Never let it be said that the money we spend on space exploration is wasted. Click on the link for an astonishing Mars photograph. Yank it if you want, Fred; I just thought it was funny.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
01/08/2004 8:30:14 PM ||
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Marvin was trying out his new ACME Halloween costume.
Posted by: Stephen ||
01/08/2004 21:25 Comments ||
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A Mt. Pleasant Township couple wants Wal-Mart to pay for foot and toe injuries they claim were caused by canned goods and condiments that tumbled from an overfilled plastic grocery bag. According to a two-count civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Westmoreland County, Brenda and Ronald Sager contend a plastic bag they brought home from the East Huntingdon Township store last month was deficient and overstuffed. "deficient and overstuffed" - perfect description of this pair.
The bag, which contained a 32-ounce jar of Miracle Whip, a 46-ounce bottle of ketchup, three 15-ounce cans of fruit, an 18-ounce bottle of ranch dressing and a 12-ounce bottle of mustard, broke open when the Sagers returned home and started to put away their groceries. Seven items totaling 9.56 pounds.
Thatâs when the handle tore and the bottom of the bag broke, the Sagers claim. Got any witnesses? Thought not.
"... all of the contents of said small plastic bag immediately fell onto and struck the right ankle, foot and toes of the plaintiff, Brenda Sager," the lawsuit said. The 14-page complaint filed by attorney John Scales claims Brenda Sager suffered numerous injuries including cracked and damaged toenails. "Damm, I chipped a nail! Iâll sue! Sue!"
Brenda Sager also claims she sustained more serious permanent injuries and other physical problems, such as ligament damage and a broken right foot. Found a rent-a-doctor.
The Sagers contend Wal-Mart was at fault for her injuries. The store, they claim, failed to properly instruct and train its employees to correctly bag products, negligently provided a defective bag, recklessly overpacked the bag by placing in it too many heavy items, failed to double- or triple-bag the purchases, and placed Brenda Sager in a "position of peril." "Position Of Peril" sounds like a porn flick.
She is seeking damages in excess of $30,000. Thatâs small change, however, Wal-Mart will cheerfully spend ten times that fighting this in court. They always fight every suit.
Her husband also is seeking that amount in damages, claiming that as a result of his wifeâs injuries he has been deprived of her attention and comfort and suffered a loss of consortium. Heâs not getting any since she chipped a toenail.
An official of Wal-Mart yesterday denied the accusations. Store co-manager Scott Kubica said Wal-Mart workers did nothing wrong and did not overpack the Sagersâ bag. "Those bags are good for 10 or 15 pounds," Kubica said. There apparently is no industry standard for packing grocery bags, according to an official with the National Grocerâs Association, a Virginia-based organization that operates an annual competition for grocery bagging. 1. Somebody will sponsor legistration to establish a commission to set up standards for bagging groceries.
2. Wal-Mart will squash them in court, if it gets that far.
3. There is a national competition for grocery bagging?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 1:24:53 PM ||
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Heâs not getting any since she chipped a toenail.
He's a toe-sucker.
Posted by: Steve YAO ||
01/08/2004 13:32 Comments ||
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#2
Two words: "Loser pays".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 14:28 Comments ||
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#3
Seven items totaling 9.56 pounds.
Note that the ounces quoted are fluid ounces (except, maybe, the fruit). You can't translate them into pounds without knowing the density of the substances and the weight of the packaging.
In high school gym class I took a hockey stick to the thumb. It bent my thumbnail backward into the nail bed, and bled some and hurt like a sumbitch. The PE teacher (a man, of course) said, "Awww, diddums bweak a nail?" After class I went to the nurse to have some goop put on it, and she went to have a word with coach. He had teeth marks on his ass the next day. Do not misunderestimate the pain of cracked nails.
#6
I don'tknow who despise more. People who file frivilous lawsuits or WalMart. Every timee I walk into one I feel like I've stepped into the shallow end of the gene pool
Her husband also is seeking that amount in damages, claiming that as a result of his wifeâs injuries he has been deprived of her attention and comfort and suffered a loss of consortium.
She broke a toe (maybe) and he can't get any? What kind of pathetic losers are they?
Or maybe I should ask how they normally "consort"?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/08/2004 18:02 Comments ||
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#8
A table at a friend's house I was trying to lift up a few years back separated from a leg and fell squarely on my thumb toe (or whatever the damn thing is called) and scrunched it really good. The hematoma formed promptly under the nail, causing a great deal of pain, and most of the toenail itself came off a couple of weeks later. All this time walking was a chore.
A woman said through tears Thursday that she lied about losing the winning ticket for a $162 million lottery prize awarded to another woman. Biggest non-surprise so far this year. Elecia Battle, 40, is dropping her lawsuit to block payment of the 11-state Mega Millions jackpot to the certified winner, her lawyer Sheldon Starke said. "I wanted to win," Battle said. "The numbers were so overwhelming. I did buy a ticket and I lost. I wanted to win so bad for my kids and my family. I apologize." The Cleveland woman had filed a police report saying she lost the ticket, possibly when she dropped her purse outside a convenience store. The lottery declared Rebecca Jemison, 34, the winner on Tuesday. Battle said she wanted to use the money to help her family and recently laid-off Cleveland police officers. Oh please..
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 12:56:38 PM ||
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#1
Chicago's got it's own problem w/tickets purchased by a group of traders. The winning ticket, one of a group, is "lost." $175K
Cyber Sarge"once they get here they take jobs that no one else wants".
I hear this all the time,this statement is about 30%truth/70%bull.
When I moved to Tucson(early 90âs adjust for inflation)I started working for a Masonry company(no experience)after 2 years(lot of experience in all aspects of Masonry construction)Started out at $7.00/hr at the end of 2 years I was making $8.50/hr.When I kept pressing my boss for a decent raise he got irrtated and told me"Why should I pay you $11or12/hr when I can hire 2 wets for the same money".
So that"they take jobs that no one else wants"Bovine Scatollogy doesnât wash with me.
Posted by: raptor ||
01/08/2004 10:39:09 AM ||
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raptor, it needs to read: "They take the jobs that no one else wants for that lousy pay"
#2
That's the assumption, and it is not wholely accurate. Many visa overstays can be found in engineering, computers, or the medical fields. Look at the numbers of illegals the Customs Service has rounded up working at various airports. Hardly minimum wage jobs.
There are an estimated nine million illegals, and one piece I saw suggested that 35% are in the underground economy. The problem with numbers in this area is going to be that they are all estimates. How do we handle the existing problem? I don't believe that there is even the remotest possibility that we would round them all up and ship them home. For one thing, the government would have to infringe even further on the rights of its citizens in the effort to locate and deport the illegals.
It's like the folks that say "Ban guns." There are 200 million or more guns already out there. What do you do about them?
The cheapest and least devisive way to handle immigration is to recognize that some folks have made it to home plate. A fait accompli.
Illegal immigration puts strains on local services, but they are temporary strains. Most immigrants end up working, paying taxes, educating their children, just like the immigrants that came before them did. My ancestors, back to 1745, entered the country before immigration laws. The port cities were crowded, services overwhelmed. But in 30, 50 years, my folks had moved on. Indeed, my Irish ancestors managed to become wealthy in the first generation off the boat, the American dream.
#3
When I kept pressing my boss for a decent raise he got irrtated and told me"Why should I pay you $11or12/hr when I can hire 2 wets for the same money".,
This question answers itself. As long as illegal immigrants exist as a sub-economic group, then the employer can continue to hire "wets" under the table at starvation wages lousy pay. But this new program will have a huge impact on slaveowners employers who will have to meet all state wage regulations, working condition standards, OSHA requirements, and income tax/FICA remissions. Small Business people will be the biggest complainers.
And with all respect to Cyber Sarge, his contractor was an slaver idiot. Good masonary people around my neck of the woods command their weight in gold.
Posted by: john ||
01/08/2004 11:42 Comments ||
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#4
"Aye,there's the rub",You spotted the loop-hole,TGA.
If an employer advertise job positions the should pay $12or15/hr.But only offers $7or8/hr,then that employer can honestly say I tried to hire people who are legallly here,but no-one wanted the job.Guess I will have to import some workers."
employer:(Snicker)"I still only have to pay wetback wages.And it's legal now."(snicker)"
Was that last statement directed at me(Raptor),John?
#5
I feel this is the wrong policy for all the wrong reasons. Simply it is rewarding behavior that we want to stop. If they were to seal the border (I favor this) and then institute a guest worker program that would be great. But if you âlegalizeâ the workers already here then you will do nothing more than make room for the next âwaveâ of illegals. Since we are not going to seal the borders, we should not legalize the illegals. IMHO this will die a quick death in the House and that would be a good thing for President Bush. SEAL THE BORDERS AND THROW THEM OUT!
there are three major effects of illegal aliens; you discussed one of them, the suppression of wage scales
there are two other effects, first, an increase in the grey economy (wages paid in cash, social security not withheld, barter transactions); the other effect is that it reduces the incentive of businesses to become less labor intensive (with cheap labor why buy automation).
the Bush proposal will obviously not be enacted exactly as it stands now but if it was, it would at least control the growth of the grey economy. it might also give employers an incentive to raise the wages of the legal workers but that is more speculative
frankly, I don't think anyone can seriously predict the results of this if it were to become law
I'm all in favor of enforcing the immigration laws. But no one has demonstrated a practical method of removing the current group of illegals. I say "Fait accompli!" Find a way to legalize them, get them all into the legal economy. The nativists are proposing, for the first time in our history, to take working people and send them back to where they came from. This country was built by immigrants who were willing to work for low wages and at backbreaking menial jobs. So now that the Micks, the Chinks, the Wops and the Polacks have made it in, we close the borders?
It's funny how the very people who regularily tout the benefits of the American Way of Life, capitalism, free enterprise, the virtues of libertarianism, the inate goodness of the United States turn around and say the equivalent of "Oh, but that won't work for Mexicans."? Where are your principles? If freedom and economic growth are good for you and I, why not everyone? Hey, maybe I'm waving the black flag here, but my tiny brand of libertarianism says let people choose for themselves, not have their future imposed on them by government.
A half million people vote with their feet every year by coming to the United States. Just like Michael DeLaney did in 1845, and folks named Kroger, Meyers, Simmins, Ferris, and yes, Stockstaad, too. We are the future that those people wanted when they came to the United States. How can we honestly deny those choices and that freedom to those who are coming here today? Where are your principles?
#8
If people in other countries want to enjoy the American way, why don't they start changing their homelands? IMHO, Mexico's support for illegals is intended PRECISELY to prevent that -- keep the discontent from building up by sending them north.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 15:20 Comments ||
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#9
Chuck, did these people who built America enter the States illegally or did they go through Ellis Island?
Sure these were different times. But the message Bush sends here is the following: Enter illegally and sooner or later things will be sorted out. It's not about "denying those choices", it's about following rules that are set out for all. Illegal immigration means doing a lot of illegal things (tax evasion, document forging, depriving legal immigrants their fare share of jobs because illegals can work cheaper (tax free). Not a good start.
Do this once and you have the next 5 millions doing the same. And so on. And the guys who don't jump the files are shortchanged.
#10
It's good that the issue has been put on the table. Now let's dissect.
1) Understand we're discussing the problem of ILLEGAL aliens, not the legal immigrants. My mom's side arrived from Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Famine; my dad's side from Ireland in the aftermath of the Black and Tan. Immigration laws were much simpler then, perhaps nonexistent, but they came legally in any case.
2) What about those who attempt to come the legal way and have been waiting years for the bureaucracy to process their paperwork? Why won't they figure that it's easier just to fly to Mexico and cross over? Is that what Bush wants? I don't think so, but that's what will happen in many cases.
3) Potentially the biggest headache does not regard jobs and wages. It's this: How does Bush address the status of children born of those who are here in the initial 3-year period? In my ideal world, these offspring would not have the right to become Americans. I think, however, this is a constitutional matter, so lots of luck in making an amendment to this effect. This phenomenon is already rampant in Illinois and the Chicago Trib has a sob story every couple of months about how somebody is to be deported, but the somebody has kids born here, kids consider themselves Citizens, would never be able to adapt to new homeland, etc. Heartbreaking, but parent(s) should have thought of that before coming here illegally.
4) How is security of our borders enhanced with Bush's proposal? No evidence of that from what I have heard.
5) I don't think Bush's attempt at triangulation will pay off with an increased share of the Hispanic vote. This hunch is based on what the Hispanics (most of whom are citizens; others are legal) I teach tell me. They have done things right paper-work wise and think it's nuts to give away the store, so to speak. Bush would make more headway by going to the mat against Senate Dems in defense of folks like Miguel Estrada.
My Saudi experience is instructive here. You wanna work in the Magic Kingdom? OK, here are the conditions: Can't drink, can't worship, can't wear shorts, can't demonstrate or do politics, can't bring family unless you are a certain job status, kids born there can't become Saudi (please hold down laughter, but many Asian Muslims would like the chance), etc..., but you can save money. You get caught breaking the law, you go to jail or get sent home or both. OK? Good, sign here. So let's tell Mex that certain economic sectors will be open to its citizens and we will set the conditions and all paperwork/interviews have to be done in Mex. and they will pay fees to prevent US taxpayer from footing the bill.
6) What also rankles me is that there is no incentive for Vincente Fox to improve his economy if his people can participate in this program. He was a big help in the UNSC votes on Iraq a year ago, wasn't he? Why does Bush go out of his way to help the jerk? Can foreigners in Mexico start families there and then get Mex citizenship? I don't think so. All of this should be done on a quid pro quo basis. Como se dice en espanol "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"?
Posted by: Michael ||
01/08/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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#11
(1) Hire an illegal alien go to prison for 5-10 years. (2) Children of illegal aliens born in the United States do not become American citizens automatically. (3) Nobody who enters the United States (or stays late once in) can become an American citizen.
Those three laws would end illegal immigration into the United States without militarizing our borders or promoting illegal actions. Sure, couple the three laws with an increased guest worker program if you want but stick with the three laws.
#12
I live in Phoenix. I have noticed too that the majority of masonary and cement work is being done by hispanics, whether illegal, green cards, or citizens I wouldn't know. The bigger jobs and union jobs might be otherwise, but just driving around you see that the low cost immigrant labor appears to have changed the appearance of most masons over the last 20 years or so. I remodeled my house and hired an older master mason who wasn't hispanic, but his helper was a recent immigrant. Because of Arizona's "Right to Work" laws and the immigration issues, a master mason from another state would be hard pressed to stay at the same income level if they moved to Arizona.
#13
TGA: Turks in Germany. Who cleans the toilets in Berlin?
Everyone: At this point in time, legal / illegal is just a name. The FACT is that 9 MILLION people are here. Either we find a way to send them someplace else, or we regularize their status. There are no other choices. The task of identifying and rounding up 9 MILLION people is daunting, to say the least, and invites comparisons to other, unsavory roundups of people with no legal status in history. You're talking about 3-5% of the entire population, without knowing where the holes will appear. Your doctor, your maid, your mechanic. Who fills the empty jobs? What happens to the businesses that the illegals worked for? How many people do we send to jail for hiring illegals? A million?
#14
Chuck,
I read your link and I disagree that it is a 'racist' debate. I dont care if the illegal aliens are mexicans, canadian, english, martian, russian, or chinese. The fact that most illegal aliens are mexican is because we have this long, unprotected and unpatroled border with mexico and the jobs and lifestyle of the US is attractive to mexican citizens. I am sure that if we have such a border with China, or Russia, or Mars, or the Philippines that those groups would be comprise a larger segment of the illegal population (ok, perhaps not the martians....). Calling this racist is like calling laws against rape 'sexist' because most rapist just happen to be male.
The United States *has* changed its immigration policies to limit immigration but I don't think it was done to deny immigration specifically to 'mexicans'. You dont see free and open immigration from Europe or China or Canada do you? The policy change is across the board and not directed at one specific group. Plus mexicans have also 'made it' just like the other groups you have mentioned - travel in the SW and you will see millions of legal mexican immigrants and their descendants. Mexicans are still immigrating 'legally' just like Chinese and Russians, and the English, etc....
I think the reason the US changed its policy was more to protect american jobs (and wages) then to 'keep out those mexicans!'.
Why should we reward people who knowingly violated our federal laws by crossing the border illegally (or overstay their visa) with legality while, at the same time, punish those who are attempting to immigrate 'legally' by making them wait their turn (and perhaps even wait longer while the illegals 'cut in line').
I dont have a problem with LEGAL immigrants. I am married to a legal alien. And I dont want to stop immigration. They really are what makes this country great. However we do need to protect ourselves by performing background checks and medical checks on those who want to immigrate to our country. We also need to limit the flow of immigration to protect our economy, our country, and our standard of living.
There are processes for immigrating to the United States.
Now I agree that deporting the illegal alien population is probably impractical. So we will most likely have to compromise. Bush'es plan does this by allowing 'illegals' to keep their job and have 'legally' (and thus some protection against exploitation by employers) using this guest worker program while at the same time allowing them to seek LEGAL immigration status just like everyone else on the planet - including have to compete on the same playing field. Note that most illegal aliens face a 'ban' against immigration now due to their illegal or overstayed visa status. It sounds that this plan allows them to overcome that barrier without being a 'blanket amnisty' (I know I spelled that wrong).
But this plan will not achieve its goals unless it also have some teeth to make this plan 'attractive' to people and make 'illegal' status 'unattractive' some are:
1) Punish those employers who employ illegals (at very low pay thus exploiting them) with huge fines and, if necessary jail time. How would that Masonry employer feel if he had to pay 50K per 'wet' if he was caught?
