Four police officers were shot dead in an ambush at a Washington state coffee house, a sheriff's official said Sunday. The attack occurred near McChord Air Force Base in Parkland, Wash.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer tells Seattle's KOMO-TV that the officers were hit near 116th Street and Steele Street on the east side of the Air Force base at about 8:30 a.m. local time. The officers were shot at Forza Coffee, the News Tribune of Tacoma reported.
Troyer told The News Tribune in Tacoma that the officers were sitting in the coffee shop with their computers when the shooter came in Sunday morning. He says investigators believe the officers were targeted, and it was not a robbery.
Troyer tells the newspaper "it was just a flat out ambush."
He could not immediately say what agency the officers were from.
From Q13Fox.com
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office tells Q13 FOX News that four officers have been shot and killed at Forza Coffee, located on Steele Street S in the Parkland area of Tacoma.
Authorities say two suspects entered the coffee shop and opened fire on the four officers. The officers were sitting in the coffee shop with their laptops, going over paper work before starting their day shift when they were killed. There were customers and baristas in the store as well, but authorities say the suspects ambushed and singled out the officers.
#4
With more recent statements saying only one suspect, the gang theory seems more likely. "Lone nutjob", as always, is still in the contest.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/29/2009 15:54 Comments ||
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#5
My son is a Lakewood ass't prosecutor; will provide details when and as able. So far his batting average is ~ .750; hope his boss lets him loose on it.
#6
IMHO, this is terrorism, whether it was performed by a gang, moslems, or "anarchist" marxists. I think it would probably be good for us to treat it that way.
Close. Welcome to California is more like it. These folks are tired of the tight market there and are expanding into areas with less competition and more naivete.
This needs to be dealt with immediately if not sooner.
The best way to make sure this problem is taken care of is to minimally fund anti-gang activities so that we have to pay for this forever in blood and treasure. Or until the police commissioner's daughter gets killed in a drive-by, then the police go ape on a gang or two then mellow out again. We need to educate the populace that it is good to have these gangs around so we can watch the occasional red-on-red activity sprinkled throughout all the community destruction they sow. We need to discourage citizens from shooting the fuc#ers on-sight with overzealous prosecution and heavy sentencing. We need to ignore the tips that are phoned in and tell the tipsters to just not worry about it. Don't deport the gangsters, whatever you do. It would be against their Constitutional rights as non-citizens. Also, make sure you get the police to come to each and every incident slowly with their sirens and lights flashing so the gangsters get plenty of Constitionally required notice that the authorities are coming and have time to disappear into the woodwork after popping off a couple more randomly aimed rounds. Make sure that jails have a revolving door on them for things like tagging, packing, and wearing colors. Make sure the revolving door is greased well so they can go through as many times as they want. Make sure that we obey every stupid, politically misguided directive from the feds that really isn't in our interests.
[Straits Times] AN AMERICAN, an Australian and a South Korean were among four people shot and wounded in a bar brawl involving police officers in the Philippine tourist resort of Puerto Galera, officials said on Saturday. Ummm.. Brawl involving police officers in Philippines. Bad thing.
American John Grimm, 45, and Mr Paul Andrew Jones, a 57 year-old Australian, were treated at a local hospital, each for a gunshot wound to their right foot, "[BANG! BANG!] Yee haw! Dance, yew varmints! [BANG! BANG!]"
while Mr Kim Myung Hoon, a 38 year-old South Korean, was treated for a gunshot wound on the right thigh, [BANG! BANG!]"Lemme see yew pirouette there, Hyundai!"
the national police headquarters said. A Filipino man was also shot on the right thigh [BANG! BANG!] "You, too! Yeah, you with the pimp shoes!" [BANG! BANG!]
while three other people including a South Korean man and a policeman suffered slight injuries, it said in a statement. [STUMBLE! THUMPETTA THUMPETTA THUMPETTA!]"Mind the stairs!"
A policeman was detained and the beach resort's police chief was suspended from his post following the fight at a beachfront bar on Friday night, the police statement said. "You sober yet, Narcisso?"
"[Urp!] Yeah. I think so, chief."
"You're fired."
