Vice President Biden made his first -- and probably not last -- apology for a joke gone bad, reportedly calling Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to offer a mea culpa for cracking wise about Roberts' flubbing the oath of office during President Obama's inauguration.
A press aide revealed to a cable news network that Biden made a call to the chief justice, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
Biden Press Secretary Elizabeth Alexander would not confirm the details of the call. "It was a private conversation. I do not know the content of it and cannot characterize it," she told FOX News.
But Jay Carney, communications director for the vice president, told FOX News that Biden's office" strongly denies that any Biden aide confirmed that there was an apology" from Biden to Roberts. The vice president's office has sought a retraction from CNN, which first reported the Biden apology.
On Inauguration Day, when he administered the oath, which appears in the Constitution, to Obama, Roberts stumbled over the second portion: "... that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States." The chief justice put "faithfully" at the end of the sentence, and Obama, who apparently had memorized the oath, looked at Roberts, who then realized his mistake and repeated that portion of the oath correctly.
Obama then repeated the oath in the incorrect order.
Obama and Roberts got it right a day later, when Roberts made a quick visit to the White House and the two repeated the exercise out of "an abundance of caution."
That caution followed Biden's crack about Roberts' memory.
Biden was to swear in senior executive staff at a White House ceremony after having already given the oath to newly confirmed Cabinet secretaries. When Obama reminded him that he had only done the one group and hadn't done the second yet, Biden quipped, "My memory is not as good as Chief Justice Roberts'."
US Colonel Greg Julian with Afghan village elders in Inzeri yesterday. US commanders distributed $40,000 and apologized to relatives of 15 people killed in a recent US raid. (Jason Straziuso/Associated Press)
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday the United States is "lost" unless it can find a way to not kill so many civilians in the pursuit of militants in Afghanistan, and that flooding the chaotic country with US troops would be a disaster.
Gates, the only Bush Cabinet member President Barack Obama asked to stay on, told a Senate panel that the Pentagon could send two more brigades to Afghanistan by late spring, and a third by late summer, to try to salvage a war that has ground to a grim standoff with entrenched and resourceful militants.
But Gates said he is deeply skeptical about adding any more US forces after that, in part because military dominion in Afghanistan has failed for every great power that tried it.
"The civilian casualties are doing us an enormous harm in Afghanistan, and we have got to do better" to avoid innocent deaths, even though the Taliban militants use civilians as cover, Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "My worry is that the Afghans come to see us as part of the problem, rather than as part of their solution. And then we are lost."
Bracing and blunt, Gates outlined an agenda for Afghanistan that is closely focused on US strategic needs in a battle against terrorism and extremism, and that trims the democratic ambitions of the Bush administration.
"We need to be very careful about the nature of the goals we set for ourselves in Afghanistan," Gates said.
The United States should keep its sights on one thing: preventing Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists who would harm the United States or its allies, Gates said.
"Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world, and if we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose," Gates said, referring to a haven of purity in Norse mythology. "Nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience or money, to be honest."
Gates joined US fortunes in Afghanistan to the related struggle against extremism in Pakistan, but signaled no reduction in US missile strikes or other raids that infuriate both populations and besmirch the US-backed governments in Kabul and Islamabad.
"Both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after Al Qaeda wherever Al Qaeda is and we will continue to pursue them," Gates said.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also indicated that missile strikes will continue. He said rules for using missiles in Afghanistan were carefully set, and while the Pentagon has studied possible changes to the rules, the US commander there has not asked for one.
"I don't think we can succeed in Afghanistan if civilians keep dying there," Mullen said. "And we've got to figure out a way to absolutely minimize that, the goal being zero."
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the nation's top military priority, Mullen said, and he echoed Gates's sober assessment of Afghanistan.
"The risk of where we are in Afghanistan right now in terms of outcomes, I think . . . is pretty high right now because it's not going well and it hasn't been going well for a significant period of time," Mullen told reporters at the Foreign Press Center.
To the constellation of problems in Afghanistan - corruption, the flourishing drug trade and the limited competence of the central government - Mullen added that the United States couldn't do as much as it might have liked to counter the resurgence of the Taliban because its troops were tied up in Iraq.
#1
The problem is so many of the dead civilians only became civilians after their buddies grabbed the guns from the corpses when they ran away from the fight.
#2
Strongman. Peacekeepers that train the military. Money. And if enough security is established, some factories. I'm sure they can make the same crap that's made in Pakistan and it will help our financial burden.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/28/2009 19:32
Comments ||
Top||
#3
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > US SECDEF GATES: US WILL NOT CEASE/STOP ITS DRONE STRIKES AGZ MILITANT TARGETS INSIDE PAKISTAN [US will unlater strike as required], MESSAGE CONVEYED TO ISLAMABAD.
PRO-PAKI PDF Posters - USA is violating both PAKISTANI SOVEREIGNTY + INTERNATIONAL LAWS. US ATTACKS AGZ PAKI IS PROOF OF US IMPERIALIST INTENTIONS/AGENDUMS IN SOUTH ASIA???
* ALso on PDF > MAP ["Greater India Calendar"]SENT TO PAKISTANI SENATE PROPOSES PAKISTANI-INDIAN AMALGAMATION/CONFEDERATION [Covert PYOP to DISINTEGRATE PAKISTAN from YET-TO-BE-DETERMINED SOURCE(S)]; + INDIAN TERROR IN SRI LANKA AND BALOCHISTAN.
SAME > SIKHS [PK-IND PUNJAB + 36 Sikh Organz/SIKH DIASPORA] SAY TO SPARE SIKH HOMELAND IN CASE OF WAR BWTN INDIA AND PAKISTAN [ + to remove any and all NUCLEAR WEAPONS from SIKH HOMELAND = PAK-INDIAN PUNJAB DEMARCATED REGIONS].
The Sikhs have also repor requested or demanded formal UNO INTERVENTION, including to charge BOTH PAK-IND wid "CRIMES AGZ HUMANITY" AGZ SIKHS, IFF NEITHER COUNTRY ADHERES TO THE SIKHS DEMANDS.
"Reported" has always been WAY lower than actual in the Second City.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/28/2009 17:00
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The 'authorities' blindly ignore that in Iraq, we let the locals keep their AK's and even supported a 'militia' movement in conjunction with the 'surge'. As long the enlightened city leaders of places like Chicago et al disarm the good and productive citizenry, you just surrender the streets to the thugs.
#4
Well, isnt what supposed to happen when the law protects and comforts criminals and law abiding citizens are put to hard work of breaking stones in shackles? Just reverse it and see the bad crimes vanished. I do not want to say why we tax payer citizens have a habit of shooting our own foot.
#5
These parents are placing the blame where it belongs: not on government but on incompetent parents. I can't believe WB-BM actually aired that comment.
"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."
So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.
We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.
In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.
Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago, "even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."
Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?
Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; we love the Smithsonian, too, but this is a job creator?
Another "stimulus" secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments -- that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.
As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.
Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.
#1
I guess, the whole idea is to throw a whole bunch of money in all direction and hope the economy rebounds itself, as it happens always. But will it happen? I doubt. We buy most of things made in China, good service sector jobs are exported to India and our economic boom was a bubble based on fraud and cheat. So help us God!
The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.
The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt, where the CIA officer had been posted earlier in his career, according to law enforcement officials.
The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.
"It has the potential to be quite explosive if it's not handled well by the United States government," said Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in women's issues in the Middle East. "This isn't the type of thing that's going to be easily pushed under the carpet," she said.
The CIA refused to acknowledge the investigation or provide the name of the Algiers station chief, but the CIA Director of Public Affairs, Mark Mansfield, said, "I can assure you that the Agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegations of impropriety."
It can be a crime for government officials to reveal the identity of a current covert intelligence officer, and CIA officials would not comment the status of the person under investigation.
One of the alleged victims reportedly said she met the CIA officer at a bar in the U.S. embassy and then was taken to his official station chief residence where she said the sexual assault took place.
The second alleged victim reportedly told U.S. prosecutors that, in a separate incident, she also was drugged at the American's official residence before being sexually assaulted.
Both women have reportedly given sworn statements to federal prosecutors sent from Washington to prepare a possible criminal case against the CIA officer.
Following the initial complaints, U.S. officials say they obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, D.C. in October to search the station chief's CIA-provided residence in Algiers and turned up the videos that appear to have been secretly recorded and show, they say, the CIA officer engaged in sexual acts. Officials say one of the alleged victims is seen on tape, in a "semi-conscious state."
The time-stamped date on other tapes led prosecutors to broaden the investigation to Egypt because the date matched a time when CIA officer was in Cairo, officials said.
Pills found in the CIA residence were sent to the FBI crime laboratory for testing, according to officials involved in the case. "Drugs commonly referred to as date rape drugs are difficult to detect because the body rapidly metabolizes them," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant. "Many times women are not aware they were even assaulted until the next day," he said.
A third woman, a friend of one of the alleged victims, reportedly provided a cell phone video that showed her friend having a drink and dancing inside the CIA station chief's residence in Algiers, which officials told ABC News provided corroboration the CIA officer had indeed brought the woman to his residence.
The officer in charge of the CIA station in Algiers plays an important role in working with the Algerian intelligence services to combat an active al Qaeda wing responsible for a wave of bombings in Algeria.
The Algerian ambassador to the United Nations, Mourad Benmehid, said his government had not been notified by the U.S. of the rape allegations or the criminal investigation.
Repeated messages left for the CIA officer with his parents and his sister were not returned.
No charges have been filed but officials said a grand jury was likely to consider an indictment on sexual assault charges as early as next month. "This will be seen as the typical ugly American," said former CIA officer Bob Baer, reacting to the ABC News report. "My question is how the CIA would not have picked up on this in their own regular reviews of CIA officers overseas," Baer said.
"From a national security standpoint," said Baer, the alleged rapes would be "not only wrong but could open him up to potential blackmail and that's something the CIA should have picked up on," said Baer. "This is indicative of personnel problems of all sorts that run through the agency," he said.
"Rape is ugly in any context," said Coleman who praised the bravery of the alleged Algerian victims in going to authorities. "Rape is viewed as very shameful to women, and I think this is an opportunity for the US to show how seriously it takes the issue of rape," she said.
WASHINGTON President Obama intends to adopt a tougher line toward Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, as part of a new American approach to Afghanistan that will put more emphasis on waging war than on development, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan can expect a tougher line from the Obama administration, American officials said.
Mr. Karzai is now seen as a potential impediment to American goals in Afghanistan, the officials said, because corruption has become rampant in his government, contributing to a flourishing drug trade and the resurgence of the Taliban.
"The president has recently asked for a comprehensive review of Afghanistan policy, and no final decisions have been made," Michael A. Hammer, spokesman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday.
Among those pressing for Mr. Karzai to do more, the officials said, are Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Richard C. Holbrooke, Mr. Obamas special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The officials portrayed the approach as a departure from that of President Bush, who held videoconferences with Mr. Karzai every two weeks and sought to emphasize the American role in rebuilding Afghanistan and its civil institutions.
They said that the Obama administration would work with provincial leaders as an alternative to the central government, and that it would leave economic development and nation-building increasingly to European allies, so that American forces could focus on the fight against insurgents.
If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who served under Mr. Bush and is staying on under Mr. Obama, told Congress on Tuesday. He said there was not enough time, patience or money to pursue overly ambitious goals in Afghanistan, and he called the war there our greatest military challenge.
Mr. Gates said last week that previous American goals for Afghanistan had been too broad and too far into the future, language that differed from Mr. Bushs policies.
NATO has not met its pledges for combat troops, transport helicopters, military trainers and other support personnel in Afghanistan, and Mr. Gates has openly criticized the United States NATO allies for not fulfilling their promises.
Mr. Holbrooke is preparing to travel to the region, and administration officials said he would ask more of Mr. Karzai, particularly on fighting corruption, aides said, as part of what they described as a more for more approach.
Mr. Karzai is facing re-election this year, and it is not clear whether Mr. Obama and his aides intend to support his candidacy. The administration will be watching, aides said, to see if Mr. Karzai responds to demands from the United States and its NATO allies that he arrest associates, including his half-brother, whom Western officials have accused of smuggling drugs in Kandahar.
Shortly before taking office as vice president last week, Mr. Biden traveled to Afghanistan in his role as the departing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He met with Mr. Karzai and warned him that the Obama administration would expect more of him than Mr. Bush did, administration officials said. He told Mr. Karzai that Mr. Obama would be discontinuing the video calls that Mr. Karzai enjoyed with Mr. Bush, said a senior official, who added that Mr. Obama expected Mr. Karzai to do more to crack down on corruption.
After his return from Afghanistan, Mr. Biden, who has had a contentious relationship with Mr. Karzai, described the situation there as a real mess.
An election is scheduled to be held no later than the fall, under Afghanistans Constitution. Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-American who is a former United States ambassador to the United Nations and is viewed as a possible challenger to Mr. Karzai, warned that the Obama administration must tread carefully as it recalibrated its Afghanistan policy.
If it looks like were abandoning the central government and focusing just on the local areas, we will run afoul of Afghan politics, Mr. Khalilzad said. Some will regard it as an effort to break up the Afghan state, which would be regarded as hostile policy.
Mr. Obama is preparing to increase the number of American troops in Afghanistan over the next two years, perhaps to more than 60,000 from about 34,000 now. But Mr. Gates indicated Tuesday that the administration would move slowly, at least for now. He outlined plans for an increase of about 12,000 troops by midsummer but cautioned that any decision on more troops beyond that might have to wait until late 2009, given the need for barracks and other infrastructure.