2) Withhold funding to state and local governments who 'shelter' illegal aliens by being selective in enforcing federal laws. (We will enforce affirmitve action but not immigration laws...). These people are also enabling the exploitation of illegal aliens.
3) Deny all but 'humanitarian' aid to illegal aliens who do not take advantage of this plan. This includes education (public schools) and 'routine' medical.
4) Deny american citizenship to children born of illegal aliens who do not take advantage of this plan.
5) Illegal aliens who do not take advantage of this program automatically receive a 'ban' against legal immigration (length of ban 3, 10, or lifetime to be determined).
#15
As usual, they treat the symptoms and not the cause.
The only way this will work is if we also control the borders and enforce the laws regarding immigration. And attack the illegal immigration at its root cause and source: Mexico and its despotic government.
First: stop giving benefits to illegals. Those benefits (shelter, medical, etc) are an incentive for them to come here illegally. They are criminals - they are breaking the law by their very presence here. WHen they come in for care, stabilize them, then ship them back to Mexico.
Force Mexico to become a real Republican Democracy by taking away their safety valve of pushing their problems north.
And if you want to whine about helping the poor Mexicans, then lets do it by taking some of the Foreign Aid we send to the Arabs (who buy weapons with it) down to Mexico instead for use in healthcare and basic economic infrastructure.
This batch gets documented, but when it comes time to leave, they are gone.
Also implicit is that no more are allowed in except in accordance with normal immigration. We need to fence the southern broder and patrol it against incursion.
And any illegal, expecially after this program goes into effect, should be immediately taken into custody and then deported swiftly (within 2 days of arrest they should be back in Mexico).
Justice should be swift and sure.
Mercy should be shown in their home country by helping to improve it there, not encouraging them to come here.
#16
Chuck, most Turks are in Germany legally. They may be undocumented cases but if they are caught they are sent home.
And yes, this shouldn't be a racist issue. It's about the law being equal for everyone. A German being caught working illegally in the U.S. will be on the next plane out, with a big ugly stamp in his passport.
Btw the U.S. will always need legal immigration, and Europe will even need more of it.
#17
The way it works in IT - company advertises job with extensive requirements in multiple areas of technology and a very very low salary. When out-of-work IT folks apply - they're either under or over qualified for the job. Said company then claims they can't find an American to do the job and bring in a person on a H-1B or L-1 visa at a very low salary. If the foreign worker later objects to the low salary or working 100 hour weeks, company threatens them with deportation. CEO of company then gets a big bonus.
And that's if they just don't outsource the whole operation overseas ...
Posted by: A Jackson ||
01/08/2004 18:37 Comments ||
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#18
All this talk about sealing the southern border seems fantastic. How many have driven along it? I-10 through NM and SE AZ reminded me of Death Valley. There's almost nothing there, but space and places to hide. Music on the radio is mostly salsa, the commercials are mostly in Spanish, and most of the stations are broadcasting from Mexico anyway. The language spoken by nearly everyone eating at the fast food restaurants is Spanish. The major industry in that section of the country seems to be transportation along the interstates or the railroad. I used to support the concept of sealing the southern border until I drove along it. Until a real border is established there, compromises like the one proposed by the president are the only way out. Maybe the US can establish a paramilitary draft to beef up the border patrol and have a million or so of our young citizens stand elbow to elbow from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. But that would be such an expense and such an infringement on civil liberties
#19
I could seal the border, given about 400 men, the legal status to do whatever it took, a dozen or so Apache (Helicoptors), and 200 Apache warriors (Amerinds). Of course, it willmight get ugly (body bags and all that), and the first time I found Mexican troops on the wrong side, we could be at war with Mexico, but I COULD SEAL THE %&%$&%*& BORDER! The problem isn't the capability, it's the will. Until we decide we WILL seal the border, it won't get sealed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2004 19:43 Comments ||
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#20
Mexico's support for illegals is intended PRECISELY to prevent that -- keep the discontent from building up by sending them north.
Not only that, but illegals also send a lot of US dollars back to their families in Mexico. If that money wasn't forthcoming, Mexico would probably be worse off. Parasitism, almost.
This is a rerun from last night. I'm leaving it because of the comments...
The National Arts Club [in New York] puts patriotism on explicit display with a new exhibit to feature the work of controversial artist Scott LoBaido. One of LoBaidoâs paintings, "Have Faith," depicts President Bush as a cavalry soldier holding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladenâs severed head in one hand and a American flag in the other. LoBaido, 38, was arrested in 1999 after throwing horse manure at the exterior of the Brooklyn Museum of Art to protest its display of a painting of the Virgin Mary festooned with elephant dung. "Iâm expressing myself creatively," he said as police led him away that day. Last year, LoBaido was arrested for hanging a large American flag on an awning outside the French Consulate as a sign of protest for what he considered Franceâs contempt for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. He is on one-year probation.
Now the artist has been given a more official platform for expressing his creativity. The Arts Club exhibit incorporates the American flag in almost every piece. A large canvas titled "The New York Giants" features former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a New York City firefighter and a police officer -- all clad in armor and on horseback -- in the midst of a battle scene. "Politics has always been bloody and we respect free speech and we think his activism through art is an exciting dimension," said National Arts Club President Aldon James.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:01:36 AM ||
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One of LoBaidoâs paintings, "Have Faith," depicts President Bush as a cavalry soldier holding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladenâs severed head in one hand and a American flag in the other.
...and this is a problem because?....
A large canvas titled "The New York Giants" features former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a New York City firefighter and a police officer -- all clad in armor and on horseback -- in the midst of a battle scene.
And I think I'd like to see that one. As the old saying goes, I may not know art, but I know what I like...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/08/2004 0:11 Comments ||
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--"Politics has always been bloody and we respect free speech and we think his activism through art is an exciting dimension," said National Arts Club President Aldon James.--
#3
Most excellent. Interesting because, given the nature of the art world, patriotic art would be about as avant-garde as you can get. For more than 50 years modern art has been totally dominated by the "ironic" and has been strongly tinged with anti-American, anti-Western themes...
I doubt this guy is the beginning of a trend, but one can always hope.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
01/08/2004 2:25 Comments ||
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#4
Personally I would have liked to see a painting (photograph) of Giulliani marching trough the streets of New York while holding the head of Osama by the beard, but this one is pretty cool as well.
#5
I want a print.
MK,it is a problem because the Looney Left art world like 85% of Acadamia does not like Patriotic art.
Now if it had been a picture of a U.S. soldier bayoneting babies people like NMM would call that art.Take for instance the artist who laid the American flag on the ground and encouraged people to walk on it,or the one who covered a statue of the Virgin Mary with fecal matter,ya' see the Looney Left consider that kind of desecration a free expresion of art.
#7
when i first read this i thought the artist in question was a leftie making fun of Bush. I mean it sounds totally tacky. BTW the stuff you dont like isnt really classic modern art its more performance art, Dadaist influenced post modern art, etc. Classic modern art may have leaned left, but was VERY serious - think Picasso's Guernica. The proposed WTC memorial is very definitely modernist (IMHO) with influence from My Lin's Viet Nam memorial.
#8
yup, looked at it, its totally tacky and poorly crafted. Contrast with the sculpture in the post above, which is definitely traditional, and a tad sentimental for my taste, but which is at least well crafted, and is arguably tasteful, and moving in its own way. If you want to make a case for traditional patriotic art, use the sculpture above, not this thing.
#10
I like the idea,however the execution sucks, my 7 year old has a better sense of proportion than this clown. This guy is an amateur, an artist is the guy who made the statue in the previous post.
#11
raptor-
Agree with you 100%. But let me suggest that once something like this gets notice as 'art' (in the sense that the LLL has previoulsy considered it), it knocks another brick out of the wall, and we get that much closer to something resembling normal.
Best regards,
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/08/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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#12
Looks more like Andrew Jackson. In fact, I think it's very like a picture of AJ that I once saw.
Two people have been arrested here over Tuesdayâs twin bomb blasts, which killed at least 15 people and 12 people have died in an ambush, blamed on Taliban militants. Kandahar deputy sheriff police chief Salim Khan said that one man was arrested in connection with the initial explosion, which caused no injuries and another man was being held in relation to the second blast.
I wonder if this is the guy they caught running away...
In a separate incident on Wednesday, 12 people from the ethnic Hazara group were killed in an ambush in the southern provinces, a local official said, adding that Taliban militants may have been behind the incident. "A minibus which was on its way from Uruzgan to Helmand was attacked by unknown armed men, who fired on the vehicle," Helmand district security police chief Abdul Rahman Sabir said. "In this incident, 12 passengers were killed and one passenger survived." Sabir said that the survivor managed to get to Baghran district just inside the Helmand province to inform authorities. "The investigation is going on but we think probably it was terrorists and Taliban who are trying to inflame ethnic differences between Hazaras and Pashtuns, thatâs why they have attacked Hazaras," he said. The incident took place in the Al Akhor area on the border between south-central Uruzgan and Helmand province to the south. The bombings are the latest in a string of violent incidents in Kandahar.
The Hazaras are also Shiites. And Lashkar e-Jhangvi members like hanging around in Afghanistan...
Tuesdayâs attack occurred outside a customs house and near the barracks of an Afghan commando unit, working with US forces to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. A gunfight broke out on the streets of Kandahar on Wednesday morning between members of this commando unit, witnesses said. US soldiers moved in to stop the fighting but there was no immediate information on the number of casualties.
"Yar! We be commandos! Don't nobody be screwin' wid us, not even us!"
A grenade was thrown at the office of non-government organisation Core on Tuesday, but it caused no injuries, local police said. Meanwhile, Afghan authorities have arrested 11 people over a December 28 suicide bombing near the Kabul International Airport, which killed six people, including the cityâs intelligence chief.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:02:36 AM ||
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Hazaras are Mongols - Oriental in appearance. They are reputed to be the most beat-up ethnic group in Afghanistan. The Taliban perpetrated a number of massacres against them. This incident would be in character.
A strong presidential system enshrined in Afghanistanâs new constitution, tailor-made for Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, could lead to a dictatorship, a former president of the country said yesterday.
That's the risk, isn't it? The alternative is eternal deadlock...
Former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who led the opposition against Karzai at the constitutional loya jirga (Grand Assembly), said the impact of the new charter, passed on Sunday after weeks of wrangling between rival ethnic factions, would be limited. He accused government ministers of meddling in the 22-day debate and said the constitution was not one that represented a national consensus as claimed by its architects. âThe discussions were held on limited issues and they cannot resolve the broader problems,â Rabbani said in an interview. âThe consensus was on basic issues and emergency steps were taken to resolve them, but the major and fundamental issues were not solved,â he said. âIf this issue is not dealt with, I am concerned that this will push Afghanistan to a dictatorship.â The bearded Islamic professor was among the overwhelming majority of 502 delegates who stood up to show their support for the charter, although the dissent that characterised the debate has refused to go away. Rabbani was instrumental in bringing together more than 200 delegates from ethnic minorities including his Tajik clan, Hazaras and Uzbeks, who argued for a stronger parliament.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:05 ||
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Hey, Mr. Rabbani -- nobody said it'd be easy. Run for office, keep talking, and it'll be as much of a success as the Afghani people allow it to be. The U.S. Constitution wasn't a product of nationwide consensus either, but it served...
#5
Rabbaani was a notorious idiot, power hungry and, at least politically, dishonest. In his last years Commander Massood, despite belonging to his party despised him.
Taking the advice of Rabbani just because he is a former president is as silly as taking the advice of Jimmy Carter.
Is this the beginning of the end for the Soddies?
Late at night the police in Tabuk arrested a woman in her twenties driving a black BMW, Al-Eqtisadia reported. According to newspaper sources, police were suspicious of the driver who was wearing male Saudi dress. They attempted to stop the car but the driver refused and when they gave chase, she fired five shots at them, damaging the police car. Other police cars joined in the chase which ended when the woman crashed into a streetlight. The police were shocked to find the driver was a woman; their investigations continue.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/08/2004 12:55:02 AM ||
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"Mahmud, lookee dat! A WOMAN!"
"Avert your eyes! I'll have the religious police whip your ass!"
"But she was shootin' at us!"
"So, shoot back! But don't look at her!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 1:02 Comments ||
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#2
You can teach them how to drive and dress them in men's clothes (if that's what you call that long white skirt and the burnoose), but you just can't teach 'em to shoot fer sh*t.
#4
You can teach them how to drive and dress them in men's clothes (if that's what you call that long white skirt and the burnoose), but you just can't teach 'em to shoot fer sh*t.
You talking about her or the Saudi cops?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 9:31 Comments ||
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#5
Thank You Steve!
*rimshot*
He's here all week! Try the veal
LOL that got the coffee up the nose, thx
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2004 9:49 Comments ||
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You talking about her or the Saudi cops?
Shoot, I was gonna come back at lunch with the punch line. Beat me to it. Too slow for the AoS.
Syntax is courtesy Arabic News, not me. I'd have fixed it, but I wasn't always sure what the hell they were getting at. I sometimes find the differences between "human rights" and "individual liberty" startling...
A seminar was opened on Monday in Doha under the title of "Human rights in Islam."
"You have the right to wear a turban. You have the right to stone adultresses. You have the right to have gun sex shoot off your AK into the sky at any time. You have the right to roll your eyes and utter blood-curdling threats of Dire Revengeâ¢..."
A topic which is debated for the first time in Qatar which recently founded a human rights committee. The higher representative for the UNHCR, Ahmad Madani, who takes part in the seminar underlined the importance UNHCR pins on developing human rights in the Arab states.
"Oh, yasss! Us UN High Command for Refugees wallahs are very big on human rights..."
For his part, the chairman of the Shoura council in Qatar, Muhammad Bin Mubarak al-Khuleifi, said in a speech he had delivered on the importance given by Qatar to human rights. In the first work session, four work papers were debated. The first was given by Youssef Muhammad Obeidan, the political sciences teacher at Qatar university that dealt with political human rights. Ahmad Abu al-Wafa, the law teacher and the secretary of the law faculty at Cairo university talked in the second work paper about social rights. Sheikha Hessa Bint Khaleifa Bin Ahmad al-Thani, the special rapparteur for disabled at the UN, presented the third paper which noted the difficult circumstances people of special needs face that hinder their integration in society.
"Yeah! It's hard to toss rocks at adultresses from a wheelchair, y'know!"
For his part, Muhammad Mustafa Younis, the international law professor at Qatar university read the fourth paper on guarantees for protecting human rights in cases of emergency, and criterion governing these conditions.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:55 ||
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...difficult circumstances people of special needs face that hinder their integration in society.
Well, if you would stop marrying your cousins maybe you wouldn't have so many "people of special needs".
#2
Syntax wasn't too bad, so long as you substitute "kibitzer" for "rapparteur". Any members of the burkha-d contingent here? "Sheikha" sounds like a femaled-up version of sheikh, but Arabic name construction reminds me too much of Klingon...
And what better place to discuss rants than Rantburg:
Muslim leaders have accused Robert Kilroy-Silk of "anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views" after a newspaper piece entitled "We Owe the Arabs Nothing". I like it already.
The Muslim Council of Britain denounced the BBC discussion show presenterâs piece as a "gratuitous anti-Arab rant". "And we know gratuitous ranting, itâs a Arab invention."
In the Sunday Express piece, the former Labour MP referred to Arabs as "suicide bombers, limb-amputators, women repressors". Check
The Commission for Racial Equality has also reported the matter to the police.
"Officer! Arrest that man! He told the truth!"
The MCB secretary general Iqbal "Iggy" Sacranie said in a letter to BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey that Mr Kilroy-Silk had failed to distinguish between the terrorists behind the 11 September attacks and 200 million "ordinary Arab peoples".
Funny thing, that. The terrs didn't distinguish between civilian targets and... ummm... anything else in the 9-11 attacks.
Mr Sacranie questioned whether if the word Jew or black was substituted for Arab in the piece, the presenter would not still be occupying a high-profile spot on television. A BBC spokeswoman said the corporation was carefully examining Mr Sacranieâs letter before deciding whether any action should be taken. The presenter was unable to give a comment due to his motherâs funeral.
It killed her? Damn! That's some powerful ranting!
Mr Kilroy-Silkâs piece started:
"We are told by some of the more hysterical critics of the war on terror that âit is destroying the Arab worldâ. So? Should we be worried about that?"
Mr Kilroy-Silk went on to say that the toppling of despotic regimes in the Middle East should be a war aim, and questioned the contribution of the Arab nations to world welfare and civilisation.
"Apart from oil - which was discovered, is produced and is paid for by the West - what do they contribute? Can you think of anything? Anything really useful?... No, nor can I... Weâre told the the Arabs loathe us. Really?... What do they think we feel about them? That we adore them for the way they murdered more than 3,000 civilians on 11 September and then danced in the hot, dusty streets to celebrate the murders?"
Are we sure that Kilroy-Silk is not Steven DenBeste?
Or Steve White?
He said Arab nations should be grateful for the aid and technology the West had provided.
"They should go down on their kness and thank God for the munificence of the United States."
Mr Sacranie said action should be taken over the "bigoted and ill-informed ideas" in the piece, which was "ignorant, extremely derogatory and indisputably racist". If he had written the same piece about America, would Mr Sacranie have complained? I think not.
I'm still trying to figure what was ignorant or racist about it. It sounds like it was on the money to me...
The BBC spokeswoman said: "Weâve received an e-mail from Mr Iqbal Sacranie and are looking into how the Sunday Express column, which Robert Kilroy-Silk writes in his capacity as a freelance, fits with his on-screen work for the BBC. "Weâd like to take the time to carefully consider the points Mr Sacranie makes." Translation - "Weâre checking with our lawyers"
CRE chair Trevor Phillips said: "This article is indisputably stupid and its main effect will be to give comfort to the weak-minded." Weakminded = anyone who doesnât agree with him.
