Palestinian terrorists are no match for the IDF. Watch as 2 Jihadis try and fail to take out some IDF soldiers. One Jihadi is even used as a shield against his own grenade by a quick-witted IDF officer.
SAN DIEGO -- A mistrial was declared Monday when a home-invasion robbery suspect smeared human feces on his attorney's face then threw more at the jury.
Weusi McGowan, 37, was upset because San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser refused to remove Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin from the case, prosecutor Christopher Lawson said.
At the mid-morning break, McGowan produced a plastic baggie filled with fecal matter and spread it on Martin's hair and face, then flung the excrement toward the jury box, hitting the briefcase of juror No. 9 but missing the juror himself.
"That juror didn't even see it coming," Lawson said.
The prosecutor said the defendant was compliant after the outburst and was taken into custody without further incident.
After lunch, Fraser dismissed the jury, telling them McGowan would have to get a new lawyer and that his trial would be delayed.
The judge scheduled a status conference for Feb. 9 and raised the defendant's bail from $250,000 to $1 million, finding he is a danger to the community.
Lawson said McGowan originally became upset last week when he claimed one of the jurors saw him in shackles as he entered the courtroom. Fraser dismissed all jurors who saw the defendant in shackles, the prosecutor said.
"The judge had been very fair," Lawson said. "All jurors who saw it were dismissed."
Fraser had also denied McGowan's attempt to represent himself, saying the request was untimely, Lawson said.
The prosecutor said the defendant had previously wiped human feces on himself and was examined by doctors to ensure he was mentally competent to stand trial.
Every president to hold office has espoused some version of Americanism; the truths that we hold self-evident, even when those truths are not always in evidence. But for all their grand rhetoric and mostly good deeds, none was able to seal the deal on the trifecta of equality, plurality and socioeconomic ascendancy. Obama has. Obama is the more perfect union. He is a house united. Obama is the New Generation and the hot light of a dawn that goes way beyond clever talk of morning in America.
Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue his being, Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation. Someone's channeling Rudolf Heß...
#6
Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen!
SA marschiert mit mutig-festem Schritt.
Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen,
Marschier'n im Geist in uns'ren Reihen mit.
#7
Despite all his lofty and high-minded praise, Mr. Ridley doesn't forego the opportunity to take a little snipe at the outgoing President with his "buying him a baseball team" comment.
#13
Jim, unfortunately, he has. He has ordered Gitmo to be closed within a year (hopefully by then we will have figured out what to do with the terrorists there.)
He has restored funding for abortions outside the US.
He has granted an interview to an enemy propaganda network where he told the enemy that America is not the enemy of Islam.
So don't say he hasn't done anything.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/27/2009 21:33
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MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) -- With the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the past, U.S. officials are reporting information about possible threats on the day of the ceremony by a Minnesota Somali man.
U.S. intelligence was reportedly investigating a potential inauguration threat involving a Somali insurgent group. They believed one man to be connected with the missing Somali men from Minnesota.
48 hours before the inauguration, U.S. customs agents arrested the 32-year-old Bile Abdullahi, a resident alien from Minnesota, at the Canadian border near Detroit.
He's not a white supremacist?
According to federal charges, Abdullahi was trying to sneak into Canada using his brother's U.S. passport. Both Bile Abdullahi and his brother are from Minneapolis, and until recently lived in the Cedar Riverside apartment complex. Abdullahi told officials he was going to Canada for a vacation, but intelligence officials fear it could've been some kind of dress rehearsal for leaving the country in a hurry.
Fox News has learned Abdullahi's arrest was just part of the intelligence that led to a cryptic warning.
The FBI and Homeland Security were investigating information about a potential threat on inauguration day. The information was of limited specificity and uncertain credibility. The threat reportedly involved Al Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda connected radical Muslim group, operating terror training camps in Somalia.
Al Shabaab is the same group that's believed to have lured as many as a dozen missing Somali men from the Twin Cities to fight in the jihad back in their homeland. The remains of one of those men, Shirwa Ahmed, were returned to Minnesota, after he became a suicide bomber in Somalia last October.
U.S. intelligence officials are investigating whether financial support for Al Shabab is coming from Minnesota and other cities with a large Somali population. But, as we all know, those airline passengers were a bunch of racist islamophobes for being concerned about the Flying Imams.
This article starring:
Bile Abdullahi
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/27/2009
16:01 ||
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[9 views]
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#1
Fascinating. So the work continues regardless who sits in the White House. Another legacy from President Bush the younger. No doubt President Obama will best know how to understand such a threat not just to the country but to his own person.
Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that ACORN, the low-income advocacy group under investigation for voter registration fraud, could be eligible for billions in aid from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House.
House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities."
He said the money was previously limited to state and local governments, but that Democrats now want part of it to be available to non-profit entities. That means groups like ACORN would be eligible for a portion of the funds.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., told FOX News Tuesday that the money could be seen as "payoff" for groups' political activities in the last election. ACORN generally supports Democratic candidates and actively backed President Obama last year.
But he said the funding is just one example of frivolous spending items in the $825 billion package.
"It's just a long list of spending items. Not a real economic stimulus job creation bill," Vitter said. "It's line after line after line of favorite liberal spending programs, and it amounts to a big government bill -- not a job creation bill."
Democratic leaders in the House have already dropped federal funding from the bill for new contraceptive services and ongoing programs to stop sexually transmitted diseases after Obama told them that it did not fit in with the job-creating objectives of the package.
Obama plans to meet with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill Tuesday to hear some their input on the package. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama is open to suggestions.
"If there are good ideas -- and I think he assumes there will be -- we will look at those ideas," he said Monday.
Money Quote:
Kirstin Brost, a spokeswoman for Rep. Dave Obey, (D-Wis.), House Appropriations Committee Chairman, defended the proposed funding to the NEA. "Artists need jobs just like everyone else," Brost said. "Fifty million out of $825 billion doesn't seem like an extreme amount to support our artists."
#6
Billions to one step closer to taking away your franchise. There will be zero fair elections. That leaves one final option for the right if you ask me.
#7
Beck reported tonight that the package contains an Illinois exclusion clause as long as Blago is in office. It will be interesting to follow up on that one. If it is true, I wonder how that type of typical Cook County quid pro quo might effect Blago's criminal trial?
#8
That leaves one final option for the right if you ask me.
Yep. Been that way for a while actually, just ain't that many folks realize it yet. Or, they're in denial and don't want to see what is in front of them.
AN Iranian freighter carrying weaponry for Hamas has been blocked by Egypt from entering the Suez Canal, amid concerns that Tehran is trying to supply the Palestinian militant group with missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv.
Reports yesterday said Israel was closely tracking the ship, which is docked in the Red Sea outside the Suez Canal after Cairo refused to permit it to cross the waterway to the Mediterranean. The stand-off comes after a report to the Israeli Defence Ministry from the Pentagon said the US Navy had boarded another Iranian vessel and said it was carrying artillery shells and other weapons.
"This is a big test for the Egyptians," a senior Israeli defense official told The Jerusalem Post. "So far the Egyptians have prevented the ship from crossing the Suez and we hope it will stay that way."
Israeli defense officials told the paper Iran was trying to supply Hamas with new Grad-model Katyusha rockets and to replace high-grade explosives that were exhausted or destroyed by the Israeli Defence Force during this month's war in Gaza. The IDF is concerned Iran will supply Hamas with long-range Fajr missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
A US Navy task force fighting pirates in the Gulf of Aden has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments to Gaza. Reports last week said troops from the USS San Antonio boarded a former Russian cargo vessel that was flying a Cypriot flag and was reportedly carrying weaponry destined for Hamas.
The French have also dispatched a frigate to the Mediterranean to participate in the clampdown on the Gaza Strip and to prevent weapons shipments from reaching Hamas, the Post said.
Israeli defense officials told the paper that since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead, large quantities of explosives, machine guns and other weaponry had arrived in the Sinai peninsula, but the Egyptians were taking measures to prevent them from being smuggled into Gaza.
#1
Ah, so now I know why the French are involved; they're not big fans of getting the Iranians more involved in Gaza.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009 15:37
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#2
The French are working very hard on the diplomatic side to rehabilitate Hamas without the demand that they discontinue their war against Israel. Haaretz has an interesting article about it. One wonders whether the French ship is really going to interdict weapons or aid in the delivery.
#3
Rather than just forbidding transit, it would be nice for the Egyptians to board the vessel and seize contraband or better yet, have the crew disembark and blow the ship up.
#4
The Cypriot vessel had to be let go by the US Navy on pirate patrol because of jurisdictional probs in international waters. How can the French prevent arms shipments on the high seas? Egyptian interdiction in this case would be most helpful but even the Navy is hamstrung when it comes to patrolling the oceans.
#7
Why can't Israel fly some jets out (or send a warship) to blow the damn thing up??? Trying to re-arm Gaza now should be interpreted as an act of war!
#8
The Egyptians should board the ship, remove the contents, then allow it on its way. If the Iranians protested, the Egyptians could claim they had confiscated tons of heroin.
#2
Bringing Nation Building to Zim are we? But he's.... democratically elected, just like YOU! How about taking care of domestic issues first and let those buggers take care of their own troubles?
#3
Mugabe offered me a Trillion 'Zim-Bucks' for that senate seat.
How could I turn THAT down?
Posted by: Rod "Blago the Clown" Blagojevich ||
01/27/2009 16:19
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#4
It's only worth 20 bucks, Blago. The zeros don't do sh*t for zim-bucks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 17:22
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#5
Knock it off, gentlemen.
There was nothing democratic about that election. There are millions of innocent people suffering a hell they don't deserve. SOMEBODY has to take the initiative.
But that somebody should be a Zimbobwayan. Or doesn't the Pottery Barn Rule apply here?
We cannot and should not get involved in overthrowing every tyrant unless the national interest is at stake. The national interest was more at stake when the Smith regime overthrew the legitimate government. Zimbob is at least the legitimate government, whether you like the way the election was conducted or not. Or would foreign intervention be welcome in Illinois? Do we have a duty to save the Russians from Putin? The Venezuelans from Chavez? The English from Brown?
If he wants to send the CIA over to help an indigenous resistance movement, great. If the United States is going into the business of overthrowing governments, he ought at least to get a authorization for the use of force like Bush did when he took out Saddam.
#9
If the United States is going into the business of overthrowing governments....
Never happen, not an African governement. Not on O.B.'s watch. Now if it were a blue eye devil Apartheid government. well that would be another matter entirely.
ROLE OF LIBERIA + SOUTH AFRICA + MADAGASCAR + NIGERIA-KENYA???
The Commies + Islamists would never had dared under OBAMA's POTUS PREDECESSORS, i.e. NIXON + REAGAN-BUSH 1 - THE BAM-MAN'S GOT HIS WORK CUT OUT FOR HIM THESE "100 DAYS".
#13
Folks, folks, it's different when a Democrat does it. Don't you know? Mom does ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009 21:04
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#14
It would be nice if he removed Bob. Hire mercs to rally the locals on the ground and provide air cover and a one-way ticket out (he can be whacked en route if need be).
I'm not a member of any other blog and don't have a Facebook page. I wrote this and am sending it to a large number of my email contacts. I'm sharing in the hope that we can all make an impact on this. I am very concerned about the submissive tone I hear from Republicans/Conservatives that 'hope the President succeeds', while abandoning their principles.
I'd appreciate feedback on this, as it's in my draft folder awaiting being sent.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here's a toned-down call-to-arms so-to-speak from a die-hard Conservative:
#1
Not to worry. The "stimulus" package won't work. Republicans know it and the Obamanation knows it.
Were you to candidly ask a democrat if they know the stimulus package won't work and they will not only admit it won't work, they will then admit whole point is to expand the powerful and size of the federal government and their very political influence.
TEHRAN, Iran -- The first mixed soccer game -- females vs. males -- since the 1979 Islamic revolution led to swift punishment Monday, as an Iranian soccer club said it had suspended three officials involved and handed out fines of up to $5,000. adult females vs. young males
Iran's strict Islamic rules ban any physical contact between unrelated men and women, and Iranian women are even banned from attending soccer games when male teams play.
The officials -- a coach and two managers -- first denied the game took place, but video clips on cell phones of the game somehow cell phones aren't banned
were used as evidence against them, the Vatan-e-Emrooz daily newspaper reported. but Allah is merciful and no one was executed
According to the Esteghlal soccer club, Mohammad Khorramgah, the club's technical manager, was suspended for a year and fined 50 million rials ($5,000) for the Jan. 20 game.
The only woman among the suspended -- Saeedeh Pournader, head coach of the female team -- also got a year's suspension. Mostafa Ardestani, head coach of the youth team, got a six-month suspension and a 20 million rial ($2,000) fine.
A prominent Iranian soccer player and manager of the club's soccer academy, Ali Reza Mansourian, got a written rebuke and a fine of 50 million rials, the club said.
#1
OTOH, the good news for IRAN + RADICAL ISLAM/ISLMAIST SHARIA is that in JAPAN, THERE'S REPOR A PETITION OUT TO ALLOW JAPANESE TO LEGALLY "MARRY" CARTOONS = ANIME!?
Read, SAILOR MOON + GHOST IN THE SHELL + ...@etc.
AT least when 10-year old INDIAN GIRLS marry FROGS as per their local Community's or Region's religious-cultural beliefs, AT LEAST THE FROGS = KERMIT IS ACTUALLY ALIVE???
WASHINGTON (AP) - Financial documents filed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton show that her husband earned nearly $6 million in speaking fees last year, nearly all of it from foreign companies.
The documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press indicate that $5 million of the former president's reported $5.7 million in 2008 honoraria came from foreign sources. They included Kuwait's National Bank, a Hong Kong-based company, and other firms and groups in Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Portugal.
All senior officials in the Obama administration are required to complete a detailed disclosure of their personal finances, including spouse and children, which is updated yearly.
#1
So the spouse of the Secretary of State is pocketing millions from foreign countries and the Secretary of Treasury cheats on his taxes. Now that's change I can believe in!
The US deducted $55 million under its reimbursement programme for expenses incurred by Pakistan on the war on terror after American auditors raised objections to a claim submitted by the country.
US authorities deducted the amount while releasing only $101 million out of Pakistan's claim of $156 million for expenses incurred on the campaign against terrorism till April 2008, said Shaukat Tarin, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance.
The move was the outcome of objections from American auditors as well as a change in the US format for releasing such funds, he said.
"The Pakistan government will re-submit a case for the release of the amount which has already been spent from its resources (on) the war on terror," Tarin told reporters here on Monday.
Tarin said increased defence spending due to tensions with India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks had put pressure on the national exchequer. Maybe if you didn't attack India, you wouldn't have the increased expenditures. Nah, they'll never understand that one.
A Gaza growth industry...
(CBS/AP) Some were killed when tank shells hit their homes. Others died when bombs erased their offices. Still others - like Islamic Jihad fighter Mohammed Bedawi - met their end battling Israeli troops. "The drone hit him," said his cousin, Abed Bedawi, 21, referring to the unmanned surveillance planes often seen in Gaza's skies. "He was laying a bomb for a tank when the drone fired a missile at him." Whoopsie. Adios, Mohammed...
Now they are all memories, their faces rolling off the presses at the Nibras print shop. Dead guy...dead guy...dead guy...dead guy... ... I'd collect them all but there are so many ... Continued on Page 49
#4
"How fast it can gobble up matter to grow bigger ... ... ...Casadio, Fabi, and Harms think the Balck Holes would lose out, and pass through the earth, or out of the atmosphere it got to be a problem".
...BEFORE IT GOT TO BE A "PROBLEM" > wel-l-l, that why scientists must engage in broad multiple reviews of their calculations and methods, LEST THE EARTH BE DESTROYED REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE HOLE IS INSIDE THE ATMOSPHERE, OR OUTSIDE CLOSE TO EARTH.
DITTO FOR 2030 + COMET APOPHIS [2029-2036/38] - EVEN THE DESIRED FUTURE OWG-NWO [Global Socialism], GLOBALCRITTERS + POLITICOS, DON'T WANT TO BE HELD POLITICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SCIEN MISCALCULATIONS WHCIH END UP CAUSING APOPHIS TO DESTROY THE MOON = CAUSE THE MOON TO CRASH INTO EARTH, NOW DO THEY!?
And APOPHIS scenarios are NOT even counting the SUN + OTHER RUSSIAN SPACE ROCKS + GAMMA RAY BURSTS [independent/unknown variables]???
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, WOULDN'T IT BE SILLY FOR NASA-JPL, DARPA, + AREA 51, ETC. TO COVERTLY BUILD GIANT, MILE(S)-LONG "ALIEN UFOS" SUPER-CRAFTS, CONSUMING EXPENSIVE $$$ + TIME + MEDIA CORRECTNESS/DENIABILITY, THAT AREN'T ABLE TO ESCAPE A MAJOR EARTH EPOCH/CATACLYSM ["incoming"] WHEN NEED TO!?
#5
APOPHIS = MOON EXPLOSIONS SEEN ON EARTH > the FIRST + GREATEST? "OOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPSIES, YOUR BAD" in OWG-NWO RUSH LIMBAUGH-IAN "HISTOIREZ" [vous] + GLOBAL PCORRECTNESS [since OWG = Politicians aren't likely to blame themselves even as per LHC BLACK HOLES, APOPHIS, ETC.???
versus:
DREAM > HE WILL SEE THE COMET STRIKE THE EARTH WITH THE TWO WITNESSES .......
* FUTURAMA > D *** NG IT, PEOPLE, WE CAN'T EMPHASIZE IT ENUFF - DON'T DATE ROBOTS [or MERMAIDS]!
Obama faced an early test last week, when, in the midst of the debate over economic stimulus, Democrats worked to shut Republicans out of the policy process, then behaved boorishly when Republicans complained.
Democratic leaders responded with the political equivalent of a sack dance in football. If its passed with 63 votes or 73 votes, history wont remember it, said Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.
Yes We Did
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added to the mood by saying, Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.
There is still time for Obama to object to such behavior. If he wants to fulfill the promise of his rhetoric, he should take Pelosi to the woodshed and insist that she include Republicans, collegially, in the process. He should stand up to his party and threaten to veto a bill if it fails to make reasonable concessions to his friends across the aisle. He should advise his own staff to begin returning the phone calls of senior Republican aides.
If he fails to do that, there can be little doubt that government will fail to change and will continue to fail us. When times are good, one might be able to survive with a pitiful government. Today, we might not be so lucky. We are living in a fleeting moment where real change is possible. Aristotle is watching.
#4
"If it's passed with 63 votes or 73 votes, history won't remember it," said Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.
True, Senator. What history will remember is that it was a Democratic initiative, leaving the Democrats completely responsible for the results. Good luck in 2010.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday that Israel will no longer show restraint against Palestinian attacks from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "Israel is going to act according to a new equation. We are not going to show restraint anymore," Livni told a gathering of the New York-based World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem.
Her remarks came after an Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an attack near the Gaza border in the most serious assault since a temporary cease-fire went in effect last week. "We need to change the rules of the game until they learn that the rules have changed and the equation has changed," she added.
Livni said that Israel needed to negotiate with the Fatah-run Palestinian leadership in the West Bank towards a two-state solution, while continuing to fight against Hamas in Gaza. "For me an agreement with Hamas is not an option," she concluded.
#2
They're not really serious - yet. They haven't asked the US to let them borrow a dozen B-52s. When that happens, Hamass will pucker so tight they'll all sing soprano.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2009 14:15
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#3
They haven't asked the US to let them borrow a dozen B-52s
Obama wouldn't give it to them anyway. I don't think O's performance on Al-Arabiya did anything to discourage Hamas.
