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21 Killed, 35 Injured in Falluja Gunbattle
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Criminal Not Happy with Youth Prison
A 21-year-old recently released ward from the California Youth Authority spoke to KCRA 3’s Mike TeSelle Friday. He and his mother wanted their identities withheld for fear of retaliation. "I don’t want any other young man to go through what I had to. It’s terrible. My whole time there was hell," the 21-year-old said.
(Gee Kids prison was NOT a Country Club?)
"They actually told him, ’The only thing worse than you is a cold-blooded murderer,’" said the 21-year-old’s mother. Four years ago, when he was 17, he was caught kissing and touching a 13-year-old girl. Because of a previous unrelated misdemeanor conviction, the teenager agreed to plead guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct.
(Anyone believe that story? [crickets])
He was sentenced to three years in the California Youth Authority, including Ione’s Preston Youth Facility. The 21-year-old characterized his time in the Youth Authority as "terrible."
(Oh My)
"It was just a place where they looked at you as scum," the former ward said.
(Because maybe young man you ARE SCUM?)
He talked of how staff members immediately labeled him a sex offender, and how they called him names for three years.
(Kissing and fondling a young defenseless girl makes you by definition a sex offender!)
The former ward also said ward-on-ward violence was not only prevalent in the CYA, but that Youth Authority staff often intentionally set it up. "Say a staff member doesn’t like you, and he has another ward under his wing, he’ll bring him in food or weed or cigarettes," the 21-year-old said. "Yes, (he) brings drugs in to wards, and wards will repay him by fighting with another ward and beating somebody up."
(Everything the left wing nuts here want to hear)
The former ward said the drugs included prescription medication, marijuana and crack cocaine. The 21-year-old said the CYA barely resembles what it was set up to be. The Youth Authority was established to rehabilitate and educate youthful offenders. But he said wards are, instead, subjected to constant verbal abuse from staff and emotional torment from the punishment of special lockup, which removes the wards from the CYA population and puts them in a cell, where -- just last month -- two Preston Youth Facility wards committed suicide. "All you know, right now, in that room is darkness, cold, walls covered in blood or feces, urine all over the floor, gang writings on the walls, people yelling out doors, telling them they’re going to get stabbed. So, really, it’s a huge risk to be in lockup," the former ward said. The former ward said being released from the CYA was a pretty hard thing because he still feels that the CYA system has embedded some sort of criminal attitude. "I shouldn’t have to know what these lifetime criminals are going through every day. But they taught me that. CYA taught me how to be a convict," said the 21-year-old.
I am sure that being in Youth Lockup is not a picnic, but it supposed to be hard. You don’t go to CYA on the first offense or even the third. You have to show a pattern of behavior that is a danger to society or yourself. If you think that this young man was just stealing a kiss from a girlfriend then you are VERY naïve. Gee they called him names? I bet they made him go to school everyday (oh the agony). Most of these kiddy criminals aren’t used to authority and when they get some they whine like babies. Do I think they set up some youths for beating to show then a lesson? Possibly. Romeo’s story here sounds fishy to me. You don’t go to jail for four years for some heaving petting and he stories sound like some Hollywood made for TV movie. I am willing to bet you hear from him again, like on the police blotter or the obits.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 02/14/2004 6:27:41 PM || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Note to kid, now "grown up" at 21:
"Life is hard. It's a lot harder if you're stupid."

Q.E.D.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 19:43 Comments || Top||


Geek Revenge - Techniques for Dealing With Registration Sites
from USS Clueless (http://denbeste.nu/)

This isn’t a ’news’ story. At the surface, it isn’t about the WoT, either. But, if one is interested in accessing the registration sites (and WaPo has now gone this route with all of its content) in order to read WoT news stories, well, one might just find it of interest.

Ubergeek den Beste pfools the pfools at WaPo - apply the same logic he demonstrates to other Reg sites and see what happens. Not recommended for Luddites or Donks - it requires thought, understanding, and the ability to read and comprehend complete sentences, etc. No warantee is made and, as with all tools, use at your own risk. Your results may vary. Etc. Etc.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 2:49:52 PM || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Fatwa Against Valentine’s Day
Saudi religious authorities have warned the public against celebrating Valentine’s Day or selling gifts related to the feast, Al-Riyadh reported yesterday. “It is a pagan Christian holiday and Muslims who believe in God and Judgment Day should not celebrate or acknowledge it or congratulate people on it,” an edict issued by the Fatwa Committee said. “There are only two holidays in Islam — Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha — and any other holidays, whether to celebrate an individual, group or event, are inventions which Muslims are banned from,” said the committee, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh. Some Friday prayer leaders gave sermons warning of the dangerous effects of the day on young Muslims. “Celebrating such an event will create an identity crisis in the minds of our youngsters,” said one religious leader. “Any Muslim who celebrates this day is not fully aware of the first chapter of the Holy Qur’an we read in every prayer.”

“A Muslim is prohibited from celebrating, approving or congratulating on this occasion,” said the ruling issued by the Fatwa Committee. Supporting others to celebrate the day such as buying or selling Valentine’s items, presenting gifts or making festival food falls in the category of approval. Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has also issued a warning against celebrating Valentine’s Day or the ‘feast of love.’ Al-Ghaith has instructed his officials all over the Kingdom to keep a watch on shops selling roses and other gift items to celebrate the occasion. “You should also enlighten Saudi citizens on the danger of this custom, which is alien to our society, and make them aware of its negative effect,” Al-Madinah daily quoted the religious police chief as saying.

The late Sheikh Muhammad Al-Othaimeen had issued an edict against celebrating the day and the edict had been widely circulated among Muslims. “A Muslim should be proud of his religion and do not imitate others blindly,” Al-Othaimeen said.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 11:35:01 PM || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "a pagan Christian holiday"

Ah well, I guess if they can call the Islam the "religion of peace", why not?
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:17 Comments || Top||


Riyadh Warns Citizens of Terror Attack
The Interior Ministry yesterday warned residents in the capital against a possible terrorist attack. It said that a car laden with explosives registered to a wanted suspect could be used for the attack. “We would like to notify both citizens and residents, especially in Riyadh, that we have confirmed information that a vehicle registered in the name of one of the suspects is loaded with a large quantity of explosives, which we believe are intended for use in a criminal act,” the ministry said. The ministry identified the vehicle as a 1991 model GMC Suburban SUV, plate No. 034, burgundy color inside and leadish-gray outside. The vehicle has new tires and all the windows, except the front windscreen, are heavily tinted. There are scratches or light damage on the driver’s side of the vehicle, possibly the result of a scrape with another car or solid object. All the back seats have been removed. The vehicle was last seen in Rabwa to the east of the capital. The ministry urged the public to contact 990 if they have any information on the vehicle, adding that informants will be rewarded.
"But please do not smoke within 500 feet of the vehicle!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:41 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Public statement: Alert! Possible Terror Attack! Vehicle plate #123$%# / VIN 1236Af1526...

Reality: One of Nayef's Loonies is off the reservation running loose with an Interior Ministry Vehicle Mobile Explosives Demonstration.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 18:47 Comments || Top||

#2  ....a vehicle....loaded with a large quantity of explosives, which we believe are intended for use in a criminal act....
Wow! Sherlock, ya think? Safe bet they ain't planning on dynamitin' fish in Riyadh River.
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 19:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow! Riyadh's got a river? Oh, I get it, you wuz just funnin' us, huh?
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 19:59 Comments || Top||

#4  .com. :-)
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 20:31 Comments || Top||

#5  It's those Friggin' Terrorist SUVs!!!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 21:47 Comments || Top||


Yemen primitives preparing to fight Soddies
A prominent sheik of the Wayilah tribe, which lives along the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, told Yemen Times that up to 3,000 tribesmen are preparing to fight Saudi forces unless Saudi Arabia pulls out of Yemen.
"Yar! We be fierce tribesmen!"
The sheik claims that Saudi Arabia has already built a security fence 4 to 7 km beyond the neutral zone inside Yemen, stretching from Jabal Hobash to Jabal Al Fara, “and we are ready to fight any time if Saudi Arabia doesn’t remove what they have built in our country.”
"Yar! Fightin' and feudin' and disco is our life!"
On February 7, leaders of the Wayilah tribe issued a statement protesting the Yemeni-Saudi border committee’s memorandum which demands tribesmen to identify their properties outside the international borderline. Even though tribes are preparing for a conflict, a Yemeni government official told Yemen Times on Tuesday that Saudi authorities did accept to remove the separation fence along its border with Yemen after extensive Egyptian and US efforts paid off in convincing Saudi authorities to do so. “Both the US and Egypt exerted efforts with Yemen and Saudi Arabia resulting in an agreement to remove all constrictions made by the Saudis,” said the Yemeni official.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:35 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Yar! We be fierce tribesmen
I knew something has been missing in my RB experience.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 18:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Indeed, sand pirates fighting over worthless land is always a must here at RB.
Posted by: Charles || 02/14/2004 18:47 Comments || Top||


Britain
British government considering dismantling BBC: report
Via LGF:
Britain’s government is considering a plan to break up the BBC and remove its independent status in the wake of a bitter row with the state-funded broadcaster over the Iraq war, a report said. Government papers detailing possible changes to the BBC’s structure proposed breaking it into separate regional entities for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, The Sunday Times said. The documents, which the newspaper said had been drawn up by "senior civil servants", also suggested that the job of ensuring the BBC’s impartiality could be taken away from the corporation’s board of governors. The BBC, which is independently run despite being financed by public money through a compulsory television licence, is currently facing perhaps the worst breakdown in relations with the government in its 82-year history.
(Quelle surprise!) NOT
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/14/2004 10:39:38 PM || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't hold your breath.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 23:03 Comments || Top||

#2  4 al Beeb's instead of one? What is wrong with Blair? Instead of privatization, he comes up with this cockamamie scheme.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/14/2004 23:04 Comments || Top||

#3  oooooohhh! I'm excited about this. That the article said "Britain's government" instead of something more vague is very encouraging - though perhaps I'm reading too much into it based on hope alone.

Maybe they've got some goods on them from the Iraqi papers. Oh please, oh please, oh please!!!
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:21 Comments || Top||


Irish Police Seize Trove of Explosives
Irish anti-terrorist police swooped on a suburban Limerick house Friday and seized a trove of explosives and detonators that they linked to Irish Republican Army dissidents.
"Faith an' 'tis disagreein' I am with the gummint. Where's my explosives?"
Police also said they arrested a 34-year-old man at the property in the Dooradoyle section of Limerick, 130 miles southwest of Dublin, on suspicion of possessing the weaponry. The commercially manufactured explosives were found in cases in a van outside the property and in a garden shed in the house’s back yard. Police did not say the amount of explosives, nor did they name the dissident group.
Enough explosives to make the newspapers, though.
Surrounding houses were evacuated as an Irish army bomb squad inspected the explosives to ensure they posed no risk of detonating. IRA dissidents opposed to the outlawed group’s 1997 cease-fire continue to plan occasional attacks in Northern Ireland, a British territory. The most recent attack there came Feb. 4, when police found a booby-trap bomb hidden inside a trash can outside the homes of British army families in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland. The dissidents - organized loosely into two small groups called the Real IRA and Continuity IRA - last claimed a life in August 2002, when a Protestant construction worker was killed by a booby-trap bomb hidden inside a lunchbox in Londonderry, the province’s second-largest city. The Real IRA also claimed responsibility for the deadliest terror strike in Northern Ireland history: the August 1998 car bombing of the town of Omagh that killed 29 people and wounded more than 300.
No mercy for these boyos.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 11:49:35 AM || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There once was a man in Limerick
Who made explosive devices by the stick.
He's been nabbed by the police
And is now on a short leash.
Sit in jail and rot, you dumb prick!
Posted by: Dar || 02/14/2004 13:07 Comments || Top||

#2  The dissidents - organized loosely into two small groups called the Real IRA and Continuity IRA -

Otherwise known as "banked-skills units".
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 15:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Does any body really think that if the Republic were to be given the six counties by the UK the troubles would stop. They would only have a wider field of play as the IRA would seek the downfall of the Irish Republic. What's that line in Patriot Games, "Ireland, the land of sad loves and happy wars"
Posted by: Cheddarhead || 02/14/2004 16:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Why would the IRA seek the downfall of the Irish Republic Cheddar?
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 16:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Sure, an' they're always after me lucky bombs...
Posted by: mojo || 02/14/2004 16:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Jarhead, after awhile the goal's not important... it's the game.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 18:11 Comments || Top||

#7  One very good reason is the IRA is outlawed in th Irish Republic. In the '20s after the formation of the Irish Free State there was series of "problems" that resulted in the IRA being outlawed. One of the "incidents" was the defection of Micheal Collins to the Irish Government from the IRA. An action on his part that led to his assination. Todays IRA is about republican as Lenin was. As I understand their vision of a "free" and united Ireland we need look no further than 90 miles south of Key West
Posted by: Cheddarhead || 02/14/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Beggorrah! Some of the boyos appear to be still a wee bit in the business.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 22:13 Comments || Top||

#9  When is the last time the free Irish did this to the IRA? Is the IRA now part of the WOT?
Posted by: Muammar || 02/14/2004 23:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Why would the IRA seek the downfall of the Irish Republic...?

To establish a socialist government. A little facet of the IRA that doesn't get bandied about much. Information gained courtesy of having had an Irish (Connemara) girlfriend in the D.C. area, and thus ending up at a certain pub as a result. I think P.D. O'Rourke also mentioned it in one of his books.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 23:12 Comments || Top||

#11  I meant 'P.J.'O'Rourke. Got lost in some memories there for a second...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 23:14 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan Protests Target Recall Delay
Waving copies of voter signatures, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday to protest delays in the verification of petitions for a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. The protesters banged on drums, blew whistles and played anti-Chavez jingles on loudspeakers as they marched along several routes to a rallying point on a Caracas highway. Some held up signs with their signatures asking for a vote on Chavez in huge letters. Several dozen Chavez sympathizers drove past in trucks, yelling, "Traitors!" at the protesters. The "Chavistas" held rallies of their own, blasting fireworks and chanting in defense of their president. Caracas Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno estimated that 400,000 people were taking part in the opposition marches. Venezuelans are bitterly torn between those who accuse Chavez of trying to impose an authoritarian regime and those who say he has given the poor a voice in politics and greater access to health and education.
... and Hugo isn't going to let that referendumb take place if he can get away with it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 00:11 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where were the puppets?
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:14 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Al Qaeda Planned to Attack 2002 World Cup in Japan
A senior member of Islamic militant group Al Qaeda has told U.S. authorities that the group had drawn up a plan to launch attacks in Japan during the 2002 World Cup, Japanese media said on Saturday. The United States has informed Japan of this information, which U.S. authorities are thought to have gained from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Shaikh Mohammed visited Japan for about three months in 1987 and received training in the use of rock-drilling machinery at a construction machinery maker in Shizuoka prefecture in central Japan. He told U.S. authorities the attacks were never carried out because it was difficult to establish a support system because of a dearth of Muslims in Japan, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 10:33:36 AM || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "the attacks were never carried out because it was difficult to establish a support system because of a dearth of Muslims in Japan"

And there you have it.

I propose a dearth of Muslims, World-Wide.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't know what's more shocking, soccer/football in Japan or the fact that they're Muslims in Japan.
Posted by: Charles || 02/14/2004 18:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Japan's primarily a mono-block country, Charles. This DOES give it something of an advantage in the WoT. I strongly suspect that the only weak spots they have (aside from home-grown loonies like the Aum Shinrikyo) will be the resident workers in Japan, and the two surpressed "racial" groups in Japan. The Ainu are dying off, and the Eta are savagely repressed. Both groups are possible openings of resentment that terrorists can exploit.

Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 02/14/2004 20:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Japan's primarily a mono-block country, Charles. This DOES give it something of an advantage in the WoT. I strongly suspect that the only weak spots they have (aside from home-grown loonies like the Aum Shinrikyo) will be the resident workers in Japan, and the two surpressed "racial" groups in Japan. The Ainu are dying off, and the Eta are savagely repressed. Both groups are possible openings of resentment that terrorists can exploit.

Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 02/14/2004 20:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Yes, there are millions of resident workers here. Theyr're still only a tiny minority but they're big enough to support a terrorist cell, in theory. In the cities, there are a lot of South Asians. I suspect that the majority of them are Indian but there may be some Pakistanis and there are certainly a number of Muslims among them. There's a tiny Hallal shop I've past in my neighborhood. There's also definitely a community of Indonesians and Malays. Iranians have long been an established community since they are one of Japan's largest oil provider.

I bet that the number of Japanese converts is still too small to mention.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro || 02/14/2004 20:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Ainu? Eta? You mean to tell me there are sub-catagories for people of Japanese descent? Great, so if we invaded Japan in WW2 we would have had to deal with a Eta Triangle?
Posted by: Charles || 02/14/2004 23:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Great, so if we invaded Japan in WW2 we would have had to deal with a Eta Triangle?

No, the eta would have been more like the Kurds.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 23:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Charles: The Ainu are the original inhabitants of Japan. They're often known as the "Hairy Ainu" among the Japanese since they're mostly Caucasian and can therefore grow thick beards, unlike the Asiatic races.

As for the Eta? Also known as Burakumin, they're the "untouchables" of Japan. Ritually unclean due to their ancestors having taken jobs that Japanese consider beyond the pale (handling dead bodies, making leather goods, et cetera).

(Did I get that right, Taro?)

Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 02/15/2004 2:18 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Visiting Australian mufti slams Arab world leaders as ‘semi-men’
The visiting mufti of Australia, Sheikh Tajeddin Hilali, criticized the Arab leaders’ delay in reaching a unanimous agreement on a venue for their next annual summit, which is due to be held in March and will take place in Tunis. “It is a summit without real men. We are in dire need of real men these days in light of the situation in Jerusalem and Palestine,” he said in a sermon during Friday prayers in Sidon’s Jerusalem Mosque. Hilali was a guest of its imam, Sheikh Maher Hammoud. He told the congregation: “I was reading a daily newspaper that had on its front page ‘The summit conference is seeking a venue.’ Your leaders are looking for a venue and no one dares to address an invitation for the leaders of this stricken nation to meet.” He said that summits had produced no results “because we lack strong leadership.”
... and coherent thought processes, the ability to equate effect with cause, and the ability — yea, even the desire — to control your impules...
“In the past, in Islamic and Arab history, we were governed by real men, but nowadays we are governed by semi-men,” he added. Hilali paid tribute to the “honorable stand” taken by Lebanese that, he said, forced Israel to pull out of the country. On other issues, Hilali criticized France’s decision to ban religious symbols. His criticism included the issue of banning headscarves for Muslim women, in public schools in France.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:52 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What a great orator!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Woohoo, I guess he's a turnin' and a burnin'!

And a Man's Man, it seems... he just needs a little history lesson regards how Israel came to leave Lebanon. But I guess he was just sucking up to the local congregation - stroking them with their favorite local myth. So mebbe he's not so manly after all. A semi-man, perhaps.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 22:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Good thing Hilali didn't call them "girly-men". The fatwas would've been flying thick and fast.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 23:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Perhaps Hilali can get a real man, Australia's own John Howard, invited. He could get the juices flowing with a keynote address no one would forget.
Posted by: Muammar || 02/14/2004 23:01 Comments || Top||


Aussie Broadcaster Can’t Call Hamas or Hizballah ’Terrorist Groups’
Australia’s national broadcaster has instructed its staff not to identify Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizballah as terrorist organizations, because they have not been designated as such by the United Nations. The instruction comes despite the fact the Australian government has listed Hizballah as a terrorist group, and is likely to add Hamas and Islamic Jihad to the list soon. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s head of international operations, John Tulloh, confirmed the policy Friday, in response to emailed queries. An internal memo to ABC staff reportedly reads: "Please be careful with Middle Eastern references. Several recent slip-ups have attracted justified complaints. The ABC follows U.N. guidelines on proscribed groups: Hamas, Hizballah, and Islamic Jihad are not included in the U.N.’s list of terrorist organizations and therefore must not be described as such." Tulloh declined to elaborate on the "justified complaints," saying that correspondence from ABC listeners and viewers was private.
Hmm, I wonder who it could be that complained. What a mystery.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 8:47:05 AM || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So they are copying the Beeb then. The people blowing the shite out of ordinary Iraqis are called "the resistance". And I have ever heard the terms collaborators used on BBC News 24.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge || 02/14/2004 9:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Libya chaired the UN Human Rights Committee, so Libya must always be identified as a human-rights leader.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 9:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Your thought-crime has been recorded. Report to the Ministry of Love for your reeducation.
Posted by: RussSchultz || 02/14/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#4  A Terrorist by Any Other Name

I'd like to say that it doesn't matter what you call them - if you target innoncents to make a political point, you are a terrorist. No matter how worthy your cause.

In the long run, if you don't call them "terrorists", all that happens is a that new word is formed to describe what we currently mean by terrorist.

Look at the word "retarded" . Healthy kids once mocked other healthy kids by screwing their faces, faking a muscle spasm, and calling them retarded. As the word became a slur to those who really were retarded, it underwent many revisions, such as "handicapped", "disabled" and now is along the lines of "special needs". (And further irony is that "retarded" was the kind word to replace "idiot" or "dolt.) But the fact is, that today's healthy kids still, in moments of meanness, screw their faces, fake a spasm and say, "he's special".

What's changed? Nothing.

With each word revision, there are self-appointed word police, who tsk, tsk, when someone is uncivilized enough to speak the now offensive word - publically scolding even well meaning elderly folks who just never got the memo. But in the end, nothing changes but the word that we use.

I used to think it didn't matter. But in the short run, it does matter. Words do matter. Becaue in the immediate here and now, it allows everyone to look at the white elephant in the room and pretend it is just an elephant. It's ok to invite a "freedom fighter" to your cocktail party, but not a "terrorist".

Changing the accepted adjective - that doesn't matter. But, pretending, that's what's not ok.

So the moral of my long rant is, if someone tells you they "are not terrorists because the UN says so", please don't argue over whether or not you should use that term. Rather, just politely say, "OK, fine, if it offends you I won't....but what adjective would you like for me to use to refer to individuals who target babies in strollers for political gain?"

That way, we will all have to acknowledge that the "elephant" is a white one.

Thank you.
Posted by: B || 02/14/2004 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Chicken. Egg. Pfeh.

It's hard to say which is the more inane... that ABC would declare itself subordinate to the UN (and here I thought that 'news' orgs clamored to be independent) --or-- that the UN is so obviously fatally flawed and defective and Jooo-hating and flat-world that such terrorist orgs have not and apparently will not be declared as such. Mob rule... and there are a helluvalot of asshat piles of twits calling themselves nation-states which have a vote. ZimbobHaitiCuba cancels out USUKAU. Right.

ABC - Get a grip, step up to the plate and define your own policies - like most adults do.

UN - FOAD, already.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#6  B - Good clear logical analysis - Thx! I hope you don't mind, but I may borrow this for whacking some of my friends over the head. I'm not always up to writing such a clear analysis, but I'm pretty good at whacking. Just need good tools to whack with, y'know? So this one goes in the tool shed, heh. Thx, again!
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm not always up to writing such a clear analysis, but I'm pretty good at whacking

Tell me about it. Thanks to you I can afford the payments on the MissCoganist see you in the Keys this Spring.
Posted by: NMMs Therapist || 02/14/2004 18:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Lol... You did see Witness, right?

Heh, NMM needs more than a therapist - methinks you're outgunned by about the same margin as the Iraqi cops. G'luck - and I will see you in the Keys... and don't forget Tahoe in August. Sweet. Ciao.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 18:33 Comments || Top||

#9  The Feb 13 issue of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Diane Ravitch titled "You Can't Say That," about silly prohibitions against using sensible words in education.

For example, the following words have been forbidden from use in textbooks: landlord, cowboy, brotherhood, yacht, cult, and primitive.

New Jersey rejected a short short by Langston Hughes because he used the words "Negro" and "colored person."

Anyway, to get to my point, the words banned in Michigan's educational materials include the word "terrorism." I presume that the use of this word is deemed to be offensive to Michigan's Moslems (to whom else?).
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 22:07 Comments || Top||

#10  .com
just saw your post. Thanks! I'm flattered. Wasn't sure anyone would read such a long rant. Use away!!
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:34 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spanish socialists may withdraw Iraq troops if elected
Spain’s opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) leader said on Thursday that if he wins a March 14 general election he will withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq at the end of June unless a UN-led force takes charge. Spain currently has 1,300 troops serving in Iraq whom the conservative government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar deployed last August in the teeth of massive political and public opposition. The Spanish mission in Iraq officially runs until June 30 and the government elected next month will have to decide whether to extend it. The PSOE leader, who will go up against the Popular Party’s Mariano Rajoy in the election with Aznar voluntarily stepping down from power, also said that in his view “the situation has become worse” in Iraq in recent months. Zapatero explained that while he gave his full support to the troops themselves he believed they should not be left in an unstable country, sent there on the basis of “a serious error of the government."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 12:58:53 AM || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “the situation has become worse” in Iraq in recent months

Of course its become worse. One nominally scocialist dictator has had his ass dragged from a hole in the ground
Posted by: Cheddarhead || 02/14/2004 6:09 Comments || Top||

#2  They proclaim it like they have a whelks chance in a supernova to ever come to power.
Posted by: Evert Visser || 02/14/2004 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Well if they do, buh-bye, hope you enjoy your second 'golden age' with your Muslim rulers, Spain.
Nothing will send the message of dhimmitude better than pulling your soldiers out of the WOT.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
2004 Election to be a ’Keystone Election
Severely edited for length. Mr. Henninger is saying what I have been saying: 2004 will be a watershed, a truly clear choice, but what I have also said is that if conservatives do this right, the liberalism born in the 60s can be wrecked for all time

The money quote:

The vote in 2004 is not just a referendum on the two men running for president. It is a keystone election. (Next time, Hillary Clinton, though liberal, will not run the campaign Mr. Kerry will run if nominated.) With American soldiers fighting overseas, this election offers one last vote on whether the forces put in motion around 1968 will also carry America forward into the new century--or stop, to be replaced, finally, by a new vision.
Posted by: badanov || 02/14/2004 9:36:19 AM || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If watershed includes the incredibly important idea of a war for the survival of freedom, then yep - this is a big one.

Part of me is confident we will be allowed to survive because Dubya will win in a walk.

Part of me is very nervous about the fact that too many voters are, um, how shall I put this... I know, I'll quote the Deteriorata:
"Rest assured that a walk through the ocean of most men's souls would scarcely get your feet wet."
Yeah, shallow is what I was looking for...

Puhphreakinleeze, folks, let's take the election seriously and round up everyone you know and get them out to vote. If we're lucky (not Lucky - he knows what to do!), Atomic Conspiracy (who has mentioned his public service) will help us out with ideas about how we get out the vote.

Watershed, indeed!

Thx, badanov! We need the wake-up calls for something this important!
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#2 
"if conservatives do this right, the liberalism born in the 60s can be wrecked for all time"
I don't see the battle as being against liberalism; the battle is against the ideological tommyrot that has replaced liberalism among the left. In any case, I'm not too confident of wrecking it outright: the soul-sickness that gives rise to that ideology runs deep, and is spread wide. It has infected our education systems, both public and private, and will continue to exude its poison until its pale, shuffling, hollow-eyed acolytes are rooted- and booted- out.

But- and God help the Democrats, for they are the ones who decided to make this an "issue"- the central question of this election is most certainly going to cut to the very heart of who we are: are we a people who cringe and cower in the face of aggression? Or are we a people who believe strongly enough in our basic goodness that we will have the courage to respond forcefully when attacked?

And in John Kerry and George Bush, we have two candidates who epitomize that distinction better than any others.

Unless the Dems would like to give Jimmie Carter another chance, of course...
Posted by: Dave D. || 02/14/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||

#3  liberalism born in the 60s
it's not liberalism it's professional nit-witterary.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  I have a friend, sorry she voted for W the 1st time and gave all DOMESTIC reasons why she'll vote for anyone but him now.

I was going to stay home until the 9 dwarves opened their mouths.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/14/2004 22:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Muslim Family From New York Preaches Murder of Apostates (part 2)
Who is Behind this Site?
We are a Muslim family from New York, USA. This site is a completely voluntary, self-funded and independently-operated effort, unrelated to any organization or government.

QUESTION
This question has been asked several time from non-Muslims and I want to find an answer: Why When the Muslim convert to another religion(Murtad) he/she should be killed?

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ANSWER
Praise be to Allaah
Your question may be answered by the following points:

This is the ruling of Allaah and His Messenger, as the Prophet - peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him said: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him" - reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 3017.

The one who has known the religion which Allaah revealed, entered it and practised it, then rejected it, despised it and left it, is a person who does not deserve to live on the earth of Allaah and eat from the provision of Allaah.

By leaving Islaam, the apostate opens the way for everyone who wants to leave the faith, thus spreading apostasy and encouraging it.

The apostate is not to be killed without warning. Even though his crime is so great, he is given a last chance, a respite of three days in which to repent. If he repents, he will be left alone; if he does not repent, then he will be killed.

If the punishment for murder and espionage (also known as high treason) is death, then what should be the punishment for the one who disbelieves in the Lord of mankind and despises and rejects His religion? Is espionage or shedding blood worse than leaving the religion of the Lord of mankind and rejecting it ?

None of those who bleat about personal freedom and freedom of belief would put up with a neighbour’s child hitting their child or justify this as "personal freedom," so how can they justify leaving the true religion and rejecting the sharee’ah which Allaah revealed to teach mankind about His unity and bring justice and fairness to all ?
=============

Comments can be sent to the hosting company at abuse@interland.com.

Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 10:35:21 PM || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Muslim Family from New York Preaches Murder of Apostates
Who is Behind this Site?
We are a Muslim family from New York, USA. This site is a completely voluntary, self-funded and independently-operated effort, unrelated to any organization or government.

QUESTION
I am currently in a philosophy of religion class and my teacher is an atheist. He claims that under an Islamic state if a born Muslim converts to another religion he is killed. Please tell me if this is true.
Praise be to Allaah. The punishment for apostasy (riddah) is well-known in Islaamic Sharee’ah. The one who leaves Islaam will be asked to repent by the Sharee’ah judge in an Islaamic country; if he does not repent and come back to the true religion, he will be killed as a kaafir and apostate, because of the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 3017).

It is well-known in Sharee’ah that the punishments (hudood) are not carried out on minors, because they have not yet reached the age of responsibility; but in the case of those who have reached the age of responsibility, the punishment (hadd) applies, without a doubt.