"However, given the extreme and violent terms in which Mr Kilroy-Silk has expressed himself, there is a danger that this might incite some individuals to act against someone who they think is an Arab." More likely Mr Kilroy-Silk will be in danger of having his car bombed by the Religion Of Peace.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 9:23:21 AM ||
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Muslim leaders have accused Robert Kilroy-Silk of "anti-Arab and anti-Muslim views" after a newspaper piece entitled "We Owe the Arabs Nothing".
{...}
In the Sunday Express piece, the former Labour MP referred to Arabs as "suicide bombers, limb-amputators, women repressors".
Nothing like making a big stink to deflect public attention when someone voices an opinion that hits a little too close to home, eh?
#2
Here's a link to more of Mr. Kilroy-Silk. Apparently host of a "Springer" style show on the BBC.
Look to him being sacked as the sacrificial lamb the BBC offers up to show its "unbiased", when in reality he's the balance to the BBC international desk...
#3
People should start painting "Kilroy was here" around London. REALLY make the Islamofascists nervous.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 10:04 Comments ||
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Kilroy has always been a top talk show host because he speaks his mind and isn't scared to say what he and many others think.He hit the nail right on the head with this newspaper piece.I really admire the guy for doing this especially because over here in England to many people are to scared to speak the truth and are scared of telling the Muslims what we really think of their shite religion.What makes it so much better is that he works for the BBC,it will really piss those fanatic appeasing bunch that run the BBC.I say give Kilroy a medal and Knight him.trouble is for him he'll probably get a letter bomb from the 'religion of peace' for it. All hail Kilroy.
#7
Too soon to tell, Lucky. With the voice of the people being squashed ("Let us defend our homes with the Burglar's lives!" "THAT'S BARBARIC! NO WAY!"), no telling how long it will be before sane people will exceed 50% of the population...
#13
Mr Sacranie questioned whether if the word Jew or black was substituted for Arab in the piece,
the presenter would not still be occupying a high-profile spot on television.
Unfortunately their just aren' that many suicide bombing jews or Blacks.
#14
Well I am one English (note English,and not multiracial British),Pensioner thats 100% in agreement with kilroy.
Why is it that more people lack the guts to speak up?Kilroy for Prime minister if he continues to speak up like this.
#15
Just loved your comments on the article! Probably safer not to include identity or someone might be keen to show me how "freedom of speech" is a special privilege of only a few and in special cases and only in one direction!
#16
If this man is even prosecuted for uttering truisms...the world is in a worse state than commonly perceived. I rant on in the manner in which he has stated his obvious, pent up frustrations at the Arab world in general. With all due respect to the balance of the discerning world...just who the fuck is blowing up who? The Arabs taint their own in general...without ANY regard for their own...or recourse by the world. Talk about opportunism...How dare 'they' even point a finger at him for telling the truth? In my humble opinion, Mr Silk should be knighted for honesty, integrity and intestinal fortitude!!
He should be beatified by the Pope..knighted by the Queen...Given the key to NY...A packet of 144 condoms....Anything,,,except the vilification by Islam!!
Social and community workers close to the immigrant community are warning that this country could soon be suffering a wave of crime, violence and street riots unlike anything ever experienced before, unless something is done to halt the explosive growth of immigrant ghettos. Lise Egholm, the head of RÃ¥dmandsgade School in the centre of one of the countryâs largest ghettos, MjÞlnerparken in Copenhagen - where 97% of all residents are from an ethnic minority - termed it a âpolitical scandalâ that crime-ridden ghettoes have been allowed to flourish, and warned that the immigrant domination of public-housing projects is a âticking time-bombâ that could go off at any minute. She was backed by two local police officers who have set up a community project within MjÞlnerparken in an effort to get young immigrants off the streets, but which is already heading for failure. One of the officers, Martin Rhodemejer, said that the Danish population is heading for a âmassive shockâ. âNormal, law-abiding citizens have no idea of the gravity of the situation. Young immigrant criminals donât care about Danish society, the Danish judicial system, or Danish values. The fuse is primed and waiting to be lit,â Rhodemejer warned. Leading immigrant politician Naser Khader said he was âdeeply concernedâ about the situation. âIntegration efforts have to improve and we can start by drastically changing current housing policies. Ghettoes should become just as much an election issue as health and welfare. If we just stand by and watch, then this country will experience riots on a level with those weâve only previously seen abroad,â he warned.
#1
Could someone explain why there is a growing Islamic population in Scandanavia.
Posted by: Stephen ||
01/08/2004 21:30 Comments ||
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Balderdash. Integration is so simplisme, so overrated, so twentieth century. I tell you, this is a living model for how our own society should be structured ... and will be structured under me. Oh, two quick points: we can't rush to judge Osama, and "Bush knewâ¢".
EFL
French President Jacques Chirac is vowing to make 2004 the Year of Employment. And new rules on unemployment that cut benefits dramatically and attempt to get the chronically unemployed back to work are part of the plan. For starters, unemployment benefits will be limited to 22 months instead of 30. This change will effect nearly 200,000 people. Evelyne Zylbermann is one of thos hit by the reforms. Until now, she received â¬1,400 ($1,780) of unemployment benefits per month. Starting this month that will be cut to â¬400 per month in emergency benefits. âI donât know what I should do,â Zylbermann told Deutsche Welle. âI have rent and insurance to pay and a child to feed. What am I supposed to do, I donât know.â
How 'bout if you get a... ummm... No. That's never work.
#2
So, so, so very sad. What kind of insurance does she need to keep up? Free Med... retirement provided by the state? Ah! Yes. Fashion insurance, of course. Correct me if I'm wrong.
#3
$1780/month! For 30 MONTHS of unemployment. That is 2.5 years. It pays to sit on ones ass in France while one finds oneself. Pity the poor blighters that have to work their asses off to support a whole group like this. I am speechless...I am without speech. Jeeze Louise! No wonder the country is going to the muts.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 15:57 Comments ||
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Alaska Paul, a little caveat: People pay a hefty compulsory unemployment insurance every month when they work. In Germany, the more you earn, the higher the insurance. The idea is that people can maintain their social standard if they lose their job until they find a new one. It works with most people who only claim the benefit for a few months. How long the benefit is paid depends on how long you have worked (and contributed to the insurance). So you are not really living at the expenses of society if you don't abuse the system. Germany will limit full unemployment benefit to 12 months, after that, you only get social aid (which is far less and just the bare minimum to survive). After 12 months you will also be required to take any reasonable job you can get or you lose payments.
But in France you would get the 30 months already if you only worked 2 years in a row, which of course is ridiculous.
Medicare is not free btw, you pay a hefty (compulsory) insurance for it as well.
#5
âI donât know what I should do,â Zylbermann told Deutsche Welle. âI have rent and insurance to pay and a child to feed. What am I supposed to do, I donât know.â
#6
Appreciate the details, TGA. I was just floored by the 30 months she got at that ridiculous rate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 16:29 Comments ||
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Sure AP, of course we don't know what wage she made before. I think the new regulations are curbing abuse. In the U.S. "job mobility" is higher than in Europe. But if it takes longer than a year to work in an adequate position it's time to adapt to the new and harsher reality of your life, move into a cheaper apartment and start all over.
The state has every interest that someone who loses a well paid job (often just company failure) doesn't fall into a dark hole and ruin his chances to get another well paid job. That's the idea of paying adequate unemployment benefit for a while (60-67% of your last income after taxes).
And as I said, you pay through the nose for it anyway. Germany's biggest problems are not taxes (the average worker or employee pays less taxes than in the U.S.) but the rampant contributions to social security.
#9
Edited for Length
Edited for Laffs
Sometimes it's Extremely Friggin' Long...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2004 17:37 Comments ||
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I got a paper route when I was 13-yrs-old (I am 42 now) and have worked ever since. The longest period of time I was without work was two months. How do you NOT work for 30 months? I am such a sap.
#11
TGA-
"Germany's biggest problems are not taxes...but the rampant contributions to social security."
What's the difference between 'taxes' and 'contributions to social security'? Sounds like the same thing, just with different names. Maybe if you add the 'taxes' with the 'contributions' you end up paying more than Americans?
Posted by: Les Nessman ||
01/08/2004 21:00 Comments ||
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#12
Re the "what am I supposed to do? lady": "30 months" is enough time to either get a job or train for employment. In Canada, on average it takes job seekers under 40, less than 2 months to find work. Its over 4 months for over 40s, who normally would have more fall back savings. Therefore, I defend only short term, fully funded employment insurance plans.
EFL:
French investigations have found no evidence that a ticket-holder who did not show up for a trans-Atlantic flight might be an Afghan-trained Al Qaeda sympathizer armed with a bomb, police said today.
"Non non! Certainement not!"
U.S. television network ABC said this week that European authorities were searching for a man with alleged Al Qaeda links who failed to board a Paris-to-Los Angeles flight on Christmas Eve â one of six Air France flights cancelled amid security fears. A ticketed passenger surnamed Hai on a cancelled Christmas Eve flight attracted attention because an Afghan with a similar name figures on a U.S. terror watch list, French officials said.
Ummm... I knew several thousand Vietnamese named that, too. Sa-a-a-ay! You don't suppose it was them?
But a senior French police official said that surname alone was not sufficient for them to track the person down and that there was no indications that the passenger posed a threat. "We have no new information from American (intelligence) services that lends credibility to the idea that this person represented a specific threat to the Dec. 24 flight," he said.
"Would you like some of this cheese? It's really quite tasty, despite its odor..."
French Justice Minister Dominique Perben had said Wednesday that authorities are seeking a passenger who did not turn up because "whatâs important when someone doesnât take a plane is to know why he didnât take it." Well, he seems to have a clue.
Or she...
But police said no active search is underway. "We have just a name, no first name, no birth date, no passport number," said the senior police official. "We canât do serious work on such foundations." So they arenât looking, there is no investigation, and they continue to demonstrate why we shouldnât trust them.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 1:51:49 PM ||
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Ticketed passenger but they only have a last name, no credit card, nothing? BULL!
Who bought the ticket?/ where did they buy it?/ how did they pay for it? Please!!!
Posted by: john ||
01/08/2004 14:03 Comments ||
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#2
This attitude towards terrorism is notably different than their attitude towards GM food. For terrorism, the burden of proof is on us to show he's a threat; for GM foods, the burden of proof is on us to show it's not a threat. Damn inconsistent frogs...
#3
Excellent point, John. Apparently, in France you can just reserve a seat with cash and no ID.
Also note the "no new information" dodge: We may have already sent them his file from Afghanistan; they just don't have anything NEW.
They're not the leaders of the Axis of Weasels for nothing.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 14:31 Comments ||
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John and RC, if France doesn't require identification to buy a ticket and announces that the flight has been cancelled in time for terrorists to decide not to show up, why would they ever expect to catch a terrorist. Even if the cancellation was not announced publically, why would you believe that the terrorist wasn't tipped off by an insider? Based on these questions and the murkiness of the activity of the French embassy's VISA division in Syria in March, I would immediately add holders of French passports on the list of countries to be fingerprinted and tracked in and out of the US.
Although France has a EU VISA exception, I would make that place that requirement on them and add Belgium and Luxembourg as well - to prevent abait and switch.
France would obviously respond in the manner that Brazil did, but how many American tourists entering France would be inconvenienced?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 14:44 Comments ||
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#5
In other news...The French deny the existence of ass, since they weren't able to find it with both hands.
#6
I would not be surprised to see that Air France has been infiltrated with Al-Q or sympathizers, who would enable the movement of jihadis through the Air France system.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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#7
"whatâs important when someone doesnât take a plane is to know why he didnât take it."
Indeed. I remember this from the detective classic... The Frog of the Baskerville.
#9
bloody french will probably give the slimy terrorist easy access,sorry permission to slink into England. Thats what they used to do with all their Illigel imagrants at the Songat refugee camp - the Bastards
Poland has launched negotiations with Washington on hosting U.S. military bases on its territory, Polandâs Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said Thursday. "We expect the second round of consultations on the issue of bases early this year. Itâs too early to give any details," Szmajdzinski told the parliamentâs defense committee. He added Poland was generally in favor of hosting the bases, but the issue of who would cover their operating costs remained open. Ka-ching.
The United States began a diplomatic offensive last month in a dozen European capitals to discuss a redeployment strategy expected to involve closing bases in western Europe and reflect a greater NATO focus on the east and south. Poland, a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, could see one of the biggest build-ups of U.S. forces in Europe on its territory, diplomats say. The action is definitely east.
Russia has expressed concern over any U.S. military moves closer to its border. But Washington has said any redeployment of troops to eastern Europe was intended to tackle new security threats and was in no way directed against Moscow. Szmajdzinski declined, however, to confirm a newspaper report that American forces could take over an air base at Powidz, to the west of Warsaw. Squirm, Vlad.
#2
I like it. An airbase near Warsaw, some quick reaction troops and an airbase say in Bulgaria, keep the hospital and staging areas in Germany, keep the naval basing rights in Italy, and get Q-man to re-open Wheelus for us. Add that to our upcoming new leases in Iraq, intel and port calls in Djbouti, and bases in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and our Islamist buddies will learn a new English word: "encirclement."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 13:31 Comments ||
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#3
I took a class on US Basing strategy a long while back (yep, it was an actual class). The extent and number of bases (of all kinds) worldwide was mind-boggling, as was the fact that the Cold War focus was maintained over so many generations of US government and Pentagon administrations.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/08/2004 15:01 Comments ||
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#4
Like to see the 173rd "take over" the base in Poland like they did the one in Iraq. Pointed message to Vlad.
#7
4thInfVet -- We should keep some troops in Germany so we can invade France when they take the next logical step in their assault on the US -- open physical aggression (followed, of course, by their shrieking surrender at the sight of the first Stryker).
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/08/2004 19:14 Comments ||
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#8
Tibor - No need to deploy light armor. I'm thinking a few close air support sorties with Big Macs and boxes of cheap white wine as ordinance would break the back of any advancing Fr. 'troops'. Mon Dieu!!
The United Nations refugee agency has closed its last three field offices in Croatia, a move it said symbolizes a "sea change" in the tiny republic once ravaged by fighting in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Hey! Careful with that feather! You almost knocked me over.
The three field offices, which helped repatriate one-time refugees, were closed at the end of the year, the U.N. High Command Commission for Refugees said in a statement Wednesday. It said local relief agencies and the government can handle the remaining work. Guess the local cafes werenât offering broadband.
Croatian Serbs took up arms in 1991 to rebel against the countryâs independence from the former Yugoslavia and seized a third of the country, killing thousands of Croats. In 1995, Croatia recaptured those areas in two blitz offensives, and many Croats took revenge, killing hundreds of Serbs and forcing at least 150,000 of them to flee the country. "After such a dramatic decade, a sea change is the only way to describe the refugee agencyâs closure," the UNHCR statement said. Maybe the Croats decided they have a normal country now and donât want you to louse it up.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 1:11:51 AM ||
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#1
Its debateable how many of the 150k who fled were forced to do so. Bur AP's got have its spin, otherwise whats the point of having it. They would just reprint press releases.
And I really wish they would get an atlas. Maps are really useful things. They find out that Croatia is not 'tiny' but a decent sized place by European standards, considerably bigger than Belgium and the Netherlands for example.
#3
Phil_b, I think the 150k figure is correct and may be low. When the Croats launched operation âSTORMâ they wanted to deny the Serbs bases from which to attack them. That had NO humanitarian motive involved with respect to the Bosian Muslims, this was a land grab. They areas that they âliberatedâ were mostly populated by Serbs and they are the ones that fled into Serbia and eventually resettled to Kosovo. These were people that lived in Slovonia and along the Dalmatian Coast (prime locations in the Balkans). Note: the UN high commission on refugees did nothing more than make the âethnic cleansingâ more efficient and less bloody. So we basically have the same problem that we started with in the Balkans. Can this peace hold? Only time will tell.
#4
Cyber Sarge - I don't doubt many were actively encouraged to leave, but I recall news reports at the time showing long columns fleeing before the advancing Croats, which precludes them being forced to flee (except by their own side).
My point was that journalists take a press release, add unsubstantiated spin and can't even get basic facts right.
The man suspected of stabbing and killing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has confessed to the crime, according to his lawyer. Peter Althin said Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, admitted his guilt while he was being questioned by investigators. The confession clears the way for police to file charges of murder against Mijailovic, possibly as early as January 12, police said. Mijailovic has been in custody since September 24 last year, two weeks after 46-year-old Ms Lindh was killed in a Stockholm department store while she was shopping with a friend. He had maintained his innocence. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison. Sweden does not have capital punishment.
I think life in a Swedish prison's about the same thing as eight years in a Marriott Hotel, only without the explosions...
Chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said that DNA traces found on the knife used to stab Lindh and on Mijailovic's clothes matches his own, adding that the evidence against the suspect is good.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 00:03 ||
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Damn, for a minute I thought you were talking about this mutt. Ahh, well, just wishful thinking on my part, I guess.
#3
I never thought that JWL should have been prosecuted and jailed. I was for him having his citizenship revoked and then being exported back to Afganistan.
DISCLAIMER: This is my first article post. I could be wrong, I could be right. Please forgive me if I screwed the pooch here... ...Anyway, itâs not an article, but rather reader responses to a question in The Age. Link courtesy of Tim Blair.
The American right used to dismiss Michael Mooreâs material as unfunny agitprop, unworthy of attention, but it just may turn out that the writer of Stupid White Men and the maker of "Bowling for Columbine" will inadvertently help President G. W. Bush to a second term in office. Do you believe Michael Moore? Does he do more harm than good? What you said.
