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Drone attack leaves 12 dead in N. Waziristan
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Naked Man Says Rabbit Chase Ended With Shock
According to an incident report from the Greer Police Department, Joseph Asher, 38, walked into Greer Memorial Hospital naked and covered with severe burns from his head to his toe.

Asher was able to tell investigators that he chased a rabbit into a Duke Power station and was shocked.
"I dare not risk another frontal assault--that rabbit's dynamite!"
Posted by: Mike || 09/10/2009 15:14 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did he catch the rabbit?

Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/10/2009 16:10 Comments || Top||

#2  More from Mike's article:

His wife said the 38-year-old had been missing for three days prior to the incident. Authorities said he climbed an electrical transformer assembly, likely grabbing equipment that had 100,000 volts of electricity running through it.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 16:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Death aways you all, with nasty sharp pointy teeth!
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/10/2009 19:41 Comments || Top||

#4  I was kinda sorta expecting this to be about Jimmy Carter.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/10/2009 20:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Geez, thanks, Steve. Just what I needed - a mental image of a naked Jimmah.

Now I've got to go scrub my mind's eye with Brillo. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/10/2009 20:39 Comments || Top||

#6  a mental image of a naked Jimmah.

perhaps one of those white raisins promised martyrs by the Koran? Wouldn't that be a disappointment? I'd rather have a grape
Posted by: Frank G || 09/10/2009 21:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Whoa- first POTUS CARTER, now this Guy!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 21:45 Comments || Top||


Farmers sell wives after crops fail
North Indian farmers are selling their wives to survive, it has been revealed. Left without money due to failing crops, debt-ridden farmers in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, have reportedly been selling their wives to money lenders for Rs 4,000 - 12,000 (£50-150).

The more beautiful the woman, the higher the price that she fetches, it was claimed.
Color me surprised ...
You were expecting to pay by the pound?
The deals are allegedly being settled on a legal stamp paper under the heading "Vivaha Anubandh" meaning Marriage Contract. Once the new "husband" is tired of the woman, she is allegedly sold to another man.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is now sending a team to investigate the reports. Girija Vyas, chief of the NCW, said: "It is awful and unbelievable that it still happens in the country, and that too in Uttar Pradesh where the chief minister is a woman.

"We are sending a team to find out the details and have asked for the report within 24 hours."

She added that the commission had also written a letter to the state's chief minister.

One of the victims said: "My husband sold me to another man for Rs 8,000 (£100) only. My buyer took me to the court to make our wedding look legal. During the trip I got the chance to escape."

In most cases, the women are illiterate and cannot read what is written in the "contract".

A farmer who helped expose the situation to the Indian media said he is now being harassed.

"I was summoned to the police station and questioned," the man who is known only as Kalicharan said. "I told them I had spoken to the media because no one was listening to us. But they threatened me and said I was lying. My wife was also called to the police station."

With reports suggesting that thousands of farmers in the region are involved, the situation has spiralled into a major political crisis. Opposition parties are blaming the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by chief minister Mayawati for the problem.

The state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: "It is a painful situation. I am sending a team of Congress workers to help these women."

A spokesman for leading opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, said: "Both the BSP-led state government and the Congress at the centre are responsible for this. The centre has been talking of creating a separate authority for Bundelkhand while some factions want a state. Nobody is helping these farmers."

Erratic rainfall in the region this year is one of the main causes of failing crops.
Posted by: Fred || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, they didn't marry for love - rather arranged - so their like well PROPERTY.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/10/2009 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  First glance I thought it said North Indiana....
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/10/2009 9:54 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sure NOW will have a lot to not say about this.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/10/2009 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  welcome to central asia, where men come first and women are a liability. just sayin......
Posted by: 746 || 09/10/2009 12:16 Comments || Top||

#5  IIRC CHINESE MIL FORUM? POSTER > sellin' their Babes = LOVE OF THIER LIFE + MOTHER OF THEIR KIDDIES, etc. for a whopping average US$85.0???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 21:47 Comments || Top||

#6  US $85 buys an awful lot more over there, JosephM. For what that's worth.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 22:49 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Underwear-stealing monkeys defeated with Cactus
An entrepreneur has come up with a way to foil monkeys who steal underwear from washing lines.

Ray Liddell has stopped the thieving barbary macaques of Gibraltar by selling a plastic spiked device – called The Cactus – which can be fitted to fences to make life difficult for the cheeky primates.