The person who knows the truth and believes in it, then turns his back on it, does not deserve to live. The punishment for apostasy is prescribed for the protection of the religion and as a deterrent to anyone who is thinking of leaving Islaam. There is no doubt that such a serious crime must be met with an equally weighty punishment. If the kuffaar do not give people the freedom to cross a red light, how can we give freedom to people to leave Islaam and disbelieve in Allaah when they want to.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 1:01:09 AM || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  charge up old sparky--we got to fry some jaywalkers--the appalling viciousness is only equaled by the appalling stupidity--ropma
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI || 02/14/2004 1:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Just when I was thinking of "dabl'n in islamofo. I better rethink the thing. Hey their just joking, right?
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 1:58 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't understand....the religion of peace right?
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Blood thirsty cult.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 8:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Lucky, you'd be out of work... I believe that they execute people who would attempt to paint Eddie Mercx (PBUH), considering such as idolatry.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Whois output:

Domain ID:D17860861-LROR
Domain Name:THETRUERELIGION.ORG
Created On:17-Jan-2000 15:14:38 UTC
Last Updated On:12-Feb-2004 17:38:22 UTC
Expiration Date:17-Jan-2006 15:14:38 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R63-LROR
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:37329043-NSI
Registrant Name:Abu Aadam
Registrant Organization:The True Religion
Registrant Street1:PO Box 29136
Registrant City:New York
Registrant State/Province:NY
Registrant Postal Code:10087-9136
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2123134421
Registrant Email:ttr@post.com
Admin ID:37329043-NSI
Admin Name:Abu Aadam
Admin Organization:The True Religion
Admin Street1:PO Box 29136
Admin City:New York
Admin State/Province:NY
Admin Postal Code:10087-9136
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.2123134421
Admin Email:ttr@post.com
Tech ID:36541685-NSI
Tech Name:host master
Tech Street1:34 PEACHTREE ST NW
Tech City:ATLANTA
Tech State/Province:GA
Tech Postal Code:30303-2316
Tech Country:US
Tech Email:hostmaster@INTERLAND.NET
Name Server:B.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Name Server:C.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Name Server:A.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Posted by: badanov || 02/14/2004 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Here are the Terms of Acceptable Use for the hosting company.
Posted by: badanov || 02/14/2004 9:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks for the info badanov.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks, Badanov.

I suppose complaints about this issue are properly addressed to abuse@interland.com.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 22:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Shipman, I know it's late but Eddie is done. It's a closeup of Merkx, in profile, the 69 tour. He's riding for FAEMA. His bike is white with orange contrasts. I painted him in yellow and on the drops. Thanks!
Posted by: Lucky || 02/15/2004 1:15 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Myanmar Junta Releases Opposition Leader
Myanmar's military government released the deputy leader of the main opposition party, who was detained more than eight months ago with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, family members said Sunday. Tin Oo, 77, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy Party, was freed late Saturday from Kale prison in the country's north, family members said on condition of anonymity. He had been held by the government since a bloody May 30 clash between opposition activists and a pro-junta mob.
Afraid he was going to die on them, I'd guess...
A guard outside his house in Yangon said early Sunday that only close family members were allowed to visit. Tin Oo was detained along with Suu Kyi and scores of other party members at the Kale prison, known for its harsh conditions, some 435 miles north of Yangon. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace prize laureate, remains under house arrest along with NLD Chairman Aung Shwe and party secretary Lwin.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 00:07 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Kidnap Gang Strikes Again in Sultan Kudarat
Gunmen snatched a 48-year-old trader in the southern province of Sultan Kudarat, where several armed groups are known to operate, the military said yesterday. Ten gunmen seized Zoila Kansi inside her store at a busy market in Lambayong town on Thursday night and was taken on board a car toward Buliok town in Maguindanao province, said a report of the military’s Southern Command. The report said the abductors were led by Manti Akang, also known as Commander Renegade, along with Mangil Mangitas and Tauto Sainal, who are alleged to be members of a kidnap syndicate operating in the province.
"Commander Renegade." [Sniff!] He'll never be as big as Commander Robot.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:46 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If it makes you feel any better, we all miss Commander Robot. Commander Renegade couldn't fill Robot's shoes....

(right over the plate, a slow hanging curve is pitched to a baseball starved Rantburger.)
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 20:24 Comments || Top||


Allah’s ’soldiers’ kill more folks in southern Thailand
Unidentified gunmen killed two people and wounded two others — including a police officer — in Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south Saturday, officials said, as the prime minister vowed to bring prosperity to the troubled area. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made an emergency trip to the south Friday to mend relations with Muslim leaders, who said earlier that officials investigating attacks there had been heavy handed and disrespectful.
Regardless of anything they'd have done, with the possible exception of buying turbans and kowtowing toward Mecca, they'd have been heavy handed and disrespectful.
Thaksin was expected to return to Bangkok later Saturday. Saturday’s violence came as Thaksin delivered a weekly radio address in which he pledged economic development in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala to help stop the attacks. He said the south has abundant natural resources and a promising economic future, and partly blamed the recent unrest on poverty.
... which is a result of having large concentrations of Muslims.
"Once those people who want to take care of their families are given a chance (to prosper) by the government, there should be fewer people wanting to kill others," he said.
Keep fooling yourself Thaksin. Economic prosperity won’t change what it says in the Quran or change Muhammed’s legacy of murder and imperalism.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 8:32:37 AM || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting how the capitol city Bangkok can have massive slums with rampant poverty and unemployment, but the people there remain peaceful and even fairly cheerful - while the Muslims in the south (who are by no means oppressed by the gov't) seethe and kill.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 02/14/2004 14:59 Comments || Top||


Burma denies N Korea ties
Burma has rejected a suggestion by a senior US congressional adviser that it might be seeking nuclear technology from North Korea. Keith Luse warned that the US should pay special attention to what he called a growing relationship between the two.
Let’s see, Burma and North Korea are both dirt poor dictatorships run by incompetent Generals for decades, and both are allies of few countries other than China. Also, Pakistan sent several nuclear scientists to Burma after the reports of meetings between them and Osama Bin Ladin were reported in the media. Not that I expect Burma to actually have a nuclear program, but it can’t be automatically ruled out either.
He was part of a US delegation that visited North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear plant in January. In a statement, the Burmese government said it did not require nor want to develop weapons of mass destruction. Mr Luse, who works for Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, did not give any details about alleged contact between Burma and North Korea. During a speech in Washington he said that the relationship needed to be monitored and he asked the open question: "Is North Korea providing nuclear technology to the Burma military?" Russia agreed to help Burma build a nuclear reactor for research purposes in 2002, though it is not clear how far the project has advanced.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 2:55:11 AM || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jeesh, another country on the nuclear targeting list
Posted by: djohn66 || 02/14/2004 3:20 Comments || Top||

#2  I posted this article about Burma personnel getting nuclear instruction from the norks on 12/16/03 here.

The sooner the Norks and Iran go down, the safer we will all be. The Norks, Paks, and Iranians have been busy little bees, trying to get the nuclear genie out of the bottle and into bombs.

Candidate Kerry, got any ideas how do deal with it, or are you too busy bashing Bush? Politics before peril is the MO of the Dims.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/14/2004 5:15 Comments || Top||

#3  When enough of these asshats get their hands on the bomb one of them is just going to have to use it. The question is where. New York, DC, Tel Aviv, Jeruselem? I fear that when they do they will light the spark of a nuclear war. Israel even in the hour of her destruction will gut most of the Arab world. The Indians will I think decide the cost will be worth it to rid the world of Pakland.
Posted by: Cheddarhead || 02/14/2004 6:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Let’s see, Burma and North Korea are both dirt poor dictatorships run by incompetent Generals for decades, and both are allies of few countries other than China.

Supporting and eventually co-opting weak neighbors is a good idea if one is trying to rebuild an empire...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#5  So it's Burma today? Is Myanmar on vacation?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 22:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Is Myanmar on vacation?

The guy at the BBC who knows how to spell it had the week-end off.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 23:28 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tame Iranian Students Call For High Turnout in Elections
Representatives from Islamic Associations of Iranian Students headed by Office for Fostering Unity (Shiraz Group) urged people to take part in the upcoming Majlis elections, Fars News Agency reported. People may vote in the elections or they may abandon all factions, Hamid Kushki, a member of the association said during a meeting at Iran University, Tehran. “On the other hand, we can adopt no particular position and let people decide themselves.”
"Naw... I wouldn't do that."
He also noted that, although some popular candidates were disqualified, people should find eligible ones and vote for them, saying that by so doing, they can thwart possible external threat, which may occur ‘if we give up altogether.’ Those hopefuls who have taken silent policy should encourage people to participate in the elections, Kushki stressed. “At the same time, they can condemn any sort of fanaticism,” he added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 18:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Iran strongly slams European Parliament for its resolution
Tehran hit back on Saturday at the European Parliament, saying its recent resolution about alleged `lack of respect for democratic procedures` indicated Europe`s `lack of proper understanding of Iran`s realities and its intricacies`.
"What do you guys know about democracy, anyway?"
EP regretted Thursday what it called `the severe setback in efforts towards the establishment of democratic structures in Iran represented by the exclusion of many candidates from the forthcoming parliamentary elections`. Iran`s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, "The forthcoming Majlis election is an internal issue and any measure which may lead to the conception of interference in Iran`s internal affairs is unacceptable and not worthy of paying heed to."
"So you guys can just piss off until we need something from you."
"European Parliament is advised to focus its efforts and time on dealing with flagrant human rights violations in the European countries and inattention to the rights of minorities, especially Muslims, and refrain from raising issues which they have nothing to do with," he added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:56 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The forthcoming Majlis election is an internal issue and any measure which may lead to the conception of interference in Iran`s internal affairs is unacceptable and not worthy of paying heed to.

And as a reciprocal measure, Iran declares its non-interference in France's internal policies about headscarves in schools.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 22:50 Comments || Top||


Karroubi: Mass resignation of MPs cannot be accepted
Majlis Speaker Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karroubi said on Saturday that there is no procedural provision to accept resignation of 120 members of parliament. "According to Article 95 of the Majlis by-law, massive resignation cannot be accepted, because it deprived the parliament of the quorum necessary to go ahead with formal debate," Karroubi pointed out.
Perhaps we can help clarify things. What part about "I quit" are you having trouble with?
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic has envisaged that the country should not pass even a single day without parliament, he said. "The procedural by-law does not allow the acceptance of such a massive resignation. The quorum for holding formal debates of the parliament will not be met with acceptance of the resignations, So, it is out of question," he said.
That's Persian for, "Hey! Youse can't do that!"
"The parliament should work until May 26 and the resignations will not be accepted," he said. Asked what will happen to the budget bill of the new Iranian (fiscal) year, he said that the speaker cannot decide on the issue by himself and the Presiding Board of the parliament should make decision on the matter.
But they don't have a quorum, so things are tough, ain't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:53 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hooope this works!?!!
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:27 Comments || Top||


Hundreds Withdraw From Iranian Elections
More than 500 liberal-leaning candidates have withdrawn from legislative elections next week, the Interior Ministry said Saturday, apparently to protest the disqualification of thousands of reformist contenders by Iran’s hard-line clerics.
This in addition to the couple thousand who were disqualified.
The candidates, who are not affiliated with any party, join a boycott by reformist parties of the Friday elections in which nearly all of the 5,600 candidates are hard-liners certain to win amid expected low-voter turnout. "So far, 550 candidates have withdrawn from the elections," the Islamic nation’s ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site, without giving a reason for the withdrawals. The election furor - Iran’s worst political crisis in decades - began when the clerics of the Guardian Council banned more than 2,400 candidates, nearly of them supporters of efforts to expand Western-style democracy and loosen strict interpretations of Islamic codes in areas such as social activities and the media. The council, lead by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reinstated about 1,100 candidates after sit-ins and protests by liberal politicians and backers. The rest remained blackballed - all leading reformists, including 80 sitting lawmakers. That left only minor liberal contenders on the ballot, and many of them have since dropped out. "I was approved on the basis of the (supreme) leader’s order and not according to defined legal procedure," said former candidate Aboulfazl Raouf. "I see this against my dignity as an Iranian citizen."
A politican with a backbone! Too bad, he ought to be elected.
Another candidate who dropped out was Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a former interior minister and hard-liner-turned-reformer. Mohtashamipour belongs to the Militant Clerics Association, the only reformist clerical party running in the elections. He could not be reached for comment Saturday. In the absence of any rivals, conservatives are expected to easily win.
Subtle, they ain't...
The biggest challenge will likely be persuading apathetic and disillusioned citizens to vote in an election seen as flawed and undemocratic. A government survey predicted that only about 30 percent of 46 million eligible voters would take part in the polls.
Tough to sell that as a real election.
In 2000, parliament elections drew more than 67 percent of voters when reformers took control of the 290-seat chamber for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. On Friday, the ayatollah urged a high turnout in the elections to give "a slap in the face" to pro-reform groups and others calling for a boycott. A sharp drop in voter turnout would be widely interpreted as a powerful sign of support for reformers.
Not that such a thing will lead to the next step.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 11:45:14 AM || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The story sounds great - a real and very public protest by these brave dead reformers...

But the Black Hats will be the ones who'll count the votes. Want a big turnout? Hey, no sweat, they'll give you big numbers - there's nothing to tweaking numbers when you run the show in the back room.

Think there will be any Int'l monitoring which will catch them? Nawww, me neither. Think there will be an Int'l outcry if the view on the ground doesn't match the number they spew? Nawww, me neither.

We have only these soon-to-be-killed candidates, and I mean it this time when I add, "May peace be upon them."
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Unfortunately, the difference between reformers and hard-liners in Iran is like the difference between shades of black.

Look for a lot of hard-ball tactics to get an 'impressive' turnout.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 15:33 Comments || Top||


Iran ayatollah urges high turnout
No one is suggesting that President George W. Bush should add Tehran to his 2004 travel plans. But once the current political crisis in Iran calms down, a quiet trip by a senior U.S. figure, such as Powell or Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, to talk candidly about respective interests and objectives, could go a long way toward improving relations with Iran, a major regional power next door to two war zones. The world would welcome such an overture.
Who’s the world?
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 2:09:26 AM || Comments || Link || [336062 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So let "the world" make the overture.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/14/2004 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Or we could just wait until your pissed-off population shoots you, and talk to them.
Posted by: mojo || 02/14/2004 2:57 Comments || Top||

#3  We don't have diplomatic relations with Iran, because our embassy was seized and our embassy staff was held hostage by the Iranian government now in power. That government has now had 25 years to begin to rectify that situation and has done absolutely nothing but curse the United States.

Reconciliation should begin not with high-level political visits but with rapport-building cultural exchanges. Instead of sending Powell and Rice, we should send Timberlake and Jackson.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  The silver lining being it got rid of Carter and brought us Reagan.
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Sorry, the first order of business is for Iran to return our embassy to us, scoured clean of grafitti, rehabbed and refurnished, and a heartfelt,and personal apology to each and every one of the hostages. Then maybe --- just MAYBE--- we'll think about it. I know it was 25 years, but I am still quite ticked off
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 02/14/2004 15:06 Comments || Top||

#6  You said it, Sgt. Mom!

I see the current Iranian squabbling as simply a bad case of buyer's remorse. Hey, you guys got rid of the Shah along with his Evil Western Influences and installed a nice peaceful Islamic theocracy so you could live happily ever after. Heh. Enjoy!

As for the reformers vs the hard-liners, a plague on both their houses.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/14/2004 18:21 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm with you, Anon. Dhimmi Carter's lack of response to a clear act of war was one of the lowest points in the history of the Republic.
Posted by: PBMcL || 02/14/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Palestinian PM urges U.S. to reject Gaza plan
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has urged the United States not to support an Israeli proposal to evacuate most Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip. Palestinians fear Sharon is planning to remove settlements from Gaza only to strengthen other settlements in the West Bank. "It will be regrettable if the American administration supports unilateral steps," Qurie told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday after a Palestinian cabinet session. He said he would be "worried and upset" by such a decision.
Yes, I can see why.
Opinion polls show that the surprise proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remove 17 of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip has overwhelming support among Israelis. The Palestinian cabinet demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territories to immediately follow any Gaza pullout. "The cabinet reiterates its rejection to the idea of moving settlers (from Gaza) to the West Bank," a cabinet statement said. It said the cabinet urged Washington to stick to supporting a U.S-backed "road map" peace plan.
don’t implement it!! but supporting it’s okay
Palestinians and the international community regard Jewish settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this. Diplomats said on Friday Washington would send envoys to Israel next week for talks before deciding whether to back Sharon’s settlement proposal -- part of a go-it-alone plan he has vowed to impose on the Palestinians if the road map remains stalled. Sharon, long an advocate of settlement-building on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, has made clear his unilateral plan would leave Palestinians with less territory than they are seeking for a state. Palestinian and Israeli officials are set to meet next week to try to "advance prospects of a meeting between Sharon and Abu Ala", a Sharon spokesman said, referring to Qurie. The spokesman said the preliminary meeting was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday but Israel had requested it be postponed because of a snowstorm in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the aim of the meeting was "to try to implement the obligations emanating from the road map."
You don’t need a meeting for that - you need to start keeping your word.
U.S. officials have commented favourably on the idea of uprooting settlements but have stopped short of embracing Sharon’s unilateral approach for fear that it would bury the already battered road map. Some 7,500 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the Gaza Strip, home to more than one million Palestinians. The high-level U.S. delegation visiting Israel next week will seek Israel’s commitment to the road map, a series of steps towards a negotiated peace deal. It is also expected to ask Sharon to change the route of a West Bank barrier Israel is building so that it annexes less of the land Palestinians want for a future state. Israel says the line of metal fencing and concrete walls is meant to stop suicide bombers and has already thwarted dozens of attacks. Palestinians condemn the project as a land grab. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday that Washington wanted a negotiated final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians but evacuation of settlements could reduce friction between the two sides.
Posted by: rkb || 02/14/2004 6:18:15 PM || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now wait a minute. I thought the Palis *wanted* the Israelis out of Gaza. Now they're upset the Israelis are talking about leaving? Is it because they won't have Jews to slaughter and will have to go back to fighting amonst themselves? Or are they simply against whatever Israel, sorry I mean the Zionist Entity, decides to do?

