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Truce ends with airstrike on Gaza
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
2 00:00 Parabellum [5] 
3 00:00 Jolutch Mussolini7800 [4] 
7 00:00 .5MT [2] 
8 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3] 
4 00:00 .5MT [6] 
5 00:00 Jolutch Mussolini7800 [6] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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6 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Shootout At The Polka Corral
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/21/2008 12:35 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bet that was the longest 10 seconds of Mr. Kochanski's life.

Good for him. No telling how many of his patrons are now alive because of his courage and forethought. More Americans need to be as prepared.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/21/2008 17:27 Comments || Top||

#2  No telling how many of his patrons are now alive because of his courage and forethought.

Yeah, and maybe if he'd spent a little more time at the range, there would be two dead perps and some chalk outlines on the floor of his tavern.
Posted by: Grusotle Darling of the Lichtensteiners2788 || 12/21/2008 22:27 Comments || Top||

#3  "Yeah, and maybe if he'd spent a little more time at the range, there would be two dead perps and some chalk outlines on the floor of his tavern."

That would have been better for the rest of us, granted, but this way he's not looking at dealing with having killed two people. That can cause problems both legal and mental. It worked out for the owner about as well as he could have hoped.

More range time is ALWAYS a good thing, however.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/21/2008 22:48 Comments || Top||


French first lady wins case against nude image
France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been awarded 40,000 euros ($57, 500) by a French court for damages from a company that sold bags emblazoned with a picture of her in the nude, when she was a fashion model.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yow.
Posted by: gorb || 12/21/2008 6:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm thinking it is hot where ever she is.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/21/2008 12:12 Comments || Top||

#3  where's the photo the lawsuit was about?
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 12/21/2008 14:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Rollover. May be NSFW.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/21/2008 14:47 Comments || Top||

#5  One hopes that tiny thing is a birthmark.
Posted by: KBK || 12/21/2008 19:55 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
If You Build It They Will Come
S.F. blames out-of-towners for endless homeless problem

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city's homeless system.

Facing a crippling budget shortfall, officials at San Francisco's homeless agencies are proposing a radical idea - take care of the city's own first, and require newcomers to show proof of residency for aid.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Beavis || 12/21/2008 12:09 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "show proof of residency for aid" (or voting or driver's license or whatever the locals actually foot the bill for)

What a novel idea! Obviously the 'community organizers' haven't gotten to Mr. Rhorer or Mr. Kayhan.

Just wait, they (and their friends) will start screaming so loud that they'll drown out some of the few 'voices of reason' left in the spiraling cesspool of socialism that was once one of my favorite cities.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/21/2008 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Other American cities and towns paraphrasing Tony Bennett:

"I dumped my bums

On San Francisco..."
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/21/2008 19:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Just wait, they (and their friends) will start screaming

GB and CyberSarge can tell me if I'm wrong, but I suspect the point has been reached in SF where the screaming will be ignored. SF and Caliph. are now facing the abyss and the reality is setting in.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/21/2008 19:25 Comments || Top||

#4  US-GLOBAL RECESSION/DEPRESSION > AKA PCorrectly BUILDING TRANS-REGIONAL + GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCY + INTEGRATION, which in turn will "justify" EXTRA/SUPRA-NATIONAL AND REGIONAL SOCIALIST-GOVTIST ORDER + REGULATORY AUTHORITY,
.......@etc., aka OWG-NWO, in order to ensure that SCARCE $$$ go to where is intended to resolve this widespread, internaional economic morass.

Be it Guam, other Territories or the States, the Feds are demanding PROOF(S) OF LOCAL GOVT = PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY, CLOSURE OF $$$ LOOPHOLES, ANTI-CORRUPTION, ....... ETC., AND ARE IN NO HURRY TO PAY OR LEGISLATE TO "SOLVE" VEE NEW FED BUDGET $$$ ANY LOCAL-REGIONAL PERCEIVED OR PROCLAIMED "SERIOUS" PROBLEMS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/21/2008 19:29 Comments || Top||

#5  TOPIX/OTHER > THE RISE OF THE REST [of the World], notsomuch any controversial alleged decline in US power and influence.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/21/2008 19:32 Comments || Top||

#6  If our President Elect isn't required to, why should they?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2008 22:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Calling Old Doc Young!
It's a srs cases of blinded by deh obvious!
What can you do Old Doc Young?
Call the black d00d Doc White
He's a specialist.
Posted by: .5MT || 12/21/2008 23:15 Comments || Top||


Arabia
No Divorce For Eight-Year-Old
The youngster was married off by her father in exchange for a £4,000 dowry. Relatives of the girl said the groom had agreed not to consummate the marriage for 10 years and to allow the youngster to live with her mother.