#4
Old Patriot, Hamas thinks missiles are big stuff. They won't be able to conceptualize B-52s until afterward, and then it'll be too late. DoDo is right, though: President Obama would never give Israel such toys to play with.
#5
Given that the Paleos have no air defense, a converted 747 -- cheap on the market these days -- could carry quite a payload. You don't need a Buff. Just saying ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009 15:40
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A northern Swedish city has decided to cancel a planned Holocaust Memorial Day torchlight procession due to the recent IDF offensive in Gaza, it was reported Tuesday.
The official reason given for the decision, made by the municipal board and local church in Lulea, was safety concerns, but Bo Nordin, a clergyman and spokesman for the church, cited the war in Gaza.
"It feels uneasy to have a torchlight procession to remember the victims of the Holocaust at this time," Nordin told Swedish National Radio. "We have been preoccupied and grief-stricken by the war in Gaza and it would feel just feel odd with a large ceremony about the Holocaust."
The decision drew fierce criticism from various organizations as well as residents of the city, and a defiant group of Lulea locals has decided to hold the torchlight procession anyway.
"To compare the Holocaust with Gaza is like comparing apples with pears," said Inga-Lill Sundström, one the organizers of the ceremony.
Meanwhile, Auschwitz survivors and state officials were gathering to mark the 64th anniversary of the Nazi death camp's liberation as part of worldwide Holocaust remembrance ceremonies.
The yearly commemoration, in the depth of the Polish winter, marks the day the advancing Soviet army liberated the camp in 1945. The anniversary has been established as an annual Holocaust remembrance day by the United Nations.
More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died in the camp's gas chambers or through forced labor, disease or starvation.
Tuesday's commemorations at Auschwitz include a wreath-laying ceremony and prayers at the foot of the former camp's main memorial, which stands between the twisted ruins of two crematoria.
Events elsewhere include a speech to the German parliament by President Horst Koehler and a ceremony at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin.
During Operation Cast Lead, Israel warned Syria that it would bomb sites and facilities in Damascus if Hizbullah fires rockets on Israeli towns and communities in the North, Egyptian paper Al Ahram reported Tuesday. The report said Israel conveyed the warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad through a European interlocutor. Israel warned Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah against entering a confrontation with the Jewish State and even demanded he make an official statement on the matter, according to Al Ahram. The Jerusalem Post could not independently verify the report.
#5
Two katyushas were fired by a paleo group, this was condemned by the hizbullah ("please, don't kill us"). I think Israel was very pleased to have to deal only with those very isolated and symbolical attacks... 2006 may have been a badly managed war by the joooos and a PR Grand Victory for the hizbullies, but it just miiiight be that behind the bluster, hizbullah really didn't enjoy the beating it got (and didn't expect). Plus, iran may be a bit short on cash, lately, apparently, the checks for 2006 still haven't cleared.
#6
As per BHARAK RAK [INDIAN MILDEF FORUM] > seems HAMAS' ROCKETS came close to hitting the US ANTI-MISSLE RADAR Station at BEERSHEBA???
* SAME > DON'T FORGET THE IRANIAN CONNECTION
[IRAN trains + funds + arms HAMAS]???
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > TIME RUNNING OUT FOR A TWO-STATE SOLUTION/60 MINUTES: GROUPS OF ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS SAY TWO-STATE SOLUTION [ + Israeli-Paleo PEACE] IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE?
In approxi 10 YEARS [2019-2020], ISRAEL's PREDOMIN MUSLIM ARABS WILL OUTNUMBER ISRAEL's JEWS IN ISRAEL PROPER + WEST BANK + GAZA.
Israel's options, besides emigration, are indic:
A. DEMOCRATIC OPTION(S):
1. engage in violent ETHNIC CLEANSING agz Paleos.
2. remove the Paleos from the West Bank [Gaza?].
3. Give Paleos legal rights to formally vote in Israeli elections.
B. NON-DEMOCATIC OPTION:
Basically, TEL AVIV = ISRAEL formally adopts and engages in SOUTH AFRICAN-STYLE APARTHEID vee Paleos. SUCH APARTHEID POLICIES TEND TO BE BOTH UNPOPULAR + TEMPORARY.
WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in the House have dropped federal funding for new contraceptive services and ongoing programs to stop sexually transmitted diseases from the $825 billion economic stimulus bill due to hit the floor Tuesday.
The decision came after President Obama called Democratic leaders to tell them that the $200 million set-aside does not comport with the objectives of the job creation package.
Obama is holding high-profile meetings with House and Senate Republicans to build bipartisan support for his massive economic stimulus bill. The bill contains $87 billion in emergency Medicaid funding to help states crushed by deficits.
More than 40 states find themselves facing huge deficits brought on by the deteriorating economy and subsequent loss of tax revenue and rise in social service spending.
As originally written, the House Democratic bill included more than $300 million in funds to slow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It also included a provision -- the one that's drawn the most GOP fire -- that provides a 9-to-1 match of federal funds to state funds to provide contraceptives to poor women who qualified under Medicaid. It also would have provided the same contraceptives to women whose income was 200 percent of the federal poverty level, a significant increase in funding.
Told about the removal of the provision, House Minority Leader John Boehner called it a start. "That's clearly a step in the right direction but it's not enough," he said.
The contraceptive funding is an effort to expand federal efforts to prevent unwanted births. Currently, Medicaid provides family planning services after women become pregnant. It focuses all federal funds on contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies, not other family planning services Medicaid provides.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initially defended the policy initiative on Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
"Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."
#3
I can't stand Pelosi but I understand her point on this one. Condoms and bc pills are far less expensive than paying hospital delivery and maternity care, medicaid for the infants, WIC, food stamps and in the long term, the costs of raising a poor child, with extra tutoring and special ed, child care credits, and even the liklihood that single parented kids end up incarcerated. Check the stats.
#5
I think Obama will have more problems with Pelosi and Reid than he will with most of the Republicans.
He realizes he has to govern from the center to win reelection and he also knows the country can't finacially absorb a bunch of crazy crap pork and give aways that do nothing for the economy.
How come no one has come up with the idea of giving every family that's upside down on a house $200K? Without confiscating any equity gain over the next four years? That would do wonders for the economy, get people out buying stuff and it would clean up a lot of balance sheets at banks.
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/27/2009 18:53
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#6
Tag team battle of the Insatiable Egos.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 21:29
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that Israel had a right to defend itself and that Palestinian rocket attacks on the Jewish territory could not go unanswered. probably this is not about today's events, but the main part of Op Lead Cast
"We support Israel's right to self-defense. The [Palestinian] rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas [in Israel] cannot go unanswered," Clinton said in her first news conference at the State Department. seems goofy since Hamas has been hitting populated areas since they even before they took over Gaza
"It is regrettable that the Hamas leadership apparently believes that it is in their interest to provoke the right of self-defense instead of building a better future for the people of Gaza," she added. and since the Obama Admin's policy is to blame Bush for everything, she added this
More broadly, Clinton said her initial round of telephone calls with world leaders has yielded positive signs. "There's a great exhalation of breath going on around the world as people express their appreciation for the new direction that's being set and the team that's [been] put together by the president," she said.
"In areas of the world that have felt either overlooked or not receiving appropriate attention to the problems they are experiencing, there's a welcoming of the engagement that we are promising," she said.
"It's not any kind of repudiation or indictment of the past eight years so much as an excitement and an acceptance of how we are going to be doing business." of course the next section repudiates away
"We have a lot of damage to repair," she said, referring to U.S. foreign relations as they stood when President George W. Bush left office January 20.
Oh, yeah, there's video...
Barack Obama's getting a Cadillac-styled new Presidential Limo tomorrow. While nice, we're more interested in the Gatling gun-equipped Suburban that follows Cadillac One. Here's video of the bullet-spraying Chevy in action.
Is your job tough? Like, leader of the free world tough? Do you have people constantly throwing shoes at you? It's time you replied with a measured, appropriate response -- and that response is a Dillon Aero machine gun turret mounted on top of a Chevy Suburban -- just like the one the President's got! So...ya wanna hack into my Blackberry, do ya?
We've already shown you Obama's new Presidential limo, below, now here's the big gun watching its back.
Isn't that thing a little bit of an overkill? That thing will kill quite a few "peasants" on the sidelines won't it Obama, while trying to take out one assassin...
#3
I'm more than a bit surprised that they don't have a remote weapon station doing the job. The man-operated Dillon is nothing but a supression weapon. That said, I suppose that is the intent...keep their heads down (or off should they be hit) while they hightail it outta there.
#4
damn and we only had saw gunners on our live fire convoys exercises in the army, which was cool. but that my friend, (nervous laughter) that is ridiculously cool.
Posted by: Bill Snaque5795 ||
01/27/2009 14:15
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#5
I saw that on aLobotomy Box Show a few months back. Can't remember which one. I don't recall it actually being considered for use, though.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/27/2009 15:06
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#6
My response was the same as remoteman's. I laughed to see someone do that to a Suburban, but it isn't really all that practical. A smaller remote turret like the ones they're fielding in Iraq seems much more reasonable. Not to mention I have to wonder what kind of mess that'll make of the inevitable crowd of on-lookers. Talk about spray-and-pray...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/27/2009 15:23
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#7
yes, it would make a mess. could it be more of a message that says "dont f with us?" because curse the day that thing was actually used. it would be like Rambo with the fifty cal that was just cutting people down, but not before cutting them in half wouldnt it? hell why not carry some RPGs in there too? its overkill factor is its beauty and beastliness all rolled into one.
Posted by: Bill Snaque5795 ||
01/27/2009 15:31
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#8
Unless used as a crowd control measure, Rounds Per Minute is not necessarily an accurage gauge of effectiveness or deterrent. I doubt that weapon will be welcomed anywhere overseas. Just my guess.
#9
I don't know anything about this stuff but is this more of a cool toy than a tool?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/27/2009 16:15
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#10
It is a toy, IMHO. Think of the threat. A bunch of fellows shooting RPGs or missiles with shape charge warheads in a swarm would be a hard one to have countermeasures made for. It could be done, but not on a Chevy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 17:36
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#11
Now if they could just get the Dillon Gun operators to dress like this:
#2
You see the aging elder population problem and all the fiscal collapse they will bring will be solved by Universal Health Care(tm) as it will be rationed for those over 65 sufficiently enough to start the big drop in life expectancy and with it the grand entitlement expenses [usual liberal inner party suspects exempted of course]. With Universal Health Care(tm) the Health Care Crisis(tm) will magically disappear down the memory hole* of our MSM with life expectancy as quickly disappearing from official government statistics.
#3
That's probably not satire, Pro2k., and it is indeed likely to show up here soon. Britain has for a long time rationed care such as hemodialysis, major surgery etc. based on age. Those who want us to emulate the NHS will no doubt adopt similar policies.
#4
I recall that for the average person 2/3 of all medical expenses are incurred in the last 2 years of life. The deal has been that we're prepared to spend that money for the last two years of the lives of the Greatest Generation, so many of whom only got to live the first 20 in the Great Depression and WWII. Some how I would not be surprised if that deal were revised for the Boomers who lost our first war and lived it up for the next 40 years.
A policeman attacked his wife and shoved her naked out of their front door after CCTV footage showed she was having an affair with his best friend, a court heard yesterday.
PC Andrew Liptrot, 47, seized camera footage from two pubs where he suspected the couple had met before confronting his wife Karen at home. He then grabbed the 38-year-old British Airways stewardess and ripped her dressing gown from her body, the court was told.
'I had nothing underneath,' Mrs Liptrot said. 'He was holding my wrists and I was nervous. I was scared. He grabbed my arm and called me a slag and a whore.' And on and on ...
The government authorized the IDF to send ground troops back into central Gaza Tuesday, following an early morning roadside bomb explosion and a rocket-propelled grenade attack that killed one soldier and wounded three others, one seriously. Hamas warned that it has not agreed to a "calm" and that its previous ceasefire announcement is dependent on Israel's re-opening Gaza crossings to all commercial traffic.
Troops reached Khan Yunis in central Gaza. Local residents reported tank fire and Israel Air Force jets over the area. Arab sources also reported that the Air Force struck a terrorist target, killing or wounding three people, but the IDF has not confirmed the counterterrorist action.
Hamas responded with mortar fire on the Eshkol region, causing no damages or injuries but returned the area to the status quo of the days before the Cast Lead operation against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
#5
Aw man, I would have lost big time on the over-under for when festivities resumed. Anyone with a lick of sense ( I know! ) would have waited to resupply first. Guess the interception of that Iranian ship nixed that idea.
As for Hamas, you can trust them - to act like the murderous HamAsses they are. Not quite the same as being trustworthy.
#7
Problem is that Hamas is addicted to killing and murder like a crackwhore looking for their next hit. If not Jews - then Fatah - or just other muslims will do.
#8
So we learn more from the 1984 book of linquistics.
"Hamas warned that it has not agreed to a "calm" and that its previous ceasefire announcement is dependent on Israel's re-opening Gaza crossings to all commercial traffic."
There is a difference in between a "calm" and a "ceasfire" and Hamas' ceasefire is only in effect if the other side surrenders unconditionally.
Everyone clear on the concept now? Hillary? Egypt? EU? Got it now?
#9
I'll tell you what's significant about this: not that Hamas attacked and killed a soldier (my condolences), but that Israel reacted IMMEDIATELY and not after a long and interminable time of delaying, huffing, puffing, hemming, and hawing.
Hamas was surprised at the intensity of the attack. They are going to be doubly surprised because of the short fuse exhibited here.
#12
AlanC has a very good point. If Israel sets the framework of response, they get inside the OODA loops of Hamas, Syria, Iran, and the EUniks, all of whom are enemies of one degree or another. Then these guys are always reacting, and not Israel.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 16:41
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#18
And I will add to what Ptah wrote that Hamas will be triply surprised by the lack of condemnation of Israel by anyone for their swift, sure reaction to the Hamas attack. At last the rules have changed. And I hope the reaction is disproportionate.
Parliamentary elections on the 10th, .5MT, and Likud looks to have about ten more seats than Kadima plus the support of the smaller warmonger parties. Labour is fading fast, and the peaceniks have only a few hard-core dreamers. Any politician who doesn't understand the new determination of the voters will be looking for a real job in the near future. Sea change, indeed.
...The crew members were reclining in their horizontal couches, running through a checklist when a voltage transient was recorded at 6:30:54 (23:30:54 GMT). Ten seconds later (at 6:31:04) Chaffee said, "Hey..." Scuffling sounds followed for three seconds before Grissom shouted "Fire!" Chaffee then reported, "We've got a fire in the cockpit," and White said "Fire in the cockpit!"
After nearly ten seconds of frenetic movement noises Chaffee yelled, "We've got a bad fire! Let's get out! We're burning up! We're on fire! Get us out of here!"[5][6] Some witnesses said they saw Ed White on the television monitors, reaching for the hatch release handle as flames in the cabin spread from left to right and licked the window. Only 17 seconds after the first indication by crew of any fire, the transmission ended abruptly at 6:31:21...
Rest in peace.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2009
10:17 ||
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#1
Another reason, ground controllers and dirtside "scientists" should have to sit in their own creations (i.e., 100% Oxygen at 20 pounds pressure) and see if there are still "acceptible" risks. Freakin' bastards.
Government policies will result in Sweden's army being reduced by one third and the number of tanks being cut in half, Armed Forces Supreme Commander Håkan Syrén is set to announce on Friday. Advance word about the massive cuts comes from a report in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, citing sources within military headquarters.
A government directive to the Supreme Commander from November confirms that the military budget will be frozen at 38.9 billion kronor ($4.9 billion) per year through 2014. But at the same time must every unit within the military's operational forces be able to deploy more rapidly.
On Friday, the Supreme Commander will respond that the new requirements will mean dissolving operational units and a reduction in vital weapons systems, say several military headquarters sources to SvD.
The army will be hit the hardest. "There will be a 30 percent reduction of ground forces units," once source told the newspaper.
The number of soldiers and officers deployable for combat will be cut to 12,500, down from the current level of 20,000.
According to SvD, the cuts mean that the army will retain seven tactical battalions and that one battalion will be take from the amphibious corps and instead counted in ground combat forces. In total, Sweden's army will be left with eight battalions.
The military is also expected to shed half of its battle tanks. The government has said that tank battle groups should consist of lighter units which can easily be transported. In other words, according to SvD, the request means reducing the number of tanks.
#5
On the other hand it took two major world wars in the 20th Century to induce a major aversion into the German culture for similar hobbies. Nothing sad about it. It's a feature, not a bug.
#6
It's a feature Pro only as long as they do not need to defend themselves. Basically the Swedes will complete their surrender to dhimmitude within 10 years. They and Holland are in a race to the bottom.
More and more Swedes are being detained abroad on suspicions of involvement in terrorism, Swedens foreign ministry reports. Lars? Swen? Thor?
Currently, nine Swedish citizens suspected or convicted of terrorism are being held in other countries.
In recent years, weve seen an increase in a variety of such crimes. It most often involves a deprivation of liberty but can also involve information about people whove been killed in an area where terrorism is being fought or information about the finding of a Swedish passport in such an area, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular section deputy director Helmer Broberg to Sveriges Radio (SR).
Broberg believes the increase is a reflection of the fact that more resources are being devoted globally to fight terrorism. Well, that's one reason.
He added that terrorism cases are harder to work with compared to other cases because secrecy can make it hard for the foreign ministry to get information.
Of the nine Swedes being held, three have been convicted of terror-related crimes.
The remaining six are still awaiting trial. The words "Islam" or "Muslim" are missing in this article, like the word "Democrat" in a MSM piece devoted to political corruption.
AUSSIE singer Emma Cowan went to New York for creative inspiration and found it in the form of a plane wreck in the icy Hudson River. Plane ditch survivor Ms Cowan has composed a song for the hero pilot behind the miraculous water landing that saved her life - and 154 others.
Called Send Another Prayer, the tune is the Perth performer's own heartfelt expression of gratitude to veteran airman Chesley B Sullenberger, who safely downed the massive Airbus in the water after a flock of geese struck its engines 12 days ago.
"It's a thank you to the pilot and a thank you to God for my life," Ms Cowan told the Herald Sun. "It's such a amazing thing they've done."
Ms Cowan, who performs under the surname Sophina, is in New York recording with Grammy-winning producers Marc Swersky and Tony Black at their New Jersey studio.
She acknowledged that Mr Sullenberger not only saved her life, but worked miracles for her profile as a musician. "It's expanded my career which is realy cool," she said. "I went there to find some inspiration and the search ended that day," she said.
She was introduced to the production team through former boy band vocalist Gary Pinto, who is based in Melbourne.
A woman in California delivered what may be the nation's second live-born set of octuplets on Monday morning, surprising doctors who expected seven babies. . . . The six boys and two girls -- ranging in weight from 1 pound 8 ounces to 3 pounds 4 ounces -- were generally doing well in incubators following their Caesarean-section delivery at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower, California, doctors said. . . . .
Doctors initially believed the mother -- whom they did not identify -- was pregnant with seven fetuses. . . . Over a seven-week period, a team of 46 physicians, nurses and other staff prepared for the births. When they started the delivery Monday -- more than nine weeks before the babies would be full term -- they were in for a surprise. "After we got to Baby G, we were surprised by the discovery of a Baby H." . . .
Preliminary research indicates this is the second set of live-born octuplets in the United States, according to the hospital. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2009
09:54 ||
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#1
I am reminded of the joke headline by Rita Rudner.
Iowahawk gives "carbon footprint" advice to the Beautiful People.
1. Reduce Water Consumption. One single dripping faucet or flushed bidet may not seem to be much of an environmental threat, but those numbers really add up when youre hosting an NRDC fundraiser for Laurie David and all 10 of your bathrooms are in use. When possible, encourage guests to pee in the pool, and remind them that if its yellow, let it mellow. Unless youre serving asparagus canapes.