With the forces of the Taliban and Al Qaeda mounting more aggressive operations in eastern and southern Afghanistan, administration officials said they saw little option but to focus on the military campaign. They said Europeans would be asked to pick up more of the work on reconstruction, police training and cooperation with the Afghan government. They also said much of the international effort might shift to helping local governments and institutions, and away from the government in Kabul.
Its not about dumping reconstruction at all, said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic delicacy of the subject. What were trying to do is to focus on the Al Qaeda problem. That has to be our first priority.
Mr. Gates said Tuesday that under the redefined Afghan strategy, it would be vital for NATO allies to provide more civilian support. In particular, he said, the allies should be more responsible for building civil society institutions in Afghanistan, a task that had been falling to American forces. He also demanded that allies step up to the plate and defray costs of expanding the Afghan Army, an emerging power center, whose leaders could emerge as rivals to Mr. Karzai.
Mr. Gates added that the United States should focus on limited goals. My own personal view is that our primary goal is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists to attack the United States and our allies, and whatever else we need to do flows from that objective, he said.
#2
1) Biden gets a medal from Pakistan and slams Karzai, a long time foe of the Taliban. Guy can't tell our friends from our enemies.
2) They said that the Obama administration would work with provincial leaders as an alternative to the central government, The provincial leaders are all former warlords that we convinced to accept the central government. Now we tell them we'll support their little fiefdoms?
3) If we're not trying to nation build, then what is the purpose of our troops in Afghanistan? Is it just a staging ground for attacks on Pakistan? I think we need to have a creditable goal regarding Afghanistan to justify our presence or we're giving the Taliban a big openning here.
#3
Just keep in mind that every one of them would have a seat in the UN General Assembly and be eligible for individual seats in e.g. their human rights council etc.
#6
Karzai belongs under the bus. Let's face it, only a Stalinesque, or if they were really lucku Titoish, tyrant can keep Afghanistan together from the central government. The idea of establishing democracy of any sort there is a pipe dream. So we can hunker down with Karzai like we did with Diem or we can recognize the inevitable, cut a deal that says to the Taliban, Afghanistan is all yours if you can keep it and we can leave in peace. We won't help you stay in power, but we won't overthrow you. But if al-Q comes back. you can rename the country Rubble.
To Karzai & Co. give them a chance in the Witness Protection Program well before we leave.
Then we go to the Pakis and tell them they are harboring al-Q and they've got 6 months to do something about it or they get the Iraq treatment.
#7
He could always come back to San Francisco and work in his brother's restaurant. Besides, the locals think he is "Gorgeous" in that green cape and the fuzzy hat.
Transportation officials in Texas are scrambling to prevent hackers from changing messages on digital road signs after one sign in Austin was altered to read, "Zombies Ahead."
Chris Lippincott, director of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation, confirmed that a portable traffic sign at Lamar Boulevard and West 15th Street, near the University of Texas at Austin, was hacked into during the early hours of Jan. 19.
"It was clever, kind of cute, but not what it was intended for," said Lippincott, who saw the sign during his morning commute. . . . "It's sort of amusing, but not at all helpful," he told FOXNews.com.
Oh, yeah, right. If there's a bunch of shambling undead creatures with an appetite for braaaaains! blocking the highway ahead, I'd like to be told before I drive into them and meet a painful, messy, PG-13-rated death. I mean, if there's a horde of zombies running about eating people's brains in your community, shouldn't you at least be blocking the road and setting up a detour or something? Some "public safety official" you are!
According to the blog i-hacked.com, some commercial road signs, including those manufactured by IMAGO's ADDCO division, can be easily altered because their instrument panels are frequently left unlocked and their default passwords are not changed. . . . ADDCO Chief Operating Officer Brian Nicholson told FOXNews.com that the company is sending out notices to customers on the potentially dangerous security flaw. "It's incumbent upon users to change the default password and secure the sign with a padlock," Nicholson said. "We're having our engineers review this information."
In the meantime, if you're driving in Austin, you can rest assured: There are no zombies ahead.
There are hippies, though. You've been warned.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2009
13:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Bah-- We've been doing pranks like this for years.
Usualy, the next moring, the road crew just laughs and resets sets the message. Problem is now some humor-impaired dork saw this, and the fun is officialy over.
I wonder how stupid it is going to get.
Posted by: N guard ||
01/28/2009 18:01
Comments ||
Top||
Sitting a few time zones away from the Davos gathering, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spares a dry chuckle at the fall of the once mighty Western financial giants and masters of the universe.
They were doing everything that [multilateral agencies] were counseling developing countries not to do to stay out of crisis, he said about the parade of Western banks that have crumbled over the last six years due to heavy leveraging and bad assets. They were greedy and now people are having a big laugh.
Malaysias elder statement has delivered real zingers to the assembled luminaries at Davos conferences past, notably the view during the 2003 get together that the Bush administration was responsible for starting World War III.
This year, Mr. Mahathir isnt attending Davos. But that hasnt kept him from delivering a sermon from afar on one of his well-tread topics: cracks in the foundation of the Western-dominated international financial system need to be urgently fixed.
Mr. Mahathir has worked on for years lobbying to increase the weight of the developing world needs in international settings. And he had a stark message to the G-8 central banks and multilateral agencies, including the International Monetary Fund, which dictated terms of the economic bailout packages to Asian nations during the economic crisis there 10 years ago: those so-called financial wizards should have following their own prescription for economic health.
They told us there was a bubble [in asset and currency prices]. They told us not to increase borrowing. They told us to cut back government spending. Its advice they ignored in [their] own economies, he said to an appreciative audience of Arab businessmen who have their own gripes about what they see as American and European hypocrisy, especially when it comes to foreign policy in the Middle East.
Mr. Mahathir counseled his listeners to heed Asian values over Western values as governments in the Middle East work to keep their growth rates positive.
Our values are similar. Asia values the country over the individual. In the West, their capitalism is structured so that there is always one winner and always one loser, he said. The system in the West has many holes. It is painfully obvious now.
#1
Without the West, Mr. Mohamad, you'd be living in a thatched-roof shack, eating when you could catch something, and dying by age 50, if you lived that long. Laugh long and hard, Mr. Mohamad, but in the end, the West will prevail, and you will be just another POS whining muslim nobody.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 13:30
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Without Western selfishness, overconsumption, and willingness to absorb imports, Malaysia would be a starveling struggling chaos of empty stomachs and clenched fists. How the hell does he think his intolerant shitstain of a country got out of the hole they dug for themselves in the late Nineties, austerity and civic virtue? It was the continued willingness of the developed nations to let them export their way out of their messes.
The good elder statesman can go fuck himself.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/28/2009 14:23
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I was in our local restaurant a half-hour or so ago, the news crawl said that banks are not lending because they're unable to lend.
And a light dawned, GOOD, people must live within their means now. (Like I do)
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/28/2009 15:39
Comments ||
Top||
#6
They got sharia banks ready to move in and take over.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh actually said that he "hopes" President Obama fails to meet Americas challenges.
Jobs, health care, our place in the world the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed.
Stand strong against Rush Limbaughs Attacks sign our petition, telling Rush what you think of his attacks on President Obama. Well send Limbaugh your comments.
I hope Rush sells these off on Ebay like he did Dingy Harry's letter
and i thought the left was supposed to protect us form 'enemies lists'
/spit
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/28/2009 14:15
Comments ||
Top||
#7
I think it's worth pointing out here that while Rush may hope for a failed Obama presidency, he keeps it strictly at the policy level. Which is wholly unlike the spittle and venom directed at Bush on a personal level by detractors.
#11
Rush tied his comments to Obama's desires to socialize the economy. This is very different than getting the economy moving again and keeping us safe.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/28/2009 15:40
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Jobs, health care, our place in the world -- the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed.
That's not what Rush was talking about. He was talking about Obama's Socialization of America.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/28/2009 15:43
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Speak to us oh great one!
How many Americans listen to ole Rush? A couple of million maybe... ten million? Maybe a few more that 'thinks' like Rush, but can't abide his rant. That's a hefty chunk of American voters O.B. is giving listening instructions to. We need to hear his sage advice and learned counsel more often. Personally, I sure hope he continues to lecture and pontificate to Americans by the millions.
#14
So why is it that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is trying to boost Rush's ratings? Either they are incredibly stupid or the have joined the vast right wing conspiracy. You decide.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/28/2009 16:18
Comments ||
Top||
#15
Ginning up for the "Fairness Doctrine"?
I do think that DMFD is right, though, about the mailing lists. Another "Alinsky Method".
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/28/2009 17:04
Comments ||
Top||
#16
but it was alright when god knows how many leftist media ppl bitched about Bush on his first day comparing him too his father
How many geniuses does it take to change a lightbulb...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is building a White House staff so loaded with big names and overlapping duties that it could collapse into chaos unless managed with a juggler's skill.
It's an administration that seems "addicted to czars," says one longtime observer of government organization. Obama has installed a White House health czar who doubles as secretary of Health and Human Services. The State Department now has "special envoys" for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and for climate change - areas already overseen by other officials.
#1
I wondered when someone else was going to notice this. O's structure will lend itself to turf fights and backstabbing, with the real power going to those with access to Rahm and O.
O's strategy seems to be to simply throw money and bodies at problems.
#4
O's strategy seems to be to simply throw money and bodies at problems.
This is what happens when the electorate put someone with absolutely NO actual work experience in high office. The man has no management skills, because he has no management experience to build them. He's just a glib tongue and a new face. "Empty Suit" is being too kind.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 15:16
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Too crowded. Time to move the entire operation to Chicago.
#11
But the system can be cumbersome, rife with jealousies and hampered by conflicting efforts and messages
And to think each of these career types will carry a staff along with them. When the egos and agendas start to collide look for the typical DC tactics. (Anonymous leaks to the press) Just call it a stimulus package for the NYTimes.
#4
GolfBravo was kind enough to honor my request for a pig picture under yesterday's article about the ACORN set aside. All those little piggies at the trough...could you do it again, GB?
But they wanna give my tax dollars to family planning groups (read abortion clinics), community organizers and condom distributors? So kids can have sex without consequences or commitment? So hustlers can rig elections? What next? I'm afraid this goes beyond pork. They're using this contrived economic "crisis" of theirs to undermine democracy, undermine the family and usher in socialism.
#7
yes, it's particularly virulent among the congresscritter population. I highly recommend either isolation or, failing that, following the model used for outbreaks of mad cow disease.
A majority of Rosengård's inhabitants believe the troubled Malmö suburb has undergone a radicalization over the past five years, a new study shows.
Experts believe the city council needs to be allocated greater financial resources if it is to get to grips with the rise of political and religious extremism.
Researchers Magnus Ranstorp and Josefine Dos Santos from the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College were tasked by the government with examining the effects of preventive measures taken in Sweden against violent extremism and radicalization.
As part of their studies, the researchers conducted extensive interviews with school personnel and police officers active in the Rosengård district.
The vast majority of respondents were of the view that the predominantly immigrant suburb had become considerably more radical over the last five years.
Ranstorp and Dos Santos describe how "ultra-radical" Islamists attached to basement mosques "preach isolation and act as thought controllers while also maintaining a strong culture of threats, in which women in particular are subjected to physical and psychological harassment."
"Newcomer families who were never particularly traditional or religious say they lived more freely in their home countries than they do in Rosengård," the researchers write.
Rosengård district committee chairman Andreas Konstantinides (SocDem) said he shared the researchers' concerns about "thought police" controlling the climate of expression in the area.
"I actually think these radical individuals are limited in number. But they exert an influence through violence manipulation and exploiting the situation."
Konstantinides said he viewed the moderate Muslim majority, who are scared sh*tless irritated and concerned by the radicals, as a resource with which to counteract their rise.
"We need to try to mobilize the forces for good. We cooperate well with the Islamic Center, for example, which runs the main mosque in Malmö," he said.
Integration and Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni reacted strongly to the report.
"It is completely unacceptable that there are fundamentalist groups in Rosengård prescribing Sharia law and courts child marriage, harassing women who don't wear headscarves and encouraging young people to isolate themselves from society. Swedish laws, rights and equality apply to everybody, including the residents of Rosengård," Sabuni said in a statement.
The minister added that a series of coordinated measures were necessary in order to tackle radicalization, involving schools, social services and especially the police.
Rosengård was the scene of extensive rioting in December following the closure of an Islamic cultural centre in the area.
#1
Years ago a study showed that most immigrants got their news etc. from the Ansar al-Islam TV channel and other foreign sources. Left wing feminists also denounced any criticism of immigrant customs as 'imperialist' and 'racist'.
The result was pretty damned obvious back then. Today we see that result with compound interest.
#1
The best way to describe the current Chinese attitude to H5N1 is halfway between despair and fear. The disease has been slowly spreading its endemic operations area, and now "one here and two there" people are dying from it, over large distances from each other.
In just two months, imagine just one person catching the disease and dying in Boston, then rural Utah, then a suburb of Miami, then in Harlem, and then two cases in northern California. With nothing to connect the cases. That is pretty much what the China outbreaks have been. And with a full, modern bio response to every one.
You know something is bad, very bad, and there is nothing you can do about it, but wait.
A high-ranking officer who served in a key role in the Israel Defense Forces' Southern Command during the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip has said that Israel missed an opportunity to defeat Hamas.