The suspended Puerto Galera police commander, Superintendent James Brillantes, was a guest at the opening of the bar. His police escort officer exchanged blows with a group of foreign tourists before shots rang out, the police report said. "Suddenly a shot wrang out." I think I wrote that once. Maybe it was twice.
The escort officer was later detained while six other local policemen were placed under investigation, it added. Puerto Galera and its white-sand beaches, located on the north coast of Mindoro island, is a major tourist destination. Just opened, huh? I coulda sworn I used to hang out there in the heady days of my youth.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
I think that's Market Street. Surprisingly normal looking for just 3 years after the great earthquake and fire. I don't know my early car models - is it possible the film was from 1906, pre-quake?
#5
The Ferry Building through which in the 1930's more people walked on a daily basis than any other building in the world except Charing Cross Station in London.
What struck me about the film was the narrowness of the side walks and the absence of traffic lights and lanes.
#9
Great little video, 3dc! Notice that it was a cable car route with the center groove. Also there was a chap on a bicycle riding almost over it. Could have tripped up and been squashed. Well, he is probably dead now, anyway.
Saw an 11 year old girl in the movie. That was my grandmother Lena.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/29/2009 17:08 Comments ||
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Tiger Woods, bolting his Florida mansion after a reported late-night fight with his wife, was found dazed and bleeding Friday after plowing his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree.
The world's No. 1 golfer was pulling out of his driveway at 2:25 a.m. when he double-bogeyed the getaway in his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Wife Elin Nordegren heard the crash from inside the couple's $2.4 million home and went to her spouse's aid, police said. The one-time Swedish model grabbed a golf club, smashed out a rear window in the SUV and helped Woods out of the wreck, said Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor.
But TMZ.com reported that a source said Nordegren scratched Woods' face after she went berserk over reports he was seeing another woman and chased him with a golf club, striking his vehicle as he ran from the home. Cheeze. I think I used to be married to her. Think of that. Me and Tiger Woods -- husbands in law.
The Web site said the source talked to Woods after the smashup.
The crash came on the heels of reports in the National Enquirer and Star magazine that Woods had an affair with a New York nightclub hostess - who denied it last night to the Daily News.
Nordegren told cops she ran outside and discovered her husband bleeding from the mouth, with cuts on his lips, police said. She said she bashed out the rear window with the club and helped the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Woods out of the car. Police arrived to find Woods, drifting in and out of consciousness, lying in the street with his wife watching over him, Saylor said. He was taken to a nearby hospital about 10 minutes later.
Cops said alcohol was not involved, but offered no explanation for where the world's richest athlete was headed alone in the middle of the night.
Woods and Nordegren live in the Isleworth neighborhood with their two children, 2-year-old Sam and 9-month-old Charlie.
The accident was part of a rough week for Woods, who is on the front page of this week's Enquirer under the headline "Tiger Woods Cheating Scandal." The tabloid claimed Woods was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel - a sexy Manhattan hostess who lost a fiancé in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and was previously linked to married television star David Boreanaz. Who?
Uchitel, a former party planner who has worked as a VIP hostess at swanky nightspots, denied it in a message sent to The News from her Facebook account.
"There is NO relationship with tiger these girls quoted in the story are not being truthful," she wrote. "I resent my name being slung thru the mud." "I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, thank you!"
The Enquirer story - and a similar story in Star - quoted a woman named Ashley Samson and said she was friends with Uchitel and passed a polygraph.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The tabloid claimed Woods was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel - a sexy Manhattan hostess who lost a fiancé in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and was previously linked to married television star David Boreanaz.
As an interesting ( or maybe not so interesting ) aside, Uchitel is is the Russian transliteration for the word teacher.
Tiger Woods married the blondest Aryan woman he could find, a woman who is accustomed to being the prettiest girl in the room and accustomed to privilege. Five years and two kids later, her childrearing instincts have turned off her sex drive like a faucet. Tiger isn't getting any at home, and he's accustomed to privilege, too. So he does what a lot of men with frigid wives do and dines out once in a while. Wifey finds out in the tabloids and goes berzerk - there is no rage like the privileged getting treated like little people. She grabs a golf club and creams him square in the face. Tiger flees to his SUV and careens down the driveway, the wife shattering the window as he peels out. He's woozy from the blow and pain medication and runs over a fire hydrant. She comes upon him and the enormity of attacking her meal ticket suddenly dawns on her. She breaks down crying as she frantically calls the ambulance and prays Tiger isn't hurt. They agree to cover it up.