The girl's mother, who is separated from her husband, had filed a petition for divorce with a court in Unayzah, 135 miles north of Riyadh. But the court ruled that the girl must file the case herself when she reaches puberty, it was reported.

"The judge has dismissed the plea because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty," lawyer Abdullah Jtili told the AFP news agency.

The marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom. It is understood the father had debt problems and wanted to secure an advance dowry.

Arranged marriages involving pre-adolescents are occasionally reported in the Arabian Peninsula, including in Saudi Arabia where the strict conservative Wahabi version of Sunni Islam holds sway and polygamy is common.

A girl aged eight was granted a divorce in Yemen in April after her unemployed father forced her to marry a man of 28.
Posted by: tipper || 12/21/2008 13:44 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  too bad JUSTICE is pooplisted, the mental and moral dwarf would be rationalizing this sick Islamo-shit, I'm sure
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  That's sensible. Eight years old is WAY to young to be getting a divorce.

Wait, what? {8^0
Posted by: Parabellum || 12/21/2008 18:39 Comments || Top||


Saudi religious police says some movies possibly OK
The chief of Saudi Arabia's powerful religious police said some movies may be acceptable in the kingdom, despite a three-decade ban on cinemas, local press reported on Sunday.

Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith, head of the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, made the concession after last week's breakthrough public showings in Jeddah of the comedy feature "Manahi". "A movie could possibly be acceptable if it serves good and is suitable under Islam," Sheikh Gaith said.

Gaith pulled back from comments he made two days earlier branding movies "an absolute evil" in the wake of screenings in the Red Sea port city. "I did not say that we reject all cinema, but I said that we were not consulted during the organisation of these movie showings," he explained.

For more than a week from December 9, the Rotana entertainment group, controlled by Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, showed "Manahi" to rapturous audiences in Jeddah and nearby Taif. The screenings, approved by the provincial governor, Prince Khalid al-Faisal, sparked hopes that Saudi Arabia would soon allow public cinemas.

Before the first projection of the film, local religious police inspected the facility, a 1,200 seat conference hall, to make sure that men and women would remain separated, adhering to the country's strict laws on separation of unrelated members of the opposite sexes. For the three showings daily, women sat in the balcony of the hall while men and boys were on the ground floor.

There are no cinemas in Saudi Arabia, but some coffee shops surreptitiously put on movies for customers and many Saudis enjoy films at home on DVD and satellite television. To experience a cinema, they have to travel to nearby Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates or other countries.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/21/2008 09:18 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  how about "Obsession"?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2008 10:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Exodus?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/21/2008 15:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Gentlemen's Agreement.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/21/2008 15:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Barf of a Nation?
Posted by: .5MT || 12/21/2008 23:16 Comments || Top||


Europe
Belgium again in limbo after govt collapses
Belgium's King Albert consulted political leaders on Saturday after the government collapsed for the third time in a year following its botched attempt to bail out financial group Fortis.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme tendered his government's resignation on Friday after a report by the Supreme Court found signs of political meddling to sway a court ruling on the future of the bank, a victim of the credit crunch.

The king, who under the constitution must decide whether to accept the resignation, held successive talks at the palace with the heads of the five ruling-coalition parties until 2 am on Saturday, a palace spokesman said.

Consultations were to continue later in the day. Belgian media said there was little chance of Leterme staying in power. The newspaper De Morgen said a reshuffled, emergency cabinet could be stitched together to govern until June. A parliamentary election could take place that month to coincide with planned regional and European elections, the paper said. "After the resignation of Yves Leterme, the king needs to find a successor quickly. Not one of the ruling parties is asking for new elections," De Standaard said on its front page.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2008 09:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, hell - they've got a king.

Why not just revert to a plain old monarchy?