2. Green Begins At Home. Whether you live in East Hampton or Topanga Canyon, there are dozens of little things you can do around your compound to reduce your carbon footprint. For instance, tell your groundskeeping crew to plant a tree. Save your leftover foie gras to grow your own homemade organic Botox. Turn off your energy wasting security cameras between 1 AM and 7 AM. If you own a vanity cattle ranch in Montana, email the trail boss and tell him/her to add Beano to your herds feed to reduce ozone-depleting methane emissions. . . .
Click through and read the rest.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2009
09:46 ||
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#1
No need. Barry O. will handle everything for them. And they'll be damned grateful...
#3
Technology to replace them all with next-next generation CGI will find its rationale in the offset of the cost in running the computers to the cost of maintaining the life style of Hollyweird.
Hmm, wonder what party?
HARTFORD, Conn. -- The mayor of Connecticut's capital city says he will surrender to state police on bribery and other charges but won't resign. Doesn't say here!
Mayor Eddie A. Perez says state officials have a warrant for his arrest in connection with home renovations done by a city contractor. His attorney, Hubert Santos, tells The Hartford Courant that Perez will be charged Tuesday. Other accusations include fabricating evidence and conspiracy to fabricate evidence.
The mayor says that "there is no excuse" but that "a lapse in judgment is not a crime." You'd think the AP would tell you by now
A state grand jury looked at $20,000 in renovations at Perez's home done by city contractor Carlos Costa, who has been arrested. State officials had no comment as of early Tuesday. Must be 'Bull Moose'. Oh, wait ... he's a Democrat
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/27/2009 20:25
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#6
Let's see how the Courant coverage of this stacks up against the coverage of ex-governor Rowland (R), who essentially got nailed for the same thing.
Concern about the recently passed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is just beginning to bubble to the top of the news cycle (In between hyperventilating about corporate jets and Michele Obama's dress sense, of course)
Basically, the cost of testing for lead contaminants and other nasties in products intended for the use of children under the age of 12 may very well bankrupt a whole range of small companies, and hand-crafters who run tiny businesses out of their homes... not to mention removing a those same products from second-hand and thrift stores.
#1
(Mods - can you add the pic of the two vultures? Ta -thanks, then.)
This story has barely made a ripple in mainstream news, but it looks to have the makings of an economic tsunami - and the MSM and our fearless pols are managing to heroically ignore it. The Bankruptcy Day website is here, and my own take on it here.
#3
This is one of a number of events that are going to occur in the not too distant future that will culminate in the repudiation of the Rooseveltian New Deal social contract and the establishment of a new one whose character is unknown. I would add the exhaustion of federal debt capacity, repudiation of obligations of unfunded government employee pensions, bankruptcy of medicare, nationalization of health care and defederalization of auto emission standards to the over-reaches of this model that will tip it into the ash heap of history. This is why I believe the Big O will leave office with comparisons primarily to Herbert Hoover.
#5
I predict he will leave office like Hitler did. By his own hand with his country in ashes and his enemies closing in.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/27/2009 14:54
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#6
NS, I swear his own historically illiterate supporters were rhetorically linking him with Hoover even before the election. Morons were marching around the nearby college town with "Obamaville" signs, not apparently having heard of Hoovervilles.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/27/2009 15:31
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#7
I suspect that Barry, while facile and intelligent, really is a bit of any empty suit. I expect him to leave office alone like Bush and I hope with class as did Bush, but without Bush's inner confidence that he did the right things, without the support of any of those who put him in the job, and ultimately confused as to why things turned out this way, much as Hoover did.
Here in the States, this has in fact been under review continuously since 1945. Perhaps this is news to the average Japanese, just like the Bataan Death March and the Rape of Nanking.
Former President George W. Bush said during an ABC interview aired in December that the "biggest regret" of his presidency was the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, for which the U.S. waged the war. His statement virtually acknowledges it was a war without a cause. Strawman, but we shall proceed:
It's too late for regrets, but what about Japan? The Japanese government did support the U.S.-led war on Iraq, but it has now fallen silent as if the war is someone else's affair. Are we simply going to evade the issue by saying it was a decision by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi?
If we are to maintain such an ambiguous attitude, we might as well accept the rise of people in the future who would say it was right for Japan to support the Iraq War. It is extremely important to determine how we perceive history. You could start by telling your school kids the simple truth about World War 2 and the avanlanche of barbarism the Japanese militarists unleashed on the people of east Asia.
Turning to President Barack Obama, I admire him for aiming to abolish nuclear weapons as the ultimate global goal, and I expect a lot from him. Because of this respect, I want him to change the U.S. belief that justifies the atomic bombings of Japan, which has been upheld by successive U.S. presidents. Barack can spout all the lefty talking points he likes, but he has no control over "American belief."
Atomic bombs are not conventional weapons. Radioactive substances that penetrate into human bodies harm tissue cells. Damaged cells keep making damaged copies. Atomic bombs bring fear to numerous generations to follow. Bayonets and swords that penetrate into human calls also harm tissue cells, lots of them. Just ask the folk in Nanking.
Atomic bombs are diabolic weapons that should never have been used. I will keep saying this even after I go to the next world. Because they should not be used, they obviously should not be possessed in the first place. See if you can persuade your friends in Tehran and Beijing, then we'll talk.
If President Obama is to make a step forward over a mere "change" in the presidency, and is willing to push for nuclear abolition, he should first review the justification of the atomic bombings. (By Chikahiro Hiroiwa, Expert Senior Writer, Mainichi Shimbun) In the best Rantburg tradition, what is a serious subject like this without a little joke?
A tenth grade history teacher is frustrated with her apathetic class. She decides to turn it into a game.
"Ok, class, I am going to give you a quote from history; you give me a name and a year for it. Ok? Ready?" The class stares blankly at her.
"First one is 'Give me liberty or give me death!'"
All the kids sit there glassy-eyed except this little Japanese boy sitting right at the front of the class. He raises his hand and snaps, "Patrick Henry, 1771!."
"Good, excellent," says the teacher. "The next one is 'I have not yet begun to fight.' Who said that and when did he say it?"
Again, the American kids are clueless, but the Japanese youngster pipes right up, "John Paul Jones, 1778!"
This goes on for a while and the exasperated teacher gives up, but not without a lecture, "You know, I'm ashamed of you young people who were born here. We have this young man from Japan, I happen to know he's only lived here six months, and he literally knows more about your history than all of you put together!"
She turns to write something on the board and someone at the back of the room grumbles, "Just fuck them Japanese anyway!"
Enraged, the teacher spins around and demands, "Who said that? WHO SAID THAT!?"
An American kid calmly raises his hand and says, "Harry Truman, 1945."
#1
Atomic bombs are diabolic weapons that should never have been used. I will keep saying this even after I go to the next world.
"Damn, it's hot down here, and atomic bombs are diabolic weapons that should never have been used."
#2
Yeah, they forget their concern about civilians in American territories they occupied. That little affair in Manila in '45 too. Of course, they won't mention that their own Imperial Command authority directed their own civilians to commit suicide rather than be captured at Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa. Or that they had organized their own civilian population to resist the invasion of the home islands with human wave attacks. All in the name of the Emperor [which was a cover for the senior military leadership protecting their necks to the last civilian].
Oh, and on the matter of WMD, they don't count if they don't support the myth that none existed. What's 500 plus warheads of mustard or sarin gas unless you find out they want to store it in your community, right? /sarcasm off
#3
I was just talking about this with my Dad last week. He was a Navy corpsman with the Marines in WWII. His group missed going into Okinawa by a week and began to train for the invasion of the home islands. They were damn glad to hear of the atomic bombings. Olympic/Coronet would have been a blood-bath.
BTW, he also complained about the lack of additional medical training he received after his initial "A" school. He wondered if he'd remember enough to do any good.
#4
Every month the Japanese killed as many Chinese as people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
Add over a hundred thousand a month in other occupied countries. In other words and even if we forget about American and Japanese casualties in the taking of Japan proper, the bombings saved much more Chinese than they killed Japanese.
#5
Well I guess ya should've surrendered before we had to drop them, huh, Chikahiro? Go to Hirohito's grave and whine at him.
My dad made Okinawa. 110% casualty rate in his company. He figured he ran through all his luck there, and had no chance of getting through an invasion of Japan. So he lived, (and so did I when you think about it) because they dropped those things. And, as much as he probably hates to admit it, so did Hiroiwa-san.
#6
My old man was a Seabee and he never talked about the war until one night when after bowling, in 1974 only 5 years before he died, we were in the bar and he let a few things slip.
Let's just say that the cleanup of Saipan was something that you don't want to have experienced. Bulldozers and bodies and gasoline don't combine to form a pleasant picture, or smell.
It explained a lot about his reserve and his aversion to all things Japanese.
#7
Tell me about. My brother bought a Toyota and all dad said when he saw it was, "There's blood on that car". Wouldn't even sit in it.
I waited until he was gone to buy my Honda.
#8
Apologies for those who attacked us by surprise using their own Navy?! Perhaps the little nipper should rethink his history, picture the EMPORER of NIPPON signing away his little country on board the MISSOURI because he and his countrymen made a very BAD decision one day and thought they were actually the divine children of GOD, what a bunch of maroons
#9
My dad was slated to be part of the ground invasion of the Japanese home islands. I may well owe my existence to the 2 nukes dropped on Japan 18 months before I was born.
#11
The entire nation of Japan was prepared to commit suicide or die defending the homeland. The race would be dead. Only the shock of the bombs convinced some in authority of the madness and gave them some kind of face-saving way out.
I wonder if the Japanese learn about Nazi atrocities or if they only have a blind spot for the Pacific theater.
#12
"Every soldier thinks something of the moral aspects of what he is doing. But all war is immoral and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier." Curtis Lemay
"If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting." Curtis Lemay
"There are no innocent civilians. I have tried at all times to slaughter as few civilians as possible." Curtis Lemay
"Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time... I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal." Curtis Lemay
#13
If the Japneese hadn't surrendered they were staring down the barrel of an host to gawd genocide via starvation. B-29 minning of the home iland inland waterways was going to end the war in short order, but at a horrific cost.
#14
Point 5,
It would not have been in short order (more like a year later). Japanese civilians weren't able to buy shoes after 1943, and were running out of clothes.
There was enough food for 1 year provided they ate all their seed kernals instead of saving them to plant. This would have resulted in Japan running out of food in late summer of 1946.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/27/2009 16:29
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#15
Curtis LeMay grew up in Columbus, Ohio, 30 miles northwest of Lancaster, Ohio, where William Tecumseh Sherman grew up. Must be the water or the schools.
#17
I used to be ambivalent about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then I read Downfall by Richard B. Frank. He explains the events leading up to the bombings, the preparations that the Japanese were making for the invasion, and so on. He also points out, as others have done here, that if we had not used the bombs, or if the Japanese had not surrendered, our next targets would have included the railroads that brought rice to the cities. This would have led to mass starvation.
After the surrender, General MacArthur ordered food to be brought in and distributed. When he was asked why we didn't just let them starve, he said "We are better than that." This is one of the reasons that MacArthur was known as a bushido - a warrior with wisdom.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/27/2009 17:35
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#18
My Dad always said the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved more Japanese than it killed.
He was an officer in the Navy.
He was told at some briefings that they expected the US to have over 1.5 million casualties in the Operation Cornet invasion.
He was also told that every man woman and child was armed with spears, old guns, swords, knives, etc. and were prepared to fight us. The Imperial Army had pulled their best troops out of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and were holding them for the invasion. The Japanese also had something like 1700 aircraft of various types to use as kamakazis.
He was told the Japanese casualties would be horrific and would be over ten million killed and wounded. The US forces were being told they would have to shoot women and children who were fighting them.
It was going to be a blood bath more like the siege of Constantanople than anything in modern warfare.
The liberals and the hate america types in the universities always want to paint the A-bombings of Japan as either Racist or Genocide. It was neither. What would have been genocide was the ten million dead japanese and the 1.5 million dead US soldiers if Operation Cornet had been required.
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/27/2009 18:33
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#19
The Japanese have a huge amount of respect and affection for MacArthur. Also, he wrote the constitution for their post-War government, which has served them well over the past 60+ years.
#20
Okinawa 922 Square Miles
Japanese troops est 85,000 plus Okinawan conscripts.
US casulties 48,000 including 12,000 KIA.
Japanese Military 127,000 KIA.
Okinawan civilians est over 100,000 killed.
248 Allied ships were damaged while another 36 were sunk.
Combat Fatigue was the highest rate of the war (48%). 14,000 were retired as unfit for further duty.
Japan 143,619 Sq Miles
Allied intelligence had established that the Japanese had no more than 2,500 aircraft of which they guessed 300 would be deployed in suicide attacks. In August 1945, however, unknown to Allied intelligence, the Japanese still had 5,651 army and 7,074 navy aircraft, for a total of 12,725 planes of all types.
On Kyushu the odds would be 3 to 2 in favor of the Japanese, with 790,000 enemy defenders against 550,000 Americans. This time the bulk of the Japanese defenders would not be the poorly trained and ill-equipped labor battalions that the Americans had faced in the earlier campaigns.
#21
US military casualties would've been in the few Milyuhns, wid deaths in 00,000's - THE RISK WAS VERY REAL, HOWEVER, THAT JAPAN AS A PEOPLE COULD'VE BEEN ALL BUT EXTERMINATED FIGHTING A US INVASION.
The atomic bombings not only saved American lives, but Japan as well.
#22
Allied intelligence had established that the Japanese had no more than 2,500 aircraft of which they guessed 300 would be deployed in suicide attacks.
The Japanese command had finally been convince in the latter stages of Okinawa that for the defense of the home islands, to quite sending the Kamikazes after the capital and other combat ships and instead concentrate on the troop ships. Imagine the hike in that death rate when whole shiploads of troops in a liberty ship took a single hit.
The order of battle above is only for the first Japanese Island of Kyushu 14,000 Sq miles.
After Kyushu there would be potential invasions of Shikoku, Hokkaido and the big island of Honshu. Not to mention some 3,000 smaller islands, all in all a total size a little less than California.
#25
To rebuild any post-Invasion, destroyed JAPAN, infrastructure to population, MACARTHUR or other would likely had supported the importation of many millions of CHINESE + OTHER ASIAN LABORERS, OFFERING BOTH WORK AND RESIDENCY [ read, LEGAL INTER-ETHNIC MARRIAGE + PROPERTY OWNERSHIP]
IOW, JAPAN COULD BE PART OF "CHINA", ETC. NOW - NO LONGER "JAPANESE", OR IN THE ALTERN SURVIVING ETHNIC JAPANESE COULD BE A [weak/declining?] MINORITY IN THEIR OWN ANCESTRAL HOMELAND???
#26
My Dad was in the Marines on Okinawa. He related the awful carnage on both sides. Including civilians. After the fighting, we were stockpiling and staging literally miles of rows of equipment. All the survivors in Dad's outfit felt that if they went in on the invasion, their number would be up.
My step-father was an officer in charge of arming aerially placed mines from B-29s. Japan was getting choked.
Despite howls from revisionists, the 2 atomic bombs were the shock that finally brought Japan to its senses, and saved millions of lives on both sides.
Japan has never really apologized to its victims for its agressive war and the victims. In the United States, for all our warts, we do mea culpa big time, and some even make money on it.
We rebuilt Japan and made it into the world's economic powerhouse. If the Soviets took over Japan, they would have done things far differently. See what they did to Paulus' army at Stalingrad after the war.
As far as the lefty revisionists go, they can FOAD. The fact of the matter is that you can unilaterally disarm, but you can be subject to nuclear blackmail if your buddies in Russia, Pakistan, and China do not play fair.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 21:09
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statistical analysis by research assistant in CAMARA but printed in Commentary and carried on the middle east forum website
The recent history of foreign assistance shows a distinct correlation between aid and violence. Perhaps aid itself does not cause violence, but there is strong evidence that it contributes to a culture of corruption, government malfeasance, and terrorism that has had lethal consequences for both Israelis and Palestinians over the past decade.
#1
You know that Health and Human Services eventually removes the children from the care of parents that continue to use aid/welfare money to buy drugs and lotto tickets rather than feed, cloth, and properly house [that's not in filth ridden abodes] the kiddies. How hard is it for other bureaucrats to figure this one out and if they can't why are they permitted to remain bureaucrats?
The Canadian Caper was the unofficial name given to the covert rescue by the Government of Canada of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, by Iranian students on November 4, 1979, precipitating the Iran Hostage Crisis. . . .
The operation itself was initiated at great personal risk by then Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, and Canadian Immigration officer John Sheardown who provided sanctuary for the six endangered American diplomats in their own private residences. Two friendly-country embassy officials assisted as well, and an unoccupied diplomatic residence was used for several weeks.
Ambassador Taylor contacted then Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, Flora MacDonald and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark for assistance, who expressed support for the effort. The decision was made to smuggle the six Americans out of Iran on an international flight using Canadian passports. To achieve this, Canada's Parliament convened its first secret session since World War II to grant permission for an Order-in-Council to be made for the issuance of Canadian passports to the American diplomats in Canadian sanctuary. The granted passports, feigning Canadian citizenship and a set of forged Iranian visas prepared by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency would be used to attempt an escape from Iran.
The CIA enlisted its disguise and exfiltration expert, Tony Mendez, to provide a cover story, documents, and appropriate clothing and materials to change their appearance. Mendez worked closely with Canadian government staff in Ottawa, sending as much as he could in the diplomatic pouch, before flying to Tehran with an associate to assist with the rescue. There were alternate passports and identities for a variety of scenarios, but the cover story selected had the six being a Hollywood crew scouting movie locations. The elaborate back-story involved a film named Argo, for a Middle-Eastern feel, and a post office box in Los Angeles for Studio Six, backed by display ads. (The movie scenario was considered one way to get an armed team into Tehran to retake the embassy.) . . .
You can hear an interview with Mr. Mendez here. It's well worth the listen.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Thanks Canada! That was a high point in a very low time.
#2
I remember seeing a made-for-TV movie about it, also. And I vaguely remember that a couple of reporters/news outlets doing extensive coverage of the embassy takeover had slowly come to realize that there were six American officials unaccounted for, after the takeover, and realized that those people must therefore be in hiding someplace in Tehran. Can't remember of they voluntarily restrained themselves from doing a story and spilling the beans, or if the State Department quietly asked them to keep their story about it under wraps.
#3
The last I heard -- a few years ago -- Buffalo, NY bars were still accepting Canadian currency at par to thank Canada for this. Buffalo shops did for a number of years as well.
No problem. Citi should have a coporate jet as a sign of its success.
Oh wait. They're being bailed out by the federal government.
Nice ride, though
I'll complain when the 600 Dhimmicrats who rode private jets to Obama-fest give up theirs ...
Beleaguered Citigroup is upgrading its mile-high club with a brand-new $50 million corporate jet - only this time, it's the taxpayers who are getting screwed.
Even though the bank's stock is as cheap as a gallon of gas and it's burning through a $45 billion taxpayer-funded rescue, the airhead execs pushed through the purchase of a new Dassault Falcon 7X, according to a source familiar with the deal.
#2
That's why you nationalize these failing banks/lending institutions, fire the top three layers, cap everyone pay to SES/GS levels [your bonus is you get to keep your job], and consolidate all the holdings [not just the toxic paper they dirty themselves with] into a single Bank of the United States - which by the way was originally chartered under Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, hardly a purveyor of the ideas of Marxism and Socialism. This entire mindset has to be broken in the business and nothing focuses a man's mind like a good hanging [figurative or literal].
The high-flying execs at Citigroup caved under pressure from President Obama and decided today to abandon plans for a luxurious new $50 million corporate jet from France.