Brig. Gen. Zvi Fogel, who served as Southern Command artillery commander during the Gaza campaign told Haaretz Tuesday that he thought Israel had "lost a historic opportunity to defeat Hamas" when it decided not to broaden the offensive in the Gaza Strip. He also noted that a forceful response is essential in reaction to Tuesday's killing of an IDF tracker, explaining that absent such a response, the IDF will lose the deterrence factor that it established in the Cast Lead military campaign.
Fogel added that, "between the second weekend of the operation on January 10 and the inauguration of U.S. President Obama on the 20th, we had enough military personnel to broaden the offensive and to make additional significant gains. We were close to defeating Hamas."
Fogel said that Hamas had built a defensive network that employed tons of explosives, but in many places, Hamas was surprised at the direction from which the IDF approached. At the same time, Hamas didn't manage to inflict the kind of losses among Israeli forces that it had hoped. "This created tremendous frustration among Hamas," he said, "and that was when we should have expanded our operation. We were on the move and they were at the breaking point."
Fogel also said he regretted that Israel had not more forcefully hit the tunnels that Hamas has used to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Gaza. He estimates that a quarter to 50 percent of the tunnels were hit, but said that if the IDF had caused greater damage, Hamas' weapons program could have been set back by years instead of months.
Fogel's views are shared by other senior officers in the Southern Command and also among the commanders who fought on the ground in Gaza.
Unlike the others, however, he is a reserve soldier, and is therefore allowed to express his personal opinions. On the other hand, many on the IDF General Staff disagree with Fogel's point of view. The opposition of both the defense minister and the IDF chief of staff to an expansion of the military campaign influenced the cabinet in its decision to halt the operation.
Brig. Gen. Fogel returned to active service with the Southern Command a year and a half ago, in order to help develop the IDF's plan of attack in Gaza, along with GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant and the commander at the time of the IDF Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Moshe Tamir. Fogel noted that the work of the top brass in the Southern Command during the fighting was "exemplary."
#2
I think the operation was at the point that the IDF couldn't do any more damage to Hamas without inflicting huge numbers of civilian casualties. While that is Ok with Rantburgers, the rest of the world might actually take action against Israel.
Hamas was hurt, most of the equipment was destroyed and most objectives were accomplished. Hamas had gone to ground by that time and the ones that were left were dispersed in civilian areas dressed as civilians.
Not much else the IDF could do without leveling Gaza.
Politically, I think they called it off at the right time with the note that ANY rocket or mortar fired from Gaza will bring immediate pain. The added threats to Syria were a nice touch. The Arabs have been put on notice that Israel is done playing tit-for-tat and being a punching bag. They are ready to do the punching now.
#4
Inflicting huge numbers of civilian casualties is NOT ok with this Rantburger.
But let's be clear: when a civilian population actively aids, abets and supports their fighters, then they suffer along with their fighters. The people of Gaza overwhelmingly support Hamas. They elected Hamas to be their leaders, they provide men, money and sustenance to their military, they allow their land and buildings, even expressly civilian buildings like schools and hospitals, to be used by Hamas for military purposes, and they stand by Hamas even after Hamas has been flattened.
Well fine. As an American I'd stand by my military if it got whacked in a war.
But I'd also expect our enemy to have a less than completely charitable view of my conduct in that regard.
I don't support expressly targeting civilians. But Hamas and the Gazans want to be a country and to be recognized as such by the rest of the world. They've complained that the world won't recognize the election of Hamas, etc. Fine -- you want the rights and privileges of being a country, you get the responsibilities that go with it.
And one of those responsibilities is, you share in the pain and misery that your government and military create.
Hamas gunnies and hard boyz challenged the Israelis. They fired mortars and rockets at expressly civilian targets in Israel (world opinion, please note, didn't much care). They drew a line in the sand and the Israelis stepped across and whacked them. That's what happens when a government and a military start a war, and then lose it.
The world didn't much care about German civilians on May 8, 1945. The message was simple then: start a war, live with the consequences.
The Israelis, to their great credit, took substantial measures to avoid killing civilians. But the Arab world is indeed on notice: start a war, live with the consequences. And next time, that might include a lot less care to avoid civilian casualties. I'm not sure the Gazans got the message. It's hard for me to care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2009 11:41
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Might be more to the IDF strategy than meets the eye. IED's and things of that nature need a degree of attention when by-passed or while not in use.
#6
Let's remember a few dispositions of the Geneva convention:
1) Reciprocity: If you target enemey's civilians (eg Coventry, Sderot) your own civilians become a target. And there is no such thing as reuirement of proportionality: if it had been applied and given that in 1944 Germany was unable to do more than very small scales bombings on the United Kingdom and none on America it would have been impossible to bomb it and soften it before D-DAY.
Second: Nobody told that you have to smile and to allow the enemy to shoot you at leisure (and still less give him time for killing your civilians) becuase he is hiding behind his own civilians. What the Genava Conventions say is that you are allowed to say "Sorry", use all your might and after the combat sort civilians from bad guys, heal the former and shoot the later. These makes war crimes not pay and goes a long way for reducing their number.
3) You are a civilian as long as you try to stay away from combat. If you shoot (obvious), act as an oberver for artillery or air strikes, spy or purposefully stay in the area in order to restrict the enemy from using its full firepower you are no longer entitled to the protection given to civilians.
#8
steve it's alright with the majority of the rest of us because the civivlians are the ones who elected them into power and knew what their objectives where in the first place so that pretty much puts the in the same thought process or have the same agenda as Hamas does. tough shit they wanted it they got it
#9
The civilians are actively supporting, supplying and helping Hamas kill innocent Israelis. Therefore, they are targets as well and terrorists. That is more of what I was referring to as civilians being OK. Destroying the city of Cairo because they root for the other side, not OK.
The "civilians" of Gaza ceased to become non-combatants the day they elected Hamas and helped support them kill Israelis.
#10
I keep hearing that logistics is the most important factor in military success. Gazans are demonstrably the logistics arm of Hamas and therefore should be legitimate targets.
#14
ISRAEL FORUM > EGYPTIAN FM: HIZBOLLAH, HAMAS AND IRAN COOPERATE TO PROVOKE CONFLICT.
* OTOH, ISRAELI MIL FORUM > FORUM POLL asks Posters whether the BORDERS OF ISRAEL + NEIGHBORING ARAB/MUSLIM NATIONS [including for Paleos] SHOULD BE RENEGOTIATED = RE-DRAWN???
Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth. There follows the names of almost 200 academic leaders, listed by University.
#1
Hard to believe there are 200 much less 2 academics in this country who disagree with a left-wing socialist radical. Bill Ayers probably has a bomb built for each one.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:09
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not listed herein, Dr. Barron H. Harvey Dean of Howard School of Business voted 'present.'
#3
To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production.
Well, that's so basically against the foundation and tenets of the Donk Party, it's DOA. If they had sweetened that deal with "...thus providing more money for reelection funds, nepotism, and just outright graft.", they may have gotten at least a fleeting notice.
#4
Who cares what the little people have to say, We have spoken and so shall it be.
hmmm I see they signed their names... Rahm, make sure this doesn't happen again. You know what to do
Posted by: President Obama ||
01/28/2009 13:24
Comments ||
Top||
#5
I know at least one academic who would've voted McCain - couldn't though, as he's just a Brit in the USA. There are quite a few right-thinking academics out there, but they're particularly vulnerable to leftist hate if they speak their minds. And academia is a pretty cosy community.
#6
Japan's lost decade was the product of Japanese "honor" which compels pay-back to those who make bad investments. Investors should suffer for ill-advised moves. Floridans should be feasting on the foreclosed property market, but can't because potential buyers fear regulated trustees who try to float non-viable assets. Post 2000, every small time builder wanted to be Donald Trump. I am not losing sleep over the collapse of the luxury condo craze.
#7
I would be angry if I thought the clowns were against me and knew what they were doing. The clowns do not have a clue on how to get us out of the Barney Frank recession.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," President Barack Obama said in his inaugural. But in truth, the new way forward is a return to realpolitik and business as usual in America's encounter with that Greater Middle East. As the president told Al-Arabiya television Monday, he wants a return to "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."
Say what you will about the style -- and practice -- of the Bush years, the autocracies were on notice for the first five or six years of George. W. Bush's presidency. America had toppled Taliban rule and the tyranny of Saddam Hussein; it had frightened the Libyan ruler that a similar fate lay in store for him. It was not sweet persuasion that drove Syria out of Lebanon in 2005. That dominion of plunder and terror was given up under duress.
True, Mr. Bush's diplomacy of freedom fizzled out in the last two years of his presidency, and the autocracies in the Greater Middle East came to a conviction that the storm had passed them by and that they had been spared. But we are still too close to this history to see how the demonstration effect works its way through Arab political culture.
The argument that liberty springs from within and can't be given to distant peoples is more flawed than meets the eye. In the sweep of modern history, the fortunes of liberty have been dependent on the will of the dominant power -- or powers -- in the order of states. The late Samuel P. Huntington made this point with telling detail. In 15 of the 29 democratic countries in 1970, democratic regimes were midwifed by foreign rule or had come into being right after independence from foreign occupation.
In the ebb and flow of liberty, power always mattered, and liberty needed the protection of great powers. The appeal of the pamphlets of Mill and Locke and Paine relied on the guns of Pax Britannica, and on the might of America when British power gave way. In this vein, the assertive diplomacy of George W. Bush had given heart to Muslims long in the grip of tyrannies.
Take that image of Saddam Hussein, flushed out of his spider hole some five years ago: Americans may have edited it out of their memory, but it shall endure for a long time in Arab consciousness. Rulers can be toppled and brought to account. No wonder the neighboring dictatorships bristled at the sight of that capture, and at his execution three years later.
The irony now is obvious: George W. Bush as a force for emancipation in Muslim lands, and Barack Hussein Obama as a messenger of the old, settled ways. Thus the "parochial" man takes abroad a message that Muslims and Arabs did not have tyranny in their DNA, and the man with Muslim and Kenyan and Indonesian fragments in his very life and identity is signaling an acceptance of the established order. Mr. Obama could still acknowledge the revolutionary impact of his predecessor's diplomacy, but so far he has chosen not to do so.
The brief reference to Iraq in the inaugural could not have been icier or more clipped. "We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people," Mr. Obama said. Granted, Iraq was not his cause, but a project that has taken so much American toil and sacrifice, that has laid the foundations of a binational (Arab and Kurdish) state in the very heart of an Arab world otherwise given to a despotic political tradition, surely could have elicited a word or two of praise. In his desire to be the "un-Bush," the new president fell back on an austere view of freedom's possibilities. The foreign world would be kept at an emotional and cultural distance. Even Afghanistan -- the good war that the new administration has accepted as its burden -- evoked no soaring poetry, just the promise of forging "a hard-earned peace." The nation had cast a vote for a new way, and had gotten the foreign policy of Brent Scowcroft.
Where Mr. Bush had seen the connection between the autocratic ways in Muslim lands and the culture of terror that infected the young foot soldiers of radicalism, Mr. Obama seems ready to split the difference with their rulers. His embrace of the "peace process" is a return to the sterile diplomacy of the Clinton years, with its belief that the terror is rooted in the grievances of the Palestinians. Mr. Obama and his advisers have refrained from asserting that terrorism has passed from the scene, but there is an unmistakable message conveyed by them that we can return to our own affairs, that Wall Street is more deadly and dangerous than that fabled "Arab-Muslim Street."
Thus far the political genius of Mr. Obama has been his intuitive feel for the mood of this country. He bet that the country was ready for his brand of postracial politics, and he was vindicated. More timid souls counseled that he should wait and bide his time, but the electorate responded to him. I suspect that he is on the mark in his reading of America's fatigue and disillusionment with foreign causes and foreign places. That is why Osama bin Laden's recent call for a "financial jihad" against America seemed so beside the point; the work of destruction has been done by our own investment wizards and politicians.
But foreign challengers and rogue regimes are under no obligation to accommodate our mood and our needs. They are not hanging onto news of our financial crisis, they are not mesmerized by the fluctuations of the Dow. I know it is a cliché, but sooner or later, we shall be hearing from them. They will strip us of our illusions and our (new) parochialism.
A dispatch from the Arabian Peninsula bears this out. It was learned, right in the midst of the news cycle announcing that Mr. Obama has ordered that Guantanamo be shut down in a year's time, that a Saudi by the name of Said Ali al-Shihri -- who had been released from that prison in 2007 to his homeland -- had made his way to Yemen and had risen in the terror world of that anarchic country. It had been a brief stop in Saudi Arabia for Guantanamo detainee No. 372: He had gone through a "rehabilitation" program there, then slipped across the border to Yemen, where he may have been involved in a terror attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital in September of last year.
This war was never a unilateral American war to be called off by an American calendar. The enemy, too, has a vote in how this struggle between American power and radical Islamism plays out in the years to come.
In another time, the fabled era of Bill Clinton's peace and prosperity, we were mesmerized by the Nasdaq. In the watering hole of Davos, in the heights of the Alps, gurus confident of a new age of commerce pronounced the end of ideology and politics. But in the forbidding mountains of the Afghan-Pakistan frontier, a breed of jihadists that paid no heed to that mood of economic triumphalism was plotting for us an entirely different future.
Here we are again, this time led by our economic distress, demanding that the world abide by our own reading of historical challenges. We have not discovered that "sweet spot" where our economic fortunes intersect with the demands and challenges of an uncertain world.