Some days, you just can't tell the news from ScrappleFace.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/14/2004 18:37 Comments || Top||

#2  The way things are going I'm Scrappleface is set to become Nostrablogus.
Posted by: Charles || 02/14/2004 18:45 Comments || Top||

#3  steve S
I think they stopped calling Israel the 'zionist entity' and started calling it the 'zionist project' about a year ago. The first probably sounded too Startreky, the second makes it sound like a cousin of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Posted by: mhw || 02/14/2004 21:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, Ahmed. How would this effect the cement business? Good, bad, what?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 22:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Perhaps Qurie should pay his annual dues to AAA to get the new rodamap. Some of the routes have been changed due to wall construction.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 02/14/2004 22:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Mr. D - LOL! Looks like he better get the updated version which shows Israel on the map, if he wants to get anywhere without getting lost.
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:25 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
MJC asks Mujahideen to rejoin Jehadi forces
Muttahida Jehad Council (MJC) has urged Kashmiri Mujahideen recently released from Indian captivity to rejoin Jehadi forces. “You should not join Islamic Salvation Movement as it is against freedom movement,” said a spokesman of Jehad council Liaqat Ali.
"On the other hand, if you join them the Indos won't kill you, though we'll sure try hard enough..."
In his statement he declared it as an Indian ploy of using Kashmiris detained in different prisons against Jehad under the guise of Islamic Salvation Movement. “In order to strengthen Jehad, Mujahideen who have attained freedom from Indian captivity should join Jehadi forces and by doing so they will definitely foil Indian nefarious designs against Kashmir freedom movement,” he added. He urged upon Kashmiris to remain alert against Indian conspiracies.
"I mean, youse guys are fresh outta jug. This is your big opportunity to stop a bullet or to... ummm... go back to jug.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:42 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Amir JI leaves for UK to pray over Ayub Thakar
Amir Jammat-e-Islami (JI), Azad Kashmir Sardar Ejaz Afzal and Secretary General Jhangir Khan left for London on Saturday to inquire about the health of Dr Muhammad Ayub Thakar, Leader of World Kashmir Freedom Movement. Dr Muhammad Ayub Thakar has been suffering from lung cancer since last month and is under treatment in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in UK.
End stage, we hope...
Earlier he was also taken to US for treatment after which his health was restored.
Now it sounds like he's about to kick it...
Before leaving for London, Mr Ejaz appointed Noorul Bari as Acting Amir JI (AJK) and appealed public to pray Almighty Allah for the health of sincere Leader of the Kashmir movement. However in the absence of Secretary General Muhammad Jhangir Khan, Sardar Abdul Halim will act as Secretary General of the party.
Thakur's a money man, funneling the bucks into the Kashmir jihad machine. I won't miss him much, and I hope his departure from this vale of tears is very painful.

Here's the background on that, from Thursday's Pak Tribune...
The forthcoming International Kashmir Conference is likely to be postponed as the organizer of the moot eminent Kashmiri leader Dr. Ayub Thakur has been admitted at a local hospital after he developed some respiratory problem. Dr. Thakur, who is also World Kashmir Freedom Movement President, was rushed to the hospital for treatment as he was feeling difficulties in his breathing and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) owing to seriousness of his ailment. There is no further update about his health till the last reports came in.
"What is it, Doctor?"
"Hmmmm... Looks like an embolism, only bigger!"
The Movement spokesman said Dr. Thakur was busy in making arrangements for the Kashmir conference scheduled for February 28 –29 in London. The invitation cards for the conference have already been dispatched to the participants, especially the Kashmiri leaders from across the valley.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:35 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Zadran tribe delegation fails to get leader released
The Zardan tribe delegation has failed to secure the release of their tribal leader, Badshah Khan. Three elders of Paktia, Nisar Muhammad Khan, Yar Muhammad Rahim Khan and Muji Muhammad Khan told VOA that they were members of the Zadran tribe 11-member delegation who visited Kabul to secure the release Badshah Khan. The basis objective of the delegation was to hold talks with central government to secure the release of anti-Afghan government leader Badshah Khan. It is pertinent to mention that Badshah Khan was arrested by Pakistan militia in Miran Shah three months ago and then handed over to Afghan officials.
Badshah's the epitome of the Bad Guy. I have no idea why Karzai would consider releasing him, even from the light cutody he's in. If it was me, I'd throw him in a cage and exhibit him to the citizenry until he died, and maybe longer.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:21 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is his middle name Muhammad? Huh? Huh? If it is, ya gotta let him go. It's a naming convention of the Khan (KHAAAAAAAN!) Tribe and it's in the Qu'uran!

So there. Karzai's hands are tied.

And don't you dare make fun of his name!
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 19:57 Comments || Top||

#2  James Clavell had it right in Shogun: bury this mope in a pit up to his neck. Leave a bamboo saw on the ground nearby and invite passersby to do as they wish.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 23:23 Comments || Top||

#3  the names not Mo, its Kang
Posted by: ThroatWorblermango || 02/15/2004 0:03 Comments || Top||


Sami challenges Qazi, Fazl to contest election against him
Vice President of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and chief of JUI-S, Maulana Samiul Haq has announced to convene meeting of Majlis-e-Shoora of his party within ten days to take final decision on parting ways with the religious alliance.
Sami keeps saying he's going to dump the MMA, but he never quite does it...
He has also challenged MMA acting chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and its central leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman to contest election against him in any constituency in NWFP to assess their political standing claiming that MMA owes to his party for winning 65 seats of national assembly and office of chief minister in the province. He expressed these views in an exclusive interview with Online on Friday. Maulana Samiul Haq made it clear that his party has not withdrawn from its decision for parting ways with MMA in the event of non-acceptance of their demands. Two major component parties of MMA did not take our demands seriously, nor their leadership has contacted me, he alleged. He went on to say that offer extended by these parties for giving a berth in the provincial government to JUI-S is deplorable.
Not enough boodle involved, huh? Tusk tusk.
“We will not accept this offer”, he added. Spelling out the causes on taking the decision for leaving MMA, he said that his party’s differences with religious alliance are based on principles. MMA has deviated from its targets of enforcement of Islamic Sharia in the country and become part of the government by compromising on LFO.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:17 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan names businessman in nuclear probe
A Pakistani businessman has been named as one of several people detained for questioning over the global nuclear black market run by disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said Aizaz Jafri, a hotelier, had been detained but declined to give further details. President Pervez Musharraf said earlier this month 11 people had been detained for questioning over nuclear proliferation after Dr Khan, eulogised as the father of Pakistan's atom bomb, admitted peddling nuclear secrets abroad. Dr Khan said he acted independently in leaking the nuclear secrets. General Musharraf later pardoned him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 17:04 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: North
Tunisia looks to strengthen US ties during visit to Washington
Tunisia said on Friday it would host the Arab summit on March 29-30, ending confusion over the venue caused by worries about simmering Arab divisions and the cost of security arrangements. The decision, announced in a government statement, followed talks in Tunis on Thursday between President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League. Also Friday, Ben Ali said he hopes to share more of his experience in fighting terrorism with US President George W. Bush when the two leaders meet next week in Washington.

Tunisia, a moderate Muslim nation that has long-standing ties with the US, has become a key US ally in the global “war on terror.” It also suffered an attack blamed on Al-Qaeda that killed 21 people in 2002. “In all modesty, I have a lot of experience with this,” Ben Ali told The Associated Press in an interview at the presidential palace in Carthage. He also responded in writing to written questions. “I gave the first-ever report on the dangers of fundamentalism to the Tunisian government. I have been following this ever since then,” he said during the interview. Tunisia is one of the most liberal countries in the Muslim world and the one most often associated with women’s rights. Rates of illiteracy and poverty are among the lowest in the region. But the nation is routinely criticized by human rights groups for its lack of freedom of expression and stern handling of political opponents. Ben Ali responded to this criticism by saying he is ushering in democratic reforms ­ but in a measured way so that extremists cannot take advantage of new freedoms.
Perhaps Ben Ali's stern handling of political opponents is why Tunisia isn't overflowing with beturbanned lunatics...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:58 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Didn't realize Tunisia was an arab country.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 17:56 Comments || Top||

#2  "Tunisia isn't overflowing with beturbanned lunatics..."

Perhaps not beturbanned, but Arafish and thousands of his thugs lived in "exile" in Tunisia from 1982 - 1993... not exactly a ringing endorsement... I think I'll pass on visiting, thanks.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 18:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Didn't realize Tunisia was an arab country.

It's in the northern shores of Africa. What else would it be?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 20:59 Comments || Top||

#4  It's in the northern shores of Africa. What else would it be?

So is Libya, which Qadaffi says is "African"...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 22:55 Comments || Top||

#5  My beloved guide, Mr. Bush, told me I was African, which I am.
Posted by: Muammar || 02/14/2004 22:59 Comments || Top||

#6  In all seriousness, there ought to be ways to reward Tunisia in terms of trade and economics, while gently nudging them along the path of democracy American style (as opposed to Euro style). This should be done with a light touch so as to make it look to be the most natural order of things. Perhaps that could help them explain cause-and-effect to their brother Arabs.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 23:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Tunisia is an Arabic-speaking country. Of course ethnically it is not

The guy who accepted Arafat was Bourguiba who was deposed through a soft coup (what the French call
"a palace revolution") by Ben Ali. Tunisian women have the loftier status of any Muslim country I am aware of, headscarves are banned (showing the way to France :-). Turbans are kept under watch and promptly jailed when they cross the line. Pilgrimages to Mecca are strongly discouraged, officially due to the currency drain. In the same way, having five prayers a day can quicly get you in trouble due to the loss of productivity. Tunisia has a thriving textile industry who works mainly as subcontractors for the Parisian textile companies of the Sentier. Meaning that Tunisia's textile industry works mainly with/for the Jews. But don't say it to the Saudis or they will have a heart attack.
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||


Egyptian Gunmen Free Prisoners After Ambushing Convoy
Bedouin gunmen wounded seven Egyptian policemen in a dawn attack yesterday on a convoy carrying 28 prisoners in Sinai, enabling five detainees to flee, police said. More than 30 Bedouins in six vehicles blocked the convoy, which was taking the prisoners to court in Sinai to face drug charges. In the ambush, seven police, including an officer, were wounded, and three Egyptian and two Syrian prisoners escaped, the police said. The country’s Interior Ministry said the vehicle transporting the prisoners had swerved off the road. “Relatives of the prisoners, who were following in cars, took advantage of the situation to free five of the accused, including two considered dangerous, after exchanging fire with the police,” it said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:43 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus
Attack on Yandarbiyev result of Chechen internal feud
An attack on former Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, which took place in Quatar on Friday may be connected with an internal feud among the Chechen separatist leaders and their sponsors, the Interfax news agency has reported, citing comments by a source in Russia's law enforcement bodies. ''Yandarbiyev was aware of the transfers made from abroad to the Chechen bandit formations. Today, as the situation has changed, many foreign sponsors change their attitude to financing Chechen rebels and witness like Yandarbiyev are simply dangerous for them,'' the source said. Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev died on Friday, a short time after his car was destroyed by a bomb blast in Quatar's capital Doha.
Disposed of, was he? Well, no great loss, and possibly some gain.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:30 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


2 Bad Guys depart gene pool in Dagestan
"In the woods near Khasavyurt, two of the three rebels who killed Dagestani police officers earlier today were eliminated," the press officer said. At about 6:30 a.m Friday, the police were conducting an operation to detain a suspected murderer, Sultan Abukhov, in his home village of Bamnatbekyurt, when they came under fire. Three police officers were killed and four wounded during the operation, the ministry said. There is information that the rebels tried to flee the village and head towards Chechnya, but were encircled near Khasavyurt. The police are currently combing the area to locate the third rebel.
G'bye, boyz. Hope it was very painful. Say hello to Himmler for us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 16:28 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Shia cleric slams Aljazeera
An Iraqi Imam has accused Aljazeera of trying to spark a civil war between the country's Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Just like Zarqawi wants to see...
Imam Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, during the Friday sermon, urged the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to permanently close down the Qatar-based satellite channel's Baghdad bureau. "Aljazeera lies and it creates divisions between people," he said in a fiery speech at the Aatafiya mosque in central Baghdad. Al-Saghir is seen as close to Iraq's highest Shia spiritual leader Sayyid Ali al-Sistani. Al-Saghir slammed television presenter Faisal al-Qasim for trying to create sectarian divisions and supporting Saddam Hussein. Al-Qasim's programme "An Opposing Direction" has caused an uproar after broadcasting photographs showing some members of the Governing Council with Israel's Mossad.
Oh, hold me, Fatima!
Aljazeera's interim Baghdad bureau chief Majid Khadir denied the accusations. "He is completely wrong. What we are doing is conveying exactly what each party says about Iraqi problems, especially elections," said Khadir. "Qatar is an Israeli collaborator and its emir is a former Baathist. The lies of Aljazeera have tried to lead to al-Sistani's assassination." He was referring to the news organisations reports last week that the Shia cleric had escaped an assassination attempt. Khadir pointed out that the channel quoted wire agencies and al-Ghadir television, which broadcasts from the Shia-stronghold city of Najaf.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 14:22 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Qatar is an Israeli collaborator and its emir is a former Baathist. The lies of Aljazeera have tried to lead to al-Sistani's assassination."

Huh? Who said that? Khadir or the imam?
Posted by: wuzzalib || 02/14/2004 21:07 Comments || Top||

#2  After todays action in Falluja, the civil war is on.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 23:12 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Algeria poll crisis deepens
A second opposition party has raised political tensions in oil-rich Algeria by quitting the presidential race and accusing authorities of preparing fraudulent elections in April. The Socialist Forces Front (FFS) joined on Saturday a growing list of parties calling for a boycott on 8 April. This would be a repeat of 1999 when all candidates apart from Abd al-Aziz Boutaflika, backed by the powerful military, pulled out, citing fraudulent conditions. President Boutaflika, a former foreign minister, has pledged a free and fair ballot. He recently invited foreign election observers and called on state media to give candidates more air time on radio and television networks. "The FFS considers it politically irresponsible and morally indecent to go ahead with an election that only serves the regime, the mafia circles and those benefiting from the oil sector," the FFS said in a statement received on Saturday.
Makes you wonder how long the carcasse of Algeria is going to stink before something actually happens...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 14:17 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine
Hamas denies Zionist claims on martyr Abu Skheila
Gaza - The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has categorically denied that one of its field commanders, who was martyred in yesterday’s Zionist incursion, was involved in the killing of three Americans in northern Gaza more than three months ago. Zionist sources claimed that Hani Abu Skheila, 27, was involved in the blast that targeted an American motorcade on 15/10/2003 and killed three Americans. The sources further claimed that Abu Skheila was one of the bodyguards of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas founder and spiritual leader, and participated in a number of operations against occupation forces. Sheikh Saeed Siyam, one of the Hamas leaders, described such allegations as sheer lies, explaining that Abu Skheila was one of the Qassam commanders in northern Gaza Strip but was not involved in any way in the killing of the three Americans. He recalled that the Qassam Brigades had issued a statement yesterday denying any connection to the American motorcade blast. Siyam further said that the martyr was not one of Sheikh Yassin’s bodyguards, which further revealed the Zionist lies.