'The monkeys are everywhere,' said the 38-year-old, from Hartlepool.
Do not taunt the underwear monkey.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/10/2009 20:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Permanent PANTY RAID???

Gut nuthin.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 21:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "Step 1: Collect underwear."

"Step 3: Make profit."

"What's Step 2?"

"We don't know yet"
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/10/2009 22:38 Comments || Top||


Mice Levitated in Lab
I haven't tried this at home yet, but here's something that looks like it would be fun to play with in your spare time.
Scientists have now levitated mice using magnetic fields.

Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in mid-air before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets.

Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside warm enough at room temperature and large enough at 2.6 inches wide (6.6 cm) for tiny creatures to float comfortably in during experiments.

Disoriented

The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.

"It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating.

A plastic cage was also designed by physicist Da-Ming Zhu at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, to keep the mice in during levitation. Its top remained open to let in air, food, water and video surveillance, and its bottom was filled with small holes to allow waste removal.

From time to time, mice would kick the walls of the cage, causing it to briefly drop off from the levitation zone before re-entering it and floating again.

Although the researchers could levitate mice with or without the cage, "it's easier to house a mouse in a cage when you bring it to the levitation zone," Liu explained. Also, if you want to run an experiment comparing mice living inside and outside the levitator, you want to set up exactly the same living conditions to match results up as best as possible.

Results

Repeated levitation tests showed the mice, even when not sedated, could quickly acclimate to levitation inside the cage. After three or four hours, the mice acted normally, including eating and drinking. The strong magnetic fields did not seem to have any negative impacts on the mice in the short term, and past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields.

"We're trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity, and also what kind of countermeasures might work against it for astronauts," Liu said. "If we can contribute to the future human exploration of space, that would be very exciting." They are now applying for funding for such research with their levitator.

The researchers also levitated water drops up to 2 inches wide (5 cm). This suggests the variable gravity simulator could be used to study how liquids behave under reduced gravity, such as how heat is transferred or how bubbles behave.

Liu, Zhu and their colleagues detailed their findings online Sept. 6 in the journal Advances in Space Research.
Posted by: gorb || 09/10/2009 03:35 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Water, blood etc.. have magnetic moments.
Got to wonder what this is doing to the chemical processes in the mice.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/10/2009 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  "We're trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity,

They become 'Truthing Astroturfers' obviously.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/10/2009 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/10/2009 13:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Got to wonder what this is doing to the chemical processes in the mice.

The mouse is probably a little concerned about that too.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/10/2009 16:14 Comments || Top||

#5  "It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, alias "Magneto"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/10/2009 19:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I gotta wonder how much this is fucking with the subjects in an oncological sense. Subjecting mammalian tissue to enough magnetic flux to *suspend* it against gravity seems like it might do something like, oh, I don't know - unravel DNA?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/10/2009 20:35 Comments || Top||

#7  or create A SUPERHERO!

"Gentlemen, I give you: Mighty Mouse"

/think we've seen this one?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/10/2009 20:55 Comments || Top||

#8  The taxpayers paid good money to float mice.
Posted by: Mike N. || 09/10/2009 23:38 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
News Flash: John Stossel Joins FOX News, FOX Business Network
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/10/2009 18:09 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hooray! I may make an attempt to actually watch tv occassionally. He's very good.
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/10/2009 19:26 Comments || Top||

#2  To be expected, after all he didn't get 'The Big Chair' after Gibson announced his retirement.
Posted by: Chaiter Pelosi4314 || 09/10/2009 22:50 Comments || Top||


Woman dies hunting ghosts in Toronto
A 29-year-old woman who police said was apparently ghost hunting died early Thursday morning after falling three storeys from a building at the University of Toronto....
Posted by: Mike || 09/10/2009 15:12 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The pair, who were on their first date, made it to a third floor roof and were trying to cross over to another section of the building.

The wife and I didn't do this until our third date.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/10/2009 16:04 Comments || Top||

#2  She now becomes that which she was searching. So the legend continues.

You might think at age 29 a person might have achieved a level of sensible maturity. But this is Toronto.
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 09/10/2009 23:35 Comments || Top||


Are Sunspots Disappearing
"Sunspot magnetic fields are dropping by about 50 gauss per year," says Penn. "If we extrapolate this trend into the future, sunspots could completely vanish around the year 2015."

