[Mail and Globe] Security forces in Côte d'Ivoire opened fire on hundreds of protesters in south-western Gagnoa town Friday, killing an undisclosed number of people and wounding others, hospital sources said.
An opposition politician at the march estimated the number of dead at five but there was no independent confirmation.
The violence is the latest in a spate of demonstrations in the world's top cocoa grower since President Laurent Gbagbo dissolved the government and the electoral commission a week ago, after a row over voter registration.
West Africa's former economic hub is under increasing international pressure to end the row and restart an electoral process meant to end a crisis triggered by a 2002-2003 war.
The poll originally was supposed to take place in 2005 and public anger is boiling over at years of political instability and limbo while Ivorians wait for elections seen as the only way of drawing a line under their conflict.
"There are deaths but I cannot tell you the exact number as that is up to the authorities," a hospital source told Reuters. "I can say no more!"
The acting hospital director said he was not authorised to give the death or injury toll because it was too sensitive.
Gagnoa's main street was littered with stones and the ashes of burnt tyres after the protest. The town was deserted by late afternoon except for the police and gendarmerie.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Unless Israelis or Americans were involved, who cares?
[Iran Press TV Latest] Niger's military junta, which seized power in a coup this week, has announced plans to hold elections.
"Our intention is to stabilize the political situation... We plan to organize elections, but first we have to stabilize the situation," one of the leaders of Thursday's coup, Colonel Djibrilla Hamidou Hima, told journalists on Saturday.
Thousands of people have rallied in support of the coup that ousted President Mamadou Tandja, whose popularity plummeted last year following a constitutional amendment allowing him to stay in power beyond a 10-year limit.
The international community has condemned the coup and called for a peaceful transition to civilian rule.
The African Union suspended Niger's membership on Friday.
Meanwhile, the United States has offered to lift sanctions if the junta shows it is prepared to make the transition.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Hold your tongue State Department. You too POTUS.
Learn about it before you talk stupid like you did with Honduras.
Óscar Álvarez, Honduras' Minister of Security, said in Bogotá that authorities from the Central American country have detected between 250 and 300 drug trafficking routes, with most of the aircrafts departing from Venezuela and run by the Mexican cartels.
"According to data we have examined, most of the flights take off from Venezuela and most of the planes that land in Honduran territory or are detained or burnt after the drug is unloaded carry the Venezuelan flag," the Honduran Minister said at the end of a two-day visit to Colombia, where he signed a new agreement with the government of President Álvaro Uribe to share "successful" experience in the areas of security and fight against the organized crime.
According to the Honduran minister, his country had not witnessed for many years such an increase of landings of drug trafficking aircrafts using the Venezuelan flag.
"Until some years ago, there were only Colombian cartels. Now we have detected the presence of Mexican cartels. The problem is that Mexican cartels are extremely violent and bloodthirsty," Álvarez said. He highlighted that these mafias have begun to hire hit men all over the country, Efe reported.
Álvarez said that his country has become a logistical stopover for drug shipments sent to the United States due to its infrastructure on the Atlantic Ocean.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal case against the elections results from the Supreme Administrative court and the court has closed the case. But she has not conceded.
She said once again that Viktor Yanukovich will never be considered Ukraine's legitimately elected president.
This is in stark contrast to her fellow Orange Revolutionary - incumbent Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. On Saturday he finally congratulated his long-time rival, Mr Yanukovich, on a legitimate victory.
Sergei Mishchenko, an MP from Mrs Tymoshenko's party, has said their party is planning to boycott the inauguration ceremony scheduled for 25 February. He also added Mrs Tymoshenko is not giving in, she will not recognise the elections results and she will continue to work as prime minister.
Mr Yanukovich has asked Mrs Tymoshenko to step down from her post on several occasions. And she has said that she will not. As president, Mr Yanukovich does not have the right to fire or to appoint a prime minister - that is up to Ukraine's parliament.
At the moment Mrs Tymoshenko's party is still part of the parliamentary coalition, but negotiations are under way to form a new coalition based on Mr Yanukovich's Regions Party. One of the leaders of the Regions Party, Nikolai Azarov, speaking to Ukrainian TV channel Inter, said it was fantastic to even consider the possibility of Mrs Tymoshenko remaining in her post for much longer.