#11
..except there will be no Rihana sympathy for the dude. In many jurisdictions, the cops are required to take in the abusing spouse. No ifs, ands, or buts. Another case of privilege over process.
Maybe not as much as you'd think. They way I read Florida divorce laws - IANAL, but I have three years truly ugly experience with divorce laws - he may only have to split what he's made since he married her, especially as she has a solid and booming career. It's going to cost him well north of seven figures, but he can afford it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/29/2009 16:45 Comments ||
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#19
Let's see:
Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren in October 2004
Earnings:
2005 - $87 million
2006 - $99 million
2007 - $123 million
2008 - $117 million
2009 - ?
Half of that is OUCH!, even after Johnny Fed's cut.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 16:52 Comments ||
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#20
BTW, got a snicker at how she attacked Tiger with a golf club. Beat him at his own game, so to speak.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 16:54 Comments ||
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#21
While it's a little hard not to chuckle over a celebrity dipping his pen in a strange inkwell and wifey's adverse reaction thereto, let's face the fact there's a bit of a double standard in both the reporting and in some of the public reactions. If it had been Tiger trying to beat the bejeezus out of his wife with a golf club, there'd be calls (including from a lot of us here @ the Burg) for him to be incarcerated under the jail. Better if Elin had just realized the fact there's a whole lot of hungry sharks divorce lawyers out there and acted accordingly.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/29/2009 20:43 Comments ||
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#22
I am publicly offering my shoulder to cry on, my sympathy to give, and my willingness to be stepdad to their children, Elin? Call me?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 21:41 Comments ||
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#23
Frank---tell her that you are a commodore and you will protect her convoy. You will be on easy street.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/29/2009 23:10 Comments ||
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A Swedish man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife has been cleared, after police decided she was probably killed by an elk. That's a new one, even for the Burg. And we used to see a lot of elk stories...
Ingemar Westlund, aged 68, found the dead body of his wife Agneta, 63, by a lake close to the village of Loftahammer in September 2008. He was immediately arrested and held in police custody for 10 days. "Ja, sure! Stick 'em uppsala!"
Now the case has been dropped after forensic analysis found elk hair and saliva on his wife's clothes. "My late wife? With an elk?"
His wife had last been seen taking the family dog out for a walk in the forest. "Ja, sure! Here Røver!"
When she failed to return her husband went out to look for her. "Ja, sure. It's dinnertime. And she's not back yet. Where are the herring?... Honey, where are the herring?... Hmmm... No answer. Maybe I should go look for her... Nothing on the teevee... Where's my hat?"
Although the murder investigation was dropped five months ago, details have only just emerged and the police plan to hold a news conference next week to explain what happened. "Ja, sure! Really. We can explain!"
The European elk, or moose, is usually considered to be shy and will normally run away from humans. But Swedish Radio International says the animals can become aggressive after eating fermented fallen apples in gardens. "Her last words were 'Here, little elkie! Want some of these apples?'"
#8
reminds me of the swedish folk tale of a mans wife who was so obstinate and disagreeable that when she drowned in a mountain river ( hubby had had enough ) her body floated upstream.
#2
I remember seeing an article a few years ago about Afghan rugs responding to the Soviet invasion. I think it might have been here at Rantburg, or perhaps in National Geographic.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Around two million Muslim pilgrims in Mecca launched into the final rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage on Saturday as flash floods wreaked havoc in the city of Jeddah, where Saudi Arabia's civil defense authorities put the death toll at 99 people and a human rights lawyer said he would sue the city.
Tens of thousands of the faithful were circling the Kaaba at the heart of the mosque in Mecca while many more continued the three stage ritual of stoning of the devil at the jamarat pillars in the nearby city of Mina.
The stoning — casting 49 pebbles against the three broad stone pillars over two or three days — mark Abraham's three rejections of the devil's attempts to persuade him to ignore God's instructions to sacrifice his son Ishmael, as related in Islam's holy book the Quran.
