organization of American States expelled Honduras from its regional grouping.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has backed Costa Rica's mediation after meeting with Zelaya in Washington, but stopped short of demanding that he be reinstated as urged by the White House.
"There needs to be a specific mediator and, to that end, we are supporting the efforts of President Arias of Costa Rica to serve in this important role," Clinton told reporters on Wednesday.
Supporters of both Zelaya and the coup leaders were planning to take to the streets of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, again on Wednesday, after days of violence which has rocked this Central American nation of some seven million people.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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COUP lie repeated.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/09/2009 15:01 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Muslim center in Australia can no longer hold Friday prayers in Cannington, Perth, a court ordered Tuesday, citing complaints that the faithful jam the neighborhood on a weekly basis and exceed the center's designated limit.
The court complained Muslims attending the congregational prayer, held once every week, exceed their numbers and take over all parking spots in the industrial neighborhood in Perth,western Australia,where the Daawah Association of Western Australia prayer center is located.
An investigation by Cannignton city officials following several complaints that Muslims were bombarding the city on Friday found that Daawah was exceeding its 20 percent person limit every week as Muslims flock to fulfill their obligatory prayers.
Following complaints that the Daawah building had turned into a mosque, the State Administrative Tribunal ruled that Friday prayers contradicted the city's designated zoning of the area as a 'Light Industry' zone, turned it into a "Place of Public Worship."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Then there is also the building occupancy limit according to the International Building Code.
Will the UAW workers change their Union affiliation to AFGE American Federation of Government Employees?
General Motors is expecting to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy sometime before Friday morning, with the completion of the sale of assets from "Old GM" to "New GM", FOX Business Network is reporting.
Opponents of General Motors Corp.'s plan to sell the bulk of itself to a new government-controlled company faced a noon deadline Thursday to file appeals and find a way to get the sale halted. A last minute appeal was filed by an unknown plantiff, but it is not expected to block the sale. Then why bother?
GM's lawyers are working to get documents ready to close the sale quickly if the deadline passes and the sale is legally allowed to go through. "We'll do it as quickly as possible," GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said Thursday morning.
A press conference with GM CEO Fritz Henderson has been scheduled for Friday at 9am in Detroit.
The sale is the centerpiece of Detroit-based GM's government-endorsed plan to emerge from court oversight. Once it becomes final, the automaker will be largely free to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
Gerber issued a ruling approving the sale late Sunday, but gave its objectors a four-day window to file appeals. The ruling followed a three-day hearing the week before during which attorneys for several groups including argued against its approval.
Some of the most vocal objectors included groups of people with product-related claims against the automaker. Under the current sale plan, liability for claims related to incidents that occurred before GM's bankruptcy filing won't carry over to "new GM." That means that those people who claim they were injured as a result of a defective GM product before June 1 will be forced to seek compensation from "old GM," the collection of assets and liabilities leftover from the sale, where they will have to fight with the company's other creditors for a share of what's left.
One of the product liability groups filed papers to appeal Gerber's ruling and asked that the appeal be sent directly to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals for action.
A group of people with asbestos-related claims against GM also filed an appeal, along with a motion in bankruptcy court asking that the sale be put on hold pending action by the U.S. District Court.
Both groups made their arguments in a hearing in front of Gerber late Monday, but the judge denied the motions.
As part of the Obama adminstration-backed sale plan, the U.S. government will get a 60 percent stake in "new GM" in exchange for what's expected to eventually total nearly $50 billion in aid. The Canadian government, which has also contributed billions in aid, will get a 12.5 percent stake while the United Auto Workers union will take a 17.5 percent share to fund its health care obligations. Unsecured bondholders receive the remaining 10 percent.
Existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out.
The remaining pieces of the company, including some closed plants, will become the "Old GM" and will be liquidated over the next few years.
Other major groups opposing the sale include a trio of GM bondholders whose holdings represent less than one percent of the automaker's billions of dollars in unsecured debt. One of the members bought his bonds for just 2 cents on the dollar, while the other two spent no more than 20 cents on the dollar for theirs.
A trio of unions have also objected, charging that health care costs for their retirees will skyrocket if the sale goes through.