But no-one here in Ukraine thinks it will be an easy task to remove her.
Once MPs form a new coalition they are likely to vote Mrs Tymoshenko's government out, but until a new government is formed - and that can take weeks in the current political situation - Mrs Tymoshenko will remain as acting prime minister under President Yanukovich. Analysts agree that little will be achieved in those weeks, and the country will remain in limbo.
If coalition talks fail, Ukrainians will have to vote once again - in early parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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Would it be possible to implement a rule that no more storys be run about Yulia unless a photo of the subject accompanies...? Pretty please...?
Frank Antenori's idea is as bright as a 100-watt lightbulb.
And it's lighting up conversations at the Capitol over states' rights and the role of the federal government.
In proposing that Arizona become the national epicenter of incandescent-lightbulb manufacturing, the Tucson Republican hopes to provoke a fight with Washington, D.C., over states' rights and interstate trade.
He's picked what he believes is an inoffensive field of battle: A glass bulb with a tungsten filament.
It's a new twist on a national trend that involves a Montana gun law that 23 other states, including Arizona, are mimicking this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The premise is that by providing that guns manufactured in a given state are not sent over state boundaries, the federal government has no right to impose regulations, such as gun registration.
Knowing the firestorm that gun regulation can inspire, the freshman lawmaker decided to dial down the emotion and use lightbulbs as his weapon of choice in a states'-rights push.
"It's kind of like the Montana gun bill, but not as angry," Antenori said of House Bill 2337.
"You can't get too (angry) with lightbulbs. You don't shoot people with lightbulbs."
But he hopes perhaps you can sue if the federal government insists that a phase-out of incandescent-bulb sales applies to Arizona.
The federal Energy Independence and Security Act, signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, imposes new efficiency standards beginning in 2012. It bans the sale of the most widely used incandescent bulbs, those ranging from 40 watts to 100 watts. The idea is to move the country toward compact-fluorescent lightbulbs and LEDs, which consume less energy.
The federal law is "touchy-feely legislation," Antenori told a House panel earlier this month. He said it will expose consumers to the mercury in CFLs, as well as kill jobs, because no one makes them in the United States.
But those are side arguments. As with the gun bills being introduced from Arizona to New Hampshire, Antenori's lightbulb bill aims to assert a state's rights.
"The real intent of this legislation is to challenge the federal mandate in court," he told the House Commerce Committee. "We could make history by having the (U.S.) Supreme Court rule that the federal government overstepped its bounds."
The committee approved the bill on a 5-1 vote, although there were several arched eyebrows.
"I think it's more of a statement than a practicality," said Rep. Frank Pratt, R-Casa Grande.
The bill is awaiting a hearing before the Rules Committee, which checks whether it is constitutional.
Antenori said he consulted with attorneys before introducing his bill and believes he is on solid legal ground.
"The Founding Fathers had never intended to control commerce in lightbulbs," he said.
His bill is following in the tracks of the Arizona's manufactured-firearms bill, introduced by Rep. Nancy McLain, R-Kingman. Her measure, House Bill 2307, is Arizona's version of the Montana gun bill. It's awaiting a formal vote of the full House while attorneys research whether the sale-in-Arizona-only provisions exempt the state from the federally required background check on gun buyers.
McLain, like Antenori, said her bill's intent is to assert states' rights.
Antenori said he thinks making the lightbulb the point of contention might illuminate the states'-rights issue in a kinder, gentler way, while creating fewer ripples in the Legislature.
But it's already exasperated some lawmakers.
"We have more pressing matters," Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, said during debate. The various bills and resolutions that seek to irritate the federal government are counterproductive, especially as the state grapples with a fiscal crisis, he said.
If the bill falters, Antenori is ready with his second line of defense: Low-flow toilets and mandates to save water. YEE-HAW! I have a new role model. I like this guy!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/21/2010 10:52 Comments ||
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Speaking of femtoviolins:
Al: Bud, sit down. Let me tell you the story of the Ferguson. Now these babies were made in Maine, you know, at the little Ferguson factory. It's the Stradivarius of toilets. And my Dad could play it like a violin.
Yup, I'll never forget the time my dad took me to Maine to visit the factory. I had to go to the bathroom. And I begged him to pull into a truck stop. He said no, wait until we get there! It'll be worth it! It was!