This disappearing act is possible because sunspots are made of magnetism. The "firmament" of a sunspot is not matter but rather a strong magnetic field that appears dark because it blocks the upflow of heat from the sun's interior. If Earth lost its magnetic field, the solid planet would remain intact, but if a sunspot loses its magnetism, it ceases to exist.

"According to our measurements, sunspots seem to form only if the magnetic field is stronger than about 1500 gauss," says Livingston. "If the current trend continues, we'll hit that threshold in the near future, and solar magnetic fields would become too weak to form sunspots."

If sunspots do go away, it wouldn't be the first time. In the 17th century, the sun plunged into a 70-year period of spotlessness known as the Maunder Minimum that still baffles scientists. The sunspot drought began in 1645 and lasted until 1715;

"Whether [the current downturn] is an omen of long-term sunspot decline, analogous to the Maunder Minimum, remains to be seen," Livingston and Penn caution in a recent issue of EOS. "Other indications of solar activity suggest that sunspots must return in earnest within the next year."

Whatever happens, notes Hathaway, "the sun is behaving in an interesting way and I believe we're about to learn something new."
Posted by: 3dc || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Behaving in an interesting way and I believe we're about to learn something new" > IOW, the Perts are uncertain or don't know whats gonna happen.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  And we will REALLY need a robust utility system if this another "Maunder Minimum" scenario. It's gonna get cold out there. I hope Al Gore and his cultists freeze their buns off.
Posted by: tipover || 09/10/2009 1:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Fallen Angels
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/10/2009 5:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Save the Sunspots!
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats || 09/10/2009 9:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Hey, can you tell me what's your name? "My name is Roosevelt E. Roosevelt." Roosevelt, what town are you stationed in? "I'm stationed in Poontang." Well, thank you, Roosevelt. What's the weather like out there? "It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Hottest things is my shorts. I could cook things in it. A little crotch pot cooking." Well, tell me what it feels like. "Fool, it's hot! I told you again! Were you born on the sun? It's damn hot! It's so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames. It's that hot! Do you know what I'm talking about?" What do you think it's going to be like tonight? "It's gonna be hot and wet! That's nice if you're with a lady, but ain't no good if you're in the jungle!" Thank you, Roosevelt
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/10/2009 9:56 Comments || Top||

#6  "Behaving in an interesting way and I believe we're about to learn something new"

These are some of the most exciting words in science. We have a primitive understanding of complex chaotic dynamic systems, the Sun and our climate being just two examples, and no matter what al Gore and his disciples say, the science is *not* settled.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/10/2009 14:10 Comments || Top||

#7  This is terrible. Due to man made sunspot destruction otherwise serviceable Category 5 Hurricanes a fizzling out in the Mid-Atlantic. Oh, the humanity!

Al Gore here is a whole new opportunity to make millions. "Solar Cooling"

/sarc
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/10/2009 19:17 Comments || Top||

#8  obviously we need to declare oxygen a "greenhouse gas" and limit the production
Posted by: Frank G || 09/10/2009 19:52 Comments || Top||

#9  That one's easy, Frank. Plant trees to bind two oxygens to each carbon atom, and the problem will take itself away. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 23:06 Comments || Top||

#10  If we all light a match together, we can suck all the oxygen out of the atmosphere.....(burns fingers) OUCH!
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 09/10/2009 23:42 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Defying U.S., Honduras won't let Zelaya return as president
Honduras' de facto government remains dead-set against the return of Manuel Zelaya as the country's president, defying the Obama administration and disregarding the U.S. sanctions imposed last week against the poor Central American nation.

In fact, the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti appears to be digging in its heels against Zelaya by circulating accusations the ousted president illegally used public money to keep horses, buy watches and jewelry and repair his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras said his government continues to reject calls that it grant amnesty to Zelaya and allow him to return as president, as called for under a proposal by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

"Mr. Zelaya has orders for his arrest for crimes he has committed. That is the only possibility," Lopez Contreras told McClatchy in a telephone interview.

Lopez Contreras said outsiders don't seem to understand that whether Honduras grants amnesty to Zelaya depends not on Micheletti but the country's Congress and Supreme Court.

The foreign minister complained that Arias had rejected out of hand a Micheletti government counterproposal from Aug. 27 that would establish a unity government in Honduras that neither he nor Zelaya would head. It would also end Honduras' trade agreements with Venezuela that have been a point of pride for President Hugo Chavez.