#1
it appears the judiciary overseeing the bailouts, bankruptcies and other government interventions against all established law (see: preferred shares vs the UAW)have behaved as suitable lapdogs. Expect big things in the future for these useful tools
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2009 18:18 Comments ||
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French lawmakers opened hearings Wednesday on whether to ban the burka, calling in experts who said France should act to discourage Muslim women from wearing the head-to-toe veil. President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed the burka "not welcome" in secular France, drawing a warning from Al-Qaeda's north Africa wing that it was ready to "take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters."
Home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, France has set up a special panel of 32 lawmakers to consider whether a law should be enacted to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil, known as a burka or niqab. At the first hearing, two academics described wearing the burka as a throwback to a form of archaic Islam and a type of cult-like behaviour, incompatible with modern France. Islam expert Abdennour Bidar called the full veil a "pathology of Islam" embraced by hardline Salafists who tell Muslim women to cover themselves as a way to "get back to their roots."
"It's up to the republic to help Islam in our country choose its destiny and help French Muslims resist this pressure," said Bidar. "We must find ways to prevent the burka from spreading. Whether that would be a law or something else is not for me to say."
Anthropologist Dounia Bouzar said young women had in recent years taken to wearing the full veil after being indoctrinated by "gurus" who pervert Islam's teachings. "Even imams are having difficulties countering this type of message," she said, adding that there was nothing in the Koran that dictated to women that they must fully cover themselves. "The niqab entered Islam's history a little more than 70 years ago while Islam dates back 14 centuries," noted Bouzar. She suggested that measures be adopted under France's security laws barring citizens from concealing their identities by covering their faces, be it with a niqab, a ski mask or even a paper bag. Such a measure would apply equally to all citizens and ensure that France's five million Muslims do not feel stigmatized for their religion, she argued.
As the hearings got under way, the leader of the governing right-wing majority in parliament came out in favour of a law banning the burka but said it should be preceded by a period of "dialogue" of six months to a year. "We must prohibit what should be prohibited but only after having explained why," said Jean-Francois Cope, a leading figure in Sarkozy's UMP party, in an interview to Le Parisien newspaper. The parliamentary task force will also hear from women's groups, Muslim associations, educators and mayors in the coming months before presenting a report at the end of January.
#1
I don't think it should be prohibited - except for things like drivers lisences (or even driving), check or credit card ID, photo line-ups, court testimony etc. If I can't wear a Richard Nixon Halloween mask for it, then they can't wear their burka. And that would be true even if the burka WAS a religious requirement. Religious freedoms DO have limits in our society - except that the Church of Glenmore has a religious requirement that banks give me 10% of the Failout money they get.
[Al Arabiya Latest] German chancellor Angela Merkel will talk to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the fatal stabbing of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courthouse, which has prompted outrage in Egypt, her spokesman said Wednesday.
The talks will take place on Friday when African leaders join the heads of the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations in the Italian city of L'Aquila, the chancellor's spokesman Thomas Steg told a regular briefing. "The chancellor will meet Hosni Mubarak during the G8 and will speak to him about it on this occasion," Steg said.
Meanwhile in Egypt intellectuals and public figures called on their government to cut all ties with Germany until an official apology was given.
Criticism in Egypt has mounted as many have decried the silence of the German media about the death of 32-year-old Marwa Sherbini, who was stabbed to death by a German extremist as she went to court to testify against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
As we knew it would > some things are just so reliable and effective its become immoral and unthinkable to retire 'em, or go to war widout 'em. EVENTUALLY THESE MUST, BUT TODAY [or TOMORROW, ETC.]IS NOT THAT DAY!
D **NG IT, AMER'S ENEMIES ARE JUST NOT BOMBED UNTIL THEY'VE BEEN "BUFF-ED", when an enemy(s) has to absolutely positively categorically undeniably .........@ has to be obliterated into smithereenies overnite!
A new study has concluded that geoengineering measures designed to reduce global warming will do little to reduce CO2 levels and, subsequently, ocean acidification. CO2 that dissolves in salt water produces carbonic acid that undermines shell formation in crustations and coral. The world's oceans absorb a quarter of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to an international oceanography research network.
"This century will see the end of coral reefs for the next tens of thousands of years," said Ken Caldeira, a professor of environmental science in the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a co-author of the paper.
In fact, coral depletion has the potential to be a major economic disaster as well as an ecological catastrophe. An essay in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs noted that approximately 100 million people living in coastal areas worldwide depend on coral reef ecosystems for their livelihoods. The problem is that attempts to artificially cool the atmosphere, though necessary to avert more polar melting and the release of methane trapped in sub-arctic tundra, won't slow the build-up of greenhouse gases.