#3
"We have more pressing matters," Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix
Yes you probably do. However, even Las Vegas wouldn't take a bet that you consider and even pass stuff that doesn't even reach this level of legislation during the session, not counting the pork passed in face of ever dropping revenue.
#4
As I've said before, I've been stockpiling them for years. I'm gonna make a killin' on the Black Market.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/21/2010 13:24 Comments ||
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The premise is that by providing that guns manufactured in a given state are not sent over state boundaries, the federal government has no right to impose regulations, such as gun registration.
This argument didn't do anything for California marijuana growers. Back in the '90s there was a referendum on legalizing marijuana (this might have been just for medical reasons; I forget), which passed.
Federal gummint said: not so fast. Some of that pot might end up somewhere else, so we're still asserting jurisdiction. California attorney general said he was still going to prosecute, despite the law, nyeah nyeah.
On February 18, 2010, at 12:45 PM, Kate Zernike's piece "CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, in Racial Tones" went live on the New York Times' Website. Just after 4:00pm that afternoon, Andrew Breitbart received the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award from AIM for uncovering corruption at ACORN this past year. He used part of his speech to voice his opinion of Zernike's piece.
Kate Zernike of the New York Times, are you in the room? Are you in the room? You're despicable. You're a despicable human being. You're the New York Times. What is your headline here? You came to CPAC to get your prey and here's your prey, Jason Mattera from HotAir and also from Young America's Foundation. This is the headline: CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, comma, in Racial Tones.
How can conservatives win the youth vote that overwhelmingly went for Barack Obama in 2008? At the Conservative Political Action Conference, apparently, some are betting on using racial stereotypes.
It goes into a story that does not express that he used a racial stereotype. It is just built upon a bed of lies. It says that he went into a Chris Rock voice. She's the one that correlated his voice to Chris Rock. He happens to be from Brooklyn. He's using HIS voice.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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How can conservatives win the youth vote that overwhelmingly went for Barack Obama in 2008?
Seems like the demoncrats are doing all they can to dump just about everyone's vote--they are in a lemming mode. The young when faced with trying to get a job will most likely wake up quickly and realize why we are in the mess we are in. Most of us were exposed to the public school system and its "progressive" notions. We generally heal and get over this influence with time.
Fox News host Glenn Beck, armed with his trademark chalkboard, blamed "progressivism " for America's problems Saturday in his keynote speech that brought the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to a close. I watched this. I was very impressed. He didn't give a speech -- he orated.
The chalkboard, a prop that he uses frequently on his top-rated show, brought the audience to its feet. Beck wrote "Progressivism" on it to underscore his belief in what America is suffering from.
When Beck asked what America is suffering from, someone shouted "President Obama," though Beck, an outspoken critic of the president, said it's "not that simple."
Beck rejected the notion that the Republican Party should expand its tent to include progressives. "What is this? A circus?" he said, drawing laughter. "America is not a clown show. America is an idea that sets people free."
Opening up about his troubled past, Beck told the crowd, "People need to understand that life is not fair. The bad guy sometimes wins."
The speech capped three days of panel discussions and high-profile speakers, including numerous politicians mentioned as contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. But for a lot of the CPAC attendees, Beck was the reason they came, as he is seen as a leader in the new conservative movement.
The speech comes after a year in which Beck's growing popularity as a Fox News host coincided with the rise of the Tea Party Movement and populist rage directed at Washington. Beck also launched the 9/12 Project, which sets forth nine values and 12 principles that he believes the country was founded upon. The project inspired a major march in Washington in September.
"This is how is America should be," said Cynthia Burgiss, 22, a student at the University of Dayton in Ohio who attended the 9/12 march in D.C. this year. "People of every race, political affiliation, religion came together for different reasons." She was at CPAC to see Beck and called him a "relatable ... everyday guy."
"None of this would have happened without Glenn," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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I am very proud of Glenn Beck!
Glenn is an honest real American patriot.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
02/21/2010 2:32 Comments ||
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He did a great job. He even handled interruptions without breaking stride. Noobama can only be jealous if he even watched five minutes of it.
I hope it gives the politicians something to think about. I'm afraid that the only thing it will give them to think about is how to appear to comply to minimum expectations but in reality just bury their agenda deeper to be dug up later.