The bank used TARP funds to purchase a new corporate jet for executives.The decision came 24 hours after the banking giant, which was rescued by a $45 billion taxpayer lifeline, defended buying the state-of-the-art Dassault Falcon 7X -- one of nine to be flying in U.S. skies -- as a smart business deal. The jet, the epitome of corporate prestige and privilege, can carry 12 passengers in elegant comfort.
ABC News has learned that on Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroup about the company's new $50 million corporate jet and told execs to "fix it."
#7
Its time to bust those bastards and sell off their pieces. The U.S. govt is already the largest stockholder at 6% I believe.
There shouldn't be a single person, from the CEO to the guy who mops the floors at night taking home a bonus or a raise this year from Citi.
#8
They could have at least bought one used, from a distressed owner. Oh, wait - they *are* distressed. Halfwits.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/27/2009 15:33
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#9
These guys at Citi are full of arrogance and hubris. They need to set their sights a bit lower in these tough times. We at Rantburg are here to help you with real solutions to your problems. You need air transportation, but you dont want to break the bank. Let me suggest this: a Curtiss C-46, all tricked out.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2009 18:38
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#10
Excellent AP. I remember years ago walking out on the ramp at the former Ladd AFB and snooping around an old Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Catalina PBY. The pilot came out and gave me a great tour. He was an old WWII pilot from Texas who spent 3-4 months with the BLM fighting fires. Used to be a lot of old warbirds up in those parts. Flew out to Galena a few times and saw some that didn't make it.
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
and the women come out to cut up what remains,
jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
and go to your gawd like a soldier.
-Rudyard Kipling
The tools at the Australian spin this as some kind of depraved PR effort designed to prevent another kidnap drama for Hamas/Hezbollah and their media allies. The real reason, however, is the horrible fate of almost everyone unfortunate enough to be captured alive by these devils.
Our own troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have similar policies, though not officially: Save a bullet or a grenade for yourself.
ISRAELI soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip offensive this month were ordered to kill themselves rather than be captured, and if necessary to kill any Israeli soldier they saw being taken into captivity, the Yediot Achronot newspaper has reported.
"No matter what happens, no one will be kidnapped," the paper quotes one company commander telling his troops before the fighting began. "We will not have a Gilad Shalit 2."
Corporal Shalit, the Israeli soldier taken prisoner three years ago, is being held by Hamas, which is demanding the release of more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds convicted of terrorism, in exchange for his release. The newspaper quotes similar orders given in different Israeli field units, which reportedly reflect a new army policy.
In the past, there were standing orders, known as "Hannibal mode", for firing at a vehicle taking Israeli troops into captivity to disable it and permit a rescue team to reach it, even at risk to the captive soldiers inside the vehicle. The new orders tighten those instructions, reportedly by permitting the vehicle to be blown up.
A soldier in a commando unit that operated behind Hamas lines said his unit was equipped with "special weapons". "We were instructed to use them also against any vehicle carrying a kidnapped soldier," he said.
And an Israeli company commander told the newspaper he had instructed his men to resist being taken prisoner "even if this costs you your life".
Israel's Channel Ten television station broadcast a recording of a battalion commander instructing his men just before they invaded the Gaza Strip, in which he says one of Hamas's main goals was to capture soldiers to exchange for imprisoned terrorists. "No soldier from the battalion will be kidnapped, even if that means he blows up on his own grenade together with whoever wants to take him," the commander says.
Israeli officers reported several attempts, none successful, to kidnap soldiers during the house-to-house fighting in Gaza and to take them away through tunnels.
In its wars with Arab countries, Israel has had prisoners taken, but at the end of the fighting all prisoners on both sides have been exchanged. But in its conflict with militant groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, Israel has had to give up hundreds of prisoners -- mostly Palestinian, sometimes Lebanese -- in exchange for a handful of Israeli captives or for the bodies of dead soldiers.
Differing views about the stricter Hannibal mode were voiced yesterday by two fathers of soldiers who were taken captive by Hezbollah in Lebanon after being mortally wounded. It was an absolutely logical decision, said Haim Avrahami. "Better to pay the price of a soldier and spare him, his family and the nation the awful agony (of his imprisonment)."
But Zvi Regev, father of one of the two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah in 2006 touched off a month-long war in Lebanon, condemned the new instructions. "We must leave a window of hope that the soldier will return," he said. "I'm shocked just to hear of the possibility that our soldiers will get orders to fire on other soldiers of ours."
The bodies of the two men's sons were returned in exchange for hundreds of Arab prisoners.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported yesterday that the No2 man in the Hamas hierarchy in Gaza, Mahmoud Zohar, was wounded in the final days of the fighting in Gaza, and taken by ambulance to a Cairo hospital. There was no indication of his condition and no confirmation from other sources. The No3 leader, Interior Minister Said Siam, was killed during the offensive in an Israeli airstrike.
The newspaper, citing Palestinian sources, said Hamas had executed one of Siam's bodyguards for allegedly informing Israel of his whereabouts.
#1
This is crap. You do not order soldiers to kill themselves because you lack the political will to fight if they are being held hostage. That does not work in so many ways that it makes me sick.
Not only is it going to screw up morale, but it's also going to cause war crimes by soldiers "playing it safe". At the national level, it shows that the Israelis are starting to lose control of themselves.
And once they do lose control, it will be the difference between ethnically cleansing the Paleos by pushing them into Egypt, and mass murdering them.
#2
My uncle & his buddy went from arming P-40s to sitting in a foxhole on Oahu for several days after 7 Dec 1941. They expected to meet Japanese forces face to face. They were quite aware of how the Empire had been treating its prisoners. They both agreed to save their last bullet for themselves.
#3
i don't see any reason not too mass murder the paleos, the "civilians" elected their government if thats what you call it and i would rather die than captured tortured and eventually killed anyway by these animals
#11
Come to think of it, tw, some cases of suicide are part of Jewish tradition. Masada gives an example of ancient Jews doing exactly what these soldiers are doing. The Chanukah story of Hannah's sons has them committing suicide instead of idolatry. These were long before the Shoah.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/27/2009 23:40
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An Israeli soldier was reported killed close to the border with the Gaza Strip Tuesday in what Palestinians said appeared to have been an attack by militants in breach of ceasefire declarations made over a week ago. In the same area, a Palestinian was later killed by Israeli fire, local medics said. They said the man was a farmer.
The Israeli military, which maintains censorship on its casualties until next of kin are informed, said a bomb went off close to forces on the Israeli side of the border fence near the Kissufim crossing in the central Gaza Strip. It declined to comment on casualties but Al Arabiya television said one soldier was killed and three were wounded.
It would be the first Israeli death since Israel ended its 22-day offensive in the coastal enclave on January 18. It came on the eve of a first visit to the region by U.S. President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Obama has said Mitchell will pursue peace "vigorously and consistently."
Palestinians living near Kissufim crossing told Reuters they had seen a small group of gunmen, numbering two or three, moving toward the border fence early in the morning mist. They later heard explosions and gunfire shortly after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT). They did not see gunmen return. A Palestinian official in Gaza said Israeli officials told him that shipments of supplies through crossing points from Israel would be closed for the day.
Residents later saw Israeli helicopter gunships in the air and Israeli infantry moving inside the Gaza Strip. About a kilometer (half a mile) to the south of Kissufim, Israeli fire killed the 27-year-old man, Palestinian medics said.
#1
After the IDF action in reprisal, it would be nice for Israel to announce it took the action based on intel from Hamas sources... and use the words Hamas sources a few more times.
And the NYT dismisses their chances
A group of Miami men accused of planning to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago as part of an Islamic jihad will return to federal court this week as prosecutors try for a third time to win convictions.
The government's first two efforts ended in mistrials. And legal analysts say the prosecutors face an even greater challenge this time because, nearly three years after the men were arrested, the public mind-set has changed. "The fear card was what they were playing," said Bruce Winick, a University of Miami law professor. "If it didn't work the first two times with the juries that were selected, I think it's less likely that it will work right now because that fear of terrorism is a little more distant in our minds."
Former jurors in the first two cases have said they could not agree in part because of disputes over what some considered a lack of evidence. Prosecutors tried to prove that the original seven defendants, a group of laborers from the tough Liberty City neighborhood, provided "material support" to a terrorist organization, and planned to destroy buildings. But they relied mostly on the men's words, citing their loyalty oath to Al Qaeda and aggressive comments made to two F.B.I. informants. More concrete evidence did not emerge. Testimony showed that a search by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of what it called the group's headquarters did not yield guns, explosives or blueprints for an attack. Besides a samurai sword, no weapons were found.
"There was really nothing that indicated that this was a real threat," said Jeffrey Agron, a lawyer who served as the foreman at the first trial in 2007. "Another thing was the credibility of the confidential informants. The first informant, in the minds of most jurors, had no credibility, and with the second informant, a lot of the jurors felt he was trying to lead these guys on."
The first trial ended in December 2007 with an acquittal for one of the seven, Lyglenson Lemorin, and a mistrial for the other six: Narseal Batiste, accused of being the ringleader; Patrick Abraham; Burson Augustine; Rotschild Augustine; Naudimar Herrera; and Stanley G. Phanor. The second trial followed a similar path. Each side laid out many of the same arguments, and another jury deadlocked. On April 16, Judge Joan A. Lenard of Federal District Court ordered a mistrial for the second time. About a week later, prosecutors said they would try again. Assistant United States Attorney Richard Gregorie, at a hearing where the decision was announced, said another trial was necessary to "safeguard the community." Mr. Gregorie cited some of the violent comments allegedly made by Mr. Batiste, including a threat to "kill all the devils."
Mr. Winick said that no new evidence was expected, and that this would probably be the last trial for a case that he, some former jurors and other legal scholars have seen as politically driven. The timing in particular has attracted scrutiny because the arrests came just a few months before the 2006 elections, and they were widely publicized by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who outlined the most sensational evidence at a news conference.
Mr. Winick said that by that point, "The plot, to the extent there was a plot at that point, was falling apart," suggesting that it would have made more sense to continue observing the group, rather than making arrests. Winning a conviction at this point, he and others said, will be difficult. "I don't see it ending any differently than before," said Mr. Agron, the former juror. Mr. Winick agreed. "It's a case where a government informant got a bunch of guys together to swear a loyalty oath to Al Qaeda," he said. "It's a B movie really, more than a criminal case."
#3
Even now, Islamic fascists are grinning and rubbing their hands.
If we ever neede proof that no matter what kind of education you have, being a leftist is proof positive of lack of intelligence and common sense, here it is.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/27/2009 7:03
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#4
Obama to America: Internationally speaking, I'm gonna get rolled...
#13
Asked why Al Arabiya had been granted the president's first interview, an aide said: "We want to communicate directly to the entire world America's new foreign policy."
And the new foreign policy is different from the old how again? What a bunch of baloney. While the messenger is new, the message is more or less the same. I seriously doubt the new messenger will prove any more persuasive. I can only hope that all of this is part of a good faith effort on behalf of the O administration for when he decides to attack Iran to prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon, which my gut tells me he will (although my gut's track record isn't terribly impressive).
#15
He gave his first interview to an Islamic TV channel? It's a bit like a schoolteacher spending the first lesson of the term pleading with the disruptive kids at the back of the room to please behave because I'm a decent guy, not like your last teacher. It's easy to predict how this'll pan out, even though I doubt any one of us had a teacher who was actually that stupid...
#16
Asked why Al Arabiya had been granted the president's first interview, an aide said: "We want to communicate directly to the entire world America's new foreign policy."
But he sought a conciliatory tone throughout the interview, at one point avoiding even restating American policy, and his own platform, than an Iranian nuclear weapon is plainly unacceptable.
BO's silence or refusal to state clearly our policy is sending a clear message in my view, one that I don't like.
Posted by: Jan ||
01/27/2009 14:04
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#17
Maybe he'll start selling Middle East dictators down the river like Carter did to the Shah. We all know how well that worked out.
Terrorists Suspected insurgents have shot dead three civilians in the Muslim-majority south of Thailand, where a five-year-long jihad separatist rebellion is raging, police said Tuesday.
A 41-year-old woman and her 40-year-old husband were killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Tuesday morning, police said. The previous night in neighbouring Narathiwat province, a 28-year-old man was shot dead in a similar attack, while his friend was critically wounded.
Reporting from Mosul, Iraq -- For decades, Arab soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas battled by gun, by mortar, by rocket. Now, elections are the latest weapon in the struggle for land and power in Iraq's north.
The ballot box has become a battleground in Nineveh province, a high-stakes combat zone where Kurds and Arabs will face off over the future shape of the country -- and confront each other over the past. The outcome could set the stage for another round of violence, which both sides insist that they do not want.
In the last few years, almost 2,000 Kurds have been killed in Mosul," Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani told The Times this month. "We have not responded in the same manner and we have not reacted in any act of vengeance; but of course everything will have its limits."
The rival ethnicities are grappling with the legacy of Saddam Hussein's policy of displacing Kurds to create an Arab majority here. Whereas the Kurds believe they are correcting a historical wrong, Arabs see humiliation. They accuse the Kurds of harassment, arbitrary arrests and torture in the run-up to the election Saturday.
How the struggle plays out here, where Arabs clearly outnumber Kurds, will go a long way toward determining the outcome in other disputed territories, such as the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, where no side has such an outright majority.
"If these problems are not solved, there will be some extremism here in [Nineveh], on the Kurdish side and Arab side," Deputy Gov. Kharso Goran warned, sitting in his riverside office in the provincial capital, Mosul, flanked by the flags of Iraq, Kurdistan and his Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The Kurds have governed their own region, Kurdistan, since 1991 and have pushed to expand the area to include the northern and eastern belt around Mosul and the Sinjar region of western Nineveh. That has exacerbated Kurdish-Arab tensions, which U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker recently labeled one of the emerging challenges of the year.
"The people of these areas do not want to belong to Kurdistan," said Sheik Abdullah Humaidi Yawar, a senior leader in Hadba, a Sunni Arab nationalist movement. Yawar is considered the front-runner in the Nineveh election.
"They want to stay included in Nineveh," he said. "The Kurdish parties have proven to the people for the last five years that they are racist like the former regime."
The Sunni Arabs are playing catch-up after their boycott of U.S.-sponsored elections in 2005 handed the Kurds control of Nineveh. The Kurds used the last four years to cement their grip on the disputed areas in northern Nineveh bordering Kurdistan, with a sizable presence of Kurdish border guards, intelligence officers and Kurdish-dominated Iraqi army units.
The Kurds had hoped to formalize the new reality in a constitutionally mandated referendum, designated to settle the fate of similarly contested areas across Iraq, including Kirkuk. But the date for the referendum expired a year ago, and with it the Kurds' opportunity to quickly seize what they believe is rightfully theirs.
Now both Baghdad and local Arabs appear intent on beating back the Kurds, through a mix of intimidation, negotiation and show of force.
"When we have the ability to protect these areas, we will ask Kurdistan to leave them," said Yahya Abdul Majoud of the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is considered the less extreme Sunni faction in the north. "If they agree or not, it's not the Kurds' choice," he said, adding that the Iraqi army should replace Kurdish units in Nineveh in six months to a year.
Shiite Muslim Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has already put his weight behind Nineveh's Arabs. He has started trying to purge the two Iraqi army divisions in Nineveh of Kurdish officers, who have been accused of working for Kurdish ambitions, Kurdish officials say.
Since the summer, Nineveh's security command, which reports to Maliki, has twice threatened to forcibly evict Goran from his Kurdistan Democratic Party offices in east Mosul.
The Kurdish political parties are sure to not go quietly. They warn that an aggressive campaign to dislodge them from the disputed territories and marginalize them in Nineveh politics has the potential to spark serious confrontations. If Baghdad backs the hard-line Arab nationalists, Goran said, "there will be a problem between Kurdistan and the central government."
Goran has a visceral dislike of Hadba, which exemplifies the new nationalist wave. He accuses the movement of having ties to the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq and Hussein's Baath Party. Hadba is headed by Atheel Najafi, scion of an old Mosul family, famed breeders of Arabian horses who once sold and raced horses with Hussein's sons Uday and Qusai.
Najafi and his colleagues regularly accuse Kurdish army units of torturing detainees and hint that the Kurdistan Democratic Party has plotted at least one assassination attempt against a Hadba candidate. Najafi vows to force Kurdish troops to withdraw from the disputed territories.
"When we have strong authority and power in Mosul, the Kurds will change their stance," Najafi said. He pledges to bar Kurdistan's two main parties from any leadership positions in Mosul.
Najafi describes the dispute as the latest mutation of an old conflict between the Kurdish parties and the central government.
#1
The Iraqi civil war will start in Nineveh/Mosul. Probably sometime in 2009.
The Kurdish militia will initially trounce the Iraqi Army which will then probably fragment amid the usual Arab genocide claims. Iran won't stand by and watch, nor will Turkey.
The Obama Regime will either abruptly withdraw or side with the Arabs.
I hope the Kurds are stockpiling ammo. They will need it.
In the first entry of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams joins British troops on a raid near Basra as they witness the progress made by the Iraqi Army.
Up before dawn as word comes of an Iraqi army search operation at Az-Zubeir, south east of the city. The operation involves 50 Iraqi Army Brigade, who our British hosts from the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment are mentoring, so we are invited along to watch.
We race through the deserted streets of Iraq's second largest city, not really knowing what the morning will hold.
The British MiTTs (Military Transition Teams) are not here to direct Iraqi army operations - those days are long gone - but to observe and offer discreet advice. To keep a low profile, the Brits leave their imposing Mastiff armoured personnel carriers behind and ride in soft-skinned Iraqi jeeps. They do not want to draw attention to themselves, a lesson from the days when highly visible British soldiers became a magnet for militia attacks.
The job of "mitting" will end soon, probably well before the final British departure date of 31 July, and this certainly feels like the beginning of the end.
Help and equipment
Britain's role in training and mentoring the 14th Iraqi army division is almost done. As this morning's display shows, the Iraqis are organising and conducting their own operations with minimal British support. To be sure, an RAF Lynx flies up and down the road as we near az-Zubeir, and an occasional whine gives away the presence overhead of a tiny British drone, a Desert Hawk.
Britain is still providing the sort of help and equipment the reconstituted Iraqi armed forces cannot muster.
But as the true size of the raid becomes apparent, causing astonishment among the British soldiers watching, it seems clear the Iraqi army is operating with considerable confidence. Or at least that is the impression it hopes to convey.
As the sun comes up over the desert, our convoy stretches as far as the eye can see. It seems that 14 Division has thrown almost everything it has into the operation. It unfolds at a fairly leisurely pace, with several U-turns and, when we reach the town, a lot of standing around. But the British are still impressed.
"They've got it pretty well locked down," remarks Maj Adrian Grinonneau as we pass street after street blocked off by armoured vehicles and well-armed Iraqi troops. "This is unprecedented from our viewpoint," he says as more and more troops arrive.
And to emphasise that, this is an Iraqi operation through and through. He adds: "We're not giving them guidance, we're not giving them direction. Operationally, they're mustard."
The search, in a dirt poor town with a reputation for lawlessness and violence, yields dozens of weapons, from an ageing Sten gun to an assortment of Kalashnikovs. More than 120 weapons in all. Some of the house searches look a little staged for our camera and the town's sleepy atmosphere seems at odds with the overwhelming military presence.
But with just five days to go before Iraq's important provincial elections, it seems the army is glad and able to make a big statement. And for the watching Brits, that means that it'll soon be time to go home.
#2
Nope, that's not going to happen. The Kurds have the best indigenous soldiers in the region, good equipment, and pretty good leadership at this point. Be it Sunnis, Shi'a, or Iranians, I wouldn't mess with the Kurds. Turks might want to consider that point as well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009 8:06
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#3
Peshmerga are light infantry. No armor, no artillery, never mind Air Force.