Mr. Ajami is professor of Middle East Studies at The Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He is also an adjunct research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
#1
Lets see if they are as naive as 57% of the American population.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:23
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Message sent.
WASHINGTON The nation's top military officer said Tuesday the United States did all it could to intercept a suspected arms shipment to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, but its hands were tied.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that a Cypriot-flagged ship intercepted in the Red Sea last week was carrying Iranian arms and that U.S. authorities suspect that the shipment was ultimately bound for the Gaza Strip, where Hamas and Israel are observing a shaky truce after three weeks of fighting.
"The United States did as much as we could do legally," Mullen said, adding that he would like more authority to act in such cases. "We were not authorized to seize the weapons or do anything like that."
The line gets longer...
The new U.S. administration must apologize to Iran over past actions if it really wants to effect change, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.
"Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologize to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad told a rally in western Iran, broadcast live on state television. "We welcome change but on condition that change is fundamental and on the right track," he said. Do they want "hope" too, or is that negotiable?
The new administration has said Obama would break from his predecessor by pursuing direct talks with Tehran but has also warned Iran to expect more pressure if it did not meet the UN Security Council demand to halt its disputed nuclear work. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge and refuses to give up work it insists is its sovereign right.
Ahmadinejad listed during his speech a range of "crimes" against Iran, such as trying to block what Tehran says is a peaceful nuclear power generation program, hindering Iran's development since the 1979 revolution and other actions by several administrations for more than 60 years. Iran has in the past told Washington that it should withdraw its troops from the region.
Ahmadinejad, in his speech, said: "Who has asked them (the United States) to come and interfere in the affairs of nations?"
As well as saying Tehran wants nuclear arms, Washington accuses Iran of sponsoring "terrorists" and undermining efforts to make peace in the Middle East between Israel and Arabs. Echoing Obama's remarks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled the administration's readiness to talk to Iran, saying Tehran had a "clear opportunity" to show the world it is willing to engage.
#2
This really pisses me off. If BO actually does this, that's it for me. It's Iran who needs to apologize to the US for kidnapping our diplomats. How about some compensation for time and suffering, and property? Still waiting...
#3
Hillary, who is probably smart enough to understand at least some of the problems with dealing with Iran, may be secretly smiling. With luck, Ahmadinedjad will go a few steps further (US must apologize for aid to Israel, US must apologize for low oil prices, US must apologize for the problems with the drapes in the Presidential palace, etc.)and Hillary will be absolved of her direction from Obama to engage Iran.
There a number of methods in which intent or an apology can be extended. Techniques which are well understood and accepted in that part of the world. Quite a lot goes on in the diplomatic community that never sees the light of day.
#8
The Big O can send Peanut with the apology... he'd love to crawl to Tehran and kiss Nutjob's big toe.
Posted by: Andy Phavitch2922 ||
01/28/2009 12:06
Comments ||
Top||
#9
"We are sorry for not supporting the Shah further, for despite all his faults and cruelties he was not a madman leading his people to nuclear destruction. We will hand of James Carter for punishment and then work to undo our mistakes forthwith."
#11
I think the United States SHOULD apologize, but only after doing something that requires an apology, such as nuking twenty cities in Iran. THEN we'd have something to apologize for - "Geez, I'm sorry we made such a mess of your country... Maybe we could come over and help you clean up the place. We have a couple of Army divisions not doing anything at the moment."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 13:25
Comments ||
Top||
#16
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > POSTER believes a feasible OBAMA ADMIN WWIII SCENARIO would have RUSSIA + CHINA + IRAN + PAKISTAN + MILITANTS versus USA + BRITAIN + ISRAEL + INDIA???
Prob Trigger = FAILURE OF US-WORLD/UNO TO STOP SUCCESSFUL IRANIAN NUCLEARIZATION NLT 2010 [Uranium/"Dirty Bomb(s)"] INDUCING A MAJOR ISRAELI MIL = PREEMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKE AGZ IRAN???
"Cello scrotum," a nasty ailment allegedly suffered by musicians, does not exist and the condition was just a hoax, a senior doctor has admitted.
Back in 1974, in a letter to the British Medical Journal, Elaine Murphy reported that cellists suffered from the painful complaint caused by their instrument repeatedly rubbing against their body. The claim had been inspired by reports in the BMJ about the alleged condition guitar nipple, caused by irritation when the guitar was pressed against the chest.
But Murphy, now a Baroness and a former Professor of Psychiatry of Old Age at Guy's Hospital in London, has admitted her supposed medical complaint was a spoof. "Perhaps after 34 years it's time for us to confess we invented cello scrotum," she wrote with her husband John, who had signed the original letter, which was published in the BMJ on Wednesday.
"Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim."
Murphy, who said the couple had been "dining out" on their story ever since they made it up, said they had decided to reveal the hoax after it was referred to in a recent BMJ article on health problems associated with making music.
She also said she suspected "guitar nipple" had been a joke.
#1
Reminds me of the old joke about the lady in church who was asked if she wanted to invoke any special prayer and she rose and told about how her husband had fallen and injured his scrotum and how it took some many serious operations to repair it, blah, blah, blah. Then a man rose and asked if he could also speak to the church goers and was given permission. He said that he was the lady's husband and just wanted to tell her for the last time that "its called a sternum, not a scrotum".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:12
Comments ||
Top||
#2
So why do my balls still hurt?
Posted by: Yo Yo Ma ||
01/28/2009 11:48
Comments ||
Top||
WASHINGTONPresident Barack Obama expressed frustration Wednesday after members of his cabinet failed to recognize his allusion to the 24th issue of the comic series Savage Sword Of Conan during their first major meeting together. . . .
"If my inner circle of advisers can't even communicate about the most basic issues, how are we going to tackle the massive problems our nation faces?" Obama said during a press conference. "When I tell my cabinet that getting bipartisan support is exactly like the time Conan got Taurus to help him steal Yara's jewel, they need to understand what I mean."
After receiving no reaction from the assembled reporters, Obama added, "Because a giant spider is protecting this chamber full of precious jewels, just like Congress is protecting its . God, how are you people not seeing this?" . . .
Aides also confirmed that Obama has refused to lend his copy of issue #24 to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, fearing the former Republican congressman will carelessly bend or rip the pages. The commander in chief is reportedly intent on keeping the comics in pristine condition for their eventual inclusion in his presidential library.
"How am I supposed to effectively lead this nation when [attorney general nominee Eric] Holder has to stop the meeting and ask what the story of Taurus using the black lotus powder to kill the five guard lions has to do with increasing broadband Internet connections nationwide?" Obama said while vigorously rubbing his temples.
Added the president, "For the love of Crom, am I the only one here who wants to keep the U.S. technologically competitive?" . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2009
07:49 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, issue #24 is ok but for a really good read find a copy of issue #64. The artwork by John Buscema and Ernie Chan is fantastic! Joe Jusko's cover painting isn't too shabby either....
#2
Memories are flooding back. Big John Buscema and Ernie Chan were an awesome team. Then they went to Gary Kwapwitz and I coudn't stand the magazine anymore.
If anyone wished to know what the baby-boomer generation would do when, in its full maturity, it hit its first self-created, big-time recession, I think we are seeing the hysterical results. After two decades of unprecedented economic growth, rampant consumer spending, and unimaginable borrowing to satisfy our insatiable appetites, we are suddenly going into even larger debt and printing trillions of dollars in paper money to ensure that someone else after we are gone pays the debt. As if the permanent solution to a financial panic and years of spending wealth we didn't create were a government take-over of the economy in the manner we currently witness in Spain, Italy, and Greece--or the high-tax, high-spend ethos of a bankrupt California.
The reaction to the economic panic was sort of analogous to the call to 'charge it!' after 9/11 (cf. Ike's fights about the surtax to pay for Korea), or to the Iraq 2006 upsurge in violence, when suddenly our leaders declared the war lost, blamed the nebulous "they" for tricking them into voting for the war, and calling for immediate withdrawals and retreats. Ditto the Stalag-Gulag Guantanamo that, by January 19, had ruined the Constitution, shredded the Bill of Rights, and forever tarnished our reputation. Yet, on the 20th, it was suddenly complex and problematic, and required a "task force" to do a year-long inquiry into the bad and worse choices confronting us.
At some point in all this serial hysteria, we are beginning to see the problem is not in the stars of the economy or of the war, but in ourselves--a weird generation that, when it finally came of age, proved to be just about what we could expect of it from what we saw in its youth.
#1
Some say after it is all over we will resemble France. Not me. I think we end up resembling America in the mid to late 70's - high inflation, high unemployment and high interest rates plus oil going through the roof. We are fighting the wrong economic war with the wrong-headed ideology and equipment. We have a smarter and more radical Jimmy Carter type leader who is hood winking the boomers because that is what they crave - someone who will save their 401K and equity in their house. Spending will not do that. Not government spending at least. This all started in 68 with the march on the Pentagon and is ending in 2008 with the march on the Fed and Treasury. Neither are likely to survive.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:21
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I blame anyone over 30 boomer taxpayers and retirees. Bomb The VILLAGES!
An extremist organisation linked to Al-Qaeda has threatened to carry out violent attacks against Germany in retaliation for its "occupation" of Afghanistan, the German TV channel ARD reported Tuesday.
German authorities are analysing an Internet video message which shows six masked and armed members of The Islamic Jihad Union, an Uzbek extremist group, ARD said. In the video, a member of the group says in German that it has "prepared a few surprise gifts for the occupation forces", a reference to German involvement in NATO operations in Afghanistan. The message added: "the ally of the occupation forces should always count on our attacks."
ARD reported that the message had probably been recorded during Israel's 22 day offensive on Gaza as it made direct references to the attack. "For more than 10 days, the world has looked on as Muslims are being massacred in the Gaza strip... Where is the USA? Where is Mrs (Angela) Merkel (the German chancellor) and her government?," the message said.
The Islamic Jihad Union, also called the Islamic Jihad Group, became known to authorities in September 2007 when police foiled an attempted car bombing campaign by one of the organisation's German cells. The video which runs just over 26 minutes is the latest in a series of appearances by German-speaking jihadists in videos from the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Intelligence analysts say that the video, while raising the profile of German speakers and Westerners appearing in jihadist videos, also raises concerns over increased targeting of German interests in Afghanistan as well as in Germany and around the world.
It is also yet another in a wide range of videos released in recent weeks threatening retaliation for Israel's actions in Gaza and placing the responsibility equally or more on the US, Europe, Germany and Britain than Israel. Analysts say retaliatory strikes over developments in Gaza, if executed, will most likely come over the course of the next 12 months as the planning and execution of terrorist attacks is often not done in days or even weeks, adding that Israel's withdrawal will not be cause for groups to drop their desire to strike back.
Pakistan has signed a $500 million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) in a bid to stabilise the country and alleviate poverty.
The signing ceremony was held at the Economic Affairs Division in Islamabad, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday.
According to the channel, the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank -- which provides soft loans to developing countries -- has lent the sum on 'nominal service charges'.
According to the agreement, the maturity period of the loan is 35 years, with a grace period of 10 years, said the channel.
The loan will be transferred to Pakistan in a single tranche after the approval of the WB board, which is scheduled to meet on February 15, it added. Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tareen attended the signing ceremony.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
(AKI/DAWN) - Militants in the volatile Pakistani area of Swat blew up a school and at least seven people were killed and several others injured as violence continued on Monday.
Pakistani authorities issued shoot at sight orders on Sunday for curfew violations in several areas of Swat, after banned militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban had issued a list of 40 people they wanted to appear in their 'court'.
In the list there were several Pakistani ministers and members of the national and provincial assemblies among others.
Two people were killed in Manglawar when a shell hit their houses. Ten people, among them children and a woman, were injured when a shell hit their house in the area of Charbagh in the North West Frontier Province.
Another civilian was shot dead for violating curfew in Charbagh.
Local people reported having seen four bullet-ridden bodies in fields in Nengolai area of Kabal, but could not remove them because of the curfew.
Most of the people named in the list said they would never appear before any illegal 'court' and were not scared of the threat. "We are ready to render any sacrifice and do anything required to protect the life and property of our people," an unnamed leader quoted by Pakistani daily Dawn said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Authorities on Monday arrested the chief executive of a private New York financing firm on suspicion of running a purported Ponzi scheme that attracted $400 million in investments, U.S. law enforcement officials said.
Thank goodness all the SEC and Federal Reserve regulators who were supposed to watching out for this stuff got bounced when The One became president ...
Nicholas Cosmo, head of Agape World Inc on New York's Long Island, was said to provide commercial bridge loans, but was instead operating a traditional Ponzi scheme in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients, officials said. "Nicholas Cosmo took the advice of an attorney and complied with an arrest warrant," said Al Weissmann, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is investigating Agape World and Cosmo along with the FBI.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That's a bit harsh - I'll bet it's still the most respected institution in the UK!
Reminds you that, although you might have a perfectly logical philosophical dislike of unelected privilege, you can't deny that there's a lot to be said for people having power by accident rather than having clawed and shoved their way up the greasy pole for it...
like that is hard to do... kind of like being the most sympathetic SS guard at Treblinka or similar...
Rot has set in on the UK, and they are not able to take care of their Muz parasites (or the native ones either)
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/28/2009 14:08
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Y'all are forgetting... Americans went to war _twice_ to obtain our independence from this institution (along with the House of Commons and the rest of the British Government) the elites want to pretend was a "Beacon of Integrity."