Hence I feel we need to send the signal by throwing the bums out without their ill-deserved lifetime benefits. Unless they are the kind to own and drive an F-150, of course. :-)
#7
I'm convinced Glenn can do a better job than any one in the ruling administration or the other 535 clowns holding office...
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
02/21/2010 13:14 Comments ||
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Tapscott gives Beck props for the speech and suggests that while he's unlikely to be elected to high office, he undoubtably will play a key role in setting the narrative during the 1010 and 12 campaign seasons and elections.
And that's what we need. People are angry, worried and scared. What Beck did so well was to focus on a few key issues we can agree on, articulate basic principles and show that those principles have been the basis for America's success in the past.
By also naming the enemy of those principles he gives focus to the anger and identifies what needs to go.
I'm not sure I see officeholder qualities in him. I sure do see *leadership* qualities to rally the electorate and aim its energy at the root issues we need to address urgently.
#9
I'm convinced Glenn can do a better job of feeding red meat to CPAC than Bambi. (It helps that I agree with most of what he says.) But I think we're a long way from any candidate who says those things getting elected. Even from Utah. We're going to have to hit an even lower bottom.
#10
Compare the GLENNER wid DAILY TIMES.PK > PROFESSOR: THE FTURE OF MARXISM IS VERY BRIGHT. Argues that the LIMITED OF CAPITALISM have nearly been reached, + that MUSLIM-MAJORITY NATIONS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN VERY RECEPTABLE/HOSPITABLE TO [Marxist] COMMUNISM.
#11
IOW, ARTIC > an unknown number of MUSLIM MODERATES + XTREMISTS may also be PRO-COMMIE = CLOSET COMMIES, whose true role, actions, and magnitude of collusion, etc. in the 9-11 terror event agz America, + by extens the on-going ISLAMIST UNIVERSAL JIHAD [NOT merely Local, Regional, or Multi-region] is NOT FULLY CLEAR, LIKELY BY DESIGN???
After strolling through the exhibition hall of CPAC 2010 on Thursday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow told viewers that night of her impressions.
Here's Maddow describing one of the things she didn't like --
MADDOW: There were lots of people giving away copies of the Constitution, but in a thing that sort of bothers me, they couldn't resist adding their own documents to the Constitution. So you can get the Constitution, plus say, the mission statement of the anti-ACLU American Civil Rights Union. Or you can get the Constitution plus the mission statement of the Young America's Foundation. Or you can get the Constitution with a foreword by Ron Paul. Much as I love Ron Paul, I don't think you get to write a foreword to the Constitution.
Actually you do, thanks to -- all together, in unison -- the Constitution. Whereas all the Left hands out are manifestos ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2010 00:00 ||
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In other news, MNBC becomes the mouthpiece for the foaming at the mouth, moonbat left.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/21/2010 9:21 Comments ||
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There were lots of people giving away copies of the Constitution, but in a thing that sort of bothers me, they couldn't resist adding their own documents to the Constitution
Somehow it's bothersome to this chick that a foreword or a mission statement is included that doesn't affect the nation, but it's perfectly okay for a court to re-interpret - or worse - find a 'right' that didn't exist previously?
#4
My new years resolution was to spend more time with people that make me smile and family. For this I refuse to watch or pay attention to anything that evil cow has to say.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/21/2010 22:48 Comments ||
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FTA: "JP Morgan took one of its longest-standing clients in Mexico Grupo Televisa and tried to hand all of its secrets over to its biggest rival, Carlos Slim. And the way it tried to do that was by selling Slim a loan larded up with covenants which would essentially force Televisa to reveal any and all information to the holder of the debt."
This story is in other business magazines but NOT in the NYT (print or electronic).
Of course the fact that Slim has recently bailed out the NYT and presently holds a large amout of their stock has NO bearing on the silence on the subject of his shenanigans. /s
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.
On February 18, 2010, at 12:45 PM, Kate Zernike's piece "CPAC Speaker Bashes Obama, in Racial Tones" went live on the New York Times' Website. Just after 4:00pm that afternoon, Andrew Breitbart received the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award from AIM for uncovering corruption at ACORN this past year. He used part of his speech to voice his opinion of Zernike's piece. 