"The mediator acts like a negotiator for Zelaya instead of as a mediator," Lopez Contreras said. "We don't see him playing an objective role."
Posted by: Fred || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The headline "Defying U.S., Honduras won't let Zelaya return as president" makes it sounds as if Hinduras is nothing more than a recalcitrant child. It is quite clear. Zalaya was removed legally and because of his violation of the Honduran constitution.
Posted by: Spaing de Medici7383 || 09/10/2009 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Their business, not mine. Getting rid of dictators and crooked politicians has always been something of a challenge in that part of the world. STAY OUT OF IT! They called the shots. Let them sort it out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/10/2009 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Any action that slaps down Bambi and Hilary meets with my approval. GO Honduras!!!
Posted by: WolfDog || 09/10/2009 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Warms the cockles of my heart, it does, to see a little Central American country operating on the rule of law instead of the local big man's whims. Pity we are not siding with them. Honduras, *bleep* yeah!
Posted by: SteveS || 09/10/2009 14:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Obama's feckless suckup to Chavez, Morales, and Castro is disgusting. Hillary should've taken the opportunity to do a Sistah Souljah moment by resigning. History will not be kind. As to the next GOP Prez - They should request a State Dept roster and fire everyone involved in this bullshit treatment of a democratically run state in Central America.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/10/2009 20:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Any wager that Sarah might be the first American VIP to visit Tegucigalpa?

During the Moose season of course. And just to deliver urgent Harley parts, of course.
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 09/10/2009 23:54 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China's 60th national day approaches as huge military parade gets ready to kick off
Notwithstanding your disgust with the pomposity, the waste and the bluff, Chinese military parades are often great to watch. Quite a few countries are able to put better weaponry on parade, but few countries are willing to put so much into a military parade to make it look both very festive and overly sublime.

Today’s China is simply unbeatable, if the competition, if any, is all about size and numbers. This is especially true at a time of global economic slump, when China still has means to overspend its budget.

My American friend Robert can’t wait to watch the parade on TV. That’s what he said in his mail. And this is one thing I like about my good friend. He is a happy man who doesn’t always try to look beneath the surface of things. If it’s a good show, he would enjoy it first, and then, if he wants to, he would rationalize motives behind all the niceties and good feelings.
I'm pretty sure you can get CCTV on some satellite providers. DirectTV has CCTV-9, I believe. October 1, this year as always.
Robert knows that political bigotry and self-righteousness are only to spoil his natural love for a culture and its people, which he reckons to be far more profound and interesting than the existing political system. Guess we both agree that we can still enjoy our time on this planet while we can’t choose and fight a system.

However, amidst recent economic woes, pressing security concerns and all-time high of nationalism, this year’s military parade is more likely to be interpreted as a political statement fit for the aspirations for a sophisticated, confident and even aggressive China.
The 60th anniversary is a yawn to the rest of the world, but to the Chinese, they think everyone will be watching in awe. They will be so proud to see their country's military on the march. Some will even say, "why have this force, if we're not going to use it to shove people around?"
Posted by: gromky || 09/10/2009 03:47 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bahh. What's a few missiles and a battalion of Marching Commandos (12 pairs of boots worn out) compared to Kimmie's 100,000 synchronized dancers.
Posted by: ed || 09/10/2009 7:30 Comments || Top||

#2  old military proverb - a unit ready for parade is not ready for combat. a unit ready for combat is not ready for parade.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/10/2009 11:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that why we parade our boy and girl scouts, our marching bands, our Shriners in their fezzes and child-sized cars, instead of our military, Procopius2k?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 11:28 Comments || Top||

#4  We parade Reserves, kinda proves the point.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/10/2009 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Will they have goose stepping? 'Cause that's like, really scary stuff!
Posted by: SteveS || 09/10/2009 14:14 Comments || Top||

#6  ION SINA WMF > SOUTH KOREAN POLITICIANS ARE TRYING TO ENCROACH ON CHINESE TERRITORY [ancient KORYE = THREE KINGDOMS];+ CHINA'S NEW DH-10 STRATEGIC CRUISE MISSLE CAN REACH HAWAII.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 22:55 Comments || Top||


UAE aircraft carrying Harpoons to China?
KOLKATA: What is the mysterious weapons cargo in the China-bound UAE Air Force’s C-130 Hercules aircraft detained at Kolkata airport since Sunday?

Defence and intelligence sleuths say it could be a sophisticated US-made weapons system, which explains the unconcealed concern of the Indian authorities and the silence on the part of the UAE government.