Snark, snark, snark. I don't have to put anything inline because these guys do a pretty good job of it themselves. They would fit right in here at the 'Burg...
The LTTE officially launched its long awaited Great Counter-attack on Saturday by nobly blowing up the bund of Kalamadukulam tank and DROWNING 1,000,000 Sinhaloids who were all having a picnic near the bund. To celebrate it, we Tactically Withdrew® from our last totally worthless insignificant ghost town of Mullaitivu on Sunday.
As usual, the 150% non-cowardly Tigers chose not face the SLA in battle because we all know that it will result in a bloodbath of homophobes. So the Tigers mercifully decided to blow up the bund and flood all the Tamil areas, beautifully flooding paddy fields and creating a breeding ground for cholera and other water-borne diseases which will kill ONLY the Sinhaloids and NOT the Tamil civilians there. Snarky Ouch!
The Sea Tigers then rode the 50-metre high waves and launched a marine assault on the Sinhaloid army with great success. This is the first time in history that a marine force has used boats on land! It is another testament to We Tamil ingenuity! Our totally credible sources state that at least 1,000,000 Sinhaloids were killed in this much anticipated Counter-attack and 5,000,000 were taken prisoner. Not only that, but the LTTE continued its Great Counter-attack by marching towards Kilinochchi and fighting has been reported in Jaffna too. Love the catchphrase!
Military sources say that the Vishvamadhu tank has also been blown up, drowning another half a million Sinhaloids. The 57th and 58th Divisions are totally bogged down by these man-made tsunamis. Contact has been lost with more than 10,000,000 troops, presumed drowned. The LTTE has already taken possession of 2,500,000 SLA dead. Two SLAF Kfirs and Ten 3-Man Migs were also victims of the floods. Larf. Actually does a pretty good job of the wishful thinking that occurs on the news sites of terrorist groups. The Serbs were shooting down American planes left and right, soldiers dying on the barricades, etc.
Until now, Russia and Ukraine have traded gas through an intermediary, RosUkrEnergo, a secretive, Swiss-based company which many have blamed for the crisis.
Both Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, now say they want to eliminate the middleman and trade gas directly.
Ma'an's version...
European Union's Commissioner Louis Michel visited Gaza City on Monday, where he called for maintaining the ceasefire, opening border crossings and lifting the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Standing in front of the missiled UN storehouses, bombed by Israel during the three week onslaught, Michel expressed his astonishment at the damage caused by the Israeli offensive.
Israel violated international and human rights, he said, and affirmed that civilians were directly targeted during the attacks. He expressed shock at the evidence that 50% of victims were civilians including women and children.
"The most painful thing for me was the sizable of destruction in infra-structures, economic facilities and factories which used to provide work opportunities for the Palestinians. [The destruction of these] was an unjustifiable violation of international law," he stated.
At the same time, Michel condemned all military action against civilians, including Israeli civilians, referring to the home-made projectiles the Palestinian factions launch from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns. He described that as "terrorism" because those attacks target guiltless people.
He added, "Today I believe more than any other time in the past that military operations can never be a solution. Instead, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip should be maintained, and crossing points should be completely open not only for passage of humanitarian aid, but also to refresh the economy in the strip." And the BBC's version...
EU envoy lays Gaza blame on Hamas
A senior European Union official touring war-torn Gaza has blamed the ruling militant movement Hamas for the humanitarian crisis there. Humanitarian aid chief Louis Michel called the destruction left by Israel's offensive "abominable", but said Hamas bore "overwhelming responsibility". He said there would be no dialogue with with the "terrorist" movement until it gave up violence and recognised Israel.
Touring some of Gaza's worst-hit areas of Israel's 22-day assault which killed about 1,300 Palestinians, including 400 children, Mr Michel described the situation as "abominable, indescribable".
"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," he said. "I intentionally say this here - Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such."
Thirteen Israelis were killed in the conflict, and Mr Michel later visited the southern Israeli town of Sderot, the target of Palestinian militant rocket fire. There, he called on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza and accused both sides of violating humanitarian law. "Please open the crossings, you have to broaden the range of products that you let in," he urged Israel's authorities. "We, the EU, condemn Qassam attacks and military options which target the civilian population."
The former Belgian foreign minister insisted there would be no dialogue with Hamas, saying its use of terrorism against Israeli civilians meant it was not a legitimate resistance movement.
Some aid agencies have expressed doubts about how effective a reconstruction drive in Gaza can be without the involvement of Hamas, which controls the territory, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Gaza.
Announcing the extra aid, Mr Michel said people in the EU were sick of paying for the same infrastructure being destroyed over and over again in Israeli military action. The EU is the main donor to the Palestinians, having given three billion euros since 2000, Mr Michel said. "Every year, we spend 600 to 700m euros. Today we decided on a supplementary payment of 60m euros."
Hmmmmmm. Something seems lost in translation
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#5
In other words the several years long harrassing by Palestinans firing rocketys at Israel will have zero cost for them.
If Palestyians had had to work hard for eraning a living and work harder for every Kassama and work still harder for paying every cent of disruption they cause in Israel (including the disruption of activity) there would be no war.
On a frigid evening this month, more than 10,000 people gathered outside a 13th-century cathedral in this Baltic capital to protest the government's handling of Latvia's economic crisis and demand early elections. It's gonna get worse before it gets better.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It's not the crisis they're protesting, it's the utter and complete contempt the government has expressed for its people during the crisis.
#3
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > GLOBALRESEARCH.CA - GLOBAL MILITARY BLOCS: NATO'S DRIVE INTO ASIA.
US-NATO expansionism into mainland Asia as a "justified" Western + Democratic defence agz Radical Islamism = "GOOD/POSITIVE IMPERIALISM".
versus:
STRATFOR: STRATEGIC DIVERGENCE: THE WAR AGZ THE TALIBAN AND THE WAR AGZ AL-QAEDA [New US strategic focii beyond Radical Islam].
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) recommended Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) to permanently close all its telegraph offices after a probe revealed that expenditure of the almost idle and corruption-riddled offices were 15 times their income between 2000 and 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - A union leader was charged in an Istanbul court on Monday bringing to 18 the number of new suspects accused of planning a military coup against the Turkish government. Turkish media reports said that the 18 were among 26 people detained by police around the country as part of the controversial Ergenekon investigation.
They also searched the offices of a private TV channel and a union in the capital Ankara.
Turkish Metal Union chairman Mustafa Ozbek, seven military officers and ten police officers were charged by the court, while the other eight, including Turkish union executives, were released without charge.
Meanwhile three other suspects who had been held under arrest for nearly a year as part of the Ergenekon investigation were released by the Istanbul High Crime Court on Saturday.
A poll released on Monday showed that close to half the Turkish nation believes that Ergenekon was established to overthrow the government through a military coup. But one in five Turks thinks the investigation is simply being used to suppress the opposition.
According to the nationwide poll of 2,400 people, 49.3 percent of respondents identified Ergenekon as a case in which "crime gangs and military coup plotters are trialled".
The Ergenekon probe is seen as one of the most controversial cases in Turkey's history. It was launched in 2007 after the discovery of hand grenades in a house in Istanbul.
More than 80 people, including journalists, intellectuals, union leaders, business leaders, army officers, police officers, and retired generals, are charged with forming an illegal, clandestine organisation in a bid to pave the way for a military coup.
The group is accused of terrorist acts in Turkey and of allegedly planning a coup in 2009.
The alleged masterminds behind this coup plot are generals Kemal Yavuz and Tuncer Kilinc. Both were arrested recently.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Ergenekon investigation---Turkey's version of Reichstag's fire.
#2
Corrupt Union Officials, not relegated to just the USA
Posted by: Jimmy Hoffa ||
01/27/2009 11:44
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TURKEY today is also reportedly now interested in dev and engaging in its own indigenous URANIUM ENRICHMENT = NUCLEAR CYCLES, vee IFF IRAN CAN DO IT, WHY CAN'T WE!?
A fake training academy has been found running in the capital and providing certificates to the students of medical, nursing and pathological courses for a period of over a decade.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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RAB-4 conducted the raid. Dam, those guys are good.
#2
Sensing presence of Rab, MA Malek managed to flee the scene.
LOL - the RAB must give off vibes as they approach. Either that or all the bad guys in Bangla are spiders...
Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the 'urgent need' to combat global warming.
But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings. A 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations. "I can't imagine the Democrats would want to showcase Mr. Gore and his new findings on global warming as a winter storm rages outside," a Republican lawmaker emailed the DRUDGE REPORT. "And if the ice really piles up, it will not be safe to travel."
A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, who chairs the committee, was not immediately available to comment on contingency plans. Global warming advocates have suggested this year's wild winter spells are proof of climate change.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove to testify about the Bush administration's firing of U.S. attorneys.
The subpoena Monday by Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers continues a long-running legal battle. Rove previously refused to appear before the panel, contending that former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress.
Rove was asked to appear for a deposition on Feb. 2. Conyers also wants him to testify on whether politics played a role in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat.
Rove's former boss, ex-President George W. Bush, upheld Rove's legal position but it has been rejected by a federal judge.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Conyers is about to get a slap in the head, Chicago Way.
If he keep this charade going, O is going to have a harder time getting rid of Fitz. One might think Rove would love to help Conyers drag this out.
Posted by: Be responsible ||
01/27/2009 10:07
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I hope Conyers continues his efforts and I hope the Dems publicly investigate other Bush White House actions. Voters are going to be pissed off enough as millions lose jobs and then realize the "stimulus" package was a fraud.
To also have congress settling political scores while the economy burns will cost the Democrats even more seats.
Gunmen in a car fired on a police checkpoint near the US Embassy in Yemen's capital on Monday, an Interior Ministry official said, hours after the embassy received threats of a possible attack.
Police returned fire at two gunmen in the car, which fled the scene, the official said. It was unclear if anyone was injured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press. He said three men in the area were detained.
An attack on the embassy in September involving gunmen and explosives-packed vehicles killed 17 people, including six militants. Al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for that attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
How many gun shots are fired near anybody's embassy in Washington?
(Xinhua) -- UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah on Monday welcomed the overwhelming vote by Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament in favour of expanding the legislative body by an additional 275 Members.
"I am extremely encouraged by this vote and I would like to thank Somalia's leaders, the Parliamentarians and all those who have helped work towards such a positive step," Ould-Abdallah saidin a statement issued in Nairobi.
The Parliamentary vote, which took place in Djibouti on Monday, resulted in 211 MPs voting in favour of expansion with six against and three abstentions.
The Somali Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia agreed last October on the outline of enlarging Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament and forming a Government of National Unity.
Up to 200 new members of Parliament, selected by the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) are expected to be sworn in Djibouti while the expanded Parliament will subsequently elect a new president.
The other 75 seats are being kept for members of civil society and opposition who are not members of the ARS.
"This is a very good result and will demonstrate to the Somali people that their leaders are committed to moving forward together to restore peace and stability," said Ould-Abdallah.
The international community hopes a more inclusive Somali government will be able to reach out to armed groups who are still fighting the interim government and targeting African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu.
"It means Somalia will have a new President who will be able to attend the African Union Summit of Heads of State in Addis Ababa on Feb. 1, demonstrating the progress that was made here in a short space of time."
"The international community has also made a key contribution with support for the Parliamentary meetings and, as always, Djibouti has provided most welcome hospitality and backing," said the UN special representative.
ARS leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed announced on Sunday he would contest the presidential election. Sharif and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein are seen as the two main presidential contenders.
More than a dozen candidates are expected to vie to succeed former President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed who stepped down last month after falling out with the prime minister over a UN-backed peace deal.
The lawmakers are also mulling whether to extend by some 10 days over Wednesday's deadline for choosing a new president, to allow contenders time to campaign.
But Ould-Abdallah had earlier urged the parliament to respect its Jan. 28 deadline for selecting Yusuf's successor.
Under the constitutional charter, a new Somali president, who in turn will appoint a new prime minister, should be chosen by parliament within 30 days of the resignation of the last one.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
So now it's, what, twenty pounds of shit in a five pound bag?
A special court in Dhaka yesterday sentenced Shafiur Rahman Babu, absconding younger son of former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, to 13 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a corruption case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Two men accused of belonging to a U.S. branch of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to funnel resources to the rebel group, a court spokesman said. John Smith Sathajhan Sarachandran, 29, and Bill Jones Nadarasa Yogarasa, 54, pleaded guilty on the eve of their trial at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization, spokesman Robert Nardoza said. Sarachandran also pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase guided anti-aircraft missiles.
The trial of two co-defendants, Sam Brown Sahilal Sabaratnam, 29, and Tyrone Thompson Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam, 40, is expected to go forward on Wednesday. Several other individuals -- including Karunakaran Kandasamy, the suspected head of the U.S. branch of the rebel group, who stands accused of overseeing the organization's activities and fund-raising -- have been charged separately and are expected to go on trial later this year.
Prosecutors said the Tamil Tigers rely on sympathetic expatriates to raise money, get weapons and spread propaganda. To coordinate these activities, the Tigers have established "branches" in at least 12 countries, including an office in the New York borough of Queens, prosecutors said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009
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This would be page 2 I would think...
Anyway this is the other part of crushing the LTTE, going after their immigrant supporters. The LTTE even terrorizes them here and extracts taxes to fund the rebellion.
Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Monday arrested three wanted men and seized weapons and ammunition during a security operation in the west of and central Basra, the media office of the Basra police said. "Police forces waged a crackdown operation in al-Zubair and al-Janiena regions in west and central Basra, where they arrested three men wanted for terrorist and criminal cases," the office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The forces seized eight mortar shells, five hand grenades, two rocket propelled grenades, and four Kalashnikovs," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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ST. PAUL (AP) The mishandling of some court exhibits has set back Republican Norm Coleman's lawsuit challenging the Minnesota Senate recount. Coleman's attorneys planned to begin introducing copies of thousands of rejected absentee ballots Tuesday, examining them individually over about six days. They want a three-judge panel to add the rejected absentees to the recount, and say the ballots could be key to Coleman overtaking Democrat Al Franken.
But Coleman's representatives had written notes on some of the copies, and Franken's attorneys objected. The judges agreed. They said the Coleman team must subpoena the original envelopes. That process could be lengthy.
Judge Denise Reilly warned them to "have some backup witnesses" ready Tuesday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009
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This is becoming quite a little high level conspiracy in Minn.
#2
Let's see. State judges in California, Missouri, New Jersey, etc throw out their own laws and their own written Constitutions so that Donks or their special interest groups get what they want on elections regardless. And you're surprised by events in Minnesota? They want enough appearance of democracy to keep the usual smucks appeased so that they can keep the game going. It's not that they expect the smucks to rise up when they defraud the process, but rather that someone will rise and the smucks will sit it out that forces them to even play this game.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Athar Abbas on Monday said the military was acquiring the latest technology to jam the illegal radio transmissions of the Swat Taliban, a private TV channel reported. The ISPR spokesman told the channel that the Taliban's FM radio transmitters were mobile and could not be destroyed immediately. However, Abbas said, the acquisition of the technology would help block the illegal transmissions. Some fairly old-technology radio direction finding equipment will nail them down within anywhere from a half kilometer to about 100 square meters. Multiple intersects from remote-operated airborne equipment can nail them within comfortable artillery range, and then there's suddenly no more Mullah Fazlullah. That's what they're trying to avoid, of course.
General Abbas said the Taliban were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in Swat and wanted to extend their presence to other parts of the country, the channel reported. He told the channel that the Taliban were trying to project themselves as a parallel government in the valley, but the military would control the situation soon. "Define soon?"
"Next 100 years. Maybe 150."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
I knew how to use a frequency counter and direction finder with a scanner 30 years ago. Why is this technology just now being used?
Sri Lankan troops fought heavy battles on Monday with the Tamil Tigers in the small patch of jungle that remains under rebel control, a day after government forces drove the insurgents from their last major stronghold, the military said.
With troops sweeping across the north and forcing the rebels into a broad retreat from the wide swath of land they once controlled, the military says it is close to crushing the group and ending the 25-year-old civil war in this Indian Ocean island nation.
But analysts warn that it is simply shifting from a conventional fight between two armies to a guerrilla war likely to be fought amid the hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians reportedly trapped in the jungles with the rebels.
"The military phase has come to an end, but the conflict will go on," said Jayadeva Uyangoda, the head of political science at the University of Colombo. "The Tigers may not be able to regain the political or military power that they had before, so they will return to guerrilla tactics."
The Tigers waged a textbook guerrilla war in the 1980s, emerging from jungle hideouts to launch small-scale hit-and-run ambushes, bombings and sabotage attacks that the government found impossible to prevent.
The defence correspondent for the Lankadeepa daily, Susantha Seneviratne, warned that the remaining Tiger fighters could blend in with the civilian population in Sri Lanka's north -- and make surprise attacks on strategic targets.
Government forces have squeezed the rebels into a 115-square-mile area in the jungle, the military said.
On Sunday, the army overran the coastal town of Mullaittivu -- the last major town under rebel control. Troops were consolidating their control of the town on Monday while other forces pushed into the jungles in the Vishwamadu area and fought pitched battles with the rebels there, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
"They are engaging with artillery. They are engaging with mortars. They are engaging with small arms," he said.
Rebel officials could not be reached for comment because communications to the northern war zone have been cut. It is impossible to verify the military's accounts because independent journalists are barred from the area.
In recent weeks, the Sri Lankan army has driven the rebels from their administrative capital of Kilinochchi and forced them into a broad retreat.
In announcing the fall of Mullaittivu on Sunday, army commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka said the war was "95 percent" over and he appealed for new recruits to join the army and help complete the job.
"There is still a lot of work to be done," Sri Lanka's former army commander Gen Jerry de Silva said. "It is likely they (the rebels) will resort to guerrilla tactics, both jungle and urban," he said, adding that the jungle canopy above much of the remaining rebel territory could make it difficult for troops to rely on air support.
Human rights groups and diplomats have expressed growing concerns about the safety of hundreds of thousands of war refugees reportedly trapped inside the rebel-controlled areas.
Rights groups have accused the Tamil Tigers of preventing civilians from fleeing the war zone, while the government has said the rebels hoped to use the civilians as human shields. Reports of civilian casualties in the area have grown in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Everybody that's been cured, take one step forward.
Not so fast, Mahmoud...
Nine Saudi Islamic militants, including former Guantanamo inmates, have been rearrested in the Kingdom despite completing a controversial rehabilitation programme. Geez, one guy screws up and everybody pays. Oh, well. Insh Allah, boys...
The arrests follow the embarrassing revelation last week that another Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released to the authorities in 2007 has emerged as the deputy leader of al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch of the terrorist organisation. Awwww, geez. Looks like the "repentence" thing just ain't working out, huh, boys... ... depends on your point of view ...
Both incidents are a serious setback for the experimental regime in which Saudi terror suspects are "weaned off" Islamic militancy at the so-called "Betty Ford clinic" for jihadists. I can see! I CAN SEE!!
The rearrest of nine Saudi militants has also underlined the dilemma now facing governments with nationals still being detained in Guantanamo Bay, following President Obama's decision to close the camp. He has called on other countries to take detainees to help clear out the controversial prison. Maybe they ought to tell him to change his mind...
European foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today to discuss ways of responding to the US President's request. Jean Asselborn, the Foreign Minister of Luzembourg, said: "The EU is not politically responsible for Guantanamo, it was an American decision and they have to take responsibility, but the EU must help people who were jailed, from a humanitarian point of view." Yep, the EU has it's priorities. How about we drop em all in Luxembourg? Maybe in Jean's neighborhood?