After the stoning they circumambulate the Kaaba to complete Hajj, required of all able Muslims and for many a purifying, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Many who had completed the rigorous process were out on the streets of Mecca shopping for souvenirs to take back when departures begin en masse late Saturday.
Saudi-style jalabiya caftans, prayer beads, Saudi perfumes and dates were popular with pilgrims, along with jugs of holy water for drinking and ablutions produced by the Zam Zam well inside the Grand Mosque.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
actually the koran in chapt 37 verses 102-107 tells the Abraham and offering story without mentioning which son it was and without mentioning satan
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/29/2009 0:38 Comments ||
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Ever wondered how'd the World look if Abraham kept it in his pants?
North London computer hacker Gary McKinnon wants to face court for hacking into the Pentagon's computer system but should not be tried in America, his mother has said.
Last week Home Secretary Alan Johnson finally dashed hopes that the Government would intervene in the case, insisting there was no evidence the extradition would breach Mr McKinnon's human rights.
Mr McKinnon, from Wood Green, who has Asperger's syndrome, faces up to 60 years in jail for breaking into the American systems after the 9/11 terror attacks. He says he was looking for evidence of UFOs.
Janis Sharp told Sky News: "Gary isn't trying to avoid being prosecuted, he wants to be prosecuted in the UK which is his right under the Magna Carta." She said her son's actions were a form of "cyber peace process" because he could not understand why the Pentagon's computers were so poorly protected and also believed the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job".
Earlier she told the BBC's Andrew Marr show he should not be extradited even if he did not suffer from Asperger's syndrome. She said the burden of proof in each legal system was different, leaving UK citizens at a disadvantage.
She said her son's mental state was now so fragile that she believed he would commit suicide if jailed. "Many people would rather be dead than be in a prison in America. He's had several breakdowns, he doesn't talk for days, he doesn't eat. A psychiatrist says he's detaching totally from himself. He feels like he's walking through a world that never ends."
#1
What a crock. This guy hacks his way into US government Defense Department computers, and wants people to believe he suffers from a mental condition that precludes prosecution. What's that? He isn't trying to avoid prosecution? Sure pal, sure.
#4
"Many people would rather be dead than be in a prison in America. He's had several breakdowns, he doesn't talk for days, he doesn't eat. A psychiatrist says he's detaching totally from himself. He feels like he's walking through a world that never ends."
What's this young man's address? I'd like to send him the complete series DVDs of Oz. Or Bad Boys with Scared Straight on the B-side.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 17:08 Comments ||
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#5
I've no doubt Mr. McKinnon is suffering just as his mother claims... and that in her anxiety she's making it worse. Aspies who are deeper into the autistic end of the spectrum have real problems understanding society's rules and why they should follow them -- although it's more often basic things like wearing the same outfit every day, regardless of occasion or weather, and bathing regularly. This is not the same as psychopaths, who understand the rules but think themselves above such things. Unfortunately, I see no way to handle this that's fair to both Mr. McKinnon and the world at large.
#6
I don't feel bad for this POS, his sufferin Ma Barker or the tools which will show up to excuse his behavior. He needs a beatdown, virtual, penal, or otherwise.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 18:32 Comments ||
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#7
He won't survive prison, Frank, and he'll never understand why. Think of Lennie in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Idiot savant no longer has the same meaning it once had, unfortunately.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 21:39 Comments ||
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#9
What's the problem with him serving time in the US vs the UK? It's not like the British system is that much gentler than the US one, is it? (Or is it just that Mummy won't be able to visit as often? Basic anti-Yankee sentiment?)
BRASILIA (Reuters) - The United States risks souring relations with much of Latin America if it recognizes upcoming elections in Honduras, the foreign policy adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview on Wednesday.
Oh. Well then. Guess we'll just pull all our funding for Brazilian oil field exploration ...
Honduras will on November 29 hold elections which de facto leader Roberto Micheletti hopes will end a political crisis that began when soldiers exiled leftist President Manuel Zelaya in June.
Washington -- which condemned the coup -- has not announced an official position on the election but has suggested it will support the outcome by saying recognition of the presidential election was not contingent on Zelaya's reinstatement.