UAE authorities applied to the Indian government to get the plane released on Wednesday evening — nearly 72 hours after it was detained. The plane has been given a take-off slot of 9.30am on Thursday for China’s Xiangyang.

Sources confirmed that the three mysterious boxes in the aircraft contain ‘‘combat missiles’’ but were mum on the details. Defence and intelligence sleuths, probing the case, don’t rule out the possibility of the deadly US-made Harpoon missiles being channelized to China from UAE and Egypt.

If what Indian investigators suspect is true, the unauthorized proliferation could lead to regional imbalances and trigger a crisis. ‘‘This is serious. Already, there are reports of Pakistan having modified Harpoon missiles to strike land targets in India,’’ an analyst pointed out.
Posted by: john frum || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can an "arab" ally ever be trusted?
Posted by: 3dc || 09/10/2009 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  One of everything?
Posted by: ed || 09/10/2009 2:02 Comments || Top||

#3  I trust them to always follow their nature, 3dc.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/10/2009 2:10 Comments || Top||

#4  And once copied in China, they end up in NK, Iran, Pakistan, or Syria.
Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 || 09/10/2009 10:12 Comments || Top||

#5  China already makes cruise missiles themselves, and the harpoon is kinda old at the moment.

What I suspect they wanted was an example of the guidance electronics to further work out how to best jam them.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/10/2009 12:23 Comments || Top||

#6  WMF > CHINA long ago already procured SIX? EX-SOVIET KH-55 "DUAL-USE" CRUISE MISSLES from the Ukraine.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 23:02 Comments || Top||


Mystery of UAE plane held in Calcutta with arms bound for China
India is struggling to unravel the mystery surrounding a United Arab Emirates Air Force aircraft detained in Calcutta since Sunday for carrying undeclared weapons -- including at least one missile -- bound for China.

The discovery has raised eyebrows, as the UAE buys most of its weapons from the United States and European Union, which impose strict controls on arms transfers to China. The most controversial theory is that the weapons include high-tech equipment that China would like to examine or copy.
Or that they're on their way to Xinjiang...
Last year the UAE purchased 14 Maverick air-to-ground missiles from the United States and also signed a contract to buy US Patriot air defence missiles. The UAE has refused to comment on the matter, fuelling suspicions that the three boxes of weapons found on the Hercules C130 transport plane were supposed to be secret. The aircraft was refuelling en route from Abu Dhabi to the northern Chinese city of Xianyang -- a big arms production centre.

The nine crew members have been detained at a hotel and questioned, while the aircraft has been held at Calcutta's airport, according to Indian officials. "The crew didn't mention about the arms and ammunitions content in the initial declaration," one customs official in Calcutta told The Times. "The pilot told us that we would be opening the cargo at our own peril. So, the entire cargo was sealed."

The crew also has yet to explain why they were taking such an indirect route to China, rather than flying over Pakistan.
And why the Chinese would fly a load of weapons on a flight plan that includes a stop at their southern major enemy ...
India's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the pilot, Major Ibrahim Alshamsei, had admitted carrying arms, ammunition and explosives but had failed to declare the items in his initial application. "The UAE authorities... have since formally regretted the omission in clearly indicating items carried by the aircraft and have described it as a 'technical error'," the statement said.

The statement said that India would facilitate the aircraft's "early release" although it did not specify whether the aircraft would continue to China or return to Abu Dhabi. Analysts said the weapons could be Chinese samples being returned to Xianyang after tests in the UAE. They could also have been smuggled out of the UAE by individuals without the knowledge of the government there.

Analysts say the UAE is unlikely to risk transferring US missile technology to China for fear of jeopardising future US arms sales. However, it would face less fallout from transferring one of the MICA missiles it bought from France to use on its Mirage fighter jets. China would be interested in procuring a MICA as France has also sold them to Taiwan, China's arch rival, for use on its Mirages.

France cannot sell directly to China because of an EU arms embargo imposed after the killing of protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. "I would imagine the Chinese would be very interested in looking at the UAE's French missiles," said Siemon Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Arms Transfer
Posted by: tipover || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But, but, but, I always thought that it's the evil ingrate Jews who sell American technology secrets to China---not their sterling Muslim allies!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/10/2009 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  And that excuses that Israel's also done it in the past?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/10/2009 10:27 Comments || Top||

#3  we think we can trust the "muslims of UAE,Dubai,Saud" when we call them our friends and allies....think again folks
Posted by: 746 || 09/10/2009 12:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Investigation of Baltimore ACORN Office Uncovers Prostitution, Sex Trafficking, Tax Evasion & Mo
Posted by: tipper || 09/10/2009 12:14 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mo Money, Mo Money
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/10/2009 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Whores teaching whores how to be come more effective whores.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/10/2009 14:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Now now, equalating whores with Acorn is pretty insulting to the whores don't you think?