The Qassam Brigades had mourned the death of Abu Skheila in his capacity as one of the prominent Qassam commanders who took part in a number of major operations against occupation forces. The statement said that Abu Skheila survived two assassination attempts last year and had several courageous and heroic stands. The statement revealed that Abu Skheila had participated in the martyrdom operation of the Qassam Brigades’ first female commando Reem Al-Rayashi in Erez crossing that left four Zionist soldiers dead and ten others wounded. The martyr was also working in the manufacturing of Qassam missiles, mortar shells and explosive devices, according to the statement.
Another one associated with the lovely and presumably talented Reem. Looks like they're wiping out that particular menage à dix...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 14:06 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Qassam Mujahid assassinated in front of his house
Ramallah - A reliable Palestinian source has affirmed that Zionist occupation soldiers hiding in a civilian car shot and killed Samer Jasser Arrar in front of his family house in Qarawat Bani Zeid village to the north of Ramallah city. Kamal Mohammed, member in the village's municipal council, said that the occupation forces carried the martyr's body to the nearby Zionist settlement of Halmish.
"Yeah. They didn't bump him off there. The got him in front of his house and moved the body..."
The Zionist special force had kidnapped Samer, 27, after shooting and seriously wounding him this morning. Eyewitnesses said that the force was disguised in plain clothes and left the young man bleed to death.
Ahah. A slow death. Gut shot, left to watch his life's blood dribble out...
They added that the force arrested the Imam of the village's mosque who was accompanying Samer. The occupation forces have been chasing Samer for almost two years for affiliation with the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, and for launching anti-occupation raids. The Zionist troops had killed ten villagers in Qarawat Bani Zeid populated by around 10,000 people since eruption of the Aqsa intifada in late September 2000 including women and children.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/14/2004 13:50 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hamas site; watch for pro-Haman bias!
Posted by: Korora || 02/14/2004 13:56 Comments || Top||

#2  No colleteral damage for the pali's to bitch about. Neat.
Posted by: Evert Visser || 02/14/2004 13:58 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
War Wrecks Liberia Health Care System
Women, minorities affected most ... oh sorry, thought this was the New York Times.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - After more than a decade of war, less than 10 percent of Liberians have access to health care and only about 25 percent have access to safe drinking water, the U.N. Environment Program said Friday.
Brilliant! Holmes, how do you do it?
In 2003, just 25 doctors were working in Liberia’s public health system and the nation of 3.3 million had only one functioning sewage system, UNEP said in a report.
"And it’s backed up!"
"The impact of conflict on Liberia’s human and urban environments cannot be overstated. During 14 years of war, one in three Liberians has been displaced (and) more than half a million remain in temporary housing or camps," the report, "Desk Study on the Environment in Liberia," said.
Wonder what the per diem was for writing that?
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s executive director, said the key to Liberia’s reconstruction was protecting its forests, which he described as "the asset of this country." A U.N. Security Council ban on Liberia’s timber trade took effect July 5 to prevent Taylor’s government from chopping down protected forests to finance rebel groups in the region. Toepfer said the ban should remain in place until the troubled country has an effective and independent forest authority.
With the UN’s help that will be in about 25 years.
Liberia’s forestry and logging sector made up nearly 26 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and almost 58 percent of export revenue in 2002, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 12:00:16 PM || Comments || Link || [336089 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure the UN will be willing to provide assistance, just like they did with the Oil for Food program...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/14/2004 15:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Get Hillary and her Health Care Task Force there. Stat!
Posted by: ed || 02/14/2004 18:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, I heard rumors that wars will do that. Was this article in "Duh", the UN beareaucrats monthly magazine?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 21:44 Comments || Top||

#4  tu3031 - Lol! I thought it was F**kin Duh... In the future I will post it as f**kin Duh - the correct syntax. ;-)
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 22:18 Comments || Top||

#5  F**kin Duh isn't a monthly at the UN, it's a daily. At least.

I too will use the proper syntax; I'll even put a '™' on it if tu and .com wish :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 23:27 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Mauritania Said to Nab 5 Terror Suspects
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) - Police in Mauritania have arrested five suspected members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, sources close to security forces in this desert West African nation said Friday.
"Yew ain’t from ’round here, are yews?"
A Tunisian and an Algerian were among those arrested, but the nationalities of the other three have not been determined, the sources told The Associated Press on condition they not be identified further. Top police officials refused to confirm or deny the arrests, which were first reported in Mauritania’s Le Calame weekly.
"We can say no more!"
The security sources said the five suspects were foreigners who arrived in Mauritania several weeks ago, settling in the capital, Nouakchott. The city draws a number of foreign Islamists, who arrive on the grounds of studying the Quran and Islamic law.
Which you just can’t do properly anywhere else but in Mauritania, by Gawd!
Mauritania, an Islamic republic straddling black and Arab Africa, has a Western-looking government that has cracked down on alleged Muslim extremists since before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But international security experts allege al-Qaida cells and other Islamic militants are present in the country.
Well sure they are, it’s a Muslim country after all.
The United States recently sent a team of security experts to Mauritania to help officials guard their borders against infiltration by alleged terrorists and race car drivers others.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/14/2004 11:55:08 AM || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Shia businessmen resurgent
Edited for brevity.
Room 1503 at the Ishtar Sheraton hotel in downtown Baghdad was a bit of a mess. But the mess had promise not seen in any Iraqi hotel since the 1970s. Italian marble tiles lay piled in the center of the room on a recent morning. Next to them was a stylish white bathtub. On the balcony, workers stood on newly laid terracotta tiles, preparing to install dark wood shutters. The room would have a minibar, its designers said, German designer bathroom fixtures, an electronic safe and a keycard door. It would look just like a business hotel room anywhere else in the world. But it would be a first for Baghdad. Room 1503 is a model put together by International Trade Investment (ITI), an Iraqi company bidding for the $7-million contract to renovate the high-rise hotel, which looks like it hasn’t been painted for a couple of decades. ITI is owned and run mainly by Izzat al-Shahbandar, a Shia Muslim businessman who left Iraq in 1981 and only returned after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime last year.

Shahbandar, who wears well-fitted suits and smokes cigars with a studied relaxation, is among a new wave of Shia businessmen achieving success here. As Iraq’s Shia majority grows in political and religious power, long-suppressed Shia business owners also are quietly taking advantage of enormous new opportunities for making money in Iraq. Many, like Shahbandar, have returned to Iraq after years overseas accumulating experience and contacts; others languished under Hussein, whose Sunni-dominated regime cut Shias out of profitable businesses. "It will lead the Shia to become more powerful in Iraq," said Shahbandar’s nephew, Ahmed Shahbandar, 29, director of ITI’s commercial section. "The political power of the Shia must be supported by the strong economic power of the Shia in order to be secure."

Ahmed’s friend and business partner, Mahmoud Khozai, 40, explained that the Shia business community must rely on good relations with leaders of the sect’s religious hierarchy. "The businessman needs the religious powers to support him," said Khozai, who is starting work on setting up an airline for ITI. "They need the ayatollahs. For people to trust these business people they need good relations with the ayatollahs." Iraq’s powerful Shia clergy have something to gain from the businessmen, too: Shia tradition holds that a man must give 20 percent of his income to the poor, usually through the clergy.
...who will ensure that the poor see about five percent after administrative costs according to the universal practice.
Posted by: Dar || 02/14/2004 11:12:09 AM || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's all get together and make money in peace. Yeah! If you want to do a double tithe... mo power to ya.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||


The ’Virgil’ of Iraqi graffiti
Edited for brevity.
The graffiti marking nearly every wall in Baghdad is obscene, inaccurate and often hilarious. Exercising a newfound freedom of political expression, Baghdad’s warring scribes scratch out each other’s manifestos and superimpose their own, turning miles of gray concrete walls into a cacophony of public opinion. In a city where graffiti was once punishable by death, there’s barely a surface that doesn’t shout a political position, from the sacred — "We will return with the army of Muhammad" — to the vulgar: "Saddam, eat [expletive]." "This is a very dangerous matter, this matter of the writing," says retired army officer Amir Nayef Toma, 52. "Because through it, you can understand the entire feelings of a people — their suffering, their feelings and even their hopes." Mr. Toma is the Virgil of Baghdad’s graffiti inferno. A full-time scholar of the word, he wanders through the city transcribing the nocturnal tirades and translating them into English. For the price of a cup of tea, he will conduct a guided tour of the raucous new marketplace of ideas.

The journey begins in Bab al-Muatham, near Baghdad’s old city. "Everyone is erasing everyone else," says Mr. Toma, pointing to a snarl of slogans in yellow, black and blue paint. "Look, what can you understand from this?" "Saddam eats beans ...," begins a scrawl in dirty ocher. "Iraqis, when they say this word, mean that he runs away," explains Mr. Toma, delicately translating an offending verb as "gives air from someplace in his body."
Must be a sneeze...
A yard or two further, the same ocher handwriting declares, "Death to the traitor Saddam Hussein." Another writer has tried, unsuccessfully, to scratch out the word "traitor," and lamely retorts, in blue paint, that "Saddam Hussein is more honorable." "The Ba’ath Party is the party of filth," declares ocher. "Long live Iraq, long live Saddam, and long live the honorable Iraqi resistance," comes the blue Ba’athist’s frustrated reply. "The Ba’ath is the party of pimps," responds ocher. To this, the blue scribbler has no reply. "Come out, you Ba’ath, and let the hate wash over you," taunts ocher, perhaps a little disappointed. But blue is silent; the battle is over, at least on this wall.
Posted by: Dar || 02/14/2004 11:06:47 AM || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These people need decent dial ups and a good blog. My understanding is that Arabic is an excellent language for ranting in, altho perhaps that's all it's good for . Enlighten Me.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Yep, they are ready for blog threads. How do you spell "Rantburg" in Arabic?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/14/2004 13:25 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if "Clapton is God" has made any Baghdad walls yet.........
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 14:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm waiting to see "Frodo Lives!"
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/14/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Narrowband blogs.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 02/14/2004 23:08 Comments || Top||


Red Cross cleared to visit Saddam
Edited for brevity.
U.S. authorities have given the international Red Cross permission to see Saddam Hussein, but no date has been set, the organization said Saturday. The ICRC requested permission to visit Saddam soon after he was captured Dec. 13 and the United States declared him a prisoner of war. "We have had a green light for a visit," Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a newspaper interview. "However, we don’t yet know when it will take place." ICRC spokesman Florian Westphal confirmed Kellenberger’s comments, but told The Associated Press he could not say when U.S. authorities had given the organization permission to see the toppled Iraqi leader. "We hope to see him as soon as possible," Westphal said. The ICRC traditionally works behind the scenes and refuses to comment on specific cases. Kellenberger said the same rules would apply after it sees Saddam. "Why make an exception for him? He’s a prisoner of war," he was quoted as saying. "We don’t talk publicly about conditions of detention. But we discuss them in a very clear manner with the authorities concerned."
Posted by: Dar || 02/14/2004 10:53:55 AM || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Let's see, I think I can squeeze you in for a 9:45 appointment on August 10th,...


... 2008."
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/14/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Say hi for us.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/14/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||


Jordan Charges Four with Plot to Attack Americans
Jordan has charged four men with plotting to carry out attacks on Americans in the kingdom, state security prosecutor Colonel Mahmoud Obeidat said on Saturday. Obeidat confirmed Jordanian press reports of the charges, but did not give further details. The dailies Al-Rai and Ad-Dustour said the four men were accused of possessing an illegal automatic weapon and conspiring to carry out attacks on Americans, especially those living in the Azraq area where Jordan’s biggest air base is located, 70 km northeast of Amman and 240 km from the Iraqi border. Three of the men are in custody and have admitted to plotting such attacks, but the fourth, a finance ministry employee, is on the run, the papers said. The charges carry the death penalty. Al-Rai said the suspects had practiced using a Kalashnikov automatic rifle at a farm owned by the uncle of one of them, and watched video footage of "resistance operations." They became strict Muslims in 2003 and thought of "jihad and martyrdom to repent their sins," it reported.
Posted by: TS || 02/14/2004 10:21:48 AM || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The charges carry the death penalty"
Now your talking.
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/14/2004 11:13 Comments || Top||

#2 
They became strict Muslims in 2003 and thought of "jihad and martyrdom to repent their sins," it reported.

The choice was either to do that or to try to correct the problems caused by their previous sins.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 23:04 Comments || Top||


15 21 Killed, 35 Injured in Iraq Gunbattle
Insurgents attacked a police station and a government building on Saturday, sparking a gunbattle, killing 15 people and wounding 22 others, police and hospital officials said. The gunmen, riding in vehicles, opened fire on the buildings with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, police officer Essam Yaseen said. The wounded included five policemen and three civilians. The two buildings are about a half mile apart. In the gunbattle that ensued, Iraqi security forces took cover under a hail of gunfire, hiding in doorways and around corners. A petrol bomb burned in the street and a rocket-propelled grenade could be heard whizzing by. Abdul Hamid al-Janabi, a security official at Fallujah hospital, said at least 15 people were killed. Of the 22 wounded, 19 were policemen, along with two women and a child. The dead included policemen and civilians, al-Janabi said. Two of the attackers were killed, he said, though it was not clear if they were counted among the 15. Two wounded attackers brought to the hospital were arrested, he said.

More, from al-Jizz...
Iraqi police hit in daring resistance raid
An estimated 21 people have been killed and 35 wounded after suspected anti-occupation fighters attacked a police station and local government building in the Iraqi town of Falluja. In separate but coordinated attacks the gunmen, driving in three cars, opened fire on the buildings with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, said police officer Issam Yasin. In the first incident, up to 50 attackers stormed the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps compound, firing mortars, explosives and light machine guns. The assault sparked a fierce exchange of gunfire with ICDC members. According to Aljazeera's correspondent, 19 people were killed in that attack. "Their weapons were more powerful than our kalashnikovs," a police office was quoted as saying. Fourteen of the slain were police officers. The attackers went from room to room, freeing about 100 prisoners held in the compound, another police officer said. It was not known if the escapees included suspected resistance fighters.

The gunmen also attacked the local mayor's office, about a kilometre away. There, two Iraqi policemen were killed, according to Aljazeera's correspondent. A hospital official confirmed several people had been brought in for treatment. Of the wounded, most were policemen, though two women and a child were among the injured, a security official at Falluja hospital, Abd al-Hamid al-Janabi said. Two wounded fighters brought to the hospital were arrested, he said. Police were still on high alert hours after the blast, maintaining positions on the rooftops of police stations and government buildings. Aljazeera's correspondent reports that the situation in the town is tense, after a curfew imposed to "control security".
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 3:06:09 AM || Comments || Link || [336123 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sounds like a pretty hectic battle going on by the t.v news reports,perhaps the Iraqi police need direct comms to US commanders who can say call up an A-10 or Apache to aid or scare the Iraqi's away. A B1 in Afganistan apparently frightened the living shit out of a crowd of around 2500 who were getting out of hand at a 'protest' with some US spec forces, flew over them flat out in full burner at about 200 feet! they soon went home
Posted by: Jon Shep U.K || 02/14/2004 4:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Fallujah sounds like it needs a couple of enemas in quick succession.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/14/2004 5:08 Comments || Top||

#3  I was at an airshow in Australia in 2000. They had a B1 fly-over the runway pretty low (I have no idea how low). We were some 400 yds away. The roar was totally unreal - more felt than heard. I think if I'd been 200 feet below it, I would have gone home too! It also looked the part coming in over the runway...