"The United States will become isolated. That is very bad for the United States and its relationship with Latin America," Marco Aurelio Garcia told Reuters, after he spoke on the telephone to White House national security adviser Jim Jones. "Very important countries -- the majority in terms of population and political weight -- won't recognize (the result)," said Garcia.
Neither Micheletti nor Zelaya -- who has been holed up inside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since he snuck back into the country in September -- are running for president.
Much of Latin America had hoped that U.S. President Barack Obama would herald a new era, after eight years of the unpopular Bush administration and decades of perceived meddling by Washington.
"It would be good if that expectation were not frustrated," Garcia said he told Jones.
You're dealing with Bambi. We've been frustrated, why should you be any different?
Recognizing the election was paramount to legitimizing a coup in a region that has been consolidating its democracies, said Garcia, adding that conditions for free elections in Honduras were not present.
"The election has the fingerprints of a coup," said Garcia. "If we (accept) it, we're encouraging another country to adopt the same solution -- 'We don't like this president; let's topple him.'"
Deliberate mis-statement, as he knows that Zelaya was sponsoring an illegal referendum to extend his term in office, and was in cahoots with Oogo over the pre-printed ballots.
Garcia, who said Lula shared his views, explained his concerns to Jones in what he described as a friendly conversation. "General Jones thanked me and said he would discuss it with his colleagues in the White House."
"Nice talking with you. We'll get back to you. Sometime."
The intention of Brazil, which has been seeking a growing leadership role in the region and beyond, was not to challenge Washington. "We don't have a strategy to confront the United States. This is what you do between friends -- you say 'Hey, that's not OK,'" Garcia said.
But if Washington insisted in recognizing the elections, several countries would respond by taking counter-measures in the Organization of American States, or OAS, Garcia said. "The OAS itself would deal with that and I already heard from some members that Honduras could be excluded from the OAS," he added.
You could move the headquarters of the OAS to your country. Fine with us.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Brazil, huh? Housing the dead fish criminal Zelaya? I can imagine how that would be embarrassing....now
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 0:25 Comments ||
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So much for everyone lovin' us since November 2008...
[Iran Press TV Latest] An attacker riding a motorcycle has shot and killed indigenous leader and anti-mining activist Mariano Abarca outside his home in southeastern Mexico. It's been 500 years or so. Surely by now all Messicans are indigenous, aren't they?
Abarca "was assassinated in a cowardly fashion outside his home" late on Friday, said Gustavo Castro, a spokesman for the Mexican Network of Communities Affected by Mining (REMA), adding that another member of the group was seriously wounded, AFP reported on Saturday.
An unidentified individual riding a motorcycle opened fire on the indigenous leader, shooting him twice in the head and in the chest in Chicomuselo, a town in the mountains of Chiapas state, Castro said, citing relatives.
In August 2009, Abarca was arrested for a week after he led highway blockades to prevent Canadian and Mexican-owned corporation Blackfire Exploration Ltd. from transporting minerals from a Mexican barite mine to processing facilities.
In September, the Mexican Congress demanded that the Chiapas government suspend arrest warrants and related law enforcement activities targeting five anti-mining activists in the area.
Chiapas community leaders have protested the mining operations led by 54 mostly foreign companies, saying they have not been properly informed about the impact they may have on their health, land, and environment.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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It's been 500 years or so. Surely by now all Messicans are indigenous, aren't they?
Au contraire, mon ami. We have a pretty large group of Mexicans at the plant where I work, and it is my understanding that there are definite class distinctions between those descended from the original 'indigenous' people and those descended from the Spanish colonists. For instance, the elite that pretty much runs the place is of almost all Spanish descent. The impression I get is that the citizens of indigenous descent (IIRC 'mestizo' is the usual term)are second-class citizens - not quite as bad as African-Americans were here in the old days, but in some places (especially out in the boonies) it's not far from it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/29/2009 8:58 Comments ||
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#2
...to stabilize their corrupt system, the white purer Spanish blood have been promoting the movement of those 10+ million illegals into the US. Those are mestizos y indios not the ruling the caste. Get rid of the undesirables and unemployables and avoid the revolution that would otherwise happen. That's why 'talks' about the illegal dumping with Mexico City have been futile for generations. They're not going to give up their power to make the Yankee happy.