As they say with whores at least you expect to get F'ed.

I am not surprised (at all) to see Acorn willing (if not eager) to get involved itself with people in the sex-slave industry.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/10/2009 14:52 Comments || Top||

#4  It would be interesting to ask the President if he had any knowledge of or participated in any illegal activities while working with ACORN. And would he answer this question under oath.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/10/2009 14:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Hol don I gots to axe somebody if this will get trouble with the Po leese
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/10/2009 18:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, that's a bit of a stolen base. A Moore-style documentarian & assistant set up an ACORN office by claiming to be a pimp & his head whore looking for tax-dodging advice.

The ACORN people were wildly irresponsible, amoral, and willing to help a shameless criminal hide his criminality & falsify his tax record. This is bad enough, but the trafficking and prostitution was not a project of the ACORN drones, but rather the product of the ambush team's imagination, or cover-story.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/10/2009 20:32 Comments || Top||

#7  And it wouldn't have mattered one damn bit if the Acorn clowns had thrown the filmmaker "criminal" out on his ass - like normal decent people would have.

But since Acorn is neither normal nor decent....

If they're looking for sympathy, I'd suggest they check the dictionary - it's found between sweat and syphilis.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/10/2009 20:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Jeebus,just Jeebus.

I don't think the Bammer will be able to escape his critics from this one, given his well-publicized suppor for ACORN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/10/2009 22:58 Comments || Top||

#9  DrudgeReport has several links. This thing may have legs, especially with prosecutions at the state level of other ACORN offices. See? We don't need the Feds to take care of what should be done, it's just that it's a bit slower.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 23:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
French General To Assume North America NATO Command
A French general is set to take command of NATO's only strategic command in North America, becoming the first non-American officer in the alliance's 60-year history to permanently fill a command post.

Gen. Stephane Abrial will be one of NATO's two supreme allied commanders, which are traditionally filled by four-star U.S. generals. He succeeds U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis at NATO's Allied Common Transformation in Norfolk.

The historic change-of-command ceremony will be aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower this morning. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen is to speak.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/10/2009 19:39 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good luck and best wishes to all concerned.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/10/2009 23:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Three injured in violence in Karachi's Lyari
[Dawn] At least three people were injured in an exchange of fire between two groups in Karachi's Lyari area late on Tuesday.

According to police, the clash was triggered when a key member of the Lyari Peace Committee, Abdul Rauf Baloch was attacked by unknown assailants.

The Lyari Peace Committee has been instrumental in bringing back normalcy to the violence-hit area. Criminal gangs have fought for control over Lyari for a long time.

The latest round of violence is the first after the death of Rehman Dakait and marks the rise of a renewed mistrust between rival criminal gangs.

Police has sought back-up and their numbers have been beefed up as authorities anticipate more violence.
Posted by: Fred || 09/10/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2009-09-10
  Drone attack leaves 12 dead in N. Waziristan
Wed 2009-09-09
  Supply for Nato stops again after row with Afghans
Tue 2009-09-08
  Two foreigners among seven dead in NWA drone strikes
Mon 2009-09-07
  33 militants killed in Khyber Agency
Sun 2009-09-06
  'Taliban' kidnap NYT reporter in Afghanistan
Sat 2009-09-05
  Yemen suspends offensive on northern rebels
Fri 2009-09-04
  Andhra Pradesh CM killed in chopper crash
Thu 2009-09-03
  Iraq: 4 get death sentence in bank heist case
Wed 2009-09-02
  Suicide boomer kills Afghan deputy intel boss
Tue 2009-09-01
  Qaeda coordinator killed in N Caucasus: Russia
Mon 2009-08-31
  Ethiopian troops seize Somali town
Sun 2009-08-30
  Swat suicide kaboom kills a dozen
Sat 2009-08-29
  Suicide kaboom in Chechnya kills two, wounds six
Fri 2009-08-28
  'Surrendering' Qaeda boy tries to boom Prince Nayef, Jr.
Thu 2009-08-27
  Baghdad demands Damascus hands over boom masterminds


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