The only thing louder was a Tornado (yay!) going just subsonic down the runway. Watching it come in, it was almost silent (as you'd expect!), but *expletive deleted* it was an *extraordinary* feeling as it went past!
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 02/14/2004 6:50 Comments || Top||

#4  For pure noise it's still hard to beat 2 J79s in afterburn mode.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 8:49 Comments || Top||

#5  My brother is a B-1 navigator. As he told me, a sonic boom from 3000 feet overhead can really ruin an Afghani's day. Some US troops were taking fire from a farmhouse. First pass—boom! Second pass—flares. Third pass—they gave up. The plane didn't have to drop any bombs. I consider that elegant.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/14/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Gotta love the B-1b, the Ugly Duckling is coming into it's own. Carter just couldn't quite do the partial birth abortion on it.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  My office at RAF Alconbury was about 70 feet from the fast-launch run-up pad. The worst noise in the world is caused by a pair of F-111s running to full throttle just before releasing the brake and hitting the burners. EVERYTHING shakes. We always had to re-level the pool table in the breakroom after they visited our otherwise quiet little backwater base. Unfortunately they visited often - one of the reasons I have a severe tinnitus problem today.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/14/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||

#8  ...Having made the B-52 the other woman in my life twenty-five years ago, I still look a little sideways at the Bone - but there is no question that the Lancer has proven herself once and for all. Long life and health to her and her crews.
BTW OP - An FB-111 (SAC's bomber version) was worse. A friend of mine who crew chiefed them at Plattsburg swore that if you blipped the throttle just right, you could easily break windows. All I know is that I was buzzed by one in full TFR mode when he was in full burner. To this day, I swear they should have kept a few in the inventory just to scare the hell out of people with.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/14/2004 12:04 Comments || Top||

#9  The most astounding thing I ever saw / heard was the B-70 Valkyrie at an air show at Carswell AFB in Ft Worth, TX. I was so young, but that 6-pack really rattled and rumbled every molecule.

On topic, the problem is the same one we've had since the Turks fell for the EU carrot and were suckered into betraying the coalition - not that this was all that distasteful to the Erdogan Islamic shitheads who had just taken power.

We had a hammer, but no anvil, so the Sunni Triangle got a pass. And this has cost us dearly for the last 6+ months. I was vilified for proposing a truly Byzantine / hardass approach to stopping the Ba'athist BS from the Triangle. I was right - and the CA has made a few semi-harsh attempts to return the terror to these asshats.

The time is long past that we should get medieval on their asses. And for all the wankers who think being tough on them won't work, well children, you don't know dick about Arabs - time for your bedtime story, now. FOAD, 'tards.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 12:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe Fallujah has to be dealt with the old-fashioned way: Deposit all the men in concentration camps and start sorting.
Posted by: Hiryu || 02/14/2004 12:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Never had a chance to witness F-111/B-1s doing pass overs. I've heard enough Hornets, Prowlers, and Harriers though. I really enjoy a Harrier going into hover mode, the cure for the common cold as it shakes the phlem outta your chest.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 14:41 Comments || Top||

#12  They had a B1 fly-over the runway pretty low (I have no idea how low).

Flying at treetop level is the B-1's specialty, courtesy of its terrain-following radar. Combine that with its own low radar signature and detection becomes very difficult. One noteworthy aspect about its development was that treetop-level flight increases the risk of collisions with birds, so tests were done on canopy windshield durability with live chickens fired through improvised cannons. The engines probably went through similar tests.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/14/2004 15:46 Comments || Top||

#13  The Fallujah Cop Shop (and, I suggest all the rest in the Sunni Triangle, as well) needs to be outfitted like Fort Apache, The Bronx... shielded and armed to the teeth. These Iraqis deserve whatever we can do to help them survive the attacks by their Ba'athist brothers - and return the sentiment 10x. If we are to ever get our people out, they have to be given a fighting chance, literally, and events like this certainly don't help recruiting efforts to build such a force.

Just as we wait to get hit again, rather than taking it drop-dead seriously in Homeland Security measures, the toll mounts in Iraq - for both the locals and the CA. Maybe this will be the tipping point for the necessary response in Iraq. I guess a nice dirty bomb at Long Beach's docks or the petro-chemical complex in Houston will do the trick in the US. We shall see. I am certainly not impressed thus far with our efforts to clean the Triangle, protect the locals, or protect the US. Mucho money goes out the door, however, and knowing how deliriously ineffective the Fibbie Leadership is at prevention - it is apparent to me that if the binnies weren't so incompetent overall, we would've had Big Hit #2 by now.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 16:11 Comments || Top||

#14  "so tests were done on canopy windshield durability with live chickens fired through improvised cannons."

-In my dry sense of humor, that is some funny shit, but I sense a PETA fatwa commencing in 5,4,3..........
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 17:07 Comments || Top||

#15  BAR urban legend has it that to begin with the AF in a cost cutting move used frozen chickens in the cannon and the planes kept failing the test...
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||

#16  As to chickens (frozen or otherwise), Snopes has some info (of course!).
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 02/14/2004 18:58 Comments || Top||

#17  The solution to Fallujah is to pull out ALL of the good guys, and start running B-52s over the area, one behind the other until there's nothing standing. I guarantee you'll get some secondaries, and I also guarantee that the Sunni triangle will be as quiet as two voles in a room full of cats for the next year.

The Arab mentality judges kindness as a weakness, and weakness is to be exploited. They do understand power and ruthlessness. Might be well past time to give them an example of just how bad Uncle can be, if you make him mad enough.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/14/2004 20:59 Comments || Top||

#18  urban legend has it that to begin with the AF in a cost cutting move used frozen chickens in the cannon and the planes kept failing the test.

According to the mag I read that detailed the B-1's history, live chickens were used until some animal rights group made a big stink about it, at which time a switch to dead birds was made. Since the birds were going to be sent to see "The Colonel" anyway, Rockwell's engineers didn't see what the problem was. But apparently, dead chickens turned out to have a different effect, however no further testing using live animals was made since enough useful data had been compiled from the live tests.

I still marvel every time I get a chance to see the B-1 up close. And the head-on view has a rather sinister look about it.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/14/2004 22:53 Comments || Top||

#19  F-111 didn't usually touch down at RAF Bentwaters but one evening one did. Wanted a hamburger was the word. But I will never forget that badass's takeoff. He left on his afterburners well into his assent and lit up the sky. We was in giggles.

Dot's right. Load the police for bear and go hunting. If we don't then lets leave or lets do Op's suggestion.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 23:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Educrat Idiocy - Not Just For Big City Schools Anymore!
It may be the town’s slogan, but it doesn’t meet the approval of the superintendent who has placed a school ban on the centennial T-shirts that read: ``Climax -- More than just a feeling.’’
Jane, meet Dick.
About a dozen students wore the Climax T-shirts to school this week in protest, and one girl was sent home Wednesday for refusing to turn her shirt inside out.
Although she did turn her hat around and spit.
Shirley Moberg, superintendent of Climax-Shelly schools, said the slogan’s sexual innuendo made it inappropriate for students to wear.
Dick, meet Shirley.
School officials had ``turned a blind eye’’ to students wearing the shirts until recently, when a teacher wore it to school and a person complained. The shirts are no longer allowed to be worn at school, she said.
Silly sons of a diseased animal-trough wiper!
Climax, a town of roughly 270 near the North Dakota border, adopted the ``More than a feeling’’ slogan in 1996 for its centennial. The slogan was used in advertising and promotions, and the T-shirts have been around for years.
Tip for Shirley: Pissing off most of the teenage population of a town of 270 people is probably a bad idea.
Climax-Shelly junior Ali Tweten said the shirts have been allowed in the past and the ban seemed to come out of nowhere.
"I mean, what a dick!"
``When I wear my T-shirt, its a sign of pride for my town,’’ Tweten said. ``I don’t really wear it to be meant in that way (as a sexual innuendo)’’... The students who wore the shirt to school Wednesday were told to go to the bathroom and turn it inside out. All did, except 18-year-old Bethany Grove, a senior, who was suspended for the afternoon. ``The T-shirt has been a tradition,’’ Grove said. ``It’s been around for almost 10 years. A lot of people have them.’’
"And anyway, Shirley’s a self-important asshole, everybody knows that."
Climax, after all, is the town’s name, she said.
Augh! Logic!... Run, Dick, run!
As part of its centennial celebration, a contest was held to pick a town slogan. Some of the other entries included: ``No End to Climax,’’ ``Cling to the Culmination: Climax Forever’’ and ``Bring a Friend to Climax.’’
An entire small town full of smartasses. Shirley must be so lonely...
Posted by: Cap || 02/14/2004 2:53:57 AM || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LOL, I wonder if Climax Georgia is going to have an anniversary anytime soon.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 8:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Meanwhile, similar outbreaks have been reported in Foreplay, Nebraska; Erection, Delaware; and Sugar Walls, Louisiana; while a rioting mob of frustrated soccer moms has reportedly sacked and burned the county courthouse in Soft Lead, New Mexico.
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Chuckle. Moberg will have a tizzy fit when she learns the village was named for a tobacco company. SIGH! So much to protest; so little time.
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  It all started in Intercourse, PA, so very long ago.

And I thought I had it bad as a Tefft (Middle School) Trojan.
Posted by: eLarson || 02/14/2004 10:16 Comments || Top||

#5  ``Bring a Friend to Climax.’’

Must...resist...grinning!
Posted by: Charles || 02/14/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#6  I would suggest that Bethany was prematurely ejected
Posted by: Frank G || 02/14/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Some people just aren't happy unless they're micromanaging the lives of others. Such people should NEVER be allowed to assume a position of authority, and if they should somehow sneak in, should be dismissed as soon as they are discovered. I won't go so far as to demand they be tarred and feathered, but a good swift kick where it'd do the most good would certainly be called for. I HATE control freaks!!!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/14/2004 11:01 Comments || Top||

#8  It all started in Intercourse, PA, so very long ago.
And as all good railroad fans know... Intercourse is the last stop before Paradise (PA)... I'll work Bird in Hand into the conversation next year.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 11:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Climax--More than a locomotive.
Posted by: Dar || 02/14/2004 14:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Blue Ball, Shipman, you've got to get Blue Ball in there, too.
Posted by: Pete Stanley || 02/14/2004 15:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Yes! How could I ever forget Blue Ball? This is what one pak shu pur suffered from.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#12  "Blue Ball"

Singular? Though one may, indeed, suffice, you have my condolences, gentlemen.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 15:52 Comments || Top||

#13  And don't forget Knockemstiff, Ohio!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 02/14/2004 23:36 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Kashmir Korpse Kount
The army today foiled a major infiltration bid killing five intruders near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir while four militants and a civilian were killed overnight in separate incidents, official sources said here today.
Thought Perv said there wasn't any more infiltration?
According to Brigadier KVS Lalotra, commander Bhimber gali sector in Poonch district, five intruders were killed in a gunbattle with the army when they were trying to sneak into Indian territory last night. The operation to neutralise them lasted 13 hours. The recoveries from the slain militants included three rifles with ten magzines and three boxes of AK ammunition containing a total of 2250 rounds, 310 loose rounds, two pistols with four magzines and 50 rounds, nine handgrenades, 24 IEDs, 20 kg of explosives, Rs 10,000 in Indian currency and Rs 25,000 in Pak currency. The bodies of two other terrorists were still lying near the LoC, he said, adding that five infiltration bids were made in Bhimber gali sector since October 2003 and the army has eliminated 22 terrorists in these attempts in the area.

Security forces killed a self-styled battalion commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Tariq Ahmad Khan, in a gunfight at Mmattan in Anantnag district. In another encounter, security forces killed three militants of Hizbul, including its "launching commander" after a heavy exchange of fire at Wangam-Reshipora in Handwara area. The commander has been identified as Rafiq Ahmad Bakarwal alias Sajjad and his two associates as Mushtaq Ahmad Malla and Ashiq Hussain Parray. A dead body of one Zulfi was found lying under suspicious circumstances at Sail village in Udhampur district yesterday, the sources said, adding the police is investigating the cause of his death.
"A dead body, y'say?"
"Yessir. With a knife in his back."
"Hmmmm... I'd call those circumstances suspicious, wouldn't you Patel?"
"Well, it is Udhampur district, sir."
"Yasss. That's true. Prob'ly nothing to it, but we should check it out."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 1:51:30 AM || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  five intruders were killed in a gunbattle with the army when they were trying to sneak into Indian territory last night.

sounds like a set up.
Posted by: B || 02/15/2004 7:33 Comments || Top||


Pakistan has never been truly Islamic, says Gen Abbasi
The Azmat-e-Islam Movement of Pakistan party chief on Friday launched an attack on Pakistani leaders and claimed that the country had never been a truely Islamic state since Independence and that there were still more than 13,000 un-Islamic rules existing in the country.
Ohfergawdsake. Get off it, why dontcha?
Major General (retd) Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, also the party’s founder, told reporters at the Press Club that Islam offers perfect economic and judiciary systems, but the whole governing system had been a mix of the un-Islamic and British systems. “Because of this dual system, the country is still under a debt of US $0.35 billion. Yet, Pakistan needs US $5 billion to cover its entire foreign loans every year,” the party chief claimed. He criticised former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif for idealising former Israeli prime minister Golda Mayor and former South African president Nelson Mandela respectively, saying the two foreign leaders had no knowledge of Islam. “Even President Pervez Musharraf says his ideal person is the founder of the Turkish state, Kamal Ataturk,” he said.
Perhaps because he's read more than one book in his life?
He urged Muslim unity under the umbrella of one leader. “The past glory and the Muslim world lie in unity and discipline. The Khalafat-e-Rashda system is the only remedy to rekindle the ancient values of Muslims,” he said. He called on Muslims to shun the International Monetary Fund and other international donors and instead should rely on their own resources.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 12:57:31 AM || Comments || Link || [336062 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
He called on Muslims to shun the International Monetary Fund and other international donors and instead should rely on their own resources.