Gunmen attacked and set fire to a voting station in an Iraqi province that was once the heartland of Sunni Islamist resistance to the US invasion, police said four days before milestone local polls.
The voting station set up in a school in a remote area 10 km south of the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar was unoccupied and nobody was hurt in the attack on Tuesday, said police major Ahmad Al Falluji.
"Our forces, after receiving information, headed to the site and put out the fire. There was no one inside," Falluji said. "We don't know who is behind it. We expect this was a group that is trying to disturb the peace of the electoral process."
Iraq holds provincial elections on Saturday that will test recent security gains and see whether the country is able to resolve disputes at the ballot box rather than through violence.
The sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion have finally begun to fade and Iraqi troops and police are taking on primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of voters while US forces remain in their barracks. The vote will select provincial councils that pick powerful governors in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces, and may also give some insight into the political strength of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki ahead of parliamentary elections later in the year.
Anbar, a vast desert region bordering Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, was once the main battleground for Al Qaida and other Sunni Islamist groups fighting US soldiers.
But the province's tribal chiefs turned on Al Qaida because of its harsh measures, and joined up with the US military. Anbar has been quite peaceful of late though analysts warn that tensions have been rising before the vote.
The province's mainly Sunni Arab population boycotted the last vote in 2005 and its local council was appointed.
Some of the tribal chiefs whose US-paid fighters took on Al Qaida have entered the race, and hope to defeat the incumbent councillors, many of whom belong to or are allied with the main Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc, the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
LONDON - The British government was ordered Tuesday to release minutes of crucial ministerial meetings from 2003 at which the controversial US-led invasion of Iraq was discussed. The Information Tribunal backed a decision to disclose minutes of Cabinet meetings from March 13 and 17, where ministers held talks about whether the decision to go to war was allowed under international law.
We have decided that the public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of the formal minutes of two Cabinet meetings at which ministers decided to commit forces to military action in Iraq did not... outweigh the public interest in disclosure, the tribunal said. The decision to commit the nations armed forces to the invasion of another country is momentous in its own right, and... its seriousness is increased by the criticisms that have been made of the general decision-making processes in the Cabinet at the time.
The Cabinet Office has 28 days to decide whether to appeal against the ruling. A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Browns Downing Street office said: We are considering our response.
Then prime minister Tony Blair was widely criticised for backing US president George W. Bush in invading Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein despite failing to secure a second United Nations resolution on the stand-off.
Ministerial discussions focused notably on then attorney general Peter Goldsmiths advice on the legality of war.
Blairs government strongly resisted demands for the advice of its most senior legal adviser to be made public, until a large section was leaked during the 2005 general election campaign. Goldsmith then denied ministers pressured him into changing his mind to rule that invading Iraq would be legal in international law even without a second UN Security Council resolution.
The information tribunal noted Tuesday that there has... been criticism of the attorney generals legal advice and of the particular way in which the March 17 opinion was made available to the Cabinet only at the last moment and the March 7 opinion was not disclosed to it at all.
The tribunal ruling backed up a decision by Information Commissioner Richard Thomas. He said: I am pleased that the tribunal has upheld my decision that the public interest in disclosing the official Cabinet minutes in this particular case outweighs the public interest in withholding the information. Disclosing the minutes will allow the public to more fully understand this particular decision.
Former minister Clare Short, who resigned over Britains involvement in the Iraq conflict, played down expectations from the minutes, if they are eventually released. I think people will be disappointed about how little the minutes will say. For example, they never attribute different points to different people. They are always in very generalised terms, she said. So I think its very interesting indeed that the information commissioner has said they must be revealed, but I think they will disappoint people.
There was very little proper discussion in the Cabinet, she said. Cabinet meetings were limited and the minutes are very generalised and limited.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I call BS- look for them in 2053. If Britain lasts that long.
That's a pretty big "if", I suppose.
There will be no reconciliation talks with Fatah while Hamas activists remain in detention, a Hamas official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah are expected to resume reconciliation talks in Cairo next month but Hamas.
"We will not sit down [with Fatah] until they release [Hamas prisoners], and whoever does not want to release them does not want reconciliation," Salah al Bardawil told Egypt's Al Masry Al Yom newspaper.
Bardawil headed a delegation of Hamas officials from Gaza that met over the weekend with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman to bolster a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Both Hamas and Fatah have detained each other's members since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Fatah should agree to this and institute Hamas' own rules. Don't hold prisoners, execute them immediately as Iranian spies.
The Taliban told U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday that his plan to close Guantanamo Bay prison camp was a "positive step" but peace was only possible if he withdraws U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Taliban, toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, also told the new president that sending more troops to Afghanistan "and the use of force against the independent peoples of the world, has lost its effectiveness".
A day after being sworn in last week, Obama ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where prisoners have been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture.
Obama has ordered a full review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, where he has pledged to boost troop levels and take the initiative against the growing Taliban insurgency.
Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the remote, mountainous border region of Pakistan near Afghanistan.
"Obama's move to close Guantanamo detention centre is a positive step for peace and stability in the region and the world...," the Taliban said in a message posted on Islamist websites, monitored by the U.S.-based terrorism monitor, the SITE Intelligence Group.
The message said Obama had to reverse the policies of former President George W. Bush in Afghanistan and the Islamic world.
"If Obama is right and, according to his words, wants to open a new page based on peaceful interaction built on mutual respect with the Islamic world, the first thing he has to do is to stop and annul all these procedures, which were created according to Bush's criminal policy," it said.
"He must completely withdraw all his forces from the two occupied Islamic countries (Afghanistan and Iraq), and to stop defending Israel against Islamic interests in the Middle East and the entire world," the Taliban message said.
Obama has named former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke the first U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region Obama called "the central front" in the battle against terrorism.
#1
Compare wid MARIANAS VARIETY > YUMIL: CNMI CAN TAKE GITMO DETAINEES.
All Radical Islam would need is an EFFEC FOOTHOLD - when and iff this should ever occur, IMO the Govts of the CNMI + Guam + WEST/CENTPAC [ FSM] should prep for possible Activist + even Militant-Terror troubles e.g. DEMANDS FOR LEGAL SHARIA, NON-MUSLIM FAITHS TO MINIMIZE OR STOP WORSHIP SERVICES AND NORMAL PROSELYTYZING [Guam = anti-Catholicism], END OF WOMENS RIGHTS, ETC. + DEMANDS FOR SOVEREIGNTY OR EVEN FULL INDEPENDENCE FROM THE USA [ or CHINA?]???
Not right away, but over time ala CREEPING + ESPEC "LEGAL" SHARIA/ISLAMISM [1-1 1/2 generations after local establishment]???
#7
ummm, have they ever had peace and stability in that part of the world? do they even know what that means. because i don't think blowing up kids schools is the definition
#9
ION OBAMA, WORLD MIL FORUM > US TREASURY SECRETARY GEITHNER: OBAMA MAY SUSPEND US-CHINA CONTINUITY AND STRATEGIC DIALOGUE OVER CURRENCY MANIPULATIONS, TRADE FRICTIONS.
(AKI) - The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, says no donations destined for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip should go to the Palestinian National Authority led by president Mahmoud Abbas.
Al-Sabah made the remarks after Muslim parliamentarians asked the emir about the destination of funds to help the people of Gaza.
"We will announce the precise figure that we will donate only at the donor countries conference due to take place in Cairo," said the emir, cited by Arab TV network Al-Jazeera. "Our government will, however, put conditions on the deposit of the funds which will be made to the Arab fund for development and one of these conditions is that they cannot be managed by the PNA."
According to local media, Islamic MPs are thought to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement which is banned in Egypt, and active in Kuwait, Jordan and Algeria. The MPs and other organisations are concerned that donations collected in Kuwait could end up in the coffers of the PNA.
Last week the leader of the Islamist Hamas movement, Khaled Meshal, asked donor countries to donate funds to the Hamas government led by deposed prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, and not the PNA government led by caretaker prime minister Salaam Fayyad in the West Bank.
The oil-rich emirate last Monday hosted a two-day Arab economic summit. However, talks about the crisis in the Gaza Strip dominated the agenda. Sheikh Sabah appealed to Palestinian politicians to seek unity and condemned the divisions between the rival Palestinian political factions, Fatah and Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
The emir has a long memory vis-à-vis the paleos.
Good.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2009 18:30
Comments ||
Top||
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.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[20 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
OMG. I hope the trunks find the balls to vote against this monstrosity. But I fear the worst. Is it just me, or does there seem to be a manufactured quality to this whole crisis? It's so convenient and ripe for a democrat Congress.
#2
They did the same thing when Clinton took office with a Donk Congress, spending, spending, spending like there was no tomorrow. This is just the 2009 Raid the Treasury for our Contributors Act in motion. The scorpion's behavior never changes.
#3
It's not just the Dems who want to spend, spend, spend. It's pretty much all politicians. And, to look at the national credit card debt, I'd say it's pretty much all of us. Let our kids pay the bills. Or, since so many don't even want the 'burden' of children, let those other people's kids pay the bills. Party on, dudes!
#9
all Rep and 12 Donks voted against the bill. Apparently a spine transplant was found. Good for them. They can't derail it in the House, but now it goes to the senate, and some Donks have gotta be seating voting for this shit sammich with no Republican cover
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2009 22:52
Comments ||
Top||
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the expansion of offshore oil drilling should be worked out with Congress as part of a broad energy blueprint and not independent action by his department.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar indicated the drilling plan the Bush administration left on his desk likely will be scrapped. It would open the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts for drilling.
Salazar declined to single out any waters considered automatically off limits to oil exploration.
"There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are places that are not," Salazar said in an interview in his spacious and historic office, with a fire roaring in the fireplace beneath a full-length painting of George Washington.
Salazar, who resigned as Colorado senator to join President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said he wants to work closely with Congress on "a plan that makes sense" for offshore oil and gas development, but that any expansion of drilling should be part of a comprehensive energy plan.
Congress last year failed to renew the long-standing moratorium on oil and gas exploration across 85 percent of the nation's Outer Continental Shelf, leaving all waters potentially open to drilling. Congressional Republicans and energy lobbyists have argued against even a partial reimposition by Congress of an offshore drilling ban.
Four days before leaving office, officials in the Bush administration issued a draft of a five-year drilling plan that calls for energy leases to be made available in both the Atlantic and Pacific waters, including vast areas that until recently had been off limits for a quarter century.
But Salazar indicated that plan is all but dead.
"It seems to me the appropriate place to address the OCS and issues like royalty reform would be in the context of an energy bill," said Salazar, referring to Outer Continental Shelf development and an overhaul of the way his department collects royalties from drilling in federal waters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are places that are not ....
We've seen this movie before: according to this Congress drilling is appropriate in places where there is little oil and inappropriate everywhere else.
#5
Want to make some money in the market? Invest in oil futures. By 2010, I predict it will be back to $4/gal even with the economy in the tank. All the OPEC need to hear is how we are going to go back to banning off-shore drilling and oil shale development.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:36
Comments ||
Top||
Upon seeing the photos in the National Enquirer of Senator Ted Kennedy on a boat while in a compromising position with a woman not his wife, Senator Heflin is said to have remarked, "Well, I see that Senator Kennedy has changed his position on offshore drilling."
The Israel Air Force attacked targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, hours after an Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a Palestinian-rigged bomb attack near the border.
Palestinian witnesses also said by late Tuesday afternoon that Israeli tanks could be seen rolling into the Gaza Strip.
The incident near the border was the first deadly attack carried out by Palestinian militants since a cease-fire went into effect in the coastal strip 10 days ago.
The soldier, who served as an NCO in the army, was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near an Israel Defense Forces patrol along the Gaza border, near the Kissufim crossing.
The wounded Israelis were identified as an officer, who sustained serious wounds, and an additional NCO and soldier, who were lightly hurt. The wounded were taken for treatment to the Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva. The soldiers' families have been informed of the incident.
A Palestinian was reportedly killed in ensuing clashes between IDF soldiers and Gaza militants in the area. Heavy gunfire was audible along the border in central Gaza and Israeli helicopters hovered in the air, firing bursts from their machine guns, Palestinian witnesses said.
Gaza medical workers identified the Palestinian killed as a farmer.
Later Tuesday, the Israel Air Force targeted a motorcycle in the southern Gaza Strip, critically wounding two people, Hamas and Palestinian medical officials said. One of those wounded was a Hamas militant, said group spirces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Gaza medical workers identified the Palestinian killed as a farmer
The High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule upon the Election Commission (EC) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami to explain why the registration of Jamaat as a political party with the EC should not be declared illegal.
Responding to a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Tarikat Federation's Secretary General Rezaul Haque Chandpuri and 24 others, an HC bench comprising Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Md Abdul Hye issued the rule.
The EC, Jamaat-e-Islami and its ameer and secretary general have been asked to reply to the rule within six weeks.
The petitioners stated that Jamaat-e-Islami is a religion-based political party and does not believe in the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh which is against the Constitution of Bangladesh and the spirit of the Representation of People Order (RPO) Ordinance 2008.
The constitution of this party contain provisions that do not allow any non-Muslim or any woman to hold the position of ameer in the party which is also against the provisions of the RPO since the RPO clearly states that all political parties will have to involve at least 33 percent women in its main committee by the year 2020, the petitioner said.
They also said that as per the rules of the Constitution of Bangladesh, political parties cannot have a party office outside the country but Jamaat-e-Islami was floated in India and also has party offices in foreign countries.