At the Saudi rehabilitation centre, inmates selected for reform have access to a swimming pool, table tennis and PlayStations. They even play football with their guards. Wow. Just like "The Longest Yard"...
During the programme, the militants have to attend lessons based on Islamic law which shuns the use of violence. A team of psychologists instruct them how to manage their emotions when seeing images on television of Muslims suffering in war situations. I wonder if they pin their eyes open and use the Wagner and the strobes?
My bet?..................Nah.
The Saudi authorities claimed that none of the militants who had been sent to the centre on the outskirts of Riyadh had returned to terrorism. Except for...that guy.
The Pentagon claims that dozens of released Guantanamo detainees have "returned to the fight". ...and those guys. Maybe.
Said Ali al-Shihri was suspected of being involved in the bombing of the US Embassy in Sana, Yemen's capital, in September last year. He had also been through the Saudi rehabilitation programme. He said he was cured. Did the fingerpaints and colored inside the lines and...everything. How were we to know?
He and another Saudi national with al-Qaeda links had travelled to Yemen after completing the programme. Both men have appeared on a jihadist website. On the video, al-Shihri is seen sitting with three other men before a flag for al-Qaeda in Iraq. "By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for," al-Shihri said. Hmmmmmmmmmm...don't think that's what our Saudi friends were going for.
Saudi Arabia has also built five jails, each housing 1,200 jihadist prisoners, who are given religious instruction. But the prisons hold senior al-Qaeda leaders and they have to endure maximum security conditions. What's that? No room service?
#1
If you are brought up to hate infidels from a young age its hard to make these guys see the West in another light hence the education system in Saudi needs looking at urgently because they teach an 'Us and them' mentality in that we are evil and must be destroyed and the Saudis are perfect/superior Allah's children!!!
Guantanamo is the perfect place for those boys, unless you count the bottom of the Atlantic. Bush's intent was to keep them there indefinitely on ice because it's legal and safe. But BO has to be more than legal and safe, he has to be "politically correct" and true to the loonies who put him in the White House. Now that he's signed the executive order to close Guantanamo he's given himself one year to find a "process" to replace it. Good luck with that. Just don't bring 'em to Pendleton or Miramar, if you please.
(Xinhua) -- The hardline Islamist Al-shabaab movement Monday has taken over the southern Somali town of Baidoa, the seat of the parliament, after brief clashes with government forces and local clan militias, hours after Ethiopian troops withdrew from the town, the Al-shabaab said. It was not clear if there were any casualties on the warring sides but four civilians have been killed and six others wounded in the chaos that preceded the takeover.
Ethiopian troops have fully withdrawn from Baidoa, 245 km southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu, and the last base of the Ethiopian troops who crossed over to the war-wrecked horn of African country two years ago to prop up the transitional Somali government. The town has been the seat of the Somali interim parliament for the past three years. Nearly all the lawmakers have left Baidoa for Djibouti.
Spokesman for the Al-Shabaab movement, Sheik Muqtar Robow Abu Mansuur, who was leading the insurgent fighters, said that his forces have taken over much of the town of Baidoa including the interim parliament building in the south of the town. Earlier Abu Mansuur said following the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops, that his fighters, who control now most of the villages and towns around Baidoa will "peacefully take over the town" which is guarded by small number of local militia and Somali government forces.
Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade, a senior Somali cabinet minister told Xinhua in Baidoa that government forces as well as local militias are fighting to defend the town from Al-Shabaab forces who he said now "took parts of the town". Habsade is one of a number of senior Somali government officials including several parliamentarians from the town trying to protect Baidoa.
Local residents remained indoors since the start of the fight for control of Baidoa as government forces and local militias took up positions around the north of the town where widespread looting of government properties including the presidential residence and parliament house took place prior to the insurgent's entry into it.
This article starring:
Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade, a senior Somali cabinet minister
SHEIK MUQTAR ROBOW ABU MANSUUR
Al-shabaab
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Simmering sectarian violence once again erupted in Pakistan on Monday. Violent protests took place in Quetta, capital of gas-rich western Balochistan province after the slaying there of a Shia Muslim politician. And at least five people died in a bombing outside the town hall in Dera Ismail Khan, in restive, Pashtun dominated Northwest Frontier province.
The banned Sunni extremist group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the drive-by slaying in Quetta of Hussain Ali Yousufi. A prominent Shia figure and ethnic Hazara, he led the Hazara Democratic Party. Ethnic Hazaras form a sizeable population (around 90,000) in Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran - the country from which they originally migrated to Pakistan.
Clashes between the Taliban and Hazara in Afghanistan have in recent years damaged previously peaceful relations between Sunni Pashtun and Baloch tribesmen.
Hazara Shias have been a frequent target of Sunni extremist groups in Pakistani Balochistan. The Hazara community originally comes from the Afghan province of Bamyan.
Angry Hazara youths ransacked the main commercial centre in Quetta after Yousufi's killing on Monday. They pelted passing vehicles with stones, set other vehicles alight and smashed the windows of a bank in the city's main boulevard. The Hazara Democratic Party meanwhile announced a strike in the city on Tuesday and a 40-day period of mourning for Yousufi.
HDP secretary general Abdul Khaliq Hazara strongly condemned the government and police for the inadequate protection given to ethnic Hazaras targeted by extremists. Protection given to anybody in Pakistain seems pretty inadequate. Except for Mullah Fazlullah and Mullah Omar and similar guys with big turbans surrounded by ruthless minions.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast in Dera Ismail Khan, which reportedly occurred minutes before the parliamentary affairs minister, Khalifa Qayyum, had passed through the area. Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani condemned the bombing and vowed to bring to justice those responsible. They've got a long list of people they've vowed to bring to justice, not many of whom have gotten more than house arrest and a week without teevee.
Other politicians also condemned the attack as a barbaric act of terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
I once had a simmering secretary,...and I got out of the pot just in time!
US President Barack Obama's administration will engage in "direct diplomacy" with Iran, the newly installed US ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.
Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are US officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. But US Ambassador Susan Rice warned that Iran must meet UN Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.
"The dialogue and diplomacy must go hand in hand with a very firm message from the United States and the international community that Iran needs to meet its obligations as defined by the Security Council. And its continuing refusal to do so will only cause pressure to increase," she told reporters during a brief question-and-answer session.
Her comments, reflecting Obama's signals for improved relations with America's foes after eight years under former US president George W. Bush, came shortly after she met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on her first day on the job.
Iran still considers the US the "Great Satan," but a day after Obama was sworn in, it said it was "ready for new approaches by the United States." Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country would look into the idea of allowing the US to open a diplomatic office in Teheran, the first since 1979.
Rice said the US remains "deeply concerned about the threat that Iran's nuclear program poses to the region, indeed to the United States and the entire international community."
"We look forward to engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct diplomacy with Iran," she said. It would include "continued collaboration and partnership" with the other four permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - along with Germany, Rice said.
"And we will look at what is necessary and appropriate with respect to maintaining pressure toward that goal of ending Iran's nuclear program," she said.
In recent years, Iranian and American officials have negotiated in the same room on talks about Afghanistan that involved other countries' diplomats. They also talked face to face in Baghdad but the agenda was limited to Iraqi security.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Officials in Egypt are attempting to persuade Hamas to accept Israel's current offer of a cease-fire in Gaza before a far less accommodating government under Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is elected, the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday.
The newspaper quoted the officials as telling Hamas that polls in Israel show the opposition leader is likely be voted prime minister in February's general election, adding that he would form a coalition with "extremist parties."
They reportedly said that Hamas stands to "lose everything" under these circumstances.
Hamas' Gaza spokesman Ayman Taha, meanwhile, has said recently that Israel has offered his Palestinian Islamist group a 10-year cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt is also demanding a truce of a number of years' duration. But Taha said the group would agree to a cease-fire of anywhere between one year and no more than 18 months. Another Hamas spokesman, Ismail Radwan, said a long-term cease-fire "kills" the right to resistance by the Palestinians.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Egypt is the only Arab state that, even remotely, approaches the status of a Country and a Nation---sometimes that shows.
Israel's election race is back in full swing following the Gaza war and front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu has moved quickly to deflect allegations his victory could mean conflict with new U.S. President Barack Obama.
Claiming some of the middle ground in Israel occupied by the ruling Kadima party, Netanyahu told Middle East envoy Tony Blair that a government headed by his right-wing Likud party would not build new Jewish settlements, though would expand existing ones.
"Like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements," Netanyahu said, according to a spokesman for the Likud chief on Monday.
While such policy is opposed internationally and condemned by Palestinians seeking a state in the West Bank, it nonetheless puts Netanyahu broadly in line with the Kadima-led government and the party's prime ministerial candidate in the February 10 election, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
It doesn't matter WHO wins in Israel, they're going to have "conflict with the new US President". The surrender-monkey Obambi will not be nice to "winners". Israel MUST win in its battle against its enemies, or disappear.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2009 16:40
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#2
How about we give them O.B. and three roles of 90 MPH tape for Olmert, and we take Bebe too?
Sixteen Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi officials, including former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz and Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- nicknamed Chemical Ali -- faced a new trial on Monday for repressing Shi'ite Kurds.
The trial is the seventh being held against senior Saddam officials for crimes committed before the Iraqi dictator was ousted in a 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Saddam was hanged after his conviction in the first trial, for ordering the killing of Shi'ite villagers after an assassination attempt.
The latest trial will examine the repression of a community known as Feyli Kurds, who come from the mountainous border area between Iraq and Iran, and, unlike most Iraqi Kurds, are Shi'ite Muslims rather than Sunnis.
Thousands of Feyli Kurds were driven from the country under Saddam, who declared them to be Iranian citizens and forced them across the border. Others were repressed, imprisoned and tortured in the 1970s and 1980s.
The trial is being presided over by Raouf Rashid Abdul-Rahman, the Kurdish judge who sentenced Saddam to die.
Majeed -- nicknamed Chemical Ali for using poison gas to kill 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 attack -- has already been sentenced to death twice.
The first death sentence was for his role in the mass killings of Kurds in the 1980s and the second for a bloody crackdown against Shi'ites in the 1990s. His execution has been delayed by political wrangling.
Aziz, a fluent English speaker who served as the public face of Saddam's regime in the west, is also standing trial in a separate case over the deaths of dozens of merchants executed for price fixing when Iraq was under U.N. sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Keep him in trials until he begs for waterboarding -- then hang him.
Pakistan is not a terrorist state and should not be portrayed as one, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said on Monday. Elahi said there was a need to portray a positive image of Pakistan internationally, one that strongly opposes extremism. He was talking to visiting US educationists, George Washington University Professor Dr Judith Findlay and American International School Board Member Richard Pinal at his residence. They appreciated the educational progress during Elahi's government. Elahi said the overall situation of the country was peaceful, barring the Pak-Afghan border situation. He added even the World Bank was surprised at the educational reforms during his stint as chief minister of Punjab. The visiting educationists also appreciated the student exchange programmes between the US and Pakistan during Elahi's tenure, saying that the programmes helped clear misunderstandings between students and societies of both the countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#6
It's NOT a terrorist state. It's a failed state comprised of some two dozen tribal groups trying to live together, despite centuries of disagreement. The "state" of Pakistan has no writ, or limited writ, in one-third of the area it claims (Tribal areas, Kashmir, etc.), and is losing ground in Punjab, Sindh, and Baluchistan. It may have been a "noble experiment", but it's failed miserably. It's time for the adults (India, Afghanistan under US control) to take over again.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2009 14:08
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#7
It was never a noble experiment.
LIFE Magazine's Margaret Bourke-White at Pakistan's birth in 1947...
In the weeks to come I was to hear the Quaid-i-Azam's thesis echoed by government officials throughout Pakistan. "Surely America will build up our army," they would say to me. "Surely America will give us loans to keep Russia from walking in." But when I asked whether there were any signs of Russian infiltration, they would reply almost sadly, as though sorry not to be able to make more of the argument. "No, Russia has shown no signs of being interested in Pakistan."
This hope of tapping the U. S. Treasury was voiced so persistently that one wondered whether the purpose was to bolster the world against Bolshevism or to bolster Pakistan's own uncertain position as a new political entity. Actually, I think, it was more nearly related to the even more significant bankruptcy of ideas in the new Muslim state -- a nation drawing its spurious warmth from the embers of an antique religious fanaticism, fanned into a new blaze.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2009 15:56
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But to recap the usual factors held responsible for the founding of Pakistan, Islam was not in danger in pre-1947 India. Indeed, considering the sectarian violence and religious bigotry we face today, it was in better health then. Nor was democracy the issue because even if partition had not happened, India was getting democracy once the British left. The Indian Independence Act promised that.
So what was the compelling reason for the Muslims to insist on a separate homeland especially when there was no going around the uncomfortable fact that, no matter how generously the frontiers of the new state were drawn, an uncomfortably large number of Muslims would remain in India?
The purpose of Pakistan, transcending anything to do with safeguarding Islam or promoting democracy, was to create conditions for the Muslims of India, or those who found themselves in the new state, to recreate the days of their lost glory.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2009 15:59
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#9
Pakistan is just Strategic Depth for Islamist India.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Sunday that Fatah movement must end peace negotiations with Israel before any reconciliation talks can take place.
The remarks were bound to complicate Arab efforts to reconcile Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Speaking at a rally in Beirut Sunday, Hamdan - a close ally of Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal - said that the group welcomed Palestinian dialogue, but any reconciliation should be based on a resistance program to liberate territory and regain rights. He also demanded that the PA end security coordination with Israel, and maintained that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had ended.
"Those who committed mistakes must correct their mistakes through a clear and frank declaration to stop security coordination with the [Israeli] occupation, release [Hamas] prisoners and later end negotiations [with Israel] because the peace process is irreversibly over," said Hamdan. "It's time for us to talk about a reconciliation based on a resistance program to liberate the [occupied] territory and regain rights," he added.
Asharq Al-Awsat also reported Saturday that Hamas had suggested representatives of the Palestinian Authority be stationed at the Rafah crossing, but that they be residents of Gaza, not the West Bank.
Israel has been allowing some supply convoys into Gaza, though its borders remain largely closed. The Israel Defense Forces says more than 125 trucks a day - on some days nearly 200 - have entered Gaza since fighting ended on January 17th, but aid workers say the numbers are not enough.
This article starring:
Osama Hamdan
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Gov. David Paterson on Monday tried to distance himself from critical remarks about Caroline Kennedy that were leaked to the media by a person close to the governor after Kennedy abruptly withdrew from Senate consideration.
Paterson denied any role in the leak over unproven allegations that Kennedy had problems with taxes, payment of a nanny, and in her marriage. The leak, provided on the condition of anonymity, came Friday morning, hours after Kennedy suddenly pulled her name out of consideration for the appointment to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy had been poised to take the Senate seat once held by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy. Paterson selected Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand instead.
On Monday, Paterson called the leaked information gossip and said there was no proof of the accusations in an extensive questionnaire he required of all candidates that included questions about their taxes, any criminal background and personal finances. He has refused to release the blank or completed questionnaires.
On Friday, The Associated Press reported that the state tax department found no problem with Kennedy's taxes. There was no evidence to support the possible "nannygate" problem or rumors that her marriage had problems. In interviews in December, Kennedy denied any problems.
The leak was "cheap, dirty politics," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday. The mayor supported Kennedy's effort and is an important ally for Paterson. "I have no idea about her personal life. But that should not have been," Bloomberg said. "It is as good as an example of cheap dirty politics as you could ever find. And I thought it was reprehensible. I have no idea where it came from."
"I mean my goodness, she was treated like a Republican!"
At a news conference Monday, Paterson condemned the leak. "I'm denying it, but there have been leaks coming from my administration during this entire process of choosing a senator," Paterson said to reporters. "As you said, this is a pretty serious thing and one that I would condemn for whoever was gossiping about the reason that Ms. Kennedy would have withdrawn from the race."
Asked if he would investigate the leak, Paterson seemed to misunderstand the question and responded: "I don't think there's any public interest that's served in finding out why someone chose to take a different course in life."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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(Xinhua) -- Somali parliamentarians meeting in Djibouti City has overwhelmingly endorsed the enlargement of the legislative assembly to include opposition members in accordance with a power sharing deal reached last year, reports reaching here said Monday.
Somali lawmakers have held their session in the Djibouti People' s Assembly in the capital where 220 members of parliament converged to approve the crucial legislation that will pave the way for an inclusive parliament and a National Unity Government.
Sheik Adan Madoobe, speaker of the parliament and the acting president of Somalia who chaired the session, announced after the vote on the enlargement motion that out of the 220 members present211 voted in favor of the motion, 6 voted against while three abstained.
The parliament is expected to amend the country's interim charter to allow for the extension of the one-month deadline for the election of the president which will expire on Wednesday, after former Somali leader Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned on December 29.
Under an agreement reached between a major opposition faction, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), and the Somali transitional government, the membership of the current 275-member Somali parliament will be doubled to include 200 members from ARS and 75 from Somali civil society groups, women and diasporas.
Reports from Djibouti say that the new 200 opposition members of parliament will be sworn in Tuesday while the remaining 75 will be included at a later date when their allocation is agreed upon.
Meanwhile in Baidoa, tension mounts as uncertainty prevails following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the town which has been the seat of the Somali transitional parliament for the past three years.
Two people have been killed and four others wounded after a shootout between Somali government forces and local militias vying for control of strategic locations as they prepare to confront a possible assault on the town by insurgent fighters stationed around it.
Both Somali government officials and Islamist commanders have said they want peaceful resolution of the standoff in the town which is witnessing widespread looting of government properties including the presidential residence and parliament house.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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The government could not resist unabated US drone attacks in Pakistan's Tribal Areas because of 'certain limitations', Leader of the House Raza Rabbani told the Senate on Monday.
He told the Upper House during a heated debate that Islamabad could not shoot down American spy planes because of limitations that he did not elaborate.
But Rabbani assured the House the government would not compromise on the country's sovereignty and integrity.
Responding to Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) Prof Khursheed Ahmed, he said it would be premature to draw the conclusion that US President Barack Obama would continue the previous US administration's strategy to carry out drone strikes inside Pakistan.
While Prof Khursheed said the US had made 80 drone attacks killing more than 100 civilians since the PPP-led government took charge, Rabbani said only 32 attacks had taken place.
The leader of the house denied the federal government had been 'apologetic' about the attacks and cited the strong protest it had conveyed to the US ambassador after two strikes in Waziristan on Friday.
He said the government believed any action inside Pakistan must be carried out by Pakistani forces, and Washington should share with Islamabad any credible intelligence that it has.
The JI senator called Friday's attacks "the Obama administration's first gift to Pakistan", lamenting that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had said such strikes would stop after the new administration took charge in Washington.
He said Pakistan should block supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan if the US made any more drone attacks. The airforce chief had said on record, the senator claimed, that Pakistan had the capacity to shoot down the American spy planes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Oil prices crawled back above $46 a barrel Monday after falling more than $1 as White House officials warned the US recession would likely worsen in coming months, undermining demand for crude.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 25 cents to $46.72 a barrel by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose Friday $2.80 to settle at $46.47. Earlier Monday, it fell to $45.25 before recovering. In London, the March Brent contract was up 32 cents to $48.69 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Monday's recovery continued last week's trend, which saw the Nymex contract gain over 9 percent even as demand concerns magnified, confounding market experts.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
...Let me get this straight: Demand goes down, so price increases?
I give the hell up.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/27/2009 6:06
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#2
OPEC will manipulate the supply until their target price of $75 is reached. That's $350 billion per year leaving our economy. The greatest impact most Americans can have to defeat this latest incarnation of the muslims' jihad is make their next car purchase a high mileage one.
Posted by: ed ||
01/27/2009 6:37
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#3
Let me get this straight: Demand goes down, so price increases?