A stopped clock shows the correct time twice a day.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2  ah the old khaliphat-ar rashda which lasted 29 years--the four rightly guided prophets--three of whom were murdered--great ideal to aspire to
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI || 02/14/2004 1:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Islam offers perfect economic and judiciary systems
Yep. All you need is a proven reserve of 260 billion barrels of crude and a bunch of madmen with sticks to enforce the Sharia and Pakland can be just as prosperous and just as the Magic Kingdom.
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Finally some sanity. I may be reinterested in the bliss known as fakeness. Collect the rocks, weigh them as would the prophet. May he still rot, or stay rotted.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 2:20 Comments || Top||

#5  And this is bad?
Posted by: JFM || 02/14/2004 5:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Lucky - you get the good weed, dontcha? I can tell...LOL
Posted by: Frank G || 02/14/2004 16:06 Comments || Top||

#7  It's all allegory and cadence Frank G.... try snapping your fingers beat style as you read Mr. Guy, his missives then go from good to like outasight. Yeah. Lucky is RBs' Ginsburg. Yeah.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||


One person arrested with explosives in Delhi
Delhi Police have arrested one person allegedly with four kilograms of explosives in his possession here, a senior police official said on Saturday. Ved Prakash, hailing from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir , was nabbed in Mukarba Chowk area of North West Delhi on Friday evening, Additional Commissioner of Police Karnal Singh said. Prakash was nabbed while he was on his way to handover the consignment to his contacts as per instructions of some Pakistan-based militants, Singh said
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 12:55:22 AM || Comments || Link || [336063 views] Top|| File under:


Russia
A Candidate From Russia Is in London With New Tale
Ivan P. Rybkin, the Russian presidential candidate who disappeared for five days before resurfacing in Ukraine this week, appeared in London on Friday and offered yet another explanation for his bizarre absence, saying he had been drugged and kidnapped.
"I shink it wuzh drugsh... I shink I wuzh kidnapped... Have we been innerdushed? Hic!"
None of Mr. Rybkin’s remarks could be corroborated, and his new version contradicted statements he made after returning to Moscow on Tuesday night and in a rambling radio interview the next day. Mr. Rybkin said Friday at a news conference that he had been lured to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, on the pretense of meeting with Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen separatist and one of Russia’s most wanted men. Mr. Rybkin, who served as a security adviser to Boris N. Yeltsin, was involved in the peace talks that ended the first Chechen war in 1996 and has remained an advocate of talks to end the second war, which began in 1999.
"Yesh! 'At's wudda wuzh doin'! [Hic!] I wuzh endin' the Sheshner-... Chuchner-... Caucasus war!"
He said that after arriving at an apartment in Kiev, he felt drowsy after having sandwiches and tea and then fell unconscious for what turned out to be four days. When he awoke, he said, two armed men showed him a compromising videotape of him that he refused to describe except to say it was meant to intimidate him into silence.
That would be Tiffany. And Brandy. And the Jolly Green Giant cream corn...
Mr. Rybkin suggested that his kidnapping was an attempt to discredit liberal challengers to President Vladimir V. Putin before the presidential election on March 14 and that he could speak freely only now about what had happened to him. "I do not know who did it, but I know who has benefited from it," he said, according to the official Itar-Tass news agency.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/14/2004 12:51:22 AM || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here is a transcript of an interview about this incident with Rybkin himself, who incoherent and makes no sense. http://www.rferl.org/specials/russianelection/article/2004/2/B4CE3CEC-8B19-48D7-8901-C36E6C517741.html
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm still learning how to post a link. I think this is how I should have done it.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 7:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Gay Marriage Debate Goes National
As Massachusetts lawmakers wrestled with whether to outlaw gay marriage, nearly 100 same-sex couples were married in San Francisco and couples tried to marry in other states, reflecting America’s divisions over whether gays can legally wed. The issue of gay marriage is one of the most divisive in the United States. It pits arguments for basic civil rights against deeply held religious beliefs. It may become an issue in the presidential campaign.

There has been a lot of news lately about gay marriages, but that’s old news in Boulder, Colorado. In an article called Reminiscing About Boulder we find this under the heading Funniest thing? :

Sometime in the ’70s there was a city clerk named Clea Rorex. A couple of gay and lesbian couples had applied for marriage licenses and Clea issued them, claiming that she could find no statute that prevented it. Of course, this created controversy, with nationwide publicity. A cowboy named Roz, a conservative left over from the old days, was puzzled by the issuance of these marriage licenses. After much thought, he mounted his horse—a mare—and rode it into the courthouse to Clea’s office. There he declared, “If a boy can marry a boy and a girl can marry a girl, then why can’t an old cowboy marry his horse?” And he applied for a marriage license. Clea asked the horse’s name and age. “Lulu,” Roz said. “She’s 12 years old.” Clea told him that Lulu was underage and Roz would have to wait six years or obtain written consent from Lulu’s parents. At that, Roz retired back to The Walrus, his old watering hole, to puzzle it some more.

I'm mildly surprised to see that this is the most pressing issue occupying Peshawar today. Britney wearing a brassiere today? Janet keep her shirt on? Jean-Benet not dead anymore?
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 12:49:49 AM || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Way to go GK for your post. May I rant.

I love gay people. I love their sex! It's so liberating taint it! rubbing and humping, oh love bot.

Let me be purient for awhile. Marriage isn't about love. Never has been. Oh don't get me wrong, love is a blessing to marriage. I love my wife, usually, but if you knew the strain, she'd divorce me in a minute. "Your always reading Rantburg," she says. "Not always." I sez. "Smiegle loves the master."

But marriage isn't about love. It's about who's the father. Who's the father!

Okay, you say. Some people can't have kids, she's barren, he's impotent. Don't matter. If she ever gets pregnant, he's the father, unless he isn't. That makes her what? If he takes hold of the child, he's the father. Unless he bolts... Then she's a...?

If he fathers a child from some olive skined, 16 year old, while married to his woman, that makes him...?

Bastard kids are a curse on our society. They are blamless, but not the pricks and holes that produce them. Fatherless kids; shame on us. Shame on a society that allows men to stand tall, while turning their back on their progeny. Shame! Shame also on a woman who bares herself to some stud who punks her and leaves her as a bitch. And leaves his kids as bastards.

But I'll tell you this, marriage isn't about love. And it isn't about who your having sex with, loving or not.

Touching pee-pees,, even if in love, don't matter.

I once heard a Muslim lady defend the Islamic practice of four wifes for males. They were okay with it. They knew who the father was of their children. And thats what marrige is.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 1:38 Comments || Top||

#2  The state, whichever state, has absolutely no business issuing a marriage license to a gay couple.

Homosexuality is nothing more than exhibitionism. It is the display of a person's ego that they can go against convention and gladly engage in homosexual sexual activity. Homosexualty is therefore a behavior.

If homosexuals try to claim it is something they have a birth, then it is a birth defect and should be treated, but whether it is a birth defect or not, it is ultimately a behavior and therefore not an acceptable criteria for granting license to marry.

If homosexuals try to claim it is something that is in their family, then here is the perfect opportunity to help society by playing the genetic craps and try to sire with a woman a child to be raised as that child should be, with a man and a woman.

I know, I will see postings from pro gay folks from the left and right on this, but let me again state, that there is nothing that stops a homosexual from marrying someone of the opposite sex. Nothing even stops a homosexual from engaging in heterosexual behavior.

Gay folks have recently been throwing the old anti-interracial marriage laws at us to compare them to the current ban on gay marriage. Those laws forbade marriaged based upon criteria which neither party could change. You can't say that about homosexuality.

Gay marriage confers absolutely no benefit to society. It gives a right to couples who have no business being together in the first place a license to be together. It will be the first right granted simply because of behavior, and given the insanity of our currently laws and the tendency of judges to abdicate their own responsibility, someone will eventually argue (and are in fact arguing now in Kansas) that pederasty is not a crime if it occurs between an adult man and an underage boy.

Once more: The state, whichever state, has absolutely no business issuing a marriage license to a gay couple.
Posted by: badanov || 02/14/2004 3:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I think I understand why the gay community want gay marriage. They want to not get beat up just for being gay. However, I don't think that getting married, especially if it is enforced by the courts, is going to do it. It just sets you up for a backlash. You can't legislate people into liking you, or being accepting of your actions. That has to grow with time and understanding.

I think Lucky is right, the reason why marriage has come about has more to do with the threat bastard children present to society than the sex act that brought them about. It ain't got nothing to do with love, especially that emotional high one gets from being in love.

Homosexuality, we are told is not a "action", its an identity. But it is an identity based on an action. Like a ball player is identified by what he does, play ball. For the gay community to claim that it is something different, something genetic, well, take a look at badanov's post for why that is bad argument.
Posted by: Ben || 02/14/2004 4:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Webster dictionary defines it as the state of being husband and wife; or, the legal union between a man and woman as husband and wife.

I agree w/the dictionary definition. If the homo community wants something a kin to a civil union under state auspices for fiscal concerns, taxes, etc. I'm indifferent to that, I'd leave that one up to each individual state to decide. I just don't want to see the term marriage applied to it as it clearly isn't. Also, marriage or matrimony applies to the state of being married w/emphasis on religous conotations.

It regards to bananov's post; I have an uncle who came out gay couple years back. He had been married to my aunt for 30+ years and had two children w/her. They've obviously since split. I believe it is some sort of birth defect or degenerative gene based on my discussions with the few gays I've known. Ben makes good point of them trying to be more mainstream, yet, most of us don't want it in our face so a backlash maybe inevitable. I personally don't want any serving openly in the military.

Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 7:10 Comments || Top||

#5 
Gay folks have recently been throwing the old anti-interracial marriage laws at us to compare them to the current ban on gay marriage.

It's a good analogy.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/14/2004 7:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Jarhead

Marriage exists because society has an interest in having more and better educated children. Society has no interest in promoting forms of union who are inhernetly sterile and thus no reason to cope with the cost and tax exemptions linked to marriage. Gays can already live together if they want, but whatever the name if gays want to marry, not with my taxes.
Posted by: JFM || 02/14/2004 7:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Now that this issue has been raised up, with the entertainment industry promoting it through shows that show homsexuality as normal or at least not stigmatizing behavior, and liberal news media by and large reporting in a favorable tone - I think that gay marrige will come to pass in my life time. The wall between what was taboo and acceptable has been breached severly - never to be put back up. I wonder which taboo is next to become "normal".
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 8:07 Comments || Top||

#8  I could care less what anybody does in their bedrooms. I have a problem though with homos trying to convert normal people to homosexuality. That's next, if they will be allowed to adopt children.
Posted by: Rafael || 02/14/2004 8:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Hell of a rant Lucky.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||

#10  Actually the state has no business sanctioning marriage in the first place. If you kept the state out of this, the row would not exist. This is another case of the state meddling in places it shouldn't belong.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge || 02/14/2004 9:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Marriage as a government entity exists solely to promote the family unit, yes? So if gay people are raising families legally (thru adoption or spouym donors etc) then how can you exclude them from marriage? You'd have to exclude them from raising kids too.
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 10:26 Comments || Top||

#12  First, we must admit that homosexual behavior is abnormal. NORMAL sexual behavior for the human species is between a man and a woman. We do not need to sanction, much less promote, abnormal behavior. At the same time, unless it can be proved to cause harm to individuals or society, we have no right to ban it. Unfortunately, homosexual behavior has become damaging to our society by attacking the social, religious, and legal institution of marriage. Marriage, as an institution worthy of support, was instigated to assure care and nurturing of children. Sex is fun, but children are the promise of the future. Marriage provides a framework for optimum caring and nurturing of children, and the optimum promise of continuation of the human species. I cannot see how homosexual couples can truly provide the same level of caring and nurturing as a heterosexual couple. One critical point not mentioned about homosexual couples rearing children is the failure of such a relationship to provide a normal environment for sexual and social development of the children. You cannot get "normal" from an abnormal environment.

Homosexual behavior is considered a deadly sin by many of the major religions of the world (although you can hardly tell it by the behavior of some "church" officials). This is because it IS abnormal behavior, and is destructive of the values and mores of society, especially one based on religious values.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/14/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#13  Bullshit, bullshit and even more bullshit.

The people who are attacking the institution of marriage are not gay people, but rather people like JFM and Old Patriot who reduced it to nothing other than child-caring, and even more so Lucky who reduced it to nothing other than "who's the father".

It's not gay people who are attacking the institution of marriage. It's *you* people who are constantly, CONSTANTLY attacking it. Definitely if I shared *your* attitudes about what marriage means, I'd never want to get married in a thousand years. Repeat what you just said to your own children and then just wait and see if *they* will ever wish to get married. Because you are making it sound as the vilest thing to have ever been invented by mankind, a petty thing that's not about love, and isn't about companionship, and it's about societal recognition of either, it's about being able to hump people without confusion about who's the father.

Marriage is good for rearing kids, yeah. But it's also good to have society recognize the lifelong bonds of companionship between two people who say they'll be taking care of each other in better or worse, in sickness or health, in richer or poor, till death does them apart.

And that has nothing to do with whether the couple is gay or straight.

And folk who've been supportive of "gay civil unions" but not "gay marriages", does that mean you won't consider as bigamist a man who has married a woman in a normal marriage, and at the same time has "civil union" with another man?

"Homosexual behavior is considered a deadly sin by many of the major religions of the world."

Yeah, well so is heresy, apostasy and disagreeing with the priesthood, for many of the major religions of the world. Which obviously means that we must make free speech illegal, since it's considered a sin.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 11:41 Comments || Top||

#14  "and it's about societal recognition of either"

"and *isn't* about societal recognition of either", I meant.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 11:47 Comments || Top||

#15  Marriage, as far as the government is concerned, has only to do with money: taxes, inheritance, financial incentives, etc., used to promote a societal end. Religion is only relevant in the way that religions want their beliefs represented by their government.
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 11:58 Comments || Top||

#16  I'm not convinced Aris. Mariage predates all the current religions. A man takes a wife she bares his children, It's a mariage. The tree has a new branch. Love isn't mariage.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/14/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||

#17  I am gonna offend some people with this quip: Looks like Aris likes things Greek style...
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/14/2004 13:40 Comments || Top||

#18  "Marriage, as far as the government is concerned, has only to do with money: taxes, inheritance, financial incentives, etc."

-I think that sums it up well. AFAIK there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution w/regards to marriage. Leads me to believe it is up to the individual states for regulation. If Mass wants to allow gay marriage/civil union but Ohio doesn't want to recognize it, then that's valid.

JFM, I respectfully disagree; I know heterosexual folks who get married w/no intentions of ever having children. Should they be precluded from matrimony or a state marriage license because they are not going to bear any fruit or adopt a child? Would you tell them not w/your taxes? Same goes for gays imo. Again, I respect that many of you on the site have religious reasons for disliking the concept of gay unions. In that regard, if churches don't condone it, fine, but remember, the separation of church and state leaves it to the state to decide if they want to allow it under government vice theocratic auspices.

Aris, I agree w/most of what you say in your post. Though, you lost me w/the bigamist comments at the ends. I guess technically a guy could marry a woman then have a civil union, but I'd think if any of our states allowed civil unions they may put a provision in there because of the fiscal/money/tax angle about another marriage or civil union being entered afterward by either party. Personally, I really don't care either way. I think most people who are gay were born that way, for some it may be a choice. Not sure overall, but I think we've got bigger fish to fry in the world then this issue.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 14:38 Comments || Top||

#19  1. It may become an issue in the presidential campaign.
As an election year issue it would undoubtably lead to acrimonious debate.

2.EPILOGUE:(See comments in original post.) Rorex issued six same-sex licenses in March 1975 before the Colorado Attorney General stepped in and ruled same-sex marriage illegal in Colorado, thus voiding the licenses which had been issued and annulling the marriages.

There are no reports whether Roz ever again applied for a license to marry his mare.
Thus, the question, “why can’t an old cowboy marry his horse?” lingers on.
Posted by: GK || 02/14/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#20  Jarhead

I know of a number of couples who got married with no intention of having children and then change their minds. I am also unwilling to have an interrogatory/medical examination: this is not North Korea.

A married couple who doesn't have child is not the same thing atht accepting a FORM of union.
Posted by: JFM || 02/14/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||

#21  This isn't about love or commitment. It's about MONEY. Pure and simple. Access to health care benifits. The ability to feed at the public trough through tax deductions. Personally if they want to get married fine. Just so the devorces are jusst as acromonious as straight ones can be
Posted by: Cheddarhead || 02/14/2004 16:24 Comments || Top||

#22  JFM, my brother married, never had children, never intended to, his wife is unable to anyhow. They are not interested in adoption. I, otoh, am married, had every intention to have kids, have one infant son to date and will probably have more later on. My marriage is no more meaningful in the eyes of the state then his. Except that I actually get more tax breaks due to my son. OTOH, my marriage probably means more to the Catholic church then theirs because of my wife and I bearing fruit, potential followers, more money in the collection plate, etc., though at this point I don't really give a shit about what the Catholic church thinks anymore.

Now, as for tax dollars, are not gays tax payers as well? I know my uncle makes a lot of money and pays his fair share of taxes. If he and some other dude want to have a union (a physically repulsive thought to me but I digress) and the state allows it, then there you go. They pay their share of taxes, maybe they want some form of societal recognition, who knows.

If an individual state, decides to allow gays to have a civil union or whatever they call it, then the state can decide their access to health benefits, tax exemptions etc. at the state level. More then likely I'd wager, gay civil unions in this country will be up for vote in referendums so the will of the people can decide it. Either way I don't think it's purely about money in their eyes, though I can't say for sure because I'm not really a big fan of gay anything much less talking about who they want to be husband and husband with.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/14/2004 16:49 Comments || Top||

#23  Lucky> Indeed marriage isn't about love. But it *is* about societal recognition of a new family unit.