WE must free our minds to use the brains and Michael Moore provides the information and conceptual relevance to frame the context of the ongoing debate about Americaâs hegemonic lust for flag-planting and the cannabilistic murder and consumption of its own poor people and children. ("Yes," says George W. "let the NRA pass me some dark meat from the ghetto to go with my blood pudding.")
Even now, as Uncle Samâs jackboot grinds free speech to a bloody pulp in his own homeland and democracy withers under direct orders from Washington in Australia, the grasping octopus of American imperialist adventurism is no closer to singing its swan song.
On Mars the Stars and Stripes flies â the Red Planet, how appropriate, red with the blood of workers poisoned by the toxic byproducts of the imperialist war machines march on the high frontier of space in its phallic symbols of globalised corporate power. Did you know that every rocket that takes off from Cape Canavaral kills 73 seabirds (on average) and has led to nervous conditions amongst neighbouring manatees.
Michael Moore sees and speaks these truths in a simple, down-to-earth way that people who have been denied the benefits of tertiary education (unlike me and most Age readers) can understand.
His truths are such a challenge to the patriarchal power structure and its Zionist puppetmasters that it requires definite bravery to articulate them. They shot Martin Luther King and John Lennon in America. How long can it be before this large precious object is martyred by the same interests that gave us the Big Mac, George W. Bush, and showers instead of relaxing baths.
Ogram Nâotsgnik
Kinda brings a tear to your eyes, doesnât it?
Gives me gas. But maybe that's just me...
Posted by: Steve (yet another one) ||
01/08/2004 8:36:42 AM ||
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I was going to post that response, but time committments caught up with me. Good to see that someone else thought that his/her idocy was worthy of note.
#2
That particular comment is fake; the name is "Margo Kingston" backward.
It's dead-on, though.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 8:45 Comments ||
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#3
Ogram makes Moore look like a flag-waving patriotic, gun-toting zealot by comparison, and that's a shame. Coz Moore is still a rotten-ass excuse for an American.
Did you know that every rocket that takes off from Cape Canavaral... has led to nervous conditions amongst neighbouring manatees.
Analyst: When did you discover you love dolphins?
Manatee: Right after a rocket launch. It was kismet. It was wonderful.
Analyst: Here's your viagra. Just don't fall in love with me, k?
#4
Wow. Do you think this moron could use any more um, shit, I can't think of the word. Allegories? That's not right. Crap. Metaphors, that's it. What a pile of shit. I love the line about 'large precious object' they got the 'large' part right anyways. MM is a big fat, ignorant piece of trash, who talks about freedom of speech being trampled while spewing his anti-American crap. And he's too stupid to see his screeds invalidate his own arguments. Fucking moron. I'd love to beat his fat ass down.
I like the line: "...who have been denied the benefits of tertiary education (unlike me and most Age readers) can understand." I grew up around educated moronic snobs; I prescribe a trip to see the skull pyramids of Cambodia and the mass graves of Iraq for all intellectual leftists - but Steve White should probably make that official.
I also like: "...but it just may turn out that the writer of Stupid White Men and the maker of Bowling for Columbine will inadvertently help President G. W. Bush to a second term in office." One must ask, how can such a powerful intellect as Michael M. be outwitted by poor beffuddled GW?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 11:34 Comments ||
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"...but it just may turn out that the writer of Stupid White Men and the maker of Bowling for Columbine will inadvertently help President G. W. Bush to a second term in office."
Cannibalism or cancer? The left are so frustrated with rage they starting to turn their own.
Posted by: john ||
01/08/2004 11:53 Comments ||
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This is a hysterical parody of Margot Kingston and other LLL luminaries.
She is about as lovely looking as you would expect - scrawny, twisted scowl, wizened face, butch haircut -- what's not to like ?
As a commenter at Tim's site said: "She looks like the Revenue men blew up her last still."
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/08/2004 12:32 Comments ||
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SH (Steve), I'm happy to write that script. One dose of visits to the killing fields of Cambodia and Iraq, along with the mass graves in Rwanda so that our LLL patient understands just how the UN screwed the pooch. And a field trip to a barren grass lawn in North Korea.
Steve Yao: welcome to the Army of Steveâ¢!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 13:36 Comments ||
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most of the people adding comments to this site appear to be americans, what you must realise is the level of dislike/hatred many others feel towards your country. your corperations are corrupt and greedy like your government. for many years terrorism in northern ireland was supported by you but when your own country is attacked (perhaps even justifiedly) you go completely balistic and as an aside did you know that more british soldiers were killed by trigger happy americans than by arabs
Posted by: luke ||
01/11/2004 6:04 Comments ||
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AhcÚne Zemiri, the former Montrealer who has turned up in U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay, was a loververy close friend of convicted bomb plotter Ahmed Ressam and helped him with his attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, court documents say. The Algerian-born Mr. Zemiri, 36, has been held at the U.S. military base since he was taken prisoner in Afghanistan on Dec. 15, 2001. News of his detention was revealed this week after his wife gave an interview to a website supporting the prisoners. In court testimony, Mr. Ressam said Mr. Zemiri helped him in the bomb plot, giving him $3,500 and offering a video camera to carry as "camouflage." Mr. Ressam also said he asked Mr. Zemiri to find him a pistol, silencer and grenades. "He was aware you were about to commit a terrorist act on United States soil, correct?" Mr. Ressam was asked in a U.S. court in 2001. "Yes, he knew that I was going to America to carry out a job," Mr. Ressam replied.
And he hadn't found employment hanging drywall or modeling Speedos...
Mr. Ressam, who had trained in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, also replied in the affirmative when asked whether Mr. Zemiri had been involved in sexual perversions "jihad activities."
I hope that's not what they mean when they tell young people to "get involved."
"Yes, he did. Yes! Yesss! He vasss my BOYFRIEND! He did have a multiple orgasmhickey jihad."
These guys really have too much time on their hands...
Well before his capture, Mr. Zemiri had been an object of interest to anti-terrorist authorities. According to French, U.S. and Canadian judicial documents, Mr. Zemiri was part of a group of Montrealers of North African origin, most of whom were later accused of terrorist activities. His name came up in a 1999 probe in Montreal by two French judges who travelled to Canada to investigate people suspected of terrorist ties. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service questioned Algerian-born Montrealers about Mr. Zemiri in July, 2001. Mr. Zemiri lived in Canada from 1994 until he and his wife went to Afghanistan in 2001, purportedly to help Afghan civilians.
"Yasss. We're gonna work for a Soddy NGO, providing arms and ammunition to the needy."
His application for refugee status was rejected in 1996, but a moratorium was placed on deportations to Algeria, starting in 1997. Canadian sources said Mr. Zemiri was deemed a security risk while he lived in Canada â a suspicion that thwarted his attempts at residency. Yet there appear to have been no attempts to arrest or remove him â likely so intelligence agents could track his movements and associations. Mr. Zemiri appears as Hassan Zemiri or Hassan Zemmiri in some court documents. A Canadian intelligence source said "they are one and the same."
"Just depends on which passport you read..."
In his court testimony, Mr. Ressam said Mr. Zemiri was a "special""very very" close friend. Mr. Ressam said his friend and other friends knew he was planning an operation in the United States but not the details. He said he chose not to ask them to accompany him. He said Mr. Zemiri helped him plan a bank robbery.
Hey! What're friends for?
Mr. Zemiri is not charged with any terrorism-related offences. However, judicial documents link him to several terror suspects, including:
·Mr. Ressam, in custody in Seattle and facing up to 130 years in prison.
·Said Atmani, sentenced to five years for being part of a Montreal cell that supplied identity papers for Islamic militants. Mr. Zemiri was arrested in Niagara Falls with Mr. Atmani in 1998 as they carried stolen credit cards.
·Samir Ait Mohamed, held in Vancouver and fighting a request for his extradition to the United States. He is accused of plotting with Mr. Ressam to blow up a gasoline tanker truck at a busy Montreal street corner where the duo believed there were many Jews.
An intelligence source confirmed yesterday that Canadian agents spoke to Mr. Zemiri in Guantanamo Bay last year. Mr. Zemiri arrived in Canada on Oct. 3, 1994. He had flown to Montreal from Spain, where he had bought a French passport, he said in an affidavit submitted with his refugee-status claim. Mr. Zemiri was fined $400 in 1998, after pleading guilty to using a fraudulent Quebec baptismal certificate to obtain a passport, the same method Mr. Ressam used to gain a new identity when he went underground. Mr. Zemiriâs wife, Karina, did not answer her phone last night. Earlier, she had refused interview requests from several TV stations.
More fall-out from the attempt to whack Perv or just more house-cleaning?
Pakistanâs army launched a major offensive against suspected terrorists in a mountainous region near the border with Afghanistan believed used by Al Qaeda fugitives. It was not clear whether any major arrests were made during the operation, said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the army spokesman, told AP that the operation near Wana, the headquarters of the primitive deeply conservative South Waziristan tribal region, was ongoing. "We donât yet have details about casualties or arrests," he said.
An intelligence official told AP that authorities had received word three days ago that a group of armed men, believed to be foreigners, were in an area called Azam Warsak, near Wana. Tribal elders were contacted and asked the men to surrender, but they refused, prompting the military action. Troops stormed the compound where the men are believed to be holed up at 3 a.m. Thursday. There was an exchange of fire and that several army helicopters were involved. Soldiers used loudspeakers to urge villagers to leave the area.
South Waziristan is one of the main suspected hideouts for Osama bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda fugitives. Officials in the region have said American planes dropped leaflets in the area Wednesday urging residents to cooperate with authorities and turn in any foreign terrorists.
It was at least the second major operation in South Waziristan in recent months. On Oct. 2, eight Al Qaeda suspects were killed and 18 others captured in fierce fighting with army troops. Two Pakistani soldiers also died. The target of that raid was apparently Said al-Kadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen. Pakistani officials say he appears to have escaped, but his family has said he is missing and has accused the Pakistani government of hiding information about his fate.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 3:00:29 AM ||
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Considering the fact that the Pakistan Army and millitary intelligence are infested with Pahstun (Pakhtoon/pashtoon) tribesman, the very people that they are supposed to hunt down, I'm not that optimistic about the chances of sucses here.
Not EFL THIS appears to be the moment Saddam Hussein was dragged from his hole and exposed to the world â but it is a snapshot the US military did not want the world to see. The photograph, apparently taken in the seconds after Saddamâs capture near Tikrit last month, appeared for the first time yesterday on a military-related website. The image shows a US soldier posing for the camera as he pins the bearded dictatorâs body and face to the dirt. A clearly-distressed Saddam lies on his stomach as members of the US 4th Infantry Division surround him. US military officials refused to confirm if the photograph was genuine.
The photo was published on the US website Military.com after it was supplied to one of the siteâs contributors, former journalist John Weisman. "This photograph of Saddam Hussein in the moment of his capture was e-mailed to me by a friend in special forces who was damn proud of what his former colleagues in Iraq had accomplished when they pulled the dictator out of his hole," Mr Weisman said. "I thought the photo deserved wide dissemination."
Mr Weisman said he had refused military requests to remove the photograph from the site. The officials had claimed it was a security risk. "While the soldiers in the field may have loved the idea of showing Saddam au naturel, not everyone felt that way," Mr Weisman wrote on the website. "In fact, Military.com received a call from an official asking them to remove the photo for national security reasons. To me, this official was being myopic and his perception has not been echoed by the guys in the trenches, who obviously know a great picture when they see one. Iâd like to see this photograph posted in every public building in the US so Americans can be reminded to thank the American soldiers who put their lives on the line every day to keep this nation safe and free."
Military.com spokesperson Anne Dwane insisted the picture was genuine. "Much of our material comes in anonymously and, given our military membership, we have no reason to doubt it,â Ms Dwane said. "It certainly looks like Saddam." If the authenticity of the picture is proved, it would have been taken by a member of the 600-strong force that captured Saddam at a farmhouse near Tikrit. Although official army photographers were on hand to record the moment, the picture may have been snapped by a soldier, many of whom were known to carry small cameras while on patrol. Good work guys, weâre proud of you. The next picture of this guy Iâd like to see is him dangling from the gallows
In the name of God, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful.
Mr. George Bush president of the United States of America,
Mr. Tony Blair prime minister of the United Kingdom,
Mr. Jacques Chirac president of the republic of France,
Dr. Adnan Pachachi president of the Interim Governing Council,
Mr. Paul Bremer American civil adminstrator of Iraq,
Mr. Kofi Anan general secretary of the United Nations,
The Director of the Red Cross Organaziation,
The Director of the Human Rights Organization,
Dear Sirs,
I write to you in a very distressed state of mind and that may burst my emotions and passions because of the weighty calamity that struck me and my husband after losing our oldest son who was at the tender age of nineteen years. He was looking forward with eyes full of hope and optimism to a bright and eventful future, especially after being engaged to marry a relative of his very recently. He moved forward with all his energy to build their future life with firm and confident steps. But Fate stood in his way and seized him unexpectedly leaving a bleeding wound in the hearts of his parents, his fiance, and his friends and family. Please allow me to tell you my story...
On Saturday the 3rd of January 2004, my son and his cousin were travelling back to our residence in Samarra, they were driving a small cargo truck belonging to a third party from which they earn their livelihood in a country torn by wars and sanctions. Yes, they were back from Baghdad yet misfortune followed them from the beginning, their car broke down on the road which caused a delay in their arrival to Samarra when the curfew hour was just about to start in the city...And this is where the first chapter of the tragedy takes place. An American army patrol stood in their way, and after they went through the whole procedure of searching my son and his cousin, and inspecting the cargo load, they tied them up both and led them to an area about three kilometres from the scene and...in front of one of the gates of the Tharthar dam where water flows at its strongest rate and to my son and his cousinâs horror, they ordered them to jump into the water, it was midnight and the cold was unbearable, when they hesitated, they were pushed by the soldiers. Unfortunately my boy cannot swim, even though swimming at this time of the year wouldnât have helped. Yet my sons cousin survived miraculously after he got stuck in a tree branch to give us his account of this tragic event which could have went untold. He tried saving my son, but the water current was stronger than him...After days of search we found my sons jacket floating with the stream, it shall remain with me as a memory and a symbol of the injustice brought against him by soldiers of the United States of Americaâs army, who came to our country under the banners of human rights and democracy only to send my son to his demise on his wedding days...
To document the incident, my sonâs name is Zaydun Maâmun Fadhil Hassun Al-Samarrai, born in the 1st of June 1984...Yes, they killed him and they broke my heart, try to imagine that dear sirs and ask your wives how hard it is for a mother to see her fruit ripen only to be thrown by sinful hands and to be swept away without any mercy or humanity. Those soldiers have turned everything America has ever stood for into one big lie. I was a victim, and there are and will be many more.
And that is why I turn to you all and to your respected ladies. And especially to Mr. President George Bush to look into my case and order an investigation of the event. I know that anything you may do will not bring me back my boy, but I wish that the procedures may put an end to the suffering of Iraqi mothers, we are reaping misery every day from actions of American soldiers with no regard to our human life, our dignity, and our culture and values. Maybe the procedures will help me trust (again) the validity of those banners and mottos that fly high in American skies, those which we do not perceive in our country, but instead find their opposites. Maybe such an investigation will support the power of law and justice so that day may not come when the conscience of one of the murderers awakens and confesses to its deeds, which will make it then a responsibility on your great nation.
I am assured that you know terrorism and what is regarded as a terrorist act. Pray tell me have you ever seen or heard about a terrorist act that is considered any uglier than this crime, which was followed by crushing the car and levelling it to the ground by American military vehicles?
This is a question I put to you all and to the international community, and I await a peremptory answer.
Yours sincerely,
In grievance for her son,
The mother of Zaydun Maâmun Fadhil Hassun Al-Samarrai.
Samarra, Iraq.
---
Weâre investigating.
And this is an update:
A creepy coincidence is that just this afternoon I heard that a friend of mine was badly injured by another American unit in Baghdad last night during a wedding when people started to celebrate iraqi style by shooting in the air. It was a mistake yes but the doctors say my friend may not be able to walk again. I am at the moment too overwhelmed with bad news so I may sound incoherent to you.
I will post more updates as soon as I get them.
---
#2
There has been a long and animated discussion on his blog. Some of the salient questions:
1.) Why would the troops have walked 1.5 miles to throw two guys into some water?
2.) If they were cuffed, how did the jacket come off the guy? If they weren't, why would the troops have removed the cuffs?
3.) Why would the "official" have refused an investigation and, then, a week later change his mind? There are policies for handling complaints pertaining to the occupation, they would have been followed.
This letter looks like an attempt by someone familiar with Baathist oppression (but unfamiliar with the US military and Occupation Authority policy) trying to make the US look bad and sow dissnension.
#3
While I agree this has to be investigated, it sounds to me like the cousins were up to no good, of whatever variety, and the surviving cousin thought he would dodge some family flak by making up a story about the big bad Americans.
What I particularly liked were some of the commenters on Zayed's blog who gleefully ran off to report to the Guardian message boards. You know damn good and well the thing could be investigated and found baseless tomorrow, and in two years some Guardian-reading drooler will still be bringing it up.
#4
I wouldn't want to dampen some people's enthousiam but I have my doubts over this and a few other Iraqui blogs. They live in a non-English speaking country, their country has been isolated for years and however they seem to know many details about America (Medicare), about its media people (Martha Stewart) and their English is far too good. One of them alleges he is 23 and a dentist meaning the he has had not that much time to improve his high school English and that he is in a profession where being fluent is in English isn't essential. However his English is far better than mine despite being in computers (where English is a requiremnent) and having had much more time to tune it than him. Could be that I am bad but he is also more fluent than any of the (French) programmers I have met.