He couldn't possibly do any worse that the present load of wankers running the country into the ground.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/21/2008 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Read "King Leopold's Ghost," Barbara. Belgium's Kings can be much worse. Why do you think the Congo's so screwed up?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/21/2008 13:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Eric, no defense of Belgian royalty, or colonialism in general, but I bet the Congo would be about as screwed up today if there had never been a Belgium.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/21/2008 14:27 Comments || Top||

#4  True. The Belgians took the endemic barbarism of the Congo to a new level for a while, but after a couple of decades it was a quite well-run African colonial state with a low body-count, good economic prospects and an exploding population. And then, independence, collapse of institutions, dictatorship, civil wars and population collapse.
Posted by: buwaya || 12/21/2008 14:48 Comments || Top||

#5  What Glenmore said. Unfortunately.

"then, independence, collapse of institutions, dictatorship, civil wars and population collapse"

Pretty much sums up sub-Saharan Africa. Wonder what could possibly be the cause?

/sarcasm
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/21/2008 16:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Barbara, the only problem with Sub-Saharan Africa is Sub-Saharan Africans.

When the Euros quit, it was "lights out" both literally and figuratively. There's not a country in Africa where I'd even consider investing as much as fifty cents.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/21/2008 17:35 Comments || Top||

#7  The zimbobwayans don't seem to have benefited much from their more benign British colonization, so I doubt great responsibility attaches to the Belgians for the current state of the Congo even given the execrable things Leopold did with his playground.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/21/2008 18:57 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 Jolutch - precisely.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/21/2008 19:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Fort Huachuca Post Commander restricts troop travel to Mexico
Rising drug violence in Mexico's border region has prompted southern Arizona's largest military installation to issue new restrictions on troop travel and a warning to military families and civilian staffers to stay away.

Now nearly 7,000 troops at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista must get prior approval from the Army post's top brass to cross the border. Violators would be subject to military discipline. In addition, about 11,000 family members, civilians and contractors at the fort are "strongly urged" not to visit Mexican cities such as Naco, Agua Prieta and Nogales - a popular shopping and nightlife destination.

Drug-cartel-fueled violence has reached unprecedented levels this year in the state of Sonora and specifically in Nogales, where government figures show homicides have tripled in recent years. Nearly 100 killings have occurred this year, up from 52 in 2007 and 35 in 2006. The violence is attributed to an ongoing battle between drug cartels for the corridor - the most desired piece of real estate along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2008 07:55 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Been in place at Ft. Bliss for a while. Then again Juarez across the border is what - 3 million plus or something. More fuel for the fire than the communities near Huachuca.
Posted by: P2k on holiday || 12/21/2008 9:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Sierra Vista's a nice town, new mall, restaurants, theaters, etc. Absolutely no reason to go to Mexico
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2008 10:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Wrong, Frank G. Street hustlers are always talking up their 13-year-old, v*rgin sister (or maybe brother, these days). Or have they moved to Sierra Vista too?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/21/2008 14:33 Comments || Top||

#4  well, I wazza thinkrn about the families....
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2008 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Staying out of Mex is always a good move.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/21/2008 17:23 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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6Govt of Pakistan
3TTP
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2Taliban
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1al-Qaeda
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Iraqi Baath Party
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2008-12-21
  Truce ends with airstrike on Gaza
Sat 2008-12-20
  Delhi accuses Islamabad of failing to deliver on promises
Fri 2008-12-19
  Guantanamo closure plan ordered
Thu 2008-12-18
  Johnny Jihad's Mom and Dad ask Bush to let him go
Wed 2008-12-17
  Life for doctor in Glasgow airport terror bid
Tue 2008-12-16
  Bomb Found at Paris Department Store
Mon 2008-12-15
  Somali president fires PM, who refuses to go
Sun 2008-12-14
  Frontier Corps refuses security to NATO terminals
Sat 2008-12-13
  Indian Navy repulses attack on ship off Somalia, captures 23 pirates
Fri 2008-12-12
  Captured terrorist Kasab my son, admits Pop
Thu 2008-12-11
  14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Wed 2008-12-10
  Hamid Gul to be 'declared terrorist'
Tue 2008-12-09
  Masood Azhar confined to his headquarters
Mon 2008-12-08
  Paks torch 160 NATO supply trucks
Sun 2008-12-07
  Al-Shabaab set up regional administration


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