I give the hell up.
Last week a I heard of at least one offshore drilling company that was laying off thousands of people because of the recession and the drop in oil prices.
#4
Let me get this straight: Demand goes down, so price increases?
Any different than the pols telling people to cut back on water or utility usage and then turn around when it happens and say they have to increase rates because of bond obligations [not being paid at the committed rate predicated upon the higher usage]?
#5
Or the pols telling us out of one side of their mouth that Americans don't save enough, so its our fault.
Then out of the other side of their mouth telling us that our economy will be destroyed if we quit spending?!?
You just can' win. I'd be real interested in just scrapping the lot of them and starting anew.
#6
You just can' win. I'd be real interested in just scrapping the lot of them and starting anew.
The only way to do that, bigjim, is to kill off those in power (down to the County level), and tell any that want to take over the job the same thing can happen to them unless they refrain from crooked behavior. You'd also have to scrap virtually the entire Civil Service (not a really bad idea, btw) and build something that actually WORKS in its place. The resistance to that would be astronomical, but failing to do it won't eliminate the problem.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2009 16:23
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#7
OP,
To do that you'd need other people to do the work. People who have experience putting back a country from scratch. People who don't want to stay in that business but willingly if not happily give up that power to someone else when the whole enchilada starts running itself again. Sorta of like Germany, Japan, Iraq. Now who do we have who can do stuff like that? Oh, wait, never mind.
#4
The local paper had a headline above a story about Blago the said roughly "Blago claims he is a victim of a plot to raise taxes" This from the moron that proposed a 10% gross revenues sales tax on business in ILL. Personally I think he's been hitting the Slivovitz
The US Senate has confirmed Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary in Obama's administration despite misgivings over his past income tax issues. The Senate approved his nomination on a 60-34 vote on Monday.
Geithner was expected to be sworn in quickly to help lead President Barack Obama's efforts to stabilize a worsening economy. The new Treasury chief is expected to soon unveil reforms to the United States' $700 billion financial bailout program to provide more support for housing and credit markets, and possibly a new effort to absorb troubled assets from banks.
"I would rather have a battle hardened veteran at the helm who knows the shoals and whirlpools than a neophyte who has to wade into these churning waters for the first time," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said during debate on the nomination against Geithner.
Some lawmakers were also disturbed enough by the tax lapse to vote against Geithner even though they thought him well suited for the job otherwise.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#6
The names and votes listed below clearly highlight the problem with the Republican party:
Bond (R), Not Voting, Montana
Crapo (R), Yes, Illinois
Corker (R), Yes, Texas
Ensign (R), Yes, New Hampshire
Graham (R), Yes, South Carolina
Gregg (R), Yes, New Jersey
Hatch (R), Yes, Vermont
Shelby (R), Yes, Alabama
Snowe (R), Yes, Maryland
Voinovich (R), Yes, Oklahoma
Lieberman (I), Yes, Delaware
(Graham and Lieberman both voted opposite their "big pal" Senator John McCain)
#14
If Snarlin' Arlen Specter could figure this one out, nobody has an excuse. I'm especially shocked by Hatch (Utah) and Shelby. Some people shopuld be more concerned about their primaries.
The recent military operation in the Gaza Strip against Hamas has restored Israeli's deterrence among its enemies and in the perception of the whole world, Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
"We have reestablished in the perception of the whole world the power and deterrence Israel has always enjoyed," Olmert told a gathering of the New York-based World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem. "It is not worthwhile starting a war with Israel."
The premier said that the 22 day-long attack on Hamas in Gaza was "essential, fundamental, and also successful."
"The lesson was taught which hopefully will change realities," Olmert said. "Those who thought Israel was afraid of using power, would hesitate, and not have the courage now know we will not hesitate to use our force to defend our country."
Olmert added that in light of the bruising military operation, the international community was determined to stop weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip, and at the same time he voiced the hope that Palestinians living in the Hamas-controlled territory would reject the Islamic regime and soon live in peace with Israel.
"We are not that far away from achieving a full comprehensive peace with the Palestinians," Olmert concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Leastwise it shown Lions of Islam(TM) that they cannot hide behind their own "civilians"---the cornerstone of the current Jihad.
#2
And killing their human shields (which they really don't care about, otherwise they wouldn't be killing so many of them in the first place) has been soooooooo successful... the top two items right now are that Hamas has started shooting again.
The phrase "national security theater" comes to mind.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Fred almost skunked me with this jailbait.
Gloria had a distinguished movie career between 1946 and 1955. She did 6 uncredited performances between 1946 and 1953 including the part of a dancer in the 1953 Marilyn Monroe blockbuster, "Niagara".
She was the model for a plaster statue of Diana, used in the 1953 movie "The Robe".
She had credited bit parts in the movies "Beneath The Twelve Mile Reef" (1953) and "A Man Called Peter" (1955).
She graduated from High School in 1955 and quit the movies while she was ahead.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2009 8:02
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#4
More of Gloria's memorable screen moments from the movie "Niagara". In the scene from :40 to 1:15 you can see her screen right dancing in the same blue dress she wears in "Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef". Wardrobe pulled out all the stops for Gloria.
Nigara was filmed in 1952, Gloria's Sophomore year in High School. Remember 15 will get you 20 unless your a Democrat politician.
The Gaza Zoo reeks of death. But zookeeper Emad Jameel Qasim doesn't appear to react to the stench as he walks around the animals' enclosures.
A month ago, it was attracting families - he says the zoo drew up to 1,000 visitors each day. He points at the foot-long hole in the camel in one of the enclosures. "This camel was pregnant, a missile went into her back," he tells us. "Look, look at her face. She was in pain when she died." "Captain!"
"Yes, general?"
"Keep a sharp eye out for camels! Make sure you rocket them all!"
"Yes, sir!"
Around every corner, inside almost every cage are dead animals, who have been lying in their cages since the Israeli incursion. Qasim doesn't understand why they chose to destroy his zoo. "Major!"
"Yes, general?"
"Make sure you attack the zoo!"
"Of course, sir!"
And it's difficult to disagree with him. Most of them have been shot at point blank range. "The first thing the Israelis did was shoot at the lions - the animals ran out of their cage and into the office building. Actually they hid there." "Sir, there are lions in the zoo office!"
"What're they doing?"
"Making a phone call, I think!"
"Well, shoot them!"
The two lions are back in their enclosure. The female is pregnant, and lies heavily on the ground, occasionally swishing her tail. Qasim stands unusually close to them, but they don't seem bothered by his presence.
As he takes us around, he is obviously appalled at the state of the animals. The few animals that have survived appear weak and disturbed. It's something in the air of Gaza, I think...
"The foxes ate each other because we couldn't get to them in time. We had many here." There are carcasses everywhere and the last surviving fox is quivering in the corner. ... with no one left to eat...
The zoo opened in late 2005, with money from local and international NGOs. There were 40 types of animals, a children's library, a playground and cultural centre housed at the facility. Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers.
We asked him why they targeted the zoo. He laughs. "I don't know. You have to go and ask the Israelis. This is a place where people come to relax and enjoy themselves. It's not a place of politics."
Israel has accused Hamas of firing rockets from civilian areas. Qasim reacts angrily when we raise the subject. "Let me answer that with a question. We are under attack. There was not a single person in this zoo. Just the animals. We all fled before they came. What purpose does it serve to walk around shooting animals and destroying the place?"
Inside one cage lie three dead monkeys and another two in the cage beside them. Two more escaped and have yet to return. He points to a clay pot. "They tried to hide", he says of a mother and baby half-tucked inside.
Qasim says that his main two priorities at the moment are rebuilding the zoo and taking the Israeli army to court. For the first, he says he will need close to $200,000(Dh734,000) to return the zoo to its former state - and he wants the Israelis to cover the costs. "They have to pay me for all this damage."
We ask him why it's so important for Gaza to have a zoo. "During the past four years it was the most popular place for kids. They came from all over the Gaza Strip. There was nowhere else for people to go."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Gaza is a zoo and it's full of animals. (I didn't know it had keepers, though.)
Posted by: Steven ||
01/27/2009 13:43
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#6
Why would Israelis target the zoo? Does anyone know?
There were 40 types of animals, a children's library, a playground and cultural centre housed at the facility. Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers.
Actually, that sounds pretty bad. Any news supporting the story?
Aswat al-Iraq: A force from the Quick Response Department (QRD) on Monday arrested two wanted men in western Kut, a senior police officer said. "The Interior Ministry's QRD forces on Monday (Jan. 26) arrested two wanted men and found 27 rockets during a security raid of a house in Hour al-Dalmaj region in western Kut," Major Aziz Latief told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The operation was based on a tip-off," he also said. He did not add more details.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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A day after 43 officials were summoned to Taliban courts for opposing the group -- Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Monday that a parallel Taliban judiciary is unacceptable. "We will not accept a policy like this," Gilani told reporters after attending the inaugural session of a conference on medical education. The prime minister expressed concern over suspected US drone attacks in the Tribal Areas, and hoped that the new US administration would review its policy. He admitted that the situation in Swat and Balochistan was not normal, but said he had sought a report on developments in these areas to make future plans. About an upcoming lawyers' march, Gilani said it was the legal fraternity's democratic right.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
So is Gilani going to head up a party to go and rescue those 43 dudes? No? Didn't think so.
Ma'an -- The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades denied media reports that armed Hamas-men opened fire on a group of its members, injured two of them, and arrested the others as they were trying to launch rockets.
"The goal of these malicious rumors is to derail the Palestinian objectives," said a statement from the Brigades. It also called the media to be more accurate when reporting the news.
The Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, further commented on their continued rejection of the unilaterally declared ceasefire, saying their actions would only be dictated by the higher interests of the Palestinian people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Having apparently lost its clout over the past two years, Egypt's protest group Kefaya (Enough) has vowed to rejuvenate its tactics after electing a new leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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WHAT promised to be a timely endorsement of her controversial replacement ended looking like a snub when the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, failed to appear at an afternoon news conference with Kirsten Gillibrand, the senator-designate for New York.
Mrs Clinton was to be the star attraction for television crews and reporters herded into a roped-off section of the Waldorf Astoria's lobby after she had lunch with Ms Gillibrand and the man who chose her, the New York Governor, David Paterson.
Instead, Ms Gillibrand and Mr Paterson - who is being assailed for choosing a little-known, conservative, pro-gun congresswoman from rural New York to represent the ethnically diverse, mainly liberal state - were left to face the media alone.
It was the climax of a weekend Manhattan charm offensive Ms Gillibrand began with a visit to Harlem and suburban Queens, which included securing the backing of the African-American community leader the Reverend Al Sharpton. Ms Gillibrand, who has been a member of the House of Representatives for two years, comes from an avid hunting family and yesterday was still trying to deflect queries about her views on gun ownership, which are seen as out of step with those of most New Yorkers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Hillary peered into the abyss of what will soon be known as the Obamanation and wants her seat back.
#2
Instead, Ms Gillibrand and Mr Paterson - who is being assailed by the liberal press for choosing a little-known, conservative, pro-gun congresswoman from rural New York to represent the ethnically diverse, mainly liberal state...
#4
"comes from an avid hunting family and yesterday was still trying to deflect queries about her views on gun ownership, which are seen as out of step with those of most New Yorkers."
-is she representing the state or just the city? Typical retarded journalism. I'd venture this one has never went up near Cortland, Chetnango or syracuse for deer season. I wonder if the reporter ever bothered to ascertain how much $$ the state brings in via hunting permits a yr or the crime reduction via ccw's and home firearms achieve.
#6
Instead, Ms Gillibrand and Mr Paterson - who is being assailed for choosing a little-known, conservative, pro-gun congresswoman from rural New York to represent the ethnically diverse, mainly liberal state - were left to face the media alone.
Ever wonder why Democrats generally win NY by a blowout margin? 49% of New Yorkers are either black (17%), Hispanic (16%), Jewish (9%) or Asian (7%).
#8
Ever wonder why Democrats generally win NY by a blowout margin?
You forgot union members, Zhang Fe. And party machines. When Mr. Wife registered to vote for the first time, his father insisted not only that he register as a Democrat, but that he vote straight party line as long as he was registered in Lackawanna. Bottom line, were he to register or vote with any independence whatsoever, his parents' lives would be made unbearable.
Mr. Wife left the party as soon as he moved to Cincinnati.
The government will not allow the Taliban to impose their political and ideological agenda on the people through the use of force, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday.
The president was talking to a delegation of parliamentarians, senators and ministers of the Pakistan People's Party that met him at the Presidency.
The meeting was jointly chaired by the president and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, but Gilani left the meeting early, as he was due to leave for Davos, Switzerland, early on Tuesday morning (today).
Zardari said the Taliban would not be allowed to challenge the writ of the government in Swat or any other part of the country.
During the meeting, the PPP leaders informed the president about the non-cooperative attitude of ministers and the bureaucracy, complaining they were treated like members of the opposition, Daily Times learnt.
The PPP parliamentarians told President Zardari that the ministers did not even attend their phones, which further encouraged bureaucrats of various ministries to ignore them. The most vocal during the meeting were Amjad Dasti from Punjab and Nawab Wasan from Sindh.
"Most the complaints were against Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah," party sources told Daily Times.
The PPP legislators were also critical of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, saying he had ignored the problems of the people in their respective constituencies.
Rumours of a change in the government, mid-term elections and the lawyers' long march also came under discussion in the meeting.
The sources said the president rejected the rumours of the change in the government, saying the PPP government would complete its five-year term and no one should have any doubt about that. "The government will complete its term and no conspiracy against it will succeed," the president said.
Long march: Zardari also asked the PPP leaders not to be afraid of the lawyers' long march. "We will tackle this march as we did in the past. Let them exercise their democratic right," the president was quoted as saying.
Challenges: Zardari said the PPP government was not afraid of the challenges confronting the nation. "We are not afraid to lead ... we know the way." The president said that the party was committed to its principles of democracy and would not deviate from its stance in any case.
Several PPP parliamentarians spoke on the occasion to express their views on the country's current political situation and to highlight the problems of their constituencies.
President Zardari said he had decided to hold such consultative dialogue with the party legislators every time parliament was in session. He said he valued such consultations, adding "trust and wisdom is not the monopoly of any individual".
Truth and wisdom, he said, emerged only as a result of discussion among a large number of people, in which each individual contributed with his/her ideas and proposals.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
I'm sure the people of Swat will be thrilled to hear this. Is news allowed on busses?
A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said. I've got the utility companies right up there with the sleazy politicians they pay off on my poop list. They're rapacious unregulated monopolies with no more regard for their customers than we have for house flies.
Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy. They cut his electricity in the dead of winter in Saginaw.
Neighbors discovered Schur's body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday. "Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning."
'Limiter' device installed
Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told The Associated Press on Monday. If the rates are anything like they are around here that could represent 2-3 months of unpaid bills. He probably pissed the money away on food or mortgage or something frivolous like that.
A city utility worker had installed a "limiter" device to restrict the use of electricity at Schur's home on Jan. 13, said Belleman. The device limits power reaching a home and blows out like a fuse if consumption rises past a set level. Power is not restored until the device is reset. Have to send a utility worker out to reset it, don't you? What was the temp in Saginaw yesterday? Don't tell me. Let me guess. No, even better, let me Google it: today the high was 18 degrees and the low was -4. Assuming Mr. Schur wasn't officially regarded as a housefly, he was murdered. You can't turn the electricity off in a 93-year-old man's house and not expect an untoward consequence that amounts to malice aforethought.
The limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of Schur's body, Belleman said. No! Reeeeally?
He didn't know if anyone had made personal contact with Schur to explain how the device works.
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong.
Gross negligence would make it Murder 2.
The body was discovered by neighbor George Pauwels Jr. "His furnace was not running, the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him," Pauwels told the Bay City News. The body was probably frozen solid. Power shut off if bills unpaid
Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on houses for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so. He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong. "I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department." The houseflies have to look out for each other. The city/power company isn't. Teddy Roosevelt had people like this in mind when he talked about malefactors of great wealth.
Schur had no children and his wife had died several years ago. Bay City is on Saginaw Bay, just north of the city of Saginaw in central Michigan. Bastards. The rotten complacent, unfeeling, bastards. I hope Belleman and each and every one of the senior management of Bay City Electric Light & Power plus the faceless minion who put the "limiter" on the poor man's meter freeze to death themselves. I hope that when they're frail old men and women they're callously ignored by the pols in power then and that their bodies aren't discovered until spring, after their wiener dogs and yorkies have eaten most of them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Damn! It's been cold as frozen hell recently here in the People's Republic of Michigan - temps in the single digits for weeks at a time. Murder 2 works for me, ya bastiges.
#3
Most utilities around here have a fund for old people to see that they get power. The power company should have a program for the elderly with no living relatives living on a small stipend. The community should be able to donate a small sum into the pot for them. We don't need government programs, we just need a utility that is involved in the community.
#5
That should depend on the man and the community IMO, Bright Pebbles. My grandfather built most of his last house himself, at 87, and lived independently until his Parkinsons made that impossible - at age 92.
FWIW, I suppose, but it would have killed my grandfather's dignity and sense of independence to be forced into some group home.
#7
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong.
Sounds like a graduate of the Ted Bundy school of management.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009 7:51
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#8
"Not my problem" seems to be a mantra in the media culture these days. Of course, all media memes carry over into the world of greedy, power-hungry menials like the decision-making losers at the power company.
I think the economy is about to tank, worse than in 1929-33. Millions will be out of work and there will be catastrophic trimming of dumbass place-holders. These dolts will be among the first to go, replaced by actual human beings who have lost much better jobs elsewhere.
When that day comes and you see one of these greedy power-freak "not my problem" idiots on the corner begging, go over and give him a swift kick in the arse.
#9
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong.
Oh, just wait for Universal Health Care(tm) when that will be the standard reply from the government monopoly bureaucrat on why Uncle/Aunt/Granddad/Grandma didn't get that critical operation while waiting on the [long and growing] care list.
#12
Look for these controls to be a future part of the FED's plan on controling health costs after it consumes the whole medical care fiascio that they already made untenable.
#13
There is a Native American Reservation in my State where, for (at least) the last 20 years, its estimated that over 90% of ALL residential utilities are not paid during the winter month restrictions. Even though it has been proven that most can afford the bills they simply choose not to. The loss to the Utility Companies is rarely recovered because the cost to enforce back-payments outweighs the lost revenue. Therefore its spread amongst the population that pays their bills. Yes, this is indeed a tragic story but other then more attention paid to individual burdens what is the solution? I guess we just keep paying for others peoples bills because the Utility companies arent going to foot the bill.
#14
Oh, and BTW, there was a bill recently introduced to specifically address those that exploit the system and intentionally disregard their obligations. It would have unpaid utility bills go on their credit report if they didnt pay within a very generous time period. And surprise it was defeated with the Tribes being the most vocal opponents.
#15
We don't need government programs, we just need a utility that is involved in the community.
Politicians and utilities ARE involved in the community. It's just that their involvement is "One Way".
Hey DepotGuy, are the Reservations in your state considered "independent nations" (own separate government, license plates, etc.) like they are in Wisconsin? I don't believe the utilities want to get into the legal hassles envoked by this. Then again, I believe a tribal entity should be buying the electricity, gas, whatever for distribution on the reservation and doing their own 'billing and collections'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/27/2009 10:06
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#16
I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!! I can't get on the city's site. People must have overwhelmed the server in support of those civic masterminds.
{/sarcasm}
#17
Our private utility does not do shutoffs from 12/15 to 3/15 for exactly this reason. The negative publicity after an incident or two was overwhelming.Come spring, though, it's pay or pray.
P2Ks point about National Health Care is spot on, however. And sovereign immunity means there will be no recourse.