Considering some incidents involving the Jamaat workers and supporters at Baitul Mukarram Mosque, it seems that they are engaged in various communal activities, which the constitution of the republic clearly forbids, the petition said.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was granted registration as a political party by the EC on November 4 last year.
The petitioners filed the writ petition with the HC on January 25 this year challenging the legality of EC's action.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
President Obama wants a fresh approach to toppling Robert Mugabe and is discussing with aides an unprecedented, US-led diplomatic push to get tough new UN sanctions imposed against the Zimbabwe regime, The Times has learned.
During talks Mr Obama has had with his top Africa advisers in recent weeks, the central idea they focused on was taking the issue of Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council, but for the first time to combine such a move with an intense diplomatic effort to persuade Russia and China not to block the initiative.
According to a senior aide present at the discussions, the goal of taking the issue of Zimbabwe to the Security Council would be to pass a series of "strong" sanctions, including a ban on arms sales and foreign investment. They also want to expand significantly the number of ruling Zanu-PF party officials subject to sanctions.
Last July, after Mr Mugabe was accused of rigging the elections to stay in power, China and Russia, who have significant financial interests in Zimbabwe, vetoed moves to impose UN sanctions. Mr Obama and his aides believe that, with the growing international outcry over conditions there and the devastating loss of life from the cholera outbreak, Beijing and Moscow can now be persuaded at the very least to abstain when the issue of sanctions comes to another vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hey China, Russia... I need a WIN in Africa. I'll give you the Panama Canal, GITMO, uranium for Iran, and free gas for Caribbean naval exercises for ten years for........tell'em Rahm, make it happen!
#2
An example of how lefties love to waste time where no American interests are at stake. If its such a problem,let China and Russia with their "significant financial interests" sort it out.
#6
I don't have much faith in Obama, but I have to call bs on the above comments. Can any of you honestly say you would NOT have praised the decision to get rid of of mugabe *spit*, if it had been made by President Bush?
#7
And how much will it cost us to clean up the mess?
And just WHY should America be interested in any way, shape, or fashion in "Cleaning up this mess"?
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/28/2009 15:30
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Can any of you honestly say you would NOT have praised the decision to get rid of of mugabe *spit*, if it had been made by President Bush?
We probably would have. But in the grand scheme of things, I highly doubt we'd be seeing such laudatory phrases as "fresh approach to toppling" had President Bush made the decision.
In any case, the Bush decision was to let Zimbabwe's neighbors handle it, which would have likely been praised had it been also made by a Democrat.
#9
With events like these, I generally look for what is NOT being said. What could possibly motivate a newly elected President or anyone else for that matter, to jump into a pot like this on his first week in office...?
#10
With everything else out there for him to focus on - Zimbabwe, well it seems like a shift in policy to focus more on African issues. Seems to me to be a more ethnic decision than a strategic US interest decision. But then I'm a bit jaded in that we will walk away from Iraq and AQ and give the edge to people that supported, financed, and executed the most lethal strike on US soil in history. For the moment, this president is not even playing on the same field as our enemies. God help us...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/28/2009 17:23
Comments ||
Top||
#11
This is just another way of draining America's resources, just like the current destruction of the regular budgetary process where all the socialist wish-list programs get first pick at the process and everyone else (including the military budget) gets to fight the entitlements for the leftovers a year or more down the road.
#12
Can any of you honestly say you would NOT have praised the decision to get rid of of mugabe *spit*, if it had been made by President Bush?
I don't recall seeing any comments here exhorting Bush to overthrow Mugabe - maybe I'm wrong and there were some, but I don't recall seeing them. Nice though it would be to topple him, it would put good servicemen's lives at risk for little to no national strategic benefit. Mugabe's a problem for Zimbabwe, primarily, and the rest of Africa, secondly. Except for some brave individuals in Zimbabwe, neither of those groups have done much at all to warrant support overthrowing Mugabe - in fact it's been pretty clear that most of his neighbours like the guy (presumably because he makes them look not quite so bad by comparison).
#14
Can any of you honestly say you would NOT have praised the decision to get rid of of mugabe *spit*, if it had been made by President Bush?
I can honestly say that I would have been against it. If we get involved in overthrowing governments then we assume responsibility for the aftermath. I don't think we have the ability to put in a stable government without a long term commitment of troops and I'm not interested in paying to clean up the mess.
#16
What could possibly motivate a newly elected President or anyone else for that matter, to jump into a pot like this on his first week in office...?
If you're trying to show the world you've hit the deck-plates running, you do stuff like this. Basically it's "make a list of everything Bush did or didn't do, then start doing the opposite".
(AKI) -- An impartial international investigation into allegations of serious violations of the laws of war by Israel and Hamas during the recent fighting in Gaza is essential to establish key facts, hold violators accountable and provide compensation to victims, New-York based campaign group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch renewed its call for establishment of an independent, international commission of inquiry and said the UN Security Council or UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should urgently take the necessary steps to achieve this.
On January 12, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva voted to dispatch an international fact-finding mission to investigate alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel. But this did not include alleged violations by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, HWR noted.
Leading UN officials have called for an investigation specifically into Israeli attacks on UN schools and headquarters in Gaza. Israeli officials have said that the government will investigate these attacks as well as certain other alleged violations, such as the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas and using civilians as human shields.
"Israel's poor record of investigating and prosecuting serious violations by its forces, and the absence of any such effort by Hamas or other Palestinian groups, makes it essential that an inquiry be an independent international effort," said HWR.
On accounta, war isn't war anymore, it's just a law enforcement issue. And anyone who is subject to existential threats must wait until the offender has acted and then sue for damages.
Can't sue because they've already pushed you into the sea? Oh, too bad. But we're sure there are victims in Gaza we can tend to in your absence. Might even spread out into that recently vacated land you left behind.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I Urge you to go on about the bombing that happened under your watch last night by the government in Sudan.
#4
Just another in a long line of busybodies that want to control every aspect of human existence in the name of "human rights". These folks have far too much time and money. Someone needs to triple their rent.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 13:17
Comments ||
Top||
Repeatedly using vulgar and racial insults, Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa Cofield argued with a police officer -- addressing him as "Negro trooper" at one point -- who was trying to process her on a charge of drunken driving in Glastonbury last October, a police video released Monday shows.
She's Black.
Cofield also is heard twice on the video using the racial term "n-----."
Thereby demonstrating that idiocy can be found in pretty much every racial, ideological etc. group.
The state's Judicial Review Council released the video Monday after it found cause to pursue five judicial misconduct charges against her, several of them based on what was termed disparaging, demeaning or "racially inappropriate" language.
The council has scheduled a hearing Feb. 9 to determine whether Cofield violated the judicial code of conduct and, if so, what action to take against her.
Violated the code of conduct - no, really? You mean racial epithets flung at police aren't okay? I mean, she IS after all a Black female judge who's tired of being treated as if she's from the 'hood.
Even when she acts that way. ESPECIALLY when she acts that way.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Takes one to know one. She certainly looks black to me. I notice the police officer didn't refer to her as "one drunk ni**er bi**h" which he easily could have.
#2
Very, very well trained and astute police officer. Her racial taunting and insults were to no avail. He knew he had her on the cam and wasn't about to get into an altercation with her which would end up with legal action.
#4
This lady needs to lose her cushy judge job.
All our masters are human. They need to be riminded of that from time to time. She, and all others who can be convicted should be punished with maximum severity pour l'encouragement d' les autres
The council scheduled a hearing on the charges Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
The charges are that she violated canons of judicial conduct:
"by willfully using disparaging and demeaning language to law enforcement officers while they were acting in their official capacity, thereby failing to observe high standards of conduct."
"by willfully directing racially inappropriate language to law enforcement officers while they were acting in their official capacity, thereby failing to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."
"by willfully using disparaging and demeaning language to law enforcement officers while they were acting in their official capacity, thereby failing to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."
"by willfully invoking her position as a judicial officer in an effort to influence and intimidate law enforcement officers while they were acting in their official capacity, thereby failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary."
The fifth charge relates to the facts of the drunken driving arrest: "engaging in conduct that caused her to be arrested."
#11
why am i not shocked at all by a minority appointee making a ass of themselves and demonstrating that they were there because of 'Identity Politics' rather than as the best for the job.
she brings disgrace on all black people everywhere. guess you can take the B___h out of the Hood, but not the Hood out of the B___h.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/28/2009 13:43
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Cofield apologized Dec. 8 at Superior Court in Manchester for sideswiping a state police car with her BMW, and was accepted into an alcohol education program. If she successfully completes the program, the charges driving under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane will be dismissed.
If you read the full article, you will see that she blew 2x the legal limit, sideswiped a statie cruiser, but if she watches a "Blood on the Asphalt" film strip she keeps her license and charges dismissed.
I could not find any reference to party affiliation in the article; however, the fact that she's not charged w/hate speech may give us a clue.
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/28/2009 13:48
Comments ||
Top||
#13
there is video available... she is black
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/28/2009 14:12
Comments ||
Top||
#14
A positive breathalyzer test and a tape of her making an ass of herself while being busted--yep, her legal career is over.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2009 14:18
Comments ||
Top||
#15
I dunno about that. It's Connecticut.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009 15:21
Comments ||
Top||
#16
Bound to be a future for her in the US Senate, outspoken, drunken black female attorney and all.
#18
It all depends on how the law is phrased. In some locations, an officer technically cannot be offended no matter how offensive the speech is. (However, if some delicate flower of a private citizen overhears her gangsta rap audition, that could be another story....)
#19
I doubt her carrer is over . there have been quite a few judges the last couple of years who have had altercations and drunken driving charges aginst them. Plus she will be absolved of the DUI if she completes the class like any of the rest of us would even be offered such an arrangement
Officials say a car bomb has exploded near a Kurdish party's office in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least three Iraqi soldiers only days before pivotal elections.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred amid rising tensions as the Kurds and mainly Sunni Arabs have been jockeying for power in Saturday's provincial elections.
The blast occurred near the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party, or KDP, which is headed by Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.
An army officer said Iraqi security forces became suspicious of the vehicle, which blew up as a team approached to inspect it.
The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to release the information, said two soldiers and a civilian also were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
Pressure from Israel and its lobbies may have directly influenced BBC's decision to refuse to air a fundraising advertisement for the victims of Gaza, veterans from the British broadcaster suggested. Y'mean they applied more pressure with more finesse than the Arab countries and their lobbies? Tusk tusk.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All done without bombs on subways. Which has shown in the BBC's participation as being the sock puppet of radical Islamic terrorists, to also be effective in altering programming standards.
#3
This conspiracy theory for moonbats was predicted a few days ago - can't remember where I read it though. The idea is the BBC benefits by looking gloriously, achingly, impartial to the casual observer, and at the same time giving the impression that its ideological enemies would deny aid to already-suffering Palestinian kiddies. Maybe the consipracy's true, or maybe the BBC actually does want to make an unusual gesture of impartiality. You decide...
VIENNA, Austria (AP) The head of the U.N. nuclear agency canceled interviews with the BBC over its refusal to air an appeal for victims of the Gaza conflict, saying Wednesday that the decision violated "basic human decency."
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei added an influential voice to growing criticism of Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, which says airing the appeal would have damaged its impartiality in coverage of the conflict.
ElBaradei's office said he had canceled scheduled interviews with BBC radio and World Service television because he believes the broadcaster's refusal to air the appeal "violates the rules of basic human decency which are there to help vulnerable people irrespective of who is right or wrong."
ElBaradei's outspokenness on the issue is unusual for the head of a U.N agency whose mandate has nothing to do with the Middle East or humanitarian issues but it is in keeping with his record.
Yaaaaaawn. Anybody got Blixie's number? Or should we just wait til he calls us?
Twelve Taliban were killed in an operation in Darra Adam Khel on Monday, a press release by the military said on Tuesday. The operation was planned after the military was told that the Tor Chappar Valley, "is again witnessing terrorist activity", the statement said. It said, "The operation was planned and executed for one day."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Gov. Rod Blagojevich was hundreds of miles away but his voice boomed through the Illinois Senate's chambers Tuesday as his impeachment jurors listened to FBI wiretaps of conversations in which he seems to demand campaign contributions in exchange for signing legislation.
One person on the recordings assures Blagojevich that a horse-racing track owner "is good for it" and just has to decide "what accounts to get it out of." Another assures him the track owner knows he must keep his "commitment" soon. Blagojevich replies with comments like "good" and "good job." Legislation sought by the racing industry had been sent to the governor's desk, and on the tapes, he says to reassure a racing lobbyist he hopes "to do this so we can get together and start picking some dates to do a bill-signing."
Senators conducting the trial, which Blagojevich is boycotting though it could remove him from office within days, listened intently as the fuzzy, indistinct conversations echoed through the room -- the heating system, reporters typing on laptops and the occasional cough accounting for the only other noise.
Neither the governor nor the others on the call -- the governor's brother and chief fundraiser Robert Blagojevich and former chief of staff Lon Monk, officials say -- specifically mentions money or any amounts.
Before the tapes were played Tuesday, an FBI agent vouched for the accuracy of those and other Blagojevich quotes that were included the federal criminal complaint against him. Again and again, agent Daniel Cain told state senators he had accurately quoted Blagojevich in a sworn affidavit filed when the governor was arrested. At each stage, House prosecutor David Ellis displayed the most damning quote on a poster board.