Geoengineering solutions have received a surge of attention in recent months, even though ideas for mechanically altering the atmosphere trace back to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Some scientists are experimenting with techniques to fertilize oceans so increased plankton growth will absorb excess CO2. Others have studied methods for reflecting sunlight, like seeding white clouds with sea water, launching solar reflectors or painting roofs white, as Energy Secretary Steven Chu famously suggested earlier this year.
Professor Caldeira dismissed most of these approaches as either financially unattainable or, in the case of Secretary Chu's white roof plan, insufficient. On balance, he said the most technically straightforward and cost-effective approach involves attempts to mimic the effect of large volcanic eruptions, like Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
Sulfur-based gases can be introduced inexpensively into the upper atmosphere, where they form sulfate particles that reflect sunlight away from the earth's surface. As the Foreign Affairs essay notes, the cost would be a fraction of emission reduction efforts that take decades to show results.
Except that the human costs would be far higher: the lowering of global mean temperature would shorten the growing season and lead to lower food production, which would cause people to die. But who cares about humans?
"Basically, there was cooling despite an increase in greenhouse gases," he sad. "The earth didn't come to an end." But, Professor Caldeira added, these measures "only make sense in an emergency response context."
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/09/2009 15:22 ||
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#1
"This century will see the end of coral reefs for the next tens of thousands of years"
#2
Ohfergawdsake! All we need do, were the problem as described real, is keep seed stock of the various coral species in aquaria until conditions got back to acceptable, then let the coral spawn freely, creating hundreds of millions of free-swimming coral babies to repopulate the earth. The reason survival of the fittest occurs is that many more are born than the environment can support, so the less fit do not survive to reproduce. In the meantime, leave the fishing grounds unfished for a few years and the stock will rebuild itself for exactly the same reason, after which there will be plenty of work and profit for all.
#3
Yeah, they've only survived for millions of years in climactic conditions both far colder and far hotter than today. But go ahead, doc, sell your book.
#4
I reject the idea of ocean acidification. To start with, ocean pH varies radically, depending where you look, when you look, and at what depth. Very easy to fudge.
There is a big chunk of ocean North of Sicily that is highly acidic, sulfuric acid from volcanic activity. Other parts of the ocean are tremendously basic.
Add to this that just one year ago, it was discovered that the oceans were neutralizing 50% more ozone and 12% more methane than previously believed. That is, scientists are still more ignorant about the processes involved than knowledgeable.
#8
And yet 450 million years ago when corals and sponges ruled the earth atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were so high that land animals (not evolved yet) could not survive. Yet: As a natural consequence, a good deal of attention has been focused on the causes of the Ordovician Ice Age. In fact, it is not easy to see how an ice age could have occurred. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are believed to have been 8 to 20 times their current values. This ought to have prevented anything approaching an ice age. Sea levels were high through most of the Ordovician. They dropped, dramatically (about 50 m), in connection with the ice age, but it is hard to tell whether this was cause, effect, or both.
Or current climate models are inadequate.
Posted by: ed ||
07/09/2009 21:54 Comments ||
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#9
"inadequate" as in "lying propaganda to sell this book/get my tenure" but I play the game the way it's offered I'm a grant-whore?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2009 22:01 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Indonesia's voters handed their president a second five-year term on Wednesday, as election results of the world's largest Muslim majority country and the third largest democracy came out showing Indonesians' faith in their leader's promises future reform.
Officials results from the election will not be announced until later this month, but "quick count" results -- which have proved extremely reliable in the past -- showed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had won enough votes to avoid a second run-off with his nearest rival.
Not known for jumping to a conclusion, Yudhoyono declared his own resounding victory as the results rolled in from across the archipelago of 226 million people.
" The quick counts show our success, thanks be to God "
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
"The quick counts show our success, thanks be to God," the 59-year-old former army general told reporters as jubilant supporters flocked to his home in Bogor, Java island, to congratulate him.
With virtually all of the LSI polling agency's sample of votes counted, Yudhoyono's tally stood at a commanding 60.82 percent. Other agencies put his score slightly lower, but all showed he was comfortably above the halfway mark needed to avoid a second round.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2009 00:00 ||
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The son of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has taken control of the militia being used to crush the protest movement, according to a senior Iranian source. The source, a politician with strong connections to the security apparatus, said that the leading role being played by Mojtaba Khamenei had dismayed many of the country's senior clerics, conservative politicians and Revolutionary Guard generals. We may have seen this movie before. Mojtaba Khamenei is playing the role of Reichsfuhrer Heihrich Himmler.