I am wondering if it could not be a leftist pasing for an Iraqui. First he establishes his credentials by scorning the old regime and once he has got an audience he proceeds to demoralize it
through histories of friends passing to the "resistance" or of people being shot by US soldiers.
#5
There's a lot of doubt about this over at instapundit. The story doesn't make much sense to me either, and I'm gullible enough to have believed that lady's claim about the 'lost' lottery ticket.
#8
To me the urban-legendish embellishments -- like it being his wedding day, finding the jacket, the crushed car (originally a truck) -- make it seem like this is just a story.
It needs to be investigated, if only to expose it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 15:16 Comments ||
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Sigh... even if investigated and exposed as untrue, remember the old saying, about a lie going halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its' boots?
#12
Instapundit just pointed out that the main Samarra/Bagdad road doesn't come within 50 km of the Tharthar dam as shown on this map. This and other inconsistencies that others have found would indicate a hoax.
#15
I've been reading Zayed's blog for some time and his willingness to believe this surprises me. My guess is that it follows the more realistic wedding injury so he is, as he points out, being incoherent.
Posted by: remote man ||
01/08/2004 18:56 Comments ||
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I think it's an urban myth/disinformation ploy for all the reasons listed over at Instapundit.
On a related note; did any of you catch CNN showing the mooks let out of jail today? One punk, mid-20's, was complaing, saying the US wrongly picked him up on suspicion of "killing a general".
Yeah, our Generals have been dropping like flies over there.
I can promise you though that when that prick gets back to his 'homies', he'll be braggin' that he did bust a cap on a US general and fooled the stupid Americans.
#18
That's one less person that I and every other taxpaying American have to pay for. I say too bad the tree branch didn't brake and didn't take away the other jerk who was violating curfew.
Unofficial Iraqi sources told Al Bawaba Wednesday that Abed Hamoud al-Tikriti, presidential secretary of former leader Saddam Hussein died two days ago while in US custody. "Died" or entered witness protection program?
Iraqi security officials contacted by Al Bawaba declined to comment on the report, but have not denied it either. "We donât know nuthing."
Al-Tikriti was taken into custody on 18 June, 2003. Abed Hamoud was considered one of Saddamâs closest aides, and controlled access to the president. He was said to have directed matters of state and handed down many of the ousted regimeâs orders. At the center of the inner circle.
Upon his capture, the US authorities claimed Abed Hamoud possessed vital information about Iraqâs alleged WMD. Since his detention, reports in the Arabic press have claimed he was tortured by US investigators to pressure him to provide information on weapons development programs. Be real nice if he turned.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 11:23:14 AM ||
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Shall we have a moment of silence for Mr. Hamoud? Probably not...he'll turn up at a Poughkeepsie youth soccer league practice before long...
#2
Abed Hamoud possessed vital information about Iraqâs alleged WMD.
Hmmm, wonder how long before some of those chemical nasties start showing up. Of course, anytime before November and it will be a *gasp* ... CONSPIRACY!!!1
TIKRIT, Iraq â Information from an Iraqi citizen about a weapons cache filled with rockets led soldiers from 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment to a location north of Tarmiyah in the afternoon of Jan. 5. The soldiers located and confiscated 75 57-millimeter rockets, an improvised rocket launcher with trigger switch, and a significant amount of improvised explosive device (IED) making material.
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division killed two former regime elements on the evening of Jan. 4 southeast of Khalis after the two individuals, along with three others, attempted to flee when they were ordered to stop by Coalition Forces. The five individuals acted suspiciously when the patrol came upon them. The soldiers attempted to capture them and gave them verbal warnings prior to firing at the group. The patrol was unable to regain contact with the other three individuals. The remains of the two individuals were turned over to the Iraqi Police.
During the last 24 hours, the 82nd Airborne Division and subordinate units conducted 203 patrols, 12 of which were joint patrols with Iraqis, and carried out four offensive operations. During these operations one enemy was wounded and 18 captured. There were three Coalition soldiers injured over the course of the last 24 hours, and all are now cleared to return to duty. Entry was denied to 55 people at Trebil all due to insufficient documentation.
Paratroopers from 3rd Brigade conducted a cordon and search in Fallujah. While conducting the operation, an Iraqi male walked out of a house with an automatic weapon and pointed it at the soldiers. The paratroopers immediately engaged and wounded the man. He was evacuated to Forward Operating Base St. Mere for surgery and is in stable condition. The operation resulted in the capture of five enemy personnel, including one of the primary targets â a weapons dealer who has conducted attacks on Coalition Forces in the past. Soldiers also confiscated an AK-47, 300 rounds of ammunition, a pistol and a bayonet.
Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, conducted two cordon and searches on multiple target locations in Khalidiyah and Ramadi. The operations resulted in the capture of seven enemy personnel, including two targeted individuals, one of whom is a known arms dealer.
Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers in Ar Ramadi continue to conduct independent combat patrols to disrupt enemy activity and prevent enemy forces from emplacing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and selling black market fuel east of Ar Ramadi.
#1
Wouldn't arms dealing be more profitable in a economy where arms were scarce. I would think that Iraq was a glutted market.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 12:03 Comments ||
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SH: we have junk dealers, despite the abundance of junk. They're paying for the service, the dealer arranging for the weapons to be lifted from a depot, rather than having to schlep out into the desert and do it yourself.
New Yearâs Day was a memorable holiday for soldiers at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP), especially for a married couple reunited for their joint promotion to Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3). Chief Warrant Officer Sharon Gibbs and her husband Chief Warrant Officer Cecil Gibbs were promoted Jan. 1.
Sharon, 1st Armored Divisionâs chief of strength management, is stationed at BIAP. Cecil is the chief of supply maintenance for 19th Support Center, 3rd Corps Support Command, in Camp Doha, Kuwait. âI could not have asked for anything better,â said Sharon, who found out they had made the selection list together for CW3 Dec. 11, 2003. âItâs a blessing to be promoted together,â said Cecil.
The couple met at Warrant Officer Candidate School at Fort Rucker, Ala. They were married in Virginia in December 1999. Cecil deployed to Kuwait in February 2003 and Sharon entered Iraq three months later.
âI didnât want her to come here because I was concerned about her welfare,â said Cecil. âNow I am glad she came and things worked out.â The couple has made the most of being in Operation Iraqi Freedom by seeing each other every chance they get, with the help of their commands.
Cecil flew to Baghdad to celebrate their wedding anniversary Dec. 29 and Sharon recently spent leave at Camp Doha with her husband. âWe didnât think we would see each other,â said Sharon. âI think the deployment has strengthened our marriage a lot.â
The longest the couple has been physically together since their wedding day is seven months. Before deploying they served together at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany.
âSometimes it is hard because of long work hours and being apart,â said Sharon. âBut I feel our careers and being soldiers has been better since we have each other.â
âItâs great,â said Cecil on being a dual military couple. âMy advice is to trust in God and everything else will fall in place.â
EFL & Buttloads of Fun
Members of the Iraqi Governing Council have stepped up demands that the United Nations pull their heads out of their asses and return to Iraq quickly and assist the battered nation in its quest for stability and reconstruction. Key cowards members of the council and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan are to meet in New York on Jan. 19 to discuss the shape of the organizationâs role in building Iraqâs future. It was not clear yesterday who will represent the United States at the meeting. The United Nations evacuated severely cut back its foreign staff in Iraq after a car bombing August 19 destroyed its Baghdad headquarters and killed Mr. Annanâs senior envoy to the country and nearly two dozen staffers. Most of the U.N. mission for Iraq now operates out of an office in Cyprus. Thatâs because distance diplomacy from Cyprus is a good way to endear your organization with the Iraqi people. Itâs that faraway and impersonal relationship the builds an impenetrable bond.
And the hotels are better.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/08/2004 7:33:43 AM ||
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Click on the title to see pic of the statue -- very powerful
When he was forced to fashion statues of Saddam Hussein on horseback, the Iraqi sculptor, Kalat, had no idea that someday he would melt them down to create a memorial for American Soldiers. The two original statues — which adorned a gate at the palace complex where 4th Infantry Divisionâs headquarters group is located — were removed with explosives in early July, said 1st Sgt. Mark Anderson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company. The statues were cut into pieces by the 555th Engineer Group and shipped to Kalat who reshaped the chunks of bronze into a likeness of an American Soldier. A small girl comforts the Soldier as he mourns a fallen comrade. The likeness was fashioned from a photograph of 1st Sgt. Glen Simpson, the former HHC first sergeant, who knelt for a picture that has become an immortal portrait in bronze, said Command Sgt. Maj. Chuck Fuss, 4th Inf. Div. command sergeant major.
Kalat spent several months sculpting and casting the statue. âThough he created the original statues of Saddam along with another artist, he created the 4th Infantry Division memorial through his own design,â Anderson said. The sculpture is based on a scene many in Iraq have witnessed in one form or another. A Soldier kneels before a memorial of boots, rifle and helmet - his forehead resting in the hollow of his hand. Behind and to his right stands a small Iraqi girl with her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder. The statue evokes emotion. The girl was added to the statue to remind people of why the sacrifice was made, Fuss said. âItâs about freedom for this country, but itâs also about the children who will grow up in a free society,â he said.
Sitting in a former palace of Saddam now, the statue will soon be shuttled to Fort Hood, where it will become part of a larger memorial project at the 4th Inf. Div. museum. Fuss and Anderson credited the Soldiersâ generosity and Simpsonâs vision for the lasting gift that, in the end, remembers fallen comrades. âI think this is the best way we can honor their families and their memories,â Fuss said. âReally thatâs what itâs for - a tribute to all the Soldiers over here who lost their lives,â Anderson said. âThey will never be forgotten and they will always be heroes in our eyes.â
Posted by: Sherry ||
01/08/2004 3:46:06 AM ||
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A small girl comforts the Soldier as he mourns a fallen comrade. Pic here.
#4
It's nice to think that something like this may one day be erected in Baghdad by a future Iraqi democratic government. Not today, probably not for years, but eventually...
Thirty-five U.S. soldiers were wounded Wednesday in a mortar attack west of Baghdad. An estimated six mortar rounds struck in or near Logistical Base Seitz, according to a U.S. military statement that said the wounded troops had been given first aid or been evacuated for medical treatment. No further details were available regarding the attack or the conditions of those receiving medical treatment. "Some have already returned to duty," a U.S. military spokesman said, but he was unable to provide any figures. The soldiers belonged to the 541st Maintenance Battalion of the 3rd Corps Support Command.
Haji got lucky. No one was killed, and we can hope all the wounds are minor.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:21 ||
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I would bet they're running scared, so they lobbed a round in from extreme range. Big dispersion, no casualties, sounds like they dropped one in a motorpool from far away, just spraying and praying. If they were close, they'd go for the antennas.
Guerrillas shot and killed two French civilians west of the Iraqi capital, the US military said yesterday. Major-General Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division responsible for the Falluja area, said the two Frenchmen âstopped on the highway as one of their vehicles was damaged and they were gunned downâ. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said the two worked for US companies involved in reconstruction work in Iraq.
In Basra, at least two people were killed yesterday when Iraqi police opened fire on stone-throwing soldiers of the disbanded Iraqi army as they protested to demand payment of salaries. Four people with gunshot wounds were taken to hospital after the incident, witnesses said. Two died of their injuries, doctors said. Hundreds of former soldiers protested in front of three banks after being told their salaries had not been received. They said the last time they were paid was in September, a $150 one-off payment for three monthsâ wages.
And in Baquba, residents shouted anti-US slogans as they buried two men they said were shot without provocation by American soldiers as they returned home from a coffee house on Monday evening.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:01 ||
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My condolences to the families.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said the two worked for US companies involved in reconstruction work in Iraq.
Damn, there goes, what, 5%, 10% of the brave Frenchmen left on the planet? One endangered species I'm definitely worried about.
The United States said yesterday it would launch a carrot-and-stick drive to secure lasting peace in Iraq by cracking down harder on guerrillas while freeing hundreds of prisoners deemed low-security threats. âIt is time for reconciliation, time for Iraqis to make common cause,â Iraqâs US governor Paul Bremer told a news conference. About 500 Iraqis held as low-level security threats in the last eight months are due to be released. Coalition officials said the releases â out of some 12,800 prisoners â are also aimed at encouraging Iraqis to provide intelligence tips to the US authorities.
"You, too, can have Cousin Mahmoud out of jug!"
Before they are freed, the prisoners must sign a statement renouncing violence and have a community or tribal leader act as a âguarantorâ for their conduct, Bremer said. âThey made a mistake and they know it. But we are prepared to offer some of them a new chance,â Bremer said. âIt is time for reconciliation, time for Iraqis to make common cause in building the new Iraq.â The first release will be today, when about 100 prisoners will be freed from Abu Ghraib, a notorious prison under Saddamâs regime. Further releases will take place in coming weeks from camps across Iraq, officials said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 22:58 ||
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...have a community or tribal leader act as a âguarantorâ for their conduct,
That's an interesting leveraging of local customs. How likely is it the tribal leader suffering any real punishment if Mahmoud gets caught with an RPG?
#2
I'd recommend keeping his testicles in a jar next to a claw hammer, but they probably won't do that, will they?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2004 0:36 Comments ||
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I hope Bremer knows what he's doing.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/08/2004 8:05 Comments ||
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US amnesty for 500 Iraqi prisoners
This current administration seems to have some kind of love affair with "amnesties".
Before they are freed, the prisoners must sign a statement renouncing violence and have a community or tribal leader act as a âguarantorâ for their conduct, Bremer said.
Oh, puhhhlease. Someone give Bremer a good whack with the Clue Bat&trade.
#5
B-a-R, not so fast. This is a good idea. Taking an oath is a useful thing for us if not for them: if we catch them in the future with a hand grenade, we have the oath as a reason to really drop the hammer on them.
And having the chief vouch for you in a tribal society is clever. Chiefie-boy loses face if his underlings pick up the wrong hobby. I think this has merit, but of course it bears watching.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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I think Steve is correct. I had to LIVE with that sort of $#!t courtesy of my father's family, an extremely tribalistic Basque family. Mom (Scotch-Irish) had to take extreme measures to seperate Dad from his parents, and they STILL tried to pull that "You are not an individual, you are a limb of the tribe" crap on us.
So, yeah, IF they can get a tribal chief to go on PUBLIC record (preferably videotape!) as having promised to vouch for the ex-prisoner's good behavior, it's a strong weapon to use in the future. Face means a lot to these people, and the head of a tribe stands to lose a LOT if he's publically embarrassed.
This means that the chief in question will NOT allow any fun and games to be pulled by the ex-prisoner in question if there is even the slightest chance that he'll be caught. Chief might let OTHERS in the tribe pull some stunts, but he won't risk his word and his face.
It's not a fool-proof plan, but it is a sturdy one, and useful, while still being inexpensive.
Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
01/08/2004 16:24 Comments ||
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Strange... you'd don't sound Basque. Lived next door to transient Jhali (still can't spell it) players for a number of years. Good folk, but very, very serious about everything. They liked Hatfield, Hatfield liked them. Goldies know everything.
#8
I think this has merit, but of course it bears watching.
What's important is that in the event that an ex-prisoner is found to have gone back to his old ways, the bastard "gets it", and the tribal leader is held responsible in some manner. My suspicion is that this so-called carrot-and-stick approach is going to be all carrot and no stick.
Snipped from a larger article.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said three people suspected of involvement in the raid were arrested, but Defense Minister Thammarak Issarangkura na Ayudhaya later told reporters they were only taken in for questioning. Thaksin said insurgents with dual Thai-Malaysian citizenship were responsible for a string of attacks since Sunday in which 21 schools were razed and six police and soldiers killed. ``They are not international terrorists,ââ Thaksin said. ``They are terrorists who operate in these areas ... commuting between Thailand and Malaysia.ââ
What's the Thai word for "ostrich"? I forget...
But attacks in the area over the past two years have killed more than 56 police and soldiers. Thatâs about the same time that Malaysia started cracking down on the KMM. Think there could be a connection?
Police Maj. Thani Twibsi said in a telephone interview that the attackers responsible for Wednesdayâs raid on the police station were armed with M-79 grenade launchers and other heavy weapons. Police fired back at the assailants, who fled after a 10-minute gunbattle. ``On our side there is no casualty, no injury, because we were on full alert,ââ Thani said from Yala, about 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) south of Bangkok. The government has acknowledged that the attacks could be the handiwork of Islamic insurgents, after previously dismissing the violence as banditry.
Bandits. Right. They got turned around and thought it was Northfield, Minn...
Thaksin said Tuesday that separatist ideology has died down, but that ``some extremists still remain.ââ Thailand has largely escaped the terrorism sweeping parts of Asia. But the arrest of suspected terrorist mastermind Hambali in Thailand in August raised fears that his Jemaah Islamiyah group was plotting attacks in the country. Thaksin said the southern insurgents were not linked to Hambali.
"No, no! He's in jug! How could they possibly be linked to him?"
``Actually there are two or three terrorists who used to be religious teachers here. They have been commuting between Thailand, Malaysia and sometimes to Indonesia,ââ Thaksin said, without elaborating.
Gee. Golly. They only share a travel pattern with JI...
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai flew on Tuesday to Malaysia, where he was assured of cooperation in hunting down the assailants if they crossed the border.
"Yeah. Sure. We'll get right on it."