#1
FTA: "Prominent campaigners, politicians and scientists have called for Canada to be suspended from the Commonwealth over its climate change policies."
It might be "interesting" to have a list and brief bio of those folks. What twits!
#4
The leaders of the Commonwealth need to start spinning off members that no longer embrace core values such as free and fair democracy, racial and gender equality, and general modernity.
Maintaining the illusion that Commonwealth membership actually encourages tyrannical and oppressive nations, like Zimbabwe, to improve themselves, is a joke. The reality is that it just supports dictators and encourages them to be even more extreme.
#5
The World Development Movement (WDM) tackles the underlying causes of poverty. We lobby decision makers to change the policies that keep people poor. We research and promote positive alternatives. We work alongside people in the developing world who are standing up to injustice.
Initially, the idea of the Polaris Institute was conceived in 1996 following a decade of social movement building in opposition to two major free trade agreements that dramatically restructured the economy and society here in Canada. The pivotal lesson that emerged from this social movement experience was that transnational corporations had effectively secured control over the reins of public policy making in this country [and elsewhere] to the point where citizens were becoming politically disenfranchised. In effect, a form of corporate governance had been established which, in turn, meant that citizen movements had to develop new methods, strategies and tools in order to bring about democratic social change. What's more, it became evident that citizen movements in other countries were facing similar challenges. As a response, the Polaris Institute was launched in 1997.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said that the 17th Constitutional Amendment will be done away with during the month of December.
"We wanted to abolish the 17th Amendment from the day one but we wanted to do it through unanimous decision, as the 1973 Constitution was also approved unanimously," the president said in an interview with a private television channel.
During the interview, the president said he has indemnity and his eligibility cannot be challenged in any court.
"According to our legal team, the president has indemnity and its eligibility cannot be challenged now," President Zardari said.
About challenging his eligibility as president, he said, his eligibility as candidate for the president was not challenged even by his opponent candidates at the time of election.
The president said Justice (R) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and Mushahid Hussain Syed did not challenge his eligibility before the election process.
President Zardari said Pakistan People's Party was always targeted even in the tenure of former President Musharraf and before.
He said the struggle by PPP leaders to reach Presidency from the chains (from jail) continued.
Commenting on the Balochistan package, the president said it is a wonderful start for the development of the province adding that complaints from some quarters can be there.
Replying to a question about former president Musharraf, he said, "Let the court decide about him (Musharraf)".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
When I read the title, I wonder what this is about; did he actually produce his birth certificate or something?
[Al Arabiya Latest] An amnesty on corruption cases protecting President Asif Ali Zardari, key allies and approximately 8,000 others formally expires on Saturday, threatening to fling Pakistan into fresh political crisis.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance, commonly known as NRO, was promulgated in Oct. 2007 by military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Zardari cannot be prosecuted because of presidential immunity, although the re-opening of politically charged corruption cases and the Supreme Court could choose to challenge his eligibility for the post since the amnesty decree was never formally approved by parliament.
Musharraf's decree quashed corruption charges against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated two months later, her husband Zardari and other politicians in an apparent gesture of reconciliation to prolong his rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Swiss police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hooded protesters during a demonstration ahead of a major WTO conference in Geneva.
Thousands marched in the protest against the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting, which begins on Monday, with the vast majority of demonstrators not participating in the violence, AFP reported on Saturday. They always do, don't they? And it's always only the pros that get out and fling the Molotov cocktails. It's really rather predictable, y'know.
Organizers later decided to end the demonstration due to the violence and because police prevented the march from continuing to WTO headquarters, the Swiss news agency ATS reported.
About 200 violent protesters infiltrated the march and "began to inflict damage right from the start of the demonstration," police spokesman Patrick Puhl said. Police then fired tear gas and rubber bullets to stop them.
Organizers put the total number of protesters at 5,000, while police said it was 3,000.
Next week's gathering falls on the 10th anniversary of the ministerial meeting in Seattle, which was marked by violent street protests.
Over a hundred ministers will gather for the WTO conference, though there have been concerns linked to the United States and the European Union.