But these conservatives are reluctant to challenge the Khameneis openly out of fear that any conflict would destabilise the Islamic Republic and weaken Iran in the region. Instead they will use their positions in the organs of state to make it hard for the supreme leader and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to govern.
"This game has not finished. The game has only just started," the source said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his own position in Iran.
He said Mojtaba had played a leading role in orchestrating Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory on 12 June and had led the backlash against protests through direct control of street militias, known as basiji. The basiji playing the part of the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS.
The official death toll from that backlash is less than 20 but, according to a Tehran doctor who has given his account to the Guardian, the actual number is much higher -- 38 in the first week at his hospital alone. He said the basiji covered up the deaths and pressured doctors not to talk.
"Mojtaba is the commander of this coup d'etat. The basiji are operating on Mojtaba's orders, but his name is always hidden in all of this. The government never mentions him," the Iranian politician said. "Everyone is angry about this. The maraji [Iran's most senior ayatollahs] and the clerics are angry, the conservatives are very angry and strongly critical of Mojtaba. This situation cannot continue with so many people on the top against it."
Very little is known about Mojtaba Khamenei. He is the supreme leader's second son, reportedly being groomed to succeed his father. Such a dynastic succession would be very hard under present circumstances as the leader is supposed to be chosen by a clerical assembly of experts on the basis of the candidate's religious standing. Mojtaba wears clerical robes but by no means has the theological status to rise to the top job. A major upheaval in the clerical establishment would be required to arrange it.
Within Iran, Mojtaba is widely believed to control huge financial assets. There are claims on Iranian dissident websites that the current anti-British campaign in Tehran is motivated in part by Britain's announcement on 18 June that it had frozen nearly £1bn in Iranian assets, in accordance with UN and EU sanctions. The frozen funds included a lot of Mojtaba's money, it is claimed.
Mojtaba's name does not appear on the Treasury's list of targets of those sanctions, but one British official said the supreme leader's son may operate through state-run enterprises that are listed. "I'd be amazed if some of the money wasn't his," the official said.
The Iranian politician who spoke to the Guardian said the supreme leader had long been leaking support among the religious hierarchy on which his powerbase was once built and had now virtually lost it altogether. Among the roughly 20 maraji ("sources of emulation", from whose ranks the supreme leader is supposed to be chosen), he said Khamenei could only rely on the support of a handful.
He said that an axis of lay conservatives in important positions would also try to hinder Ahmadinejad's efforts to wield power. That axis includes Ali Larijani, the parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Tehran mayor, and Mohsen Rezai, one of the defeated presidential candidates and the secretary of the expediency council, which mediates disputes between the clerical and lay state institutions. They would be supported by the opposition's most powerful backer behind the scenes, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the expediency council and the assembly of experts.
The Iranian source also claimed there were splits in another pillar of the Islamic Republic, the Revolutionary Guard. The overall commander, General Ali Jafari, and the Tehran province commander, General Ali Fazli, were opposed to Mojtaba's power grab. If we look at the Revolutionary Guard as the first Iranian paramilitary force, then there is a direct comparison with the Sturm Abteilung or SA. The Ali's would then be playing the role of Ernst Roehm. I wouldn't sleep if I was them.
He said the hardline statements issued in the Revolutionary Guard's name, threatening a "decisive confrontation" with protesters, were the work of the political and public relations departments, which are under the direct control of Ahmadinejad, and did not represent a united position. That is a controversial claim. Most analyses have presented the Revolutionary Guard as monolithic and entirely behind the regime.
For revolutionary stalwarts uneasy over the direction of the regime, open rebellion was unthinkable, the politician said. "For them, the red line is the stability of the country," he said. "They will continue softly." Until a tipping point is reached, then someone will try for their own Night of the Long Knives. We know who won that one.
He said this hidden internecine struggle would last a considerable period and the outcome was far from clear. The only certainty was that the Khameneis and Ahmadinejad had not yet won. "They control things on the surface," he said. "But Iranians are not sheep."
#2
Instead they will use their positions in the organs of state to make it hard for the supreme leader and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to govern.
If this is true, then these people are morons, and the Khameneis and Ahmadinejad will cut them off from each other, isolate them, and kill them one by one.