Thaksin said the recent attacks were carried out with the cooperation of people in the area, including bandits, criminals, drug addicts and armed smuggling gangs. Hundreds of well-equipped soldiers have been deployed across southern Thailand. The army has imposed martial law - which allows detention and searches without court warrants - in 22 districts of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. A furious Thaksin lashed out on Tuesday at provincial officials, police officers and army commanders for failing to anticipate the attacks, and branded them lax and inefficient. He gave them five days to set their house in order or face dismissals.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:29:14 AM ||
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``They are not international terrorists,ââ Thaksin said. ``They are terrorists who operate in these areas ... commuting between Thailand and Malaysia.ââ
Um, they shuttle between two countries. Doesn't that make them international?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 8:11 Comments ||
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Suspected Muslim rebels launched grenades at a police station in southern Thailand on Wednesday in the latest in a series of raids that have left six security troops dead since the start of the new year. There were no casualties in the latest attack, said police Maj. Thani Twibsi. The raiders assaulted with M-79 grenade launchers and machine guns but fled after police fired back.
What the hell kind of Islamists are these? They obviously were't paying attention to the training they received in Pakistan. They're supposed to toss the grenades at the cops, miss, and hit an outdoor market, preferably crowded with women over 75 and children under four...
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said three people suspected of involvement in the raid were arrested, but Defense Minister Thammarak Issarangkura na Ayudhaya later told reporters they were only taken in for questioning. Thaksin said insurgents with dual Thai-Malaysian citizenship were responsible for the attacks since Sunday in which 21 schools were razed and six police and soldiers killed. ``They are not international terrorists,ââ Thaksin said. ``They are terrorists who operate in these areas ... commuting between Thailand and Malaysia.ââ
That's two countries, Thaksin. Moving between them makes it international. And that dual citizenship idea stinks.
Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun - which border Malaysia - are the only Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. The provinces witnessed an Islamic insurgency for decades before it died down in the late 1990s. But in a resurgence, attacks over the past two years in the area have killed more than 56 police and soldiers.
That's a number that's due to go up dramatically unless Thaksin cracks down seriously...
On Sunday, suspected insurgents set fire to schools and raided an armory in Narathiwat province, killing four soldiers. Two bombings in Pattani province on Monday killed two policemen. The government has acknowledged that the attacks could be the work of Islamic insurgents, after previously dismissing the violence as banditry.
Good idea. Now go wash your neck. Get rid of that brown ring.
Thaksin said Tuesday that separatist ideology has died down but that ``some extremists still remain.ââ
It doesn't take many, does it?
Thailand has largely escaped the terrorism sweeping parts of Asia. But the arrest of suspected terrorist mastermind Hambali in Thailand in August was evidence raised fears that his Jemaah Islamiyah group was plotting attacks in the country.
Really, I think the Lions' Club could do a lot of good for the Thai government...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:24:29 AM ||
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TWO suspects in the bomb blast that killed at least 15 people in Maguindanao province were charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder, a spokesman for the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Thursday. In a telephone interview with INQ7.net, Senior Superintendent Joel Goltiao identified the suspects as Hadji Suharto Ahmad and Parang town councilor Hadji Henry Abddul Kataf.
A couple hajis, huh? One of them on the town council...
Ahmad owned the motorcycle where the bomb was planted, Goltiao said, quoting witnessesâ statements to the police. Kataf is a political rival of Parang Mayor Victor Bataga, who was injured in the blast last Sunday, Goltiao said.
I thought his name was Vicente?
Goltiao said they could not immediately determine if the suspects belonged to a breakaway group of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The military said Wednesday that a faction of the MILF was contracted by one of Batagaâs foes to plant the bomb. That would seem to me to be a pretty strong determination that theyâre MILF, but then Iâm not a Filippino copper ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:22:44 AM ||
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A BREAKAWAY group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the main suspect in the bomb blast in Maguindanao province over the weekend that killed at least 15 people, a spokesman for the military said Wednesday. Whoâd have thought that?
"This faction is against the stand of the mainstream MILF leadership from peace talks," Lucero told INQ7.net in a telephone interview. Lucero said political foes of Parang town Mayor Vicente Bataga, who was among those injured, contracted the rebels to bomb the basketball court last Saturday. Lucero refused to identify the opponents of the mayor, who is seeking reelection in the May 10 polls. Lucero said he hoped the actions of the rebel faction would not affect peace talks between the government and the MILF scheduled this month. However, Lucero said the government was not ruling out the involvement of "terrorist" groups "because of the indiscriminate blasting of this bomb," the Agence France-Presse reported.
"If the bomb had blasted less indiscriminately, we'd be positive it wasn't terrorists..."
The authorities were interviewing some of the surviving victims of the Parang blast who could help the government identify and punish the attackers, he added. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is seeking a political settlement with the 11,900-member MILF before the May 10 presidential election, in which she is seeking six more years in office.
So they're not letting a few corpses jam the blades of the peace processor...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:20:00 AM ||
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I wonder if they are aware of what MILF means in internet terms?
(for those who DON'T know, it's an acronym - Mom I'd Like to F***)
Thailandâs prime minister said Wednesday an eruption of violence in the Muslim-majority south should come as a "wake-up call" for the security forces, as police were targeted in a new attack.
Then wake the hell up and go on the offensive against the turbans. Don't just sit back and wait for them to kill your people.
Thaksin Shinawatra said a spate of attacks against soldiers, police and schools was "regrettable" and that the government "must accept that we underestimated some things".
Yeah. I always find dead people "regrettable," too...
"This incident shows our prolonged weakness in working together and in relations between officials and residents," he said in a speech to a political science institute in Bangkok. "It will be a big wake up call for the Thai security system and we must solve the problem systematically. It is a lesson for us."
Learn from it. Even better, show how quick you are on the uptake...
An audacious attack on a military camp in Narathiwat Sunday left four soldiers dead while 18 schools and two police checkpoints were torched. A day later two policemen were killed in Pattani as they tried to defuse a bomb. In the latest violence Wednesday, two policemen were slightly injured when gunmen opened fire on their station in Yala province. Army chief General Chaisit Shinawatra blamed the attack on the same assailants, who have been linked by Thai officials to interests as varied as Muslim militants, organized crime, bandits and business disputes. "Itâs the same old group of attackers. They were very brazen to carry out the attack. We want them to go on so that we can retaliate against them," he told reporters.
How about if you hunt them down and kill them like dogs so they don't go on? This is the sort of thing governments are supposed to protect their people against, not second-hand smoke.
No arrests have yet been made in connection with the case and the government has fumbled in its attempts to name those responsible. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by the official Malaysian Bernama news agency Wednesday that Thailand had told Malaysia it suspected terrorists were involved.
"Holmes! Brilliant!"
Bernama said Syed Hamid told reporters Thailand "considered the attacks as those of terrorists and not bandits". Syed Hamid held talks with his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai in Malaysia on Tuesday, when he flew in to brief Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the violence. Thaksin however insisted Wednesday that the attackers were not terrorists and said instead that they were Islamic teachers holding dual citizenship in Thailand and Malaysia who had slipped into Malaysia. "No, they were not international terrorists and this had nothing to do with the capture of Hambali," he said.
Ummm... He really isn't quick on the uptake, is he? He's assuming that to be a terrorist you have to belong to al-Qaeda, or at least to JI. He seems to know that the bad guys are "Islamic teachers," but he gags when he tries to say they're terrorists.
Thai officials have repeatedly blamed "bandits" for the violence, but Thaksin on Monday implicated Islamic militants "tied to mujahedin." He later said, however, that business conflicts were probably the root of the trouble.
Yeah. Mosque business.
A separatist movement has rumbled on for decades in the five Muslim majority provinces bordering Malaysia but most analysts believe the groups would be unable to launch such well-coordinated attacks independently.
Most analysts probably haven't made a bomb or two, even experimentally. It doesn't take much.
They have said this weekâs attacks were a marked departure from previous violence in the region and could have been organized crime gangs and Islamic militant groups working together. Top Thai ministers meanwhile met here for a second day to plan a response to the attacks and said they would set up a task force of military, police and civil servants to provide security in the restive area.
Good idea. Form a committee. Make it a blue ribbon panel.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:06:10 AM ||
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Democratic Action Party deputy chairman Karpal Singh will take legal action against Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) if the Islamic party enforces its strict dress code for non-Muslim women workers in Terengganu.
Sue the pants off the bastards!
He said on Tuesday that the code banning these women from wearing tight jeans and short skirts at work contravened the federal Constitution. In his press statement, he made it clear that he would not hesitate to take PAS to court if the party tried to enforce the rule. 'The matter impinges on the rights of non-Muslim women guaranteed under the federal Constitution. The State Legal Adviser should have been consulted,' he said.
Islamists only consult the Koran, and even then they only find what they want to find...
He also challenged the Menteri Besar of Terengganu and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang to prove his claim that non-Muslim religious leaders in the state run by PAS were consulted about the code. He asked Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi to name the leaders who discussed the code with PAS officials. This will allay the fears of non-Muslims in Terengganu, Mr Karpal Singh said, adding that the state's PAS government was willing to defy federal laws. He said: 'Abdul Hadi has no right to dictate morality in open contravention against the Constitution.'
Well, you know, it's a cultural thing. Islamists prefer to rule, rather than govern...
Non-Muslim religious leaders interviewed by the New Straits Times said they were not consulted by the PAS president or any other party officials. State Buddhist Association president Soon Gin Leong said he had no re- collection of being invited to a discussion, dialogue or any forum with the PAS president on the code or any religious matter. 'I am also not aware of any non-Muslim religious leader who was asked to share his views on the matter with Abdul Hadi or any of the State Executive Councillors,' he added.
You'd think he'd remember being invited to something like that...
A member of the Inter-Faith Council in Terengganu, who declined to be named, said Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi could have taken for granted that non-Muslim religious leaders in the state would share his views on how women should be dressed.
Gee. Golly. Do y'think that's what happened? Or maybe it was just the he didn't give a rat's patou what they think.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:45 ||
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the code banning these women from wearing tight jeans and short skirts at work contravened the federal Constitution
Gotta love a constitution that protects the right to wear skimpy clothes.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 8:44 Comments ||
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Article 18, Section 3 gives 'em the right to wiggle their butts...
South Africaâs two prominent Durban Muslims, Moulana Ahmed Suleman Khatani and Moosa Suleman - have been refused entry into the United States, in line with the latest US restrictions placed on incoming foreign nationals. On arrival at New York Airport last week, Khatani and Suleman were finger-printed, photographed, detained and sent straight back to South Africa. They now plan to take steps to recover their costs.
"Get the hell out and don't come back. And take your turban with you!"
#1
Not much in the way of details is there? Did they have a visa?
Note that having a U.S. Visa does not guarantee entry into the United States. The immigration officer at the point of entry (in this case New York) has the final say and can refuse entry (as I recall they dont even have to give a reason).
This is for everyone and has been this way for many years.
#3
Maybe they have been seen hobnobing with jihadis, or have been observed making inflamatory sermons. Obviously they are on someone's s--t list, which is good.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 20:18 Comments ||
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I googled Moosa Suleman, then tried Musa Suleman and found a scam "request to use your bank account letter." Here is the link. Translating Arabic names into english may be a challange, but we may never know how these two chaps got on the s--t list.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 20:27 Comments ||
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At every US Embassy in the world, there is at least one person who scans the local press, to add to the database of persons hostile to America. Nobody gets shit-listed without a valid reason.
"Musa" = "Moses"
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
01/08/2004 22:38 Comments ||
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Sounds kind of like the State department (embassy - consulate) said 'oh - Ok!' and the INS / Homeland Security (New York) said 'Whoa!'.
Lighter Side....
The Material Girl hopes people pay attention to her latest offstage act: endorsing WeaselWesley Clark for president. Madonna, who announced her support for the retired general before Christmas, posted a letter Wednesday on her eponymous Web site urging others to follow her. "I am writing to you because the future I wish for my children is at risk," said the mother of two, who criticized the current White House occupant. "Iâm supporting Wes Clark because in him I see the qualifications, character and vision that we so desperately need." And we all know what a good judge of character Madonna is....
Madonna, who now calls London home, HA! She doesnât even LIVE HERE!
pledges to do all she can to help Clarkâs campaign and includes a Web link for people to contribute to the Democratic candidate. She also will hold fund-raiser at her Los Angeles residence sometime in the future, said Clark spokesman Bill Buck. This isnât the first time Madonna has shown her distaste for the Bush administration. Last spring, during the Iraq war, she withdrew a violent, anti-war video that included a scene in which a grenade is thrown in the direction of a President Bush lookalike. Sounds like a modern day Hanoi Jane... Fred, Delete if you deem it is âoff topicâ. But can we get a âLighter sideâ category (File Under field) for lighter postings?
That's what Short Attention Span Theater is for. But this is politix, so you put it in the right place, regardless of how silly it is...
Norway has closed its embassy for visitors in Egypt on Thursday, fearing terrorist acts. A spokesman for the Norwegian Foreign Ministry declared that Norway had received a warning that the embassy might be attacked by terrorists. The special security regime might be continued until Sunday, the Norwegian diplomat said. Norway is on the list of states feared to be possible targets of Islamic terrorists after one of Al-Qaeda leaders called on Moslem believers last May to stage terrorist acts against the United States, Britain, Australia and Norway. The Norwegian government did not support the U.S. military operation in Iraq. Local experts believe that Norway was included in the list of states threatened by terrorists because Norway had sent its peacekeeping contingent to Afghanistan and helped arrest the leader of the Ansar-al Islam radical group in Amsterdam.
Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper âDe Telegraaf,â that he knows the three sites where Iraqâs WMD are kept. The storage places are:
1. Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels.
2. The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian airforce camp. Vital parts of Iraqâs WMD are stored there.
3. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs.
Najoef writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Husseinâs Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat , Bashar Assadâs cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/08/2004 11:57:16 AM ||
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Aahhh! the ever elusive "better mouse trap".....Weapons of Mouse Destruction" that is
Posted by: Tom ||
01/08/2004 12:46 Comments ||
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ELF
True to the old adage about rising tides, the U.S. recovery appears to be lifting economic boats worldwide. Indeed, stateside success, according to the International Monetary Fund, should spur the planet to enjoy over 4 percent growth in 2004, a rate not seen since before the 2001 recession. Morgan Stanley puts Asia, excluding Japan, at the head of this global charge, with growth forecast around 6 percent this year. But even the anemic euro zone and some struggling South American economies are poised to have happy new years. Argentina, for example, expects 4 percent growth in 2004 as it emerges from the crash that left 1 of every 5 citizens out of work. I had to post this in response to the IMF post above. WE ARE NOT PULLING THE WORLD DOWN, WE ARE LEADING IT!
Posted by: Spot ||
01/08/2004 11:21:35 AM ||
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Not all boats are lifted. Zim Bob and the Juche King are busy emptying RPG rounds into their own hulls.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 11:37 Comments ||
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An Israeli undercover unit killed a Palestinian activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian security and medical sources said. Asaad Salah Khaliliyeh, 32, was shot dead in front of the Jenin municipality by plainclothed Israeli security forces traveling in a civilian vehicle, the sources said.
A kill squad...
The Palestinian was taken to hospital where he was declared dead. Khaliliyeh was also a member of the Palestinian police services. Tap, tap, didnât budge.
The head of the Al-Aqsa group in Jenin, Zaqaria Zubeidi, is also on the list confirmed Khaliliyeh had been killed and promised bloody revenge™. "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades will retaliate for this operation and continue their resistance against soldiers and settlers," he told AFP. "Revenge! Bloody Revenge! Dire Bloody Revenge!"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 11:07:53 AM ||
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I believe being a member of a terrorist organization is a requirement for membership in the PA police.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 12:32 Comments ||
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An Israeli undercover unit killed a Palestinian activist
Intelligence documents shown to a federal jury on Wednesday portray a newspaper publisher in the Chicago area as starved for cash and eager to spy on opponents of Saddam Hussein.
Shoot him. That's what Sammy would have done.
The publisher, Khaled Dumeisi, is accused of spying on critics of the Iraqi government living in the United States and giving the information to the Iraqi intelligence service. "He stated that he owes approximately $15,000 accumulated on account of the newspaper," says one memorandum, part of a file given to an American counterintelligence officer in Baghdad. They found his Mukhabarat file. According to the government, Dumeisi traveled to Iraq to learn the trade of spying, passed on phone records and other sensitive material about Iraqi dissidents, produced news credentials for Iraqi intelligence officers, and alerted his spy handlers to Hussein opponents who phoned in complaints to Dumeisiâs newspaper because of coverage favorable to Husseinâs regime.
Mr. Dumeisi is charged with failing to register as an Iraqi agent, conspiracy not to register, lying to a federal grand jury and lying to an immigration officer. Judge Suzanne Conlon of Federal District Court allowed the Baghdad papers into evidence, saying three pages were identified "as being in the defendantâs own handwriting." Oops! The secret police kept everything he sent them.
He is not charged with espionage, a crime that involves theft of classified American defense secrets but not spying on dissidents. There are no accusations that Mr. Dumeisi was involved in terrorism. Close enough.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/08/2004 10:39:00 AM ||
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Nah, don't shoot him, just make sure the jury knows what Sammy would have done.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 13:38 Comments ||
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The secret police kept everything he sent them.
They're funny that way, aren't they? Every secret police ever in business did the same.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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EFL Jack Kelley, a USA Today correspondent who has repeatedly risked his life in war zones around the world, resigned Tuesday after the paperâs top editors questioned whether some of his stories were fabricated. Kelley, 43, has been under scrutiny since June, when an anonymous letter accused him of falsifying stories. Another USA Today reporter, Mark Memmott, was assigned to try to verify Kelleyâs earlier work, according to sources familiar with the paperâs internal investigation. Seven stories were initially selected for investigation, but only four were actually examined, say sources familiar with the inquiry. This led to a long period in limbo â Kelley has not had a byline since October â as Kelley hired a lawyer and spent December working at home, trying to defend stories filed from Israel, the West Bank, Cuba and the Balkans.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/08/2004 9:19:27 AM ||
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During the Great Depression, Congress created an institution to supply banks with money they could lend for home mortgages. By purchasing banksâ home loans with cash, the Federal National Mortgage Association encouraged banks to make new loans, propping up communities across the country.