The affidavit quoted Blagojevich saying his power to name a replacement to Obama's vacant Senate seat was a "valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing." Ellis asked if that was accurate. Yes, Cain replied.
As Blagojevich's private words took center stage in Springfield, the governor remained in New York for the second day of a media tour focused on portraying the impeachment as unfair and politically motivated.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Western countries have blocked research on the Holocaust to achieve their political objectives. Not too sure how much "research" is required on something that people still alive could see, touch, and smell.
"Western countries have prevented any kind of research on the Holocaust for almost 60 years to maintain their dominance over other nations," President Ahmadinejad said in a written message to a conference on the Holocaust on Tuesday. That's right. We did it just to cheese you off, Short Round.
The Holocaust - as defined by the West - has been used as a tool for countries including the US to prevent the emergence of any other power in the world, the message added.
President Ahmadinejad has been accused of harboring ill-will towards Israel and his criticism of European laws which ban research on the Holocaust.
The President however said in a September interview with CNN's Larry King that he saw a line between Zionism and Judaism. "Iranians have nothing against the Jewish people or their religion," President Ahmadinejad said. "How can you be religious and kill women and children at the same time?" he argued. It's not easy, but when the bad guys put the women and kiddies in front of them it can be done.
In the interview, President Ahmadinejad also added that the Israeli regime would disappear in the same way as apartheid South Africa and the Soviet Union. Iranian officials have repeatedly maintained that they do not recognize Israel and have condemned West's 'support' of Tel Aviv.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
President Ahmadinejad has been accused of harboring ill-will towards Israel.
Does it get any more dhimmi than this statement? Why didn't the writer say, "has a bone to pick or is cross with Israel?"
Canada's minority Conservative government yesterday unveiled a C$49bn stimulus package of tax cuts and new spending, pushing the federal budget into deficit for the first time since 1996. "We have to do what we have to do to protect Canada from a synchronised global recession," said Jim Flaherty, finance minister, before tabling his annual budget in parliament.
While he vowed to balance the books within the next five years, the time-frame envisaged for the stimulus package, Mr Flaherty acknowledged "things could get worse than we're anticipating, and if they do get worse, we'll do more".
The budget envisages a C$34bn ($28bn, 21bn, £20bn) deficit for the fiscal year starting on April 1, followed by a C$30bn shortfall in 2010-11. The stimulus measures include C$7bn for infrastructure projects, from roads, railways and water and sewerage systems to a small-craft harbour in an Arctic settlement. Mr Flaherty said the emphasis would be on repairs and renovations to existing facilities to avoid time-consuming environmental assessments. Public-private partnerships would be encouraged.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Title should read "CANADA SEEKS TO AVOID AN ELECTION WITH TAX CUTS."
Suspected US drones flew over various areas of North Waziristan Agency on Tuesday, a private TV channel reported. According to the channel, the pilotless aircraft made three to four flights over various parts of the agency, spreading panic among the tribesmen who are already concerned over the growing missile strikes in the Tribal Areas. Islamabad's hopes of the Obama administration stopping the drone strikes were dashed when two missile attacks in Waziristan killed 18 people on Friday in the first strike after the new US president's inauguration.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
Islamic scholars in India including those at the Darul Uloom Deoband say they do not object to Muslims practicing yoga, contrary to a recent decision by Malaysian clerics to ban yoga for Muslims, reported The Indian Express on Tuesday. The Indian scholars said chanting mantras like 'Om' that had religious connotation was not necessary for yoga and Muslims could replace them with verses from the Quran or references to God.
"Yoga is a good form of exercise. If some words, which are supposed to be chanted while performing it, have religious connotations, then Muslims need not utter those. They can instead recite verses from the Quran, praise God or remain silent," Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi, deputy vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom, told The Indian Express. He said he had discussed the issue with yoga experts and they told him reciting 'Om' or any other mantra was not compulsory for practising yoga.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Yoga is a good form of exercise
But he went on to say that treadmills and the ThighMaster are still considered Haram
The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the main city of Swat, said a statement by the army's media centre in the valley on Tuesday -- hours after the security forces launched the third phase of a military operation in the valley.
Military sources said the third phase of Operation Rah-e-Haq had been launched in light of a list released by the Taliban which contains names of officials 'wanted' by the group.
After the operation began -- five civilians were killed by artillery and mortar fire. Locals said a man, a woman and three children were killed when mortar shells hit four houses in Mangalawar area of Charbagh tehsil on Monday night as security forces targeted Taliban positions.
After the start of the intensified operation late on Monday -- official sources and locals told Daily Times on Tuesday that the government had already imposed curfews in Nengolai, Bara, Koza Banadai, Shakar Dara and Charbagh towns for an indefinite period, and issued shoot-at-sight orders for violators.
The curfew in Mingora was imposed after about 100-150 Taliban stormed the streets of the town displaying arms. No violence was reported, but a private TV channel said the Taliban had taken over bus stands in Mingora. The report, however, could not be confirmed.
In Matta tehsil, a convoy of security forces was targeted in a remote-controlled bomb attack, but there were no casualties, according to the Online news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[19 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
(AKI) - Fifteen hundred residents on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday protested against the conservative Italian government's plans to open a new detention centre for illegal immigrants. Local authorities also urged shopkeepers and other businesses to remain closed.
"Free Lampedusa!" the protesters chanted. Locals fear the island is being turned into a 'Mediterranean Alcatraz' by interior minister Roberto Maroni's decision not to transfer illegal immigrants arriving on Lampedusa elsewhere in Italy .
Under Maroni's instructions, the illegal immigrants are to be kept on the island for identification. They will then be deported unless they are eligible for political asylum, refugee or protected status.
Some have been held in the island's current detention centre for over a month. The centre, which was designed to hold a maximum 800 people for a few days at a time, has for over a week been severely overcrowded.
There were 1,000 people being held there on Tuesday after 130 other illegal immigrants were overnight transferred to a military base as an emergency measure, and 100 others who requested political asylum were transferred to a centre in the southern Italian city of Crotone.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that the deadly Palestinian attack on an Israel Defense Forces convoy near the Gaza border earlier in then day was a "most serious incident," and vowed that Israel's military response was yet to come. "When do you think it'll get here, Ehud?"
"Coupler three years."
Olmert told the directors general of each government ministry that determining an appropriate response to the incident, which killed an Israeli soldier and wounded three others, was at the top of Israel's agenda. "What the IDF has done now [in Gaza] is not the response," Olmert said, referring to an IAF strike and clashes in the coastal territory, which followed the deadly attack. "Israel response is yet to come."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak held talks on Tuesday afternoon with defense establishment officials to assess Israel's response.
Barak told military academy cadets earlier Tuesday that the incident "is serious, and it cannot be accepted and we will respond. There is no benefit in specifying [the response]."
Barak added that Israel's recent offensive in Gaza, code-named Operation Cast Lead, was "a very hard blow for Hamas."
He said the campaign did not mean that Hamas would no longer be Israel's enemy, or that there would be no more attempted attacks along and inside the border, or no other incidents that Israel would have to respond to.
"But in my estimation, we are on our way to a period that they will remember very well, like Hezbollah remembers the blow it absorbed in Lebanon two-and-a-half years ago," Barak said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday said that Israel needed to respond immediately to the bomb blast on the Gaza border, emphasizing that there was no reason to exercise restraint.
"If there is an incident on the border and someone shoots, there's a bomb there or the smuggling of arms, Israel needs to respond immediately," said Livni.
One Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded near Gaza on Tuesday morning, in the first serious clash since a cease-fire went into effect in the coastal strip more than a week ago. Livni added: "Israel doesn't need to demonstrate restraint against terror in the Gaza Strip. This was true before the operation, and it is true after it."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
A Jordanian Foreign Ministry official says the country's ambassador has returned to Israel after an absence of several weeks that was widely interpreted as a protest over Israel's offensive in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Climate change is "largely irreversible" for the next 1,000 years even if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be abruptly halted, according to a new study led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The study's authors said there was "no going back" after the report showed that changes in surface temperature, rainfall and sea level are "largely irreversible for more than 1,000 years after CO2 emissions are completely stopped." NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon said the study, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, showed that current human choices on carbon dioxide emissions are set to "irreversibly change the planet."
Okay then, screw it. There's no point to changing our ways so why bother?
Researchers examined the consequences of CO2 building up beyond present-day concentrations of 385 parts per million, and then completely stopping emissions after the peak. Before the industrial age CO2 in Earth's atmosphere amounted to only 280 parts per million. The study found that CO2 levels are irreversibly impacting climate change, which will contribute to global sea level rise and rainfall changes in certain regions. The authors emphasised that increases in CO2 that occur from 2000 to 2100 are set to "lock in" a sea level rise over the next 1,000 years.
Effects: Rising sea levels would cause "irreversible commitments to future changes in the geography of the Earth, since many coastal and island features would ultimately become submerged," the study said. Decreases in rainfall that last for centuries can be expected to have a range of impacts, said the authors. Regional impacts include - but are not limited to - decreased human water supplies, increased fire frequency, ecosystem change and expanded deserts.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Aaaawwww, NO SIMSPON's "REVEREND LOVEJOY" running down Springfield yelling "Its all over, people"!?
#2
You are only angry about that "needing to be a Private Corporation so you would not have that GM economy where your jet beat your cars to Washington DC. Let's go Green Nancy. Give up your plane. Ride your unicorn or hotel grass top carpets to the rescue.
#5
And then there's this:
"the authors find that the irreversible global average sea level rise by the year 3000 would be at least 1.33.2 feet (0.41.0 meter) if our cockamamie scheme is correct CO2 peaks at 600 parts per million, and double that amount if CO2 peaks at 1,000 parts per million."
That will average out to 1 mm per year. Or maybe 2 mm. OH NOES!
#7
A lifetime spent dealing with engineers and scientists has taught me one overarching truth: You can prove anything if you can pick your data set.
These people have social agendas which they have been pushing since the fall of the Soviet Union and are becoming increasingly shrill and bombastic as it becomes apparent to people that it is getting colder. They have a very short time to try and get their legislative agenda enacted and salvage their reputations before it becomes apparent that they are nothing but politicized grant whores and propaganda spewing simpletons. The claims will get even more apocalyptic (and less provable) as the sands run out on the public's acceptance of the global warming hype.
Aswat al-Iraq: Joint police and army forces on Tuesday arrested two suspected gunmen during a crackdown operation in the north of Hilla city, said a police source. "Acting on intelligence information, joint police-army forces raided hideouts of gunmen in al-Ubeidi region in al-Mahaweel district, north of Hilla, where they arrested two suspected gunmen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#3
What about Israel's traumatized youth? I received a letter from the Jewish National Fund the other day, asking for donations to help build a bombproof indoor playground for the children of Sderot, who daren't play outside. It will double as a senior center during the school day, thus preventing multigenerational trauma which no doubt otherwise would result in geriatric Israeli commandos wiping out entire Palestinian villages because they couldn't get to their afternoon therapy craft session.
#4
You mean their not now? And before? Then who the hell was building the tunnels, smuggling the arms and shooting the rockets? Old men and women?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:24
Comments ||
Top||
#5
Psychologists say Israel's three-week military offensive inflicted more severe trauma than previous conflicts in Gaza because civilians didn't have a safe zone.
Maybe because Uncle Mahmoud was setting up with his RPG in sonny's bedroom window?
Spare me...
#6
Better headlines include -
A Generation in Danger of Being Blown to Bits, or
A Generation of scattered body parts, or
A Generation in the Land of the Dead, or
Murdered by Arabs, Bombed by Jooos.
I guess the gauntlet has been dropped. When will you be able to stump GBUSMC? Surely, there has to be someone in a bathing suit, lingerie or a feather boa that he cannot access.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:05
Comments ||
Top||
#4
I think GB is Fred's alter ego. They are working this together in an effort to entertain us and fill our hard drives with great pin ups..
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/28/2009 17:29
Comments ||
Top||
#4
He's not a liberal. He appears to be a leftwing radical. He'll appear to make all sorts of moderate decisions on issues that don't matter much to him, all the while working to make fundamental and irrevocable changes to income distribution, regulations, laws and social power.
#8
He is an unrepentant left-wing radical ideologue out of the Saul Alinsky school. Look at his first executive orders. Look at his economic approach to fixing the stalled economy. Just because he picked people like Jim Jones and Bob Gates for his team doesn't hide the fact that he has Panetta at CIA and Rice at UN or Holder at Justice of Daschle at HHS. This guy is going to end up gutting our intelligence and defense capabilities as well as establishing the biggest government intervention and socialist programs ever seen even by Roosevelt standards. We are royally screwed until we can force the Republicans back in Congress in 2010 but they have to show a lot of backbone and mature proposals to win the people back.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/28/2009 10:33
Comments ||
Top||
#9
This guy is going to end up gutting our intelligence and defense capabilities
Of course he is, now that the 'GWOT is over.' Pigs have a habit of avoiding an empty trough. You must keep them FED!
#16
"Clean - 'Mr. Clean' - was a poor black kid from the slums private schools of Detroit Honolulu. I think the air and light of 'Nam put a real twist on his head..."
Gunmen killed a Shia Muslim in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday, police said, in at least the second sectarian-linked attack to blight the country in 48 hours. "Unidentified gunmen shot dead Athar Hussain Shah on the Dayal road while he was returning to town from his nearby farm and then escaped," local police official Tauqir Abbas said. Abbas said the victim was the son of a caretaker at a local Shia mosque. "It seems to be a sectarian killing," the official said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: Takfir wal-Hijra
(AKI) - Yemeni police have detained three men suspected of being involved in a shooting near the US embassy in the capital, Sanaa, on Monday.