Diplomats in Geneva note that the fact that the United States still has no ambassador to the WTO is a sign that President Barack Obama's administration has put little emphasis on trade talks at the moment.
Much more serious clashes have occurred at previous meetings of WTO trade chiefs. The last was held in Hong Kong four years ago. Others were in Cancun, Mexico and Seattle.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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I hope they have similar protests at Copenhagen.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/29/2009 13:02 Comments ||
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ION WORLD NEWS > BRITAIN FACES RETURN TO VICTORIAN LEVELS OF POVERTY: + LEVIN: US ECONOMY TOO POOR FOR A WAR TAX.
plus
TOPIX > IFF WE SACRIFICE JERUSALEM, WHY DEFEND LONDON!?
WHOA, THE VICTORIAN "19th CENTURY" [read, JACK THE RIPPER?]; + "AUGUST 1914". Unfortunately, so goes the UK, so goes Amerika = USSA/USRoA. Nuthin says REGRESSION + OWG SOCIALIST WORLD ORDER than ADVANCED SPACESHIPS IN SPACE + GPS-EQUIPPED HORSE WAGONS on ole Terra Firma???
A government minister has blamed Indonesia's recent string of natural disasters on people's immorality. "Dats right, Brethren and Sistern! We been smote!"
Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said that there were many television programmes that destroyed morals. Therefore, the minister said, natural disasters would continue to occur. Look on the bright side. All those pillars of salt dissolve right away when the tsunami hits them.
His comments came as he addressed a prayer meeting on Friday in Padang, Sumatra, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in late September. He also hit out at rising decadence - proven, he said, by the availability of Indonesia-made p0rnographic DVDs in local markets - and called for tougher laws. Has it occurred to him that earthquakes seem to hit disproportionately in the Islamic world? You never see the fleshpots of Amsterdam trapped in collapsing whorehouses. Maybe the problem is that Moose limbs engage in too much head-bonking, thereby irritating the Lord, who sends them occasional gentle warnings.
According to the Jakarta Globe, his comments sparked an angry reaction on the internet, particularly among those who followed him on social networking site Twitter. Why focus on public immorality when there was so much within the government, one respondent reportedly asked. I think they oughta outlaw head-bonking. Just watch the tectonic plates settle down.
More than 1,000 people died in the Padang earthquake, which toppled hundreds of buildings in and around the city.
A TV station in Alabama is learning that live Twitter billboards sometimes deliver unintended consequences.
While we can't vouch for its authenticity, South Carolina-based blog The Palmetto Scoop claims a University of South Carolina graduate driving through Mobile, Alabama snapped the shot below and sent it in. The WPMI-TV billboard displays Tweets from the LOCAL15NEWS Twitter account, with this Tweet resulting in the juxtaposition. The Billboard shows a picture of what I guess would be the three (as in 3) News Anchors on the left and on the right a live Tweet message which (at this time) says "3 Accused of Gang Rape in Monroeville".
If is true no wonder they didn't want this out during the week.
The Sunday Times, 29 Nov, Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor
SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.
It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.
The UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals -- stored on paper and magnetic tape -- were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data.
In a statement on its website, the CRU said: "We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data."
The CRU is the world's leading centre for reconstructing past climate and temperatures. Climate change sceptics have long been keen to examine exactly how its data were compiled. That is now impossible.
Roger Pielke, professor of environmental studies at Colorado University, discovered data had been lost when he asked for original records. "The CRU is basically saying, 'Trust us'. So much for settling questions and resolving debates with science," he said.
Jones was not in charge of the CRU when the data were thrown away in the 1980s, a time when climate change was seen as a less pressing issue. The lost material was used to build the databases that have been his life's work, showing how the world has supposedly warmed by 0.8C over the past 157 years.
He and his colleagues say this temperature rise is "unequivocally" linked to greenhouse gas emissions generated by humans. Their findings are one of the main pieces of evidence used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says global warming is a threat to humanity.
#4
Remember when Tony Blair was accused of 'sexing up' the intel on Iraq. One set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee. It's about power, baby.
#5
They dumped the data "to save space" when they moved to a new building? WTF???