#18
I expect that over the next 10-20 years some power companies will shut down when a sufficient amount of their bills go unpaid by strapped/unemployed consumers. Ultimately we only get what we pay for. At least we'll be decreasing our Carbon Footprint.
Y'all have three months out of the year where everyone talks about how the power companies should be forgiving.
Y'all also have nine months out of the year where the general political consensus is that people building power plants that can actually put out on demand in the dead of winter should be bankrupted.
Think about the social effects... what sort of people stay in the business after the TV set is broadcasting shit about how moral people would never do such horrible things like building a power plant? Year after year?
The effects of the nine months out of the year of "Power Should Be Expensive," year after year, don't go away during the three months of winter.
Coal ash spill? They fly Erin Wosshername out to your community Right Away! I don't know if she actually stays for the cold snap the next week, though. Any bets? Or is she back in Los Angeles by then?
As a country we've decided we like expensive power.
We _voted_ that way.
Not once, but repeatedly, over decades.
The guys at the power company are just the poor schmucks stuck with the job of robbing Peter to pay Paul; we shouldn't act too suprised when the various Peters turn up dead every once in a while.
There's a 52% of the country that needs to take a long look in the mirror.
Thus I would love for all those doe-eyed environmentalist believers to go to a utility and volunteer THERE at the customer service window for a while and watch the poor decide whether to pay the power bill or buy medicine. They can watch people decide on back to school clothes and supplies or the gas bill. These are real choices, and they will become more and more evident should the economy go into a spiral.
There are no two ways about it - 17% of the income of the poor goes to energy bills which are VASTLY inflated by taxes and regulation, without which the cost of energy would probably be 50% lower (or more we are the Saudi Arabia of coal). Think of this next time they volunteer at a soup kitchen or go on a clothing drive couldnt they accomplish the same exact thing by working to lower the costs of energy for the poor so that theyd have more income in their pocket?
#22
Here in Maryland we've had Baltimore Gas and Electric consumed by Constellation Power, and we've seen the rates go up 75%. Our pols didn't even bother hiding their collusion with Constellation in the rate hike, though they did try to blame it all on Bob Ehrlich, or former (Republican) governor.
I live literally across the street from two coal-fired power plants, both of which are spotless, at least to the eye. I've done contracts with BG&E. But I regard the combination of Constellation and our Dem legislature as a stench and a pestilence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009 16:51
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#23
I've been inside the one here. It appears to vent steam on the outside. The inside, near the generator, you could eat off of the floor.
BARACK Obama's approval ratings have nosedived by 15 points after only six days in office, according to a new poll. The Gallup poll shows that reality is setting in for the new US President after the euphoria that greeted his inauguration last Tuesday. But his ratings still stand at an impressive 68 per cent despite the fall.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Four weeks and he'll be at 8 points if the trend continues.
#3
The press will massage the numbers to the extent that they are able, so that his approval ratings never appear to go below 50%, even if the reality is not the case.
Never forget Evan Thomas' 10-15% rule.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/27/2009 7:05
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#4
They are saying his approval rating was at 83%?
If ya believe that let me tell you bout the time I beat kim-jong in golf.
You really don't understand how this country works. It's not a parliamentary dictatorship. Ask Johnson. Or Nixon. Or Ford. Or Carter. Or Reagan. Or Clinton. Or Bush.
Slobbery piece by Al-Jizz that reads like the BBC guys are moonlighting ...
While Israel waged their bloodiest assault on Gaza in decades, their warplanes targeted tunnels on Gaza's border with Egypt in an effort to halt alleged arms shipments. Now, Palestinians are busy restoring the bomb-damaged tunnels, and consumer goods are starting to flow into Gaza again.
Al Jazeera's Jeremy Young describes the process of filming inside them.
The famous tunnels in the southern part of the Gaza Strip are easy to find. Everybody knows where they are, but getting inside is another story.
Israel has maintained its blockade of Gaza, preventing goods from being imported, and Palestinians use the tunnels to transport every product imaginable from northern Egypt into the territory.
The Israelis correctly argue that the tunnels are used by Hamas to smuggle in weapons. About 95 per cent of them were damaged or destroyed in Israel's recent three-week military assault on Gaza.
Our fixer had spent three days trying to get us access inside the tunnels. He said that he called 10 different tunnel operators and nobody would allow us to film there for fear that their tunnel might be targeted by an Israeli raid.
In the end, he succeeded and we arrived at 8:30 on Saturday morning at the first tunnel having agreed not to film any faces of the people that worked there. We sent Tony Zumbado, our cameraman and Mike Kirsch, our correspondent, inside the tunnel, which was at the end of a shaft about 20 metres deep. They used a pulley system, which is normally used to bring goods up and down, to send Mike and Tony down.
This tunnel was not yet operational, as they were still making repairs after it was bombed during the war. It extended an estimated 800 metres under the border and into Egypt.
While we were interviewing one of the tunnel operators, a senior supervisor arrived and began yelling and screaming. He was furious that we were filming there saying that they would get no benefit from our report.
As our team moved to get back into our van, he said he would not allow it to leave and he would blow it up if we moved it. He ran to the entrance of the tunnel and dragged barbed wire across to prevent us from leaving - tunnels are a serious business in Gaza and he had no interest in risking its future.
The second tunnel we visited, they agreed to allow Tony to go down. This tunnel had been operational for just one day. Some of the items that they had brought up from it included guns, rockets and ammo generators, computers, rice, chocolate and powdered milk. The owner had spent about $90,000 on the tunnel, which was a joint operation with eight partners and it had opened only about one week before Israel's assault on Gaza began on December 27.
Once Tony reached the bottom, however, the generator shut down. It took about 20 minutes for the tunnel operators to get the generator going again and Tony was successfully hoisted out.
At the first tunnel, the supervisor who was so angry about our presence, finally calmed down after about 15 minutes of rigorous negotiation from our fixer. He had demanded the material that we had filmed so we gave him one of our tapes, pulled the barbed wire back and drove our van out into the street.
But he then he walked over to us with tears in his eyes. He apologised for his earlier explosion. He explained that the whole situation following the war was very difficult for everybody in Gaza and that was why he had lost control.
He returned our tape to us and told us if we wanted to come back and film at the tunnel that we would be welcome. We told him that he had no need to apologise, thanked him and drove away.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Donald Wildman can do a "Cities of the Underground" on Gaza.
#3
What a sweet man who threatened to blow us up! The situation with those horrible Jooos is just really tense, he never meant any harm! Don't forget, Islam=peace, and threats of explosive murder is just part of the colorful local culture.
[Now please excuse me while I go throw up].
#4
Israel failed miserably in shutting down the tunnels. Two nukes would have been all it took - one about a third of the way in from the Med, and one right on top of the Rafah crossing. Use burrowing nukes, so you can get good earth movement. The holes left by the explosions will make great salt-water lakes and improve local fishing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2009 14:30
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Even though it's a good idea he's still a seedy politician ...
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold intends to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end the practice of governors filling vacant Senate seats.
With the Illinois governor charged with having tried to sell President Barack Obamas old Senate seat and New Yorks governor accused by critics of having held a circus-like review to fill the one formerly held by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Feingold says voters not governors should make the call in special elections.
The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end, Feingold said.
Feingold said he will introduce this week what would be just the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the framework for American democracy that has been in effect since 1789. His proposed amendment would require that all senators, just like all members of the House of Representatives, be elected.
Initially, senators were elected by state legislatures. But the 17th amendment, adopted in 1913, made them elected instead by voters. A third of the Senate is routinely elected ever two years. But in case of a death or a resignation, governors in most states are empowered to appoint a replacement.
Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said that as chairman of the Senate Judiciarys subcommittee on the Constitution, he plans to soon hold a hearing on his proposed amendment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2009
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#1
...You know, an interesting compromise on this would be that a Governor could appoint a temporary Senator to attend to the state's business, but that he would have to face an election within 90 days.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/27/2009 6:11
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#2
Actually, Sen. Feingold (Socialist-Wisconsin)is a pretty honest guy, based on his socialist belief system. He truly believes in the "Progressive Way" and is not afraid to tell you.
Compared to a lot of politicians who obfuscate their personal beliefs, this is refreshing. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota was like this, too. Didn't agree with 99% of what he stood for, but respected him for being honest about it.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/27/2009 9:37
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#3
Yeah, who really needs fifty redundent administrative units that reduce efficiency and consolidation of power for the good of the women and childrenstate people? And while you're at it Senator put a name change into that amendment to the Federal Republic of America, cause we don't need no stinking 'States' in the name anymore.
#4
I like Mike's solution only I would changed it in this little way...
The temp Senator couldn't run!
That would mean they were actually likely to be near Washington or on a Junket.
#5
I like the suggestion, but instead of 90 days, make it till the next scheduled statewide election. That way the state doesn't have the expense of running a special election.
While we're at it, how 'bout a run-off (next scheduled) election for any congressional election that's within say 0.5% (i.e. Democrat margin of fraud).
#7
Another option would be to have the State Legislatures elect the replacement. Imagine the monkey wrench that could get thrown into the mix if the State House majority and the resigning/dead senator are from differnet parties
#8
Mullah Richard, you must live down the road a piece.
Feingold is the only politician I have ever dealt with who does not send boilerplate letters in response to voter input. He sent me about 15 pages of information and explanation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last fall, in response to a question.
I disagree with 90% of his positions, but at least he's straightforward.
(AKI) - An Al-Qaeda operative and former Guantanamo detainee has attacked the Lebanese Shia movement , Hezbollah, for failing to defend Palestinians from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. In a video released on the internet, Abu Hureira Qasim al-Rimi directed his attack against Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. "I would like to send a message to Hassan Nasrallah - Answer me, why have you shed all these tears for Gaza and for the people of Gaza? Didn't you say that you had warehouses full of 20,000 missiles that could reach Tel-Aviv?" said Abu Hureira Qasim al-Rimi in the 19-minute video message.
Al-Rimi then proceeded to attack Hezbollah for failing to help Gazans during the recent three-week long Israeli offensive that began on 27 December. More than 1,330 Palestinians were killed and another 5,000 were injured during Operation Cast Lead. Thirteen Israelis were killed during the conflict. Proving that verbal ferocity doesn't make up for being undisciplined dishpits and piss-poor shots...
"Didn't our brothers in Gaza deserve you launching, in their defence, one thousand, two thousand or three thousand rockets instead of these tears? " he said. "Is Lebanese land more valuable than the blood of the Palestinians? What is the difference between you and (Egyptian president) Hosni Mubarak who protects the Jews?," said al-Rimi. "Our community must know the truth about these facts and understand who is 'selling' our cause."
In the video, al-Rimi appears next to the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian PeninsulaAbu Basir al-Naser al-Wahshi. The video, entitled "From here we begin and we will meet each other at the al-Aqsa mosque," refers to Islam's third holiest site, located in Jerusalem.
This article starring:
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Abu Basir al-Naser al-Wahshi
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Abu Hureira Qasim al-Rimi
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Where was al-Rimi when he made this video? Leading his rabble across no-man's-land into Israel? Or even rabble-rousing in a public square in Beirut? Nah. Probably somewhere nice and safe and comfy. But not as safe and comfy as Gitmo.
Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces completed their presence with the police at 52 voting stations in northern and eastern Mosul within preparations for Iraq's local elections scheduled to be held on January 31, according to a military source on Monday.
"Forces from the 1st Division's 3rd Brigade, stationed off the left coast of the city of Mosul, completed today (Jan. 26) their presence in association with the Ninewa police at ballot stations in northern and eastern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"The security forces have placed barricades in front of the stations, placed barbed wires and pitched special tents for inspection of women," noted the source.
The forthcoming local elections will be held all provinces of Iraq except those of the three autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region provinces of Arbil, Sulaimaniya and Duhuk.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested 87 wanted and suspected gunmen, including 25 al-Qaeda elements, during operations waged in the past four days, the chief of Diala police said on Monday. "Policemen launched military operations in the past four days in separate areas of Diala, where they arrested 87 people, including 25 al-Qaeda wanted men," General Abdul Hussein al-Shimri told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Security authorities finalized all preparations for protecting the electoral centers," he added, noting that the forces also found a weapons depot during the operations.
The provincial council elections are due to be held on January 31 in 14 out of 18 Iraqi provinces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Wanted man in Diyala
Wanted man in old Wazoo
Wanted man in Gaza
for blowin' up a zoo...
Security forces continued their operation in Bajaur Agency on Monday, targeting several Taliban hideouts in various areas of the agency. However, no reports of casualties to the Taliban were received. Troops targeted Taliban positions in Charmang, Banda, Bhai Cheena and Kausar areas using artillery and mortars, with officials claiming to have destroyed several Taliban hideouts. Meanwhile, the Taliban abducted a person from agency headquarters Khar. Political administration has strengthened security measures in the agency by deploying additional law enforcement personnel in various areas of Bajaur. Residents complained they were facing problems in obtaining basic commodities because of the closure of business centres in the area for the last two months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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[21 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Security forces continued their operation in Bajaur Agency on Monday, targeting several Taliban hideouts in various areas of the agency. However, no reports of casualties to the Taliban were received. Troops targeted Taliban positions in Charmang, Banda, Bhai Cheena and Kausar areas using artillery and mortars, with officials claiming to have destroyed several Taliban hideouts. Meanwhile, the Taliban abducted a person from agency headquarters Khar. Political administration has strengthened security measures in the agency by deploying additional law enforcement personnel in various areas of Bajaur. Residents complained they were facing problems in obtaining basic commodities because of the closure of business centres in the area for the last two months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
(Xinhua) -- The Illinois Senate in Springfield, the state capital city, opened on Monday its historic impeachment trial of an absent Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of corruption but insisted that the impeachment is unfair.
Illinois senators were summoned to their seats to serve as judge and jury in determining whether Blagojevich, the two-term Democratic governor, had violated his oath of office for allegedly trying to profit from his office and abusing his powers.
The impeached governor is hundreds of miles away from Springfield, doing the New York circuit of TV news and talk shows to win public sympathy and make the case that he is the victim of a political hanging. Major U.S. televisions including NBC, ABC and CNN have all touted Blagojevich appearances.
"This is a solemn and serious business we are about to engage in," Illinois Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald told the senators in opening the trial.
The trial will determine whether Blagojevich shall be removed as governor and barred from ever again holding office in Illinois. A two thirds majority of the Senate could convict him at trial and throw him out of office. No Illinois governor has ever been impeached or ousted.
Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9, accused of scheming to benefit from his power to name President Barack Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate. The Illinois senate declared impeachment of Blagojevich on Jan. 9 on additional charges of circumventing hiring laws and defying decisions by the General Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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The Awami National Party (ANP) agrees to change the North West Frontier Province's name to Afghania, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali said on Monday.
"We don't want to get into the controversy of renaming the NWFP anymore. We have proposed the name Pakhtoonkhwah for the province. However, since Chaudhry Rehmat Ali had said that the name should begin with the letter 'A', we would agree to the notion that the province should be renamed as Afghania," Wali told reporters at the Parliament House.
He said all political parties should sit together to evolve a consensus over the draft of the 18th Amendment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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#1
Aw hell - just go all out and name it Pashtunistan.
You know you want to!
The South African army's not gonna invade Zim and throw the bastards out. Bob is going to die in office, old, unloved, possibly even carried off by demons in his last hours. Then one of his cronies is going to take over and scour the country for any nickles the old man and Grace might have missed.
Grace doesn't look like the type to let many nickles go unnabbed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2009
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SAN DIEGO -- A mistrial was declared Monday when a home-invasion robbery suspect smeared human feces on his attorney's face then threw more at the jury.
Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that ACORN, the low-income advocacy group under investigation for voter registration fraud, could be eligible for billions in aid from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House. 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Financial documents filed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton show that her husband earned nearly $6 million in speaking fees last year, nearly all of it from foreign companies.
Obama faced an early test last week, when, in the midst of the debate over economic stimulus, Democrats worked to shut Republicans out of the policy process, then behaved boorishly when Republicans complained. 
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday that Israel will no longer show restraint against Palestinian attacks from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "Israel is going to act according to a new equation. We are not going to show restraint anymore," Livni told a gathering of the New York-based World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem.
1. Reduce Water Consumption. One single dripping faucet or flushed bidet may not seem to be much of an environmental threat, but those numbers really add up when youre hosting an NRDC fundraiser for Laurie David and all 10 of your bathrooms are in use. When possible, encourage guests to pee in the pool, and remind them that if its yellow, let it mellow. Unless youre serving asparagus canapes.
Concern about the recently passed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is just beginning to bubble to the top of the news cycle (In between hyperventilating about corporate jets and Michele Obama's dress sense, of course)
The Canadian Caper was the unofficial name given to the covert rescue by the Government of Canada of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, by Iranian students on November 4, 1979, precipitating the Iran Hostage Crisis. . . .
In the first entry of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams joins British troops on a raid near Basra as they witness the progress made by the Iraqi Army. 
The search, in a dirt poor town with a reputation for lawlessness and violence, yields dozens of weapons, from an ageing Sten gun to an assortment of Kalashnikovs. More than 120 weapons in all. Some of the house searches look a little staged for our camera and the town's sleepy atmosphere seems at odds with the overwhelming military presence. 
Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the 'urgent need' to combat global warming.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove to testify about the Bush administration's firing of U.S. attorneys.
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Simmering sectarian violence once again erupted in Pakistan on Monday. Violent protests took place in Quetta, capital of gas-rich western Balochistan province after the slaying there of a Shia Muslim politician. And at least five people died in a bombing outside the town hall in Dera Ismail Khan, in restive, Pashtun dominated Northwest Frontier province.
Officials in Egypt are attempting to persuade Hamas to accept Israel's current offer of a cease-fire in Gaza before a far less accommodating government under Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is elected, the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday. 
Hamas official 
Gov. David Paterson on Monday tried to distance himself from critical remarks about Caroline Kennedy that were leaked to the media by a person close to the governor after Kennedy abruptly withdrew from Senate consideration.
(Xinhua) -- Somali parliamentarians meeting in Djibouti City has overwhelmingly endorsed the enlargement of the legislative assembly to include opposition members in accordance with a power sharing deal reached last year, reports reaching here said Monday. 
Having apparently lost its clout over the past two years, Egypt's protest group Kefaya (Enough) has vowed to rejuvenate its tactics after electing a new leader.
WHAT promised to be a timely endorsement of her controversial replacement ended looking like a snub when the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, failed to appear at an afternoon news conference with Kirsten Gillibrand, the senator-designate for New York.
In the end, he succeeded and we arrived at 8:30 on Saturday morning at the first tunnel having agreed not to film any faces of the people that worked there. We sent Tony Zumbado, our cameraman and Mike Kirsch, our correspondent, inside the tunnel, which was at the end of a shaft about 20 metres deep. They used a pulley system, which is normally used to bring goods up and down, to send Mike and Tony down.
(AKI) - An Al-Qaeda operative and former Guantanamo detainee has attacked the Lebanese Shia movement , Hezbollah, for failing to defend Palestinians from Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. In a video released on the internet, 
Security forces continued their operation in Bajaur Agency on Monday, targeting several Taliban hideouts in various areas of the agency. However, no reports of casualties to the Taliban were received. Troops targeted Taliban positions in Charmang, Banda, Bhai Cheena and Kausar areas using artillery and mortars, with officials claiming to have destroyed several Taliban hideouts. Meanwhile, the Taliban abducted a person from agency headquarters Khar. Political administration has strengthened security measures in the agency by deploying additional law enforcement personnel in various areas of Bajaur. Residents complained they were facing problems in obtaining basic commodities because of the closure of business centres in the area for the last two months. 
The Awami National Party (ANP) agrees to change the North West Frontier Province's name to Afghania, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali said on Monday. 