But I rather think that this report smells of clever fiction. A distinct aroma of improbable omniscience, if you will.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2009 12:20 Comments ||
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#3
I should probably elaborate on *why* they're morons. Because if you hold back from publicly attacking the coup for fear of undermining your country's security, while doing all you can to undermine the existing government & its ability to govern, then you've traded the appearance of security for the substance of actual insecurity. It's utterly foolish from the vantage point of a loyal Iranian Islamist.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/09/2009 12:23 Comments ||
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Khamenei would like his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, to succeed him. Mojtaba does not have a strong public political profile. Most reports say that he is not known as a particularly sharp Islamic jurist, and he does not hold the rank of ayatollah. What Mojtaba does have: the full support of his father, and a high position in the Revolutionary Guards.
under Ahmadinejad's presidency, the Revolutionary Guards have gained increasing control over the economy and the country as a whole. Under former President Khatami, 3 of 21 cabinet posts were held by men with ties to the Revolutionary Guard. In Ahmadinejad's cabinet, 13 posts are held by former Guard or Basij commanders. By controlling government bids, contracts, and tariffs, particularly in the oil and gas sector, they've managed to siphon billions into private accounts. Some have suggested that the sharp anti-British response by the Iranian government was due to Britain's freezing over $1 billion in Iranian assets, much of which belonged to high ranking Guardsmen.
The re-election of Ahmadinejad is critical to both Khamenei's succession and the Revolutionary Guard's continued looting of the Iranian economy. Ahmadinejad would continue to serve as a front-man for the operation -- in return for fixing his re-election, he would support Mojtaba's succession, and allow the Guard to continue its crooked deals. If Mousavi were elected, both of these projects might be stopped.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/09/2009 14:09 Comments ||
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It is a back country wanderer's worst nightmare; arriving at a remote trailhead to find yourself accosted by two growling, snarling off-leash dogs, and then their owner, who threatens to kill you for having taken action to deter the approaching canines.
That's what retired Arizona teacher Harold Fish told investigators in May 2004 at the end of a dayhike in the Coconino National Forest that put him in a deadly confrontation with a man named Grant Kuenzli. Fish said he yelled a warning to Kuenzli to call off the dogs--a warning apparently ignored--then drew his 10mm Kimber semiautomatic pistol and fired one round into the ground when the dogs were about seven feet from him. The dogs split up, one to each side of Fish.
At the sound of the gunshot, Fish said, Kuenzli became enraged and rushed toward him "yelling profanities and swinging his arms" according to court documents. Fish "thought (Kuenzli) was going to kill him and he had nowhere to run because the dogs were at either side of the trail," the court documents said. "At one point (Fish) yelled to (Kuenzli) to stop or he would shoot."
When Kuenzli was between five and eight feet from Fish, still advancing and yelling, Fish shot him three times in the chest. Kuenzli died at the scene. Fish made his way to a highway, flagged down a motorist and asked for help.
Fish was prosecuted and convicted, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but last week, the now-incarcerated 62-year-old ex-teacher was granted a new trial by the Arizona Court of Appeals, which reversed the verdict and remanded the case back to the trial court.
There is a great deal about the Fish case, and the appeals court ruling, that raises more questions than answers.
Posted by: Everyday a Wildcat(KSU) ||
07/09/2009 10:19 ||
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#1
Sounds to me like a direct court driven attack on Self defense, thwarted by (Higher) cooler heads.
If he hadn't called police himself, he'd really be screwed.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/09/2009 14:59 Comments ||
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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.
Her father had just won agreement from the Russians to cut back on the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Morocco's ambassador to Italy Nabil Benabdallah was sacked from his post after his wife got into a "fight" with the wife of the Kingdom's foreign minister during a fine arts festival in the Italian city of Venice, according to Moroccan press reports on Thursday.
[Maghrebia] Nine candidates are competing for the presidency in Mauritania, in a campaign that runs from July 2nd through the polls on July 18th. Observers believe a balance between majority and opposition leaders in the election -- agreed in June's Dakar Agreement -- will ensure transparency. 
French lawmakers opened hearings Wednesday on whether to ban the burka, calling in experts who said France should act to discourage Muslim women from wearing the head-to-toe veil. President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed the burka "not welcome" in secular France, drawing a warning from Al-Qaeda's north Africa wing that it was ready to "take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters." 