Congress spun off the institution as a private company in 1968, and it now goes by its catchy acronym: Fannie Mae. Together with its younger sibling, Freddie Mac, it has helped hold interest rates down and made homeownership possible for millions.
Today, however, Fannie and Freddie benefit from their government connection far more than homeowners do. A December report from the Federal Reserve Board says the two firms provide meager help to home purchasers. Yet they have become hugely profitable from a federal subsidy that the Congressional Budget Office values at more than $10 billion a year. Thatâs equal to the State Departmentâs annual budget.
The report shows the importance of a congressional debate over ending the taxpayer subsidies that have helped enrich Fannie and Freddie executives and shareholders. But the companies have enlisted powerful lobbies to squelch that discussion. Instead, Congress is weighing tighter regulation of the firms, which are exempt from many rules covering financial institutions. Itâs time to undo this unfair subsidy and let the markets take its natural course.
As long as Fannie and Freddie protect their unwarranted subsidies, taxpayers will keep contributing to the companiesâ hefty bottom lines â and remain on the hook to bail out the two giants should they falter.
Neither pays state or local taxes, and each has a $2.25 billionline of credit from Uncle Sam. But their chief benefit is the belief that the government will rush to their aid if they get in trouble. This implicit guarantee lets them borrow at interest rates nearly half a percentage point lower than other big borrowers can. That is key to their profitability.
Yet for all their generosity, taxpayers get:
â¢Small benefits. Fannie and Freddie pass on only a fraction of their savings to home buyers: The average mortgage rate is reduced by less than a tenth of a percentage point, the Fed study estimates. That saves a typical homeowner just $87 a year. By contrast, the two firms had combined profits of $11.8 billion in 2003, according to analystsâ estimates, and paid their executives handsomely. Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines made $11.6 million in 2003, and Freddie Mac offered CEO Leland Brendsel $21 million in stock after forcing him out last year. The open market can fix this and in one hell of a hurry.
â¢Big risks. Both companies use complex accounting methods that are hard to understand and easily mask financial problems. These questionable accounting practices pose grave risks for taxpayers, who would be expected to finance a bailout if either firm faced collapse. Together they carry debts totaling $1.5 trillion and have guaranteed another $2 trillion in loans. That nearly equals the debt of the federal government. Great balancing act as long as they stay in balance, but whoâs to tell they are in balance? Not these two goofs.
Officials at Fannie and Freddie argue that the average homeowner gets about three times as much benefit as the Fed study estimates and that the firms have made it possible for millions of low-income families to own their own homes. Even if the study is stingy with praise, the game is up. It is time to rein these two in, once and for all.
But the Fedâs findings confirm previous government studies that show the public gets a bad return on its investment in Fannie and Freddie. Taxpayers deserve an open debate over whether their support is justified. Todayâs debate: Home financing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac benefit more than taxpayers do. These two institutions have done a tremendous job of providing low cost financing to first time/low income home buyers, but the fact is that private lenders can do much, much better, but the way the rules are, that isnât going to happen. Chucking government subsidies/rules to me seems to be a fair way to make the housing market even better. This is one area that is too important to ignore, and too important to do things the way they have been.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/08/2004 8:39:56 AM ||
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Peshawar...but I enjoy the article. I think most Americans would be very surprised to see the extent to which the big financial institutions are leveraged, and just how large the value of the derivatives portfolios they use($30 trillion) to hedge their risk. The failure of just one large counterparty (JPM, for instance) could cause a financial meltdown that makes LTCM look like a stroll through the park. No set of companies represents the systemic risk better than FNM and Freddie.
EFL, another dupe from day before yesterday...
Federal spending was the topic and Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich came prepared with a pie chart to argue his point about a bloated Pentagon budget...The debate was broadcast only on National Public Radio... wasnât there something like this on WKRP in Cinncinati - I think they took the guy away to a ârestâ home
As Kucinich challenged Democratic front-runner Howard Dean for refusing to acknowledge that the Pentagon budget needs to be cut, debate moderator Neal Conan of NPR interrupted. "Congressman Kucinich is holding up a pie chart, which is not truly effective on radio," Conan told his listeners. Kucinich was not deterred. "Well, itâs effective if Howard can see it," he replied. Itâs hard to stand out in the company Dennis keeps but, by golly heâs doing it. If Dennis werenât actually running for President, he would be one of the people I would keep away from other candidates
Posted by: mhw ||
01/08/2004 8:03:31 AM ||
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Cold bastards. Dennis will fund research into Talking Pie Charts for the Blind and Screaming Pie Charts for the Hard-of-Hearing. Neither will help me off course..... I need Screaming Braille Pie Charts... and you should be glad to help me.
Anyone tired of doom & gloom yet? EFL
In a report on U.S. budget outlook, IMF researchers described the state of government finances as "perilous" in the long run and urged Congress and the White House to take steps to quickly rein in the deficits. Although federal tax cuts and spending increases since 2001 bolstered the global economy in the short run, the report said "large U.S. fiscal deficits also pose significant risks for the rest of the world." The sky is falling, The sky is falling!!
Bush inherited an economy that was in recession and a stock market that crashed, which was followed by the 9-11 attacks and the War on Terror, including the invasion and occupation of two countries. Somehow, I'd expect that to show up in the economic picture...
The White House has said it expects the budget deficit to expand to a record $ 475 billion in fiscal 2004, exceeding 4% of the gross domestic product. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Wednesday described that level as "entirely manageable," and said the Bush administration expects the deficit to shrink to 2% of GDP within five years. Shouldnât we petition Brussels for an exemption to that rule?
But the IMF researchers said that wonât be enough to address the governmentâs long-term fiscal problems - including financing the Social Security and Medicare programs over the next 75 years. In their report, they said the government faces a $47 trillion shortfall in its ability to pay for those and all other long-term obligations. Closing that gap would require European style socialism "an immediate and permanent" federal tax increase of 60% or a 50% cut in Social Security and Medicare benefits.
... preferably the former, which would be guaranteed to sink the economy."
Congress and the White House can avert those dangers by acting immediately to balance the budgets, the researchers estimated. Allowing the recent tax cuts to expire by 2013 would reduce the budget shortfall by nearly half. The researchers also said Congress should consider a tax on energy consumption, arguing that it would "help meet the administrationâs environmental objectives while also providing substantial support for fiscal consolidation." Such tax increases, they calculated, would have a minimal effect on U.S. economic growth. Well then the opposite also must be true, no tax increases would have a minimum deletereous effect on US economic growth. The intenationalist movement wonât be happy until we are as miserable as everyone else
Especially in the energy department. The "tax on energy consumption" equates to a gasoline or petroleum products tax, which increases transportation costs on everything. It's like imposing an additional inflation layer on the economy — see 1973 oil embargo, effects thereof. The usual suspects keep coming back to this one again and again. And every time the succeed in imposing a tax on gas, diesel fuel, and/or home heating oil, they wait 12 months and raise the same cry all over again. The U.S. depends on its transportation industry. And Americans don't live in small towns, where they can walk to work, or in cities, where they can take the bus. They live in 'burbs, where a car is needed just to get to the grocery store, not to mention work, the baby sitter, or the bowling alley.
Posted by: JerseyMike ||
01/08/2004 7:21:35 AM ||
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Although federal tax cuts and spending increases since 2001 bolstered the global economy in the short run, the report said "large U.S. fiscal deficits also pose significant risks for the rest of the world.
I don't see the 'rest of the world' helping us to defeat terrorism and communism, so for my money the 'rest of the world' can go fuck themselves.
Allowing the recent tax cuts to expire by 2013 would reduce the budget shortfall by nearly half.
I got a better idea: Why not let's just bill the IMF for the deficit? We're down for that if they are.
#2
Which branch of the US government does the IMF fall under?
None? Oh. Never mind.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 8:04 Comments ||
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a tax on energy consumption hmmmm?
Sounds like a back-door Kyoto tariff
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2004 9:45 Comments ||
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Although federal tax cuts and spending increases since 2001 bolstered the global economy in the short run
I didn't notice any "bolstering". Also, spending increases DID occur in 2001, but cuts didn't occur until late 2002/early 2003.
"Supply side economics". "Laffer curve". The lefties do not hear the same words we hear when these are uttered. I think they hear static, or Big Brother's voice.
#5
The researchers also said Congress should consider a tax on energy consumption, arguing that it would "help meet the administrationâs environmental objectives while also providing substantial support for fiscal consolidation."
Why should these people give a rat's ass about how something is achieved? It's always easy for someone to call for more taxes when they don't have to answer to the voters. Just state the facts, state the objectives, and those tasked with doing the job will decide with public input on how it is to be done.
On a side note, why should the IMF give a damn about "environmental objectives"? WTF do they care about such things?
#9
Typical IMF wank job. Notice that in this article (and others where IMF intervention was 'requested') that they have a very short playbook to fix whatever ails an economy: 1) Raise taxes and / or 2) devalue the local currency.
It NEVER occurs (more likely ignored) to the IMF that cutting taxes to spur growth or reduce spending to eliminate deficits is a solution, because they're mostly statists.
#10
The eurotrash is just freaking out because of the dollar. It means the U.S. debt that they're holding is becoming worth less (which is entirely different than 'worthless'). That is, unless they want to spend that $$$ in America rather than, say, monaco. I hate to give too much credit, but a war is a war, and a fiscal stick is usually better than a high-explosive one. The administration is sharing the pain one way or another.
#11
Want to see the idiots squirm? Tell the IMF that, due to their complaints, we've re-examined our budget priorities, and decided that we really do need to do some things to reduce the deficit. The first thing we'll do is to end all financial support for the IMF (Hopefully we could get the government to pull its collective head out long enough to end all support to the UN and all its dozens of redundant and useless "agencies"). We'd probably be able to record the response from Mars.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2004 12:36 Comments ||
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An old budget tactic in the govt is to fully fund the 'wannas' and leave critical programs (Social Security) underfunded. IMF, UN, etc. are good targets, but there are many, many others out there. Let's put the rest of the government under the kind of microscope that DOD is under. NOT that DOD is perfect by any means, but they are more efficient than, say, HUD.
#13
First of all it would be a good thing to avoid the word "eurotrash". If Europeans used the word "ameritrash" I doubt you would appreciate that too much.
The IMF is hardly a European institution, it resides in D.C. and has traditionally followed U.S. friendly policies. We don't have to admire it as the fountain of wisdom but if the IMF starts to be concerned with the direction the U.S. economy is heading to, it should not be brushed aside in a heartbeat. If you read the whole report it is nowhere that aggressive as the Yahoo summary posted here may make you believe.
A weak dollar may benefit the U.S. economy at the moment and hurt Europe's recovery (at this level still manageable), but if the slide continues the U.S. will be hit harder. For the first time there is another world currency that may become increasingly popular as a reserve currency. Don't let international confidence in the dollar sink too low. It might not recover easily and a "hard landing" of the dollar will mean interest hikes in the U.S., shifting of reserves into the Euro, oil being traded in Euro (Russia is already thinking about it). The idea of letting the world pay for the U.S. deficit only works if the world maintains a general confidence in the U.S. currency. If profits from investments in U.S. stocks and bonds are eaten up by currency slides, Asian investors might get tired re-investing their dollars and they will rather convert them into Euros and invest in Europe. Stock markets here have been bullish as well in 2003.
If that happens, we're in for major turmoils. Both the U.S. and export oriented Europe can not want this. So if Bush gets reelected he should return to a strong(er) dollar policy.
Higher energy consumption taxes need not necessarily be bad as they tend to promote cars that consume less. I have yet to understand what you need SUVs for on Californian freeways. Taxing gas guzzlers higher and energy saving vehicles lower doesn't hurt the traditional American mobility needs one bit.
#14
I have yet to understand what you need SUVs for on Californian freeways. Taxing gas guzzlers higher and energy saving vehicles lower doesn't hurt the traditional American mobility needs one bit.
Love ya TGA but you don't get it (yet). I'd don't care for SUVs myself. I prefer something long, low, white, open with major fins. Sort of like the Caddy Paul Newman drove in HUD. LOL.
#18
Yo TGA, the VW Golf is just too damn small. So is the Jetta. Beamers and Benzies are just too damn expensive. Japanese cars suck. Chrysler...nahh. That leaves the big ol' Lincoln Navigator, yeahhh!!!
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/08/2004 19:01 Comments ||
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I have yet to understand what you need SUVs for on Californian freeways.
We drive a lot more miles than people in other countries do, and are therefore much more likely to get involved in accidents. When we do, it is nice to be sitting in an SUV instead of those eggshells they call sedans.
#21
I have a bad back, and have a hard time getting in and out of small cars. It hurts! I drive a Caravan, neither a sedan nor an SUV. As Zheng Fei says, we drive a lot of miles. I can take off early in the morning from my house, and be in Pagosa Springs by noon - 160 miles. IF I left my house in Wiesbaden at 7:30 and drove 160 miles, I'd be in someone else's country! Depending on the direction and the amount of Autobahn construction I hit, I might still be there by noon. It's 1200 miles - 1800Km from my house to my brother's, and I've only driven in three states. Of course, one of those is Texas...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2004 20:26 Comments ||
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I have yet to understand what you need SUVs for on Californian freeways.
Because we have something here called choice. If someone needs or wants a large vehicle, then if they can afford it and its upkeep, they buy it. If they want a smaller vehicle, that's available too. It's all up to the individual.
Taxing gas guzzlers higher and energy saving vehicles lower doesn't hurt the traditional American mobility needs one bit.
Why is it necessary for government to force people to do something they may not want to do on their own?
EFL Abby Jackson, wife of Spc. Robert "B.J." Jackson, 22, who lost his legs in an explosion last August while serving with the Iowa Army National Guard in Iraq, says her husband was denied access to an upscale nightclub in Clive on Friday night because his shoes werenât fancy enough. "Both of us told (an employee) that those were the only shoes he can wear with his prosthetic legs," Abby Jackson said Saturday. "I even told them he lost them in Iraq." The night out with friends was one of the coupleâs first since Jackson began learning to walk again in early November. "I was upset," Jackson said Saturday from an airport on his way back to San Antonio where heâs receiving medical treatment. "We all thought they were kidding," said Abby Jackson. "He had his cane with him and everything. I donât even think he knew how to react to it. . . . He was really upset." Iâm speechless.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/08/2004 6:26:13 AM ||
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Mr.&Mrs.Jackson please sue the s*&t out of these as^%$les.
#2
Why give lawyers a chance to further pull this country into the sewers with them? The name of the club is enough. Reasonable folks will avoid this place, like a mad cow butcher block.
The U.S. - concerned that terrorists might attempt to detonate a "dirty bomb" during the holidays - sent nuclear scientists to five major cities to search for the radiological devices, the Washington Post reports. The newspaper said the casually dressed scientists concealed detection equipment in golf bags and briefcases while they looked for evidence of the bombs in New York, Washington, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Iâm sure that worked well in Watts.
"Hey man, seen my golf ball âround here?"
"No dude. Stick âem up."
Last November, it was announced that government investigators had documented 1,300 cases of lost, stolen or abandoned radioactive material inside the U.S. over the past five years. The investigators concluded there was a significant risk that terrorists could cobble enough together for a dirty bomb. The Post said the possible use of such a weapon by terrorists has been a major concern of U.S. officials. The Post, always on top of things.
On Dec. 19, the day the terror threat level was raised to orange, or "high," the Homeland Security Department sent out hundreds of radiation monitors to police in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Detroit. Department of Energy radiation experts were also dispatched to five cities to covertly look for evidence of a "dirty bomb." Beginning on Dec. 22, the teams of scientists took measurements in the cities 24 hours a day. See anyone on the street in Baltimore carrying a golf bag around, Fred?
Only that guy who hangs around MLK and Howard streets. But he keeps his stash in it...
The only "spike" occurred in Las Vegas on Dec. 29. The Post said five tense hours followed, until investigators determined that a cigar-size radium pellet used to treat cancer was in the possession of a homeless man who did know what he had. "Can I trade this tâing for a bottle of Olâ Skullpopper?"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 1:19:21 AM ||
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I don't get the dirty bomb gig. If you take a 55 gallon drum of mildly radiactive medical waste and blow it all over a five mile square area, won't it be every bit as dangerous as the glowing hands on your wristwatch? I may just be stupid.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 12:01 Comments ||
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arn't nuclear artillary shells a more dangerous problem then a dirty bomb?they had alot in the Soviet artillary didn't they?
#6
SH -- you're right, but most people don't know that. The general public has been trained to fear anything "radioactive", and it's their reaction that would make a dirty bomb so devastating.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 12:29 Comments ||
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The government should just issue dosimeter tags in the high potential areas, and let folks just figure out whether exposure is a concern.
Posted by: john ||
01/08/2004 14:10 Comments ||
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John, are you sure the American public is ready for dosimeters? I question our collective intelligence every time I watch a stewardesse explain how to lock and unlock a seat belt - or accidently channel surf through MTV.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2004 14:50 Comments ||
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ANY action by the government that doesn't cost billions and take years will be viewed by many as a cover-up. Seriously, I don't think the public can be re-educated on the reality of radiation, at least not in a timespan shorter than generations.
(Don't believe me? Think about Erin Brokovich and the load of crap she was able to peddle to a jury.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/08/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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The government should just issue dosimeter tags
GeeBuss... are you serious? LOL. Perhaps we can build in a Carb Counter to make it easier to tolerate. Turn that puppy purple after 30 grams o'fat/day.
#11
A dosimeter will be real useful after exposure to radiation. "Oh, look here! You have received a toxic level of radiation! Where ya been these last 30 days?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 18:08 Comments ||
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Itâs Kavkaz, you know the drill ...