The shooting is reported to have occurred at a checkpoint outside the embassy in Yemen, but several officials gave the media different accounts of the incident.
One security official said gunmen in the car had opened fire at the checkpoint, hours after the mission had received a threat. No injuries were reported.
Hours earlier, the US embassy said it had received several threats by e-mail and fax about a potential attack in the foreseeable future.
US officials have urged Americans to exercise caution in the Arab country that has previously witnessed attacks by militants on western interests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen
#1
Yemen is coming up with Somalia as Countries to keep an eye on!
Iran,North Korea and Pakistan must be Obamas priority this term!
#3
Yeah, but from what I've read here before at Rantburg there are still people who flee to Yemen to escape Somalia. So my guess is Somalia still has Yemen beat.
The French navy has arrested nine suspected Somali pirates, foiling their attempt to hijack a cargo ship.
According to French military sources, the French Frigate Le Floreal, which was patrolling the waters off the coast of Somalia, dispatched a navy military helicopter on Tuesday after receiving a distress call from the cargo vessel African Ruby, which came under attack from armed men on board two speeding boats, AFP reported.
The navy helicopter pursued the pirate boats in international waters off the coast of the northern Somali region of Puntland.
However, French sources provided no information on the real owners of the African Ruby and where the arrested pirates may end up, a Press TV correspondent reported.
French warships are stationed in the Gulf of Aden as part of a multinational naval force set up to tackle the piracy menace on the transit route that connects to the Suez Canal.
The drastic decrease in pirate attacks over the past few weeks has been attributed to the presence of the international warships and self-protection measures taken by merchant ships en route to the Gulf of Aden.
Many shipping companies have been compelled to redirect their vessels after numerous ship seizures by pirates, who demand millions of dollars to release them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[32 views]
Top|| File under: Pirates
#1
However, French sources provided no information on the real owners of the African Ruby and where the arrested pirates may end up
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009 8:23
Comments ||
Top||
#3
The drastic decrease in pirate attacks over the past few weeks has been attributed to the presence of the international warships and self-protection measures taken by merchant ships en route to the Gulf of Aden
..or the pirates are trying to figure out what species of money they want ransoms paid off in cause they don't want next month's version of Zim dollars or they're too busy having their lucrative money men putting together their TARP bailout papers.
#5
Rope, yardarm, neck. I'm sure there are French sailors who can do the work, or at least improvise. Then cruise slowly by the pirate's home port with the trophies proudly displayed for all those on shore to see. It'll take a few times, but eventually they'll get the message.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 10:48
Comments ||
Top||
Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army troops on Tuesday captured four gunmen from the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq in eastern Mosul, a military source said. "A force from the 3rd brigade of the Iraqi army on Tuesday (Jan. 27) arrested four al-Qaeda's Islamic state in Iraq gunmen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that one of the detainees is a leader of the armed group. "They are residents of the Talafar district and one of them is wanted for perpetrating six murders in al-Karama neighborhood in eastern Mosul," he explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday sought help of the United Nations in holding trial of the war criminals, saying prosecuting them has become a national demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
#2
The fix was in on this one. A bunch of liberal SP case workers just wanted to hand these kids over to a gay couple, they probably needed to meet a quota. Why should we think of the best interest of the kids, they are just numbers in a system- and grandparents,"are they out to pasture yet?".
The Pope's opinion "a treasure which the younger generation should not be denied."
Not to mention the grandmother was 46 and women in their 40s are still having babies.
#4
It's Scotland for Gods sake. Place is a Leftist swamp along with the rest of Britain. You'd think the people that still have some decency and a grasp would break out the Tar, Feathers and pitchforks. I can hardly wait for the Left to cross the line and trigger a primal rage in the non left. Gonna be a slaughter.
#7
I'm 62 and my wife's 66, and we're doing just fine with our three-year-old. We're also talking about taking a six-week-old great neice. It's not the age, but the willingness that counts.
This is a social worker out to remake the world. That social worker not only needs to be fired, but should NEVER be hired into a position with trust and responsibility ever again. If this stands, Britain is truly lost.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 13:42
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Note to everybody: In a situation like this, ALWAYS GET THE NAMES.
Adoption by gay couples in Scotland was approved by MSPs in 2006 - despite an official consultation process which showed that nearly 90 per cent of people opposed it.
The U.S. navy was forced to release an Iranian boat detained in the Red Sea on suspicion of carrying arms to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Weapons of various kinds were found aboard the ship, which was flying the Cypriot flag when it was stopped January 19.
The ship was released Tuesday when it became apparent that there was no legal basis for holding it.
At a press conference in Washington, Admiral Mike Mullen, who heads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said although American naval personnel boarded the ship and found the weapons, they had no legal authority to impound the arms. He suggested that more stringent resolutions by the UN Security Council would be required, stating clearly that Iran is violating standards against arms smuggling.
Mullen stressed involving Iran in solving regional problems, including the deteriorating condition in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that ultimately the matter should be left to diplomats. With regard to the Obama administration's approach to the Iranian threat, he said that the military option is not off the table, but that it must remain the last option.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[13 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
See COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG - US strategic attention seen as shifting from fighting AL QAEDA IN IRAQ [AQI] to fighting IRAN's AGENTS [Iran local-regional influence = control by PRO-IRAN THIRD PARTIES].
#4
.....but that ultimately the matter should be left to diplomats. With regard to the Obama administration's approach to the Iranian threat, he said that the military option is not off the table, but that it must remain the last option
That's what the White House told him to say and he said it! Great initiative Admiral.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested dialogue as the first step for resolving the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program.
Whoa! Talk about thinkin' outside of the box!
I though Hilde was the SoS, not Madeline Albright ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[17 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Jeeze Louise, it's deja vous all over again. Give Kimmie or whoever is running that madhouse a forum. Better borrow half-bright's brooch and do it up right.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/28/2009 0:50
Comments ||
Top||
#2
There's something to be said for experience, at least the Hildebeeste will be familiar with failure in discussions with N. Korea as her husband's administration did it many times.
#9
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > MONGOLIA'S PREMATURE RETURN TO CHINA [however historically "justified" in Chin'a view] MAY BE DISDAVANTAGEOUS. CHINA SHOULD WAIT ANOTHER TEN YEARS. Many in Mongolia distrust China, plus the country is still mostly too poor and undeveloped to be in Chin interests at this time.
SAME > RUSSIAN SUB BASE IN THE GALAPAGOS: A NUCLEAR TORPEDOE COULD DESTROY NEW YORK [China's T-15 1950's = sole Cold War Strategic Sub]!
FYI, CHINESE MIL FORUM POSTER - reminds that during the Cold War, the then-USSR had a milplan to directly attack ALASKA WID PARATROOP/AIRBORNE FORCES, and that said Soviet ABN forces, etc. were prepared to wage war in ALCAN AND TO OFFENSIVELY PENETRATE AS FAR AS BRITISH COLUMBIA, ETC, THE LONGER A NATO-PACT CONFLICT WENT ON.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As per the A2 Scenario, IOW humans have until 2100 ["end of the century"] to live because many MMGW Perts argue that Mankind + biotic life can't naturally survive a TEMP CHANGE OF THAT MAGNITUDE???
SUB-IOW, WE MUST MILITARILY FORCE OWG-NWO = SOCIALIST ORDER UPON THE WORLD IN ORDER TO HAVE THE RESOURCES TO BEGIN BUILDING UNDERGROUND = ENCLOSED ENVIRON-REGULATED CITIES [Logan's Run].
SUB-SUB-IOW, D **** THE HADRON COLLIDER, MORIARITY, NASA-JPL + AREA 51/53 etc. MUST BEGIN SENDING ITS [Crewed, populated] MILE(S)-SIZED "ALIEN/ROSWELLIAN UFO" CRAFTS = SPACE ARKS INTO SPACE - NOW, ASAP, TWAS YESTERDAY AND DECADES AGO SINCE ROSWELL???
#3
I would be interested to know the degree to which major volcanic eruptions during the next 40 years have been factored into the forecast - given that Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Pinatubo both resulted in rapid and dramatic cooling of the atmosphere - just within the past 30 years. I have to assume that there will be some equally "chilling" volcanic eruptions within the next 40 years - as has been the pattern for many centuries/millenia - meaning that volcanic eruptions are a normal part of the global climate system.
#4
These people cannot tell us with accuracy what next Tuesdays weather will be, but here is our fate for the next 100,000 years?
I don't know which cars in front of me on the way to work will take exit 5A either, but I know that it's going to be painfully congested between 7 and 8:30 AM on M-F.
There are big assumptions in these climate models that are incomplete and perhaps unjustified. But the criticism that "they can't predict Tuesday's weather" isn't particularly cogent. Tuesday's weather in one place is a specific data item. Climate is the aggregate effect of millions of such items over a very long time.
In many cases it's perfectly possible to model complex processes and get overall system performance without being able to predict the behavior of one element in the system. To do so requires a good grasp of the underlying dynamics and of the key factors driving the system. Lots of such models have proven useful - I and my colleagues build them for all sorts of purposes.
We do NOT have a sufficiently firm grasp of all of the forces that aggregate to climate however, which is why there is so much disagreement about the effects of unprecedented inputs into the climate system. Models always come with the caveat that they are predictive if and only if a) they capture the key factors accurately and b) the assumed input conditions hold in real life. We can predict - or influence - how much C02 we put out. But if we don't really know all the main driving factors that aggregate to climate, it's very difficult to judge how useful a projection of the sort described in this article really is.
My take is that it is not a final answer. But it IS a model of one factor/mechanism that drives climate. How much it does so, and what other factors might be at work to dampen its effects, is not at all clear, however.
#5
I agree with your weather analogy, lotp, but do you also believe econometric models 5, 10 20 years out? And the economy is far less complex than climate. This is an unwinnable argument for either side because the time scale involved for either is so long that we will not know.
This is not really a scientific discussion, it is resource allocation and politics.
What we do know is that the recommendations of the greens will force billions further into poverty and cause massive death and misery. Risk this for some academic's model, the failure of which will have no consequences for its author? Bah.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/28/2009 8:45
Comments ||
Top||
#7
"It reemphasizes the valid point that global warming will lead to a decrease in ocean oxygen levels with potentially adverse consequences for marine life."
Depends on if this model is based on algorithms or Al Gore-rithims.
#8
I believe the point lotp is making is that we do not know enough to reasonably claim the current global warming models are either valid or invalid.
In my opinion man's contribution to atmospheric CO2 IS a factor to be considered in global climate models. It is not the only factor. I don't think we even know how significant a factor it is. In addition to the tons emitted, we need to understand potential buffering or allied processes (chemical or biologic feedback loops, water expansion, solubility changes, shelf area changes and their ecologic effects, etc.) Then there are other anthropogenic processes that might also affect climate - particulates in the air, acids in the water, methane releases (decreased or increased?), fertilizer in the water, etc.) And even if we totally understood all of this, and could perfectly manage and control it, we still might find we had neglible effect on climate (or not), since we don't know how the solar variables compare.
Climate is a valid and vital area for scientific research. But the treatment of our current state of knowledge seems more like religious dogma than science.
#9
do you also believe econometric models 5, 10 20 years out
The difficulty with econometric models is that we have and will continue to see significant new factors inserted into the economic system, primary among them technological changes that introduce real discontinuities or at a minimum significant changes in costs, resource uses, life span etc.
There are SWAG estimates that try to adjust for those effects, but they are very hard to tune correctly.
In my own modeling work, I and my colleagues always do sensitivity analysis on our assumptions and these sorts of parameters. In other words, given that we are estimating unknowns, how *much* does the outcome of the model vary if we vary those estimates?
If the model output is not very sensitive to changes in an assumption or parameter, we don't fuss much with it. But if the output is indeed sensitive to a parameter, then we try our best to hone in and improve those estimates or, at the very least, to make clear that this is an area to track carefully and to re-model when we can get better data.
As Glenmore notes, however, we can't do sensitivity analysis WRT factors that aren't even in the model. And that is the huge caveat WRT climate modeling at this point.
Setting aside politics, there is nonetheless value in creating models now. For one thing, they can be used to predict the outcome *if* assumptions are valid. Should events proceed in ways similar to the model's predictions, it tends to validate the model's accuacy. OTOH should events diverge from the predictions, then there is a basis for exploring what other factors might be at work.
Standard empirical science techniques, the value of which have been obscured by political agendas from all sides.
#10
The best way to test one of these models is to use them to reverse engineer the current state.
Put in the values for ALL known factors for a historical period and see if your model predicts the present. No climate models do this. The modeling methodologies and data gathering methodologies are a crock (See Dr. John Theon's testimony to congress).
Until the warmalists open their data and models to independent peer review and replication (you know, real science) this is just greed/politically driven theology.
#11
There's stuff I wanted to talk about re: climate change. But I just spent 9 hours trying to sleep and only succeeding in lying awake in bed. I feel lousy.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/28/2009 13:27
Comments ||
Top||
#16
This man calls himself a "scientist"? According to data from Fred Singer, there are something like 115,000 variables that affect climate. They include everything from solar forcing, to percentage of vegetation per area of land, to how many cows graze on a pasture. None of the current models used to produce AGW results properly account for solar forcing and sunspot activity, although there are