And families *are* about mutual support and love. And yes about offspring too, but a family without offspring is still considered a family, if the "till death do them part" bit still applies.

Even in old times a man was still responsible to take care of his wife's well-being - and his wife responsible to take care of her husband's household. "Mutual support" see? Not just child-bearing.

Anonymous #17> I'm desperately straight, thank you very much. It's only idiots like you who think that you have be Jew in order not to be antisemetic or that you be gay in order not to be anti-gay.

Jarhead> For those people where it's a choice, I think the proper designation is "bisexual". :-)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 18:01 Comments || Top||

#24  Oh Aris, how romantic! *rapid eye blinks* You're so forceful, yet, yet there's a sweet gentleness in your strength... *rapid breathing* I... I... I think I... wanna puke! *rapid exit*

Lol. This is incrementalism at its best. Get 'em over the shock of / accustomed to /accepting of:
1. public homosexuality
2. public displays of homosexual affection
3. the idea of gay couples living together
4. that gay couples are just like Jim 'n Marge at the PTA
5. that gays can (and should!) raise children
6. whine and moan about not having the same legal benefits
7. work for legal status of civil union
8. work for legal status of marriage

What's the point: monetary advantages.
What comes next? WTF knows.
Benefits to society? I see none of significance.
Drawbacks? Legal institutionalization of genetic box canyon.

I love it when gays say this is not a lifestyle choice, but is genetic, instead. Okay, remove all social stigmas and let all gays come out before they marry and father / bear children. Do this for 2 generations. And that's that, no more gays, for it is a genetic box canyon.

Wha? So it's a lifestyle choice, after all? Okay, so why should society treat your lifestyle with special care?

Hmmm. Y'know, those Sun City Naturists, the Happy Hedonists, the Black 'n Blue S/M Dungeonites, the Man/Boy Love Machine, the GreekGreek Club, the Salem Coven, the Kevorkian Final Exit Assn, and NORML also have lifestyle claims - shouldn't we consider their requests, too? Where does it end?

F**kin Duh.

I think I'll go back to being a biker, as I was about 35 yrs ago. I want special status for bikers. If I wanna ride without a helmet - but not pay more for my insurance - fix it. If I wanna chain my Harley to my bed to keep it from being stolen, you have to construct ramps in all apartment buildings. Hey, I live on the 47th Floor of the Prestonwood Towers. In fact, MegaBitch Panhead an' me, we wanna get married. Fix it up for me. It's my lifestyle. Thanx.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 19:37 Comments || Top||

#25  In fact, MegaBitch Panhead an' me, we wanna get married. Fix it up for me. It's my lifestyle. Thanx.
You can probably find a Harley Holy Man in Daytona in about 10 days who would tie the knot for yawl.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/14/2004 20:12 Comments || Top||

#26  "Okay, so why should society treat your lifestyle with special care?"

It shouldn't. It shouldn't treat the homosexual lifestyle with special care. It should treat it with the exact same care it's treating the *heterosexual* lifestyle.

Now, tell me why do you think society should treat *your* lifestyle (aka heterosexuality) with special care.

---

"And that's that, no more gays, for it is a genetic box canyon."

You have a very simplistic view of genetics, I think. As for me, I don't give a damn about whether heterosexuality or homosexuality is genetic or a choice. Science seems to me to be heading towards the idea that it's a synthesis of the two, with both genetic and other factors playing a role in it -- the last I heard genetics may have more to do with male homosexuality, choice more to with female homosexuality. Or something like that.

But either way who cares? My argument about why gay marriages should be allowed is that I feel it would benefit both the individuals concerned and society at large.

The only ones it *wouldn't* benefit is Christian fundamentalists, who want everyone to conform to their own personal moral codes.

"Where does it end?"

At the place where something being allowed harms either society or one of the individuals concerned, *that's* where we stop.

None of you has ever cared to show *why* gay marriages would harm society so much. You know why you haven't shown that? Because you CAN'T show that.

Which means that all you want to do is have society pamper to your personal "lifestyle" while excluding the "lifestyles" of everyone else.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 20:57 Comments || Top||

#27  Aris, you are the most determinedly disingenuous troll in RB. You appear to debate, but it isn't really debate. You merely select tidbits and talk them to death... your refutation attempts are flat, lame, and utter opinion.

Heterosexuality, in case you aren't totally out of touch with reality, propagates the species. That's rather special. No other combination of two sexes has any merit in nature. Your comment is disingenuous and insipid and intentionally misleading for it is a vapid social opinion, containing zero factual content meant to lead away from factual discussion. Didn't work.

If homosexuality is genetic, and my knowledge of genetics obviously exceeds yours by a wide margin, then it is indeed a box canyon. If a trait, in the form of a specific gene sequence, is not propagated, it is quickly lost from the gene pool. Get it? Simplisme.

It's possible it could pop up in extremely small numbers through a one-off burp of mutation. But consistently and in the same form? No. That's not genetic, son, that's socialization combined with individual choice. Accept it socially, and it recurs. Do you understand the process of mutation? Can you expound upon why, genetically speaking, this particular "mutation" would recur when it is, by the very lifestyle it chooses, being bred out of the population pool? Common sense dictates that it can't and it isn't -- because it is, at least, 99% lifestyle choice. I'm not a geneticist, so I can't address the last 1% containing genetic tendencies or predispositions, but you've demonstrated you can't even add or subtract much smaller simple integers, so I'll pass on any response you might have.

Your post hangs on this sentence:
"I feel it would benefit both the individuals concerned and society at large."

I'm not a Christian, much less a Fundamentalist. I'm an atheist who requires the application of the scientific method and repeatable results before I accept something as fact. You live in your own opinion pool, sans facts, and often sans logic.
Posted by: .com || 02/14/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#28  Well put, .com. Thanks for the additional arguments over and above the purely moral ones. I guess the gay community really is intellectually dishonest about this entire debate. It will cost them dearly, as it should.
Posted by: badanov || 02/14/2004 22:39 Comments || Top||

#29  "Heterosexuality, in case you aren't totally out of touch with reality, propagates the species. That's rather special."

This is just a nitpick but, heterosexual *sex* propagates the species (artificial insemination too, btw), not the desire for heterosexual sex which is what "heterosexuality" is, whether genetically or environmentally-instilled.

We know full well that there's often been sex without true sexual attraction, just for the purpose of childbearing. As ofcourse the Church had in past times recommended.

Your comment is disingenuous and insipid and intentionally misleading for it is a vapid social opinion, containing zero factual content meant to lead away from factual discussion

My, my commentary is so horrible as that, eh? While your troll-like insults and stuff like "oh, you are romantic and strong yet gentle" and that anonymous coward's implication that I must also be gay since I'm defending them, those stuff aren't insipid and they aren't striving to stifle discussion, right?

Can you expound upon why, genetically speaking, this particular "mutation" would recur when it is, by the very lifestyle it chooses, being bred out of the population pool.

Since I already said that I don't care whether it's genetic or societal, why should I care to try and explain such a thing?

But I'll mention a couple possible explanations, a bit down the line.

Common sense dictates that it can't and it isn't

And yet in the case of identical twins, raised in separate households, if one of them is gay, the other has a 50% chance of being gay too, as studies have revealed --- a percentage which may actually be greater if some people are still "in the closet". That's much beyond the societal average, indicating a very strong genetical connection to homosexuality, wouldn't you say?

As for why homosexuality wouldn't breed itself out, I'm no biologist but I can think of several reasons -- if for example male homosexuality passed itself down through female genetic lines, and female homosexuality passed itself down through male genetic line.

Or, for another possible reason, the fact that for thousands of years there existed societies where people *had* to marry to produce heirs regardless of whether they'd prefer to do so or not. Romans and ancient Greeks could easily satisfy their male-male desires on the boy- and man-servants, and still have wives to produce their heirs.

A third reason could be ofcourse that homosexuality/heterosexuality may be a spectrum. A combination of genes makes you 70% attracted to guys and 30% attracted to gals. So you enter some gay relationships, but it's the gal that ends up hooking you, and you pass down some of the genes to the next generation, to your children who may have a smaller or larger disposition towards homosexuality or heterosexuality.

Or a combination of all of the above.

In short: your kind of "common sense" is always used to justify laziness of thinking, or plain stupidity.

"I feel it would benefit both the individuals concerned and society at large."

Well, it's quite *obvious* that it would benefit the individuals concerned, and none of you has bothered to deny it. They want to marry because they feel it would indeed benefit them. That's quite obvious.

At this point it's *you* who have to prove that society would be harmed. The burden of proof lies on you, as you are the ones claiming that the law should discriminate, *against* the wishes of the people concerned. Not on me.

But I do feel it would help society. Can I *prove* it would help it? It seems to me that society is helped and made more cohesive and peaceful when it doesn't discriminate between the non-harmful choices (or genetic disposition, whichever of the two it is) of its members, thus accepting them in her midst and forestalling strife.

In a free society it's up to *you* to show why homosexual marriage harms society more than say, celibacy, or a childless marriage, does. Because you are already forced to use a doubtful societal "drawback" in order to discriminate among the members of your community.

And I'd like it very much if you didn't address me in the most and most contemptuous of ways and then, in your next post, try to say that I'm not actually debating. I've "debated" in this thread more than any other person here has, and certainly far more than *you* have.

You sick fuck, and stuff. :-)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 23:12 Comments || Top||

#30  As a sidenote: In this matter atleast Islam is somewhat more honest, as it demands that *everyone* marry in order to procreate, therefore Islam can say in consistency that procreation is a sacred duty which homosexuality hinders.

On the other hand Christianity contains the celibate priesthood, in which case we already have choices that contradict procreation being regarded as blessed.

Ofcourse Paul said it quite clearly that it'd be best if *nobody* got married, everyone remaining celibate, and he only offered marriage as a second-best choice for those who don't feel they can contain their sexual urges.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 23:24 Comments || Top||

#31  And badanov, if you found any arguments in .com's posts, please share them to me. Because I only found mockery there and insults, besides the utterly obvious and irrelevant (heterosexual sex produces children -- wow, I never knew. And if the begetting of children was required for marriage he might even have had a point).

And ofcourse that rage of his that *anyone* would dare dispute the status quo opinion in this forum concerning homosexuality. I'm still expecting arguments about why society would be so horribly harmed if homosexual marriages were legalized, and biological arguments that befit a kindergarten and equally easily collapse.

But for some people here "Person that strongly disagrees with them"="Troll"

I've never trolled a single time in my life, .com. It's your bigotry that makes you sees a troll where you should have simply seen an opinionated opponent.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/14/2004 23:39 Comments || Top||

#32  Aris, please. Marriage has a history. It wasn't a part of the founding fathers, the kaballa, Hamarabi's code, Islamic, catholic, fundamentalists christian dogma. Marriage is about who's the father. I'm a father. My sons have a solid foundation on their branch of the tree. Notice I didn't ask you to pray Aris.

My sister-in-law divorced her previously divorced husband, after she played mommy to his kids, for four years. His Ex went off whoring for all I know but she walked on her kids.

After my Sisinlaw divorced she decided it was better to go ahead and become what she felt was what she was. Homosexual. She went through a number of lovers until she came accros the woman of her dreams. Sold her house in So Cal and went off, I kid you not, to their own private Idaho.

It was her intention to milk her brothers spode and impregnate her (seriously conflicted) lover with his spode. The family all acted like, hey whatever, love is so important, The most important and Nita loves her.

Well today they can't stand the look of each other. If these flakey people could have had their way then a child would have had to pay the price of their idiocy.

I talked to my bro-inlaw while this was going down. I told him it's his spode. Is he ready to take any responsibility for the child. Hell, he can barely take responsibility for himself.

Love, friendship, homeboys, comradery, dependance, what have you. That is not marriage.
Marriage is about A man becoming a father and a woman becoming the mother of HIS child. Whether it's his spode or not and whether they are in love or not. Note also I havn't said people shouldn't do whoever they want to do. (although I do think communties have the right to say "Not here")

So Aris, my question. What is marriage to you?
Posted by: Lucky || 02/15/2004 0:12 Comments || Top||

#33  Aris, you've made the point numerous times that you don't care about genetics - and I spent a bit on the topic to firm up the very high probability that genetics is not at the root of homosexuality due to its inherent consequences. I would love to see links to studies to the contrary, such easy cannon fodder.

That brings us back to lifestyle - and your statement that lifestyle choices are all equal - er, at least you say heterosexuality and homosexuality are...

Then comes your little maneuver where you try to maintain the fiction that they are equal, that the procreation aspect of heterosexuality does not render it more important. LOL, what a stupid thing to say! No matter what manipulation and dissembling arguments you may pose, the simple fact is that humans reproduce only in the heterosexual aspect. No other form of sexual union or manipulation results in human offspring - thus they have no value in nature.

And this is where my first post comes back into play. Heterosexuality, the sexual relationship which produces offspring is the a priori social "lifestyle". This was obvious to people living in fucking caves, Aris. Only self-righteous self-absorbed social engineering wannabees have the time and luxury to conclude it is debatable.

*ALL* other relationships / lifestyles / means of getting *off* / rendering *fulfillment* / whatEVER fall into a "choice" basket in the second tier. Homosexuality is no more "valid" nor important than S&M or Nudism or worshipping chocolate. It's just a lifestyle with no inherent value, as with all of the others in the basket. None supercedes the others.

ONLY heterosexuality has any actual inherent value and importance.
Posted by: .com || 02/15/2004 1:05 Comments || Top||

#34  Hey Dot. Your up late/early. I get a hoot out of your prose. Clear thought, no smoke.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/15/2004 1:25 Comments || Top||

#35  Hey, Lucky - it's a little late here in LV - we're in the Pacific Zone, so not quite too late.

Only Aris would have the arrogance to try to argue that the two are equivalent - anyone else would be shamed by the obvious silliness of such a position. Hey, I'm done though - I should've kept my promise to myself never to waste another word on him / it/ she / whatever. Total waste of time!

Keep up the good fight, if you're inclined. Lol - I'm turing Ignore Mode back on - and leaving it there!

Grins, Bro - see you tomorrow.
Posted by: .com || 02/15/2004 2:19 Comments || Top||

#36  Lucky> "What is marriage to you?"

Haven't I answered already? The societal recognition of two adults desiring to form a new family unit, superceding their former biological ties to their previous families, making each other their next-of-kin.

After that, your question becomes "what does family mean to you". In which case you must find the common element between your sister and your father and your wife, which is hopefully, in healthy families, that you can depend on them in time of need, and that society can depend on them to have some authority over you in cases where you are incapacitated and can't offer opinion.

As for your sob-story about your sister-in-law, the best way to combat the flakeyness of some people's attitude towards marriage and divorce is to stop people marrying if they've already divorced more than once. (Once is a human mistake, twice a pattern)


"Marriage is about who's the father."

Yeah, that's why Abraham divorced Sarah when he discovered she was barren, right?

"No matter what manipulation and dissembling arguments you may pose, the simple fact is that humans reproduce only in the heterosexual aspect."

And no matter what manipulation and insults all you people thrust on me, the fact remains that marriage was *never* solely about procreation. The obligations mentioned in the Marital vows have always been foremost about mutual support. Want us to go down the laundry list and see how far down we'll find procreation listed?

You make an unsupported assertion that marriage is solely about "who's the father". That assertion pleases you, but it remains what I already called it: unsupported. It's unsupported by law and custom both.

.com> You've already revealed your highly insulting attitude -- and you've refused to apologize for calling me a troll. If you want proof of my sayings, google up "twins homosexuality". The percentages I mentioned are real, and show clear proof to the connection between homosexuality and genetics. Deal.

But you are dishonest and a fanatic, and so you'll keep on insulting me without even a glance at all the evidence that proves you wrong. And definitely without an apology.

So screw you -- I have no more things to say to you, you asshole and bastard. Not unless you deign to explain to me why you seem to respect Celebacy and other childless unions so much more than homosexuality.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/15/2004 8:55 Comments || Top||



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