Unbelievable. And we're supposed to call these people "scientists"??? And acquiesce to a radical, top-to-bottom re-ordering of the world's economic system as a cure for the environmental catastrophe their alleged "science" allegedly predicts???
No, thank you. Pull a stunt like this on a high school physics lab report, and it'd earn you an "F"-- certainly for that lab assignment, more likely for the entire course. This shit doesn't cut it.
Isn't there some law under which these people can be prosecuted for gross malpractice? Sheesh...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/29/2009 12:08 Comments ||
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#6
Is this supposed to set an example of the 'Scientific Method'?
At a minimum take away their 'Doctor' and 'PHD's.
If only because they give the title(s) a bad name.
#7
Pull a stunt like this on a high school physics lab report, and it'd earn you an "F"-- certainly for that lab assignment, more likely for the entire course. This shit doesn't cut it.
Dave D.
I think you are confusing post-normal science with normal science.
Post-normal science is about belief formation. Facts are best left to the "experts"
#9
"Dave D.
I think you are confusing post-normal science with normal science."
Nah. It's just that being a 60 year old fudd I'm locked into obsolete, reality-based normative thinking paradigms that give undue weight to outdated social constructs like "truth." And "don't jigger the data to make the results come out the way you'd like." And "don't deal with criticism by blacklisting the critics." And other quaint stuff like that.
I wonder if science is dead. Seriously.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/29/2009 14:39 Comments ||
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#10
DD's back!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 15:09 Comments ||
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#11
CRU admitted to losing the data back in August. This is NOT new news. From CRU in August:
Since the 1980s, we have merged the data we have received into existing series or begun new ones, so it is impossible to say if all stations within a particular country or if all of an individual record should be freely available. Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjustment for homogeneity issues. We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (i.e. quality controlled and homogenized) data.
Why nobody raised hell about it back in August is anyone's guess but at least it is finally getting play in the context of Climategate.
#12
CP- I think the implication of the McIntyre Aug11 post has shifted dramatically since it's suddenly more difficult to write him off as a skeptic crank.
#13
Think shelves and shelves of reels of bubble-chamber photos, and boxes of dusty lab notebooks of retired or deceased professors. My office is stacked with hundreds of boxes of 8mm tapes of 10-year old muon events (luckily they are duplicates). I don't know if the calibration database to reprocess them is still online, and in any case a hundred times as much data is available online for Run 2.
After a while you have to ask if any human being will ever look at these again. Of course we're not the ones claiming the the sky is a toaster and agitating to take control of the world's economy...
Posted by: James ||
11/29/2009 18:21 Comments ||
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#14
real scientists do NOT lose their data
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 18:33 Comments ||
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#15
The problem isn't the loss of the data, it is the loss of the metadata.
Lets say you got data for 250 German stations from 1850 to 1975. If you have a list of the stations, you can throw away the data. If you need it again, you can go back and get another copy. The crime isn't in tossing the original data, the crime is in losing the list of data they had so they can't go back and get it again.
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.
Four police officers were shot dead in an ambush at a Washington state coffee house, a sheriff's official said Sunday. The attack occurred near McChord Air Force Base in Parkland, Wash.
[Straits Times] AN AMERICAN, an Australian and a South Korean were among four people shot and wounded in a bar brawl involving police officers in the Philippine tourist resort of Puerto Galera, officials said on Saturday. 
Tiger Woods, bolting his Florida mansion after a reported late-night fight with his wife, was found dazed and bleeding Friday after plowing his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree.
A Swedish man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife has been cleared, after police decided she was probably killed by an elk.
North London computer hacker Gary McKinnon wants to face court for hacking into the Pentagon's computer system but should not be tried in America, his mother has said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] An attacker riding a motorcycle has shot and killed indigenous leader and anti-mining activist Mariano Abarca outside his home in southeastern Mexico. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] An amnesty on corruption cases protecting President Asif Ali Zardari, key allies and approximately 8,000 others formally expires on Saturday, threatening to fling Pakistan into fresh political crisis.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Swiss police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hooded protesters during a demonstration ahead of a major WTO conference in Geneva. 
A government minister has blamed Indonesia's recent string of natural disasters on people's immorality.
A TV station in Alabama is learning that live Twitter billboards sometimes deliver unintended consequences. 