Shariah news agency reported referring to an anonymous source at the Ingushetian department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) that the Command of Islamic Brigade of Shaheeds (martyrs) âRiyadus Salihiinâ (means âGardens for the Righteousâ) has issued an ultimatum demanding large sums of money from the heads of many invadersâ and puppet power structures, as well as from various invadersâ departments of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and ministries of the Republic of Ingushetia. This has been reported by the Voice of Jihad newspaper (issue No. 46), which is published underground on the occupied territories of Ichkeria.
That's unsual. Banditti normally don't publicly admit to shakedowns...
«There is nothing secret about it, because the entire Chechnya and Ingushetia is talking about it. The secret services know perfectly well that many of these leaders have been paying ransoms in the hope that they wonât be touched", the paper says, quoting an anonymous source. An unnamed informant of the newspaper from the FSB even made a joke about it. «Most likely, the fact of the matter is that after Basayevâs accounts were frozen in the US, his team was desperate for funds, and Basayevâs organization decided to impose a tax on our chiefs».
"Is very fonny joke in Russian, heh heh!"
The newspaper says that, in Ingushetia alone a whole number of leaders in the republic are paying their ransoms. Those who refuse face serious problems, including threats on their lives. For example, one of the chiefs of an Ingushetian police precincts, from whom 10,000 US dollars were demanded, was bombed twice. Then the bombings stopped. According to the newspaper, the defiant chief forked out the required amount. And now he can move around the republic easily and virtually with no bodyguards.
The old "life insurance" racket...
There was another well-known case in Ingushetia when the chief of the so-called Department 6 (Internal Affairs Department) of the Ingushetian Police was obliged to pay a sum of $100,000 dollars. To make it more convincing his house was blown up when no one was inside. Then the harassment ceased. A rumor spread all across Ingushetia that local communities (âJamaatsâ) had apparently interceded for him. However, it later transpired that the bullying stopped because he had paid the required amount.
I wonder where he skimmed raised it?
Voice of Jihad reported that some time ago Brigade of Shaheeds âRiyadus Salihiinâ had pressurized the Ingushetian department of the FSB into paying a cash sum of $ 300,000 dollars. However, the chief of the FSB department rejected the demand to pay compensation for his criminal activities, after which the Mujahideen started really haunting him down. In this regard the newspaper also reminds that after what happened in Magas (explosion at FSB headquarters), a representative of Riyadus Salihiin issued a statement which pointed out that the landmines, which were discovered last summer on the route of movement of Ingushetian (pro-Moscow) President Murat Zyazikov (also a KGB/FSB operative), had in fact been meant for the chief of the Ingushetian FSB department, and that the explosion near the FSB building in Magas was a âwarningâ. The fact that the landmines had not been meant for Zyazikov was confirmed later in the statement by the Commander of Brigade of Shaheeds (martyrs), Abdallah Shamil [Basayev], who pointed out that the explosive device was not even ready for use, since the Brigadeâs special operations department had been told that the FSB chief of the Republic of Ichkeria had gone on leave.
I'm sure this is all very inspiring, maybe even hilarious, in Chechen. Or Arabic...
In his interview to Shariah news agency, Commander Abdallah Shamil said the following: «These mines had been set up by the Mujahideen from a Special Task Force Unit of the âRiyadus Salihiinâ Brigade or Shaheeds. They were meant for the head of the FSB chief of Ingushetia, who lived next door to the place to where the mines were planted. He went on leave and we placed these mines there for future use, but they were not ready for use and were not meant for Zyazikov, although he deserves it, because, by allowing the atrocities which are happening in Ingushetia today, he thus becomes a participant in the genocide against the Chechen people and is guilty of aggravating the situation in the Republic of Ingushetia». An anonymous source from the Voice of Jihad newspaper told that, according to the information available, ransoms are being paid to the Mujahideen by the leaders of the highest echelons of power in Ingushetia and by the invadersâ departments of Chechnya, as well as by a number of high-ranking chiefs of the so-called power structures of the Republic of Ingushetia and puppet structures of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI).
To me, it paints a picture of one corrupt system in juxtaposition with another corrupt system.
«Our command have told us that there is evidence that at one of its recent meetings the command of the militants adopted a decision to change strategy and instead of destroying military equipment they would carry out blasts against those who refuse to pay», the newspaper was told by a source from the FSB department in Ingushetia.
In other words, return to pure banditry...
The source did not say whether the $300,000 demanded from the Ingushetian FSB chief and sums from other Ingushetian structures were a one-off payment or the Riyadus Salihiin Brigade was demanding regular payments. The newspaper says that within the next few days the editors are going to ask for an explanation on this question from the Commander of the Brigade of Shaheeds Riyadus Salihiin, Abdallah Shamil. Shariah news agency in turn reported that on 5 December in the office of Ingushetian FSB chief in Magas two rockets exploded one after the other. The rockets were launched from a âBassoonâ rocket launcher (Russian name âFagotâ, which actually means âBassoonâ) from the direction of the village of Ali-Yurt. It occurred three minutes after the FSB chief had left his office. The agency points out that the Riyadus Salihiin report about the places of stay and movements of the Ingushetian FSB chief show that there has been a leak of information at a fairly high level in the Ingushetian FSB department.
Kind of like in Perv's office in Pakland...
The agency reports that so far it is not clear whether the Mujahideen intended to physically remove the FSB chief, or these two shots were just another warning for him. But after this episode the Ingushetian FSB department moved down to the basement. But on the upper floors there is now urgent reconstruction work going on in order to keep the hostages and prisoners-of-war there, who are now being moved out of the basements.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:32:55 AM ||
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FIGHTING persisted in Chechnya today, with an official in the Moscow-backed government saying eight Russian servicemen and at least two rebels were killed over the previous 24 hours. Four of the servicemen were killed and five were wounded in rebel attacks on Russian positions. There were 16 attacks in the past day. An attack on a military convoy in southern Chechnyaâs Shali district killed two of the servicemen, while a clash in another southern area left one serviceman and two rebels dead. One Russian paratrooper was killed and four wounded when their armoured vehicle hit a mine. Russian forces targeted suspected rebel positions in several regions with artillery, as they do almost every day, and at least 120 people suspected by Russian authorities or the Chechen government of rebel activity were detained.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:14:36 AM ||
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"Oh, why can't everybody just be nice?"
The European Union expressed Wednesday serious concern about the plight of thousands of people killed or made homeless by a conflict between the Sudanese government and rebels in the Darfur region. In a statement issued by its Irish presidency, the EU called on Khartoum and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement to respect a ceasefire signed on September 3, which both sides are accused of violating, and to return to talks. "The EU urges the parties to deploy the maximum effort to ensure the full respect for human rights and the protection of the civilian population," the statement added. "The EU urges the parties to ensure full and unimpeded access by relevant United Nations bodies and agencies and other humanitarian actors," it said. The Sudanese government said Wednesday its troops were trying to secure the delivery of thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid to Darfur.
I wonder if the EU and the UN have given any thought to declaring Sudan an outlaw state? Maybe urging members to withdraw diplomatic recognition, cutting aid, imposing sanctions, and beating up their ambassadors? Just a thought...
The Darfur rebellion, launched in February to protest against economic neglect of the semi-desert region, left some 3,000 dead last year, according to UN estimates. Another 600,000 have been displaced by the conflict out of a total population of one million, according to UN special envoy Tom Vraalsen, who was heading to neighbouring Chad Wednesday to enlist support for a new ceasefire.
Hmmm... Yasss. That should work much better than declaring Omar's regime outlaw...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:10:16 AM ||
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A "new" ceasefire? Doesn't one of them have to work in the first place before you have a new one?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 1:04 Comments ||
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Eritrea has again denied arming Sudanese rebels in the Darfur region, describing Khartoumâs allegations as baseless. On Monday, Sudanâs Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council claiming Khartoum had evidence that Asmara was supporting anti-government rebels in the western Darfur region. "These allegations are baseless and Sudan knows they are baseless," Eritreaâs acting Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed told IRIN. "We are very surprised to hear these kinds of allegations." He said such accusations were Sudanâs "habitual way" of "finding scapegoats for its failures". "They should find their own cure instead of blaming others," Ali Abdu added.
But that's not the Islamist way, is it?
Relations between Eritrea and Sudan are tense, with each accusing the other of supporting its rebels. The common border is currently closed. Ali Abdu said Eritrea supported the Sudan peace process and would "continue to play a constructive role in finding a solution to the Sudanese problem".
"So far the only solution we can so is for Mr. Dictator to pack it up and get out of Dodge. But it's their country, not ours..."
"A comprehensive political solution is a good factor for stability in the region," he pointed out.
Omar's departure would be better, though...
Sudanâs ongoing peace process with the main rebel group, the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Army (SPLA), has been yielding fruit, with both sides due to sign an agreement on Wednesday on splitting the swagdivvying up the boodle sharing the countryâs wealth. But violence is continuing in the strife-torn Darfur region where clashes between other rebel groups and Arab snuffies militias have killed thousands of civilians, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees. According to Sudanese television, the Sudanese government has vowed to crush the Darfur rebellion which it views as a security threat.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/08/2004 12:08:29 AM ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to the United States that he will help establish an interim Palestinian state in 2004 regardless of whether the Palestinian Authority ends the more than three-year-old war with the Jewish state and eliminates insurgency groups.
But does an interim Paleostinian state have to include the Paleostinian Authority?
Israeli officials said Sharon relayed such a commitment to President George Bush in late 2003. Sharon, the officials said, agreed to a U.S. demand that the so-called roadkill roadmap for a Palestinian state be implemented over the next year without the fulfillment of a Palestinian commitment to destroy the infrastructure of such insurgency groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-sponsored Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Under the Sharon commitment, officials said, Israel would dismantle outposts established by Jewish settlers in the West Bank over nearly the last three years. This would be followed by an Israeli military withdrawal from much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during 2004 to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state with interim borders. "The Americans said clearly that within the first phase of the roadmap, the sides were to fulfill their commitments in parallel, with our obligations not dependent on whether the PA fulfilled its obligations," Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said. "So we have to do this in order to fulfill our commitment to the Americans."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:33 ||
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This seems so wrong on the surface. But I'm beginning to suspect a back-room deal in which Israel does all it can to not give the Arab states cause for greivance in exchange for continued US action to make (keep?) the mid-east free of Islamic nukes. Translation: Stay cool, and Syria is next. And if ya gotta bomb the Iranian reactor, Uncle Sam won't be too upset.
#2
such insurgency groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-sponsored Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
With any luck at all, the IDF will kill/cashier the heads of all these groups in the coming months, so they will not be a factor no matter how this plan turns out, as it should have been from the beginning.
God Bless General Sharon. This man leaned in the strike zone and took one for the team over the Sabra-Shatilla incident in 1982, and yet may well wind up being the guy who brings real peace to the fertile crescent once and for all.
#3
"The Americans said clearly that within the first phase of the roadmap, the sides were to fulfill their commitments in parallel, with our obligations not dependent on whether the PA fulfilled its obligations," Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said. "So we have to do this in order to fulfill our commitment to the Americans."
And in the meantime, it's business as usual for the Palestinians, who haven't done diddly squat.
#6
The Paleostinians will have a clearly defined border and will be separated from Israel by a fence. Contacts between Israel and Paleostine are too expensive in terms of the human cost to the Israelis, so Paleostine will be just a big ghetto. If the Saudis and the EU want to throw money down a rathole, then that's their perogative. Israel and the world will move on and eventually prosper as the ME reforms. Maybe the Paleos will some day get a clue and realize that they are just being used as pawns in the Hate-Israel-game. Don't hold your breath. The smart ones left already.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 16:21 Comments ||
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Isn't there some common-law/wink&nod thing we can work out with the Families? Give the families the West Bank as a free vice, no shooting zone... no hassles. It would solve all manner of problems.
The U.S. Defense Department is said to be mulling a proposal to expand special operations forces and send them to destroy insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border. U.S. defense sources said the proposal is being examined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They said the plan calls for a multi-pronged attack on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia. "The global war on terror is continuing, and it will for the foreseeable future," Rumsfeld, who did not cite future U.S. counter-insurgency targets, said on Tuesday. "As we prosecute the war, we'll need to continue to strengthen, improve and transform our forces; modernize and restructure programs and commands." The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Wednesday that the proposal submitted to Rumsfeld was the result of the secretary's decision to expand the U.S. war against Al Qaida and its allies. The Saudi-owned newspaper quoted U.S. sources as saying the first step being mulled by Rumsfeld is for a U.S. military attack on Al Qaida strongholds in Somalia as early as this month.
That sounds good to me. And then maybe we can clean out Ein el-Hellhole next month. But my guess is that this "leak" is actually a minor feint in the diplowar...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:29 ||
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...That trickling noise you hear is Boy Assad wetting himself. Wonder if we'll see some kind of 'cooperation' in the next couple days.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/08/2004 0:15 Comments ||
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Cleaning out Ein el-Hellhole with fuel air explosives would be cheaper, Fred, though the looney left considers them to be a WMD.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2004 1:01 Comments ||
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I'm sort of ambivelant about this 'proposal'. Part of me says I can't believe some idiot general is telegraphing our moves with this leak and endangering troops. The other part of me says we're probably already doing spooky things in syria and lebanon, and this balloon is just to provide some cover for the ops.
#4
the plan calls for a multi-pronged attack on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon
As he quickly checks the map. From the mediterranean = one direction - tick!
From Iraq = the other direction - tick!
He notes main road from Iraq to Lebanon goes through Dasmascus - tick!
Yep, makes sense!
#8
Just another prybar being inserted against the AoE. It is all calculated to keep the pressure on Baby Assad, especially after G'Daffy seems to be caving. We can't cut these guys any slack, esp. while the momentum on our side is building well. I smell geometric progress here if we keep it up. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/08/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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The United Nations said on Wednesday that it was reassessing the way it would conduct its planned disarmament programme in Liberia, following a false start in December. The acting head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Souren Seraydarian, told reporters that this time the UN peacekeeping force was determined to conduct the disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation of an estimated 40,000 former combatants in a more controlled and organised manner in close cooperation with Liberia's three warring parties. "We are working together with all the parties concerned as well as the government in assessing the outcome of the disarmament so far achieved and the ways to improve the security and safety during the next phase of the disarmament". Seraydarian said. He refused to say whether UNMIL would stick to its previously announced target date of 20 January for resuming the disarmament process, saying only that it would begin "once we have completed our assessment."
"That could take years, y'know?"
UNMIL started to disarm fighters loyal to former president Charles Taylor at a barracks near Monrovia on 7 December, but was forced to abandon the exercise 10 days later after former combatants rioted in the city to demand cash for handing in their guns. At least nine people were killed during three days of disorder and looting. UNMIL subsequently agreed to pay former fighters a $75 advance on their $300 rehabilitation allowance as they surrendered their weapons, but the demobilisation camp then found it overwhelmed by people rushing to hand in guns and claim the cash.
I think I'll go lie down now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 23:12 ||
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--He refused to say whether UNMIL would stick to its previously announced target date of 20 January for resuming the disarmament process, saying only that it would begin "once we have completed our assessment."
"That could take years, y'know?"--
#2
Sooo...just to make sure I get this straight...average price of an AK-47 down there is what? $50-150 bucks? Price their giving for turning in some guns...300 bucks? Ahem does anyone else see money making opportunities here? :P The UN must use fairy tale mathematics.
Posted by: Val ||
01/08/2004 3:30 Comments ||
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said the same thing when this was first announced,Val.
#5
The United Nations said on Wednesday that it was reassessing the way it would conduct its planned disarmament programme in Liberia, following a false start in December.
I have a better idea: reassess the need for the U.N.'s continued existence.
A senior Libyan official denied yesterday reports out of Israel that high-level, behind the scenes talks had recently been held over the prospect of forging diplomatic ties.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened..."
âLibyan authorities have looked into these reports and found nothing to them,â Deputy Foreign Minister Hassuna Shawsh told the state news agency JANA. Diplomatic sources in Israel said yesterday a senior aide to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom held talks late last month with a senior Libyan official about the prospect of forging diplomatic ties. Shalomâs chief political advisor, Ron Prosor, was said to have met the unnamed Libyan Foreign Ministry official in secret talks in Paris. In response, Shawsh said, âwhoever is circulating these reports should provide proof by stating the date and place of these meetings, as well as the people involved. âInternational relations are not built on rumors and intrigues.â
Sure they are. That's what diplomats do for a living...
Instead, he said, they are âbased on clarity and mutual confidence.â Shawsh added that âthose who are spreading these rumors believe they are in the process of serving their interests but, quite the contrary, these rumors are detrimental to them.â The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Wednesday the government was pursuing efforts to establish diplomatic relations with Libya and other Arab countries, without confirming the meeting in Paris. âWe have nothing to say concerning such a meeting,â spokesman David Saranga said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/08/2004 22:55 ||
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Then..., ah..., er...what is this story all about?
Money quote: "Israeli legislators who met with Moammar Khadafy's son said yesterday they believe the Libyan leader is headed toward full relations with the Jewish state."
In a battle of trust between Libyan diplomats (or for that matter all diplomats) and the Israelis, my money is on the Israelis.
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.
THIS appears to be the moment Saddam Hussein was dragged from his hole and exposed to the world â but it is a snapshot the US military did not want the world to see. The photograph, apparently taken in the seconds after Saddamâs capture near Tikrit last month, appeared for the first time yesterday on a military-related website. The image shows a US soldier posing for the camera as he pins the bearded dictatorâs body and face to the dirt. A clearly-distressed Saddam lies on his stomach as members of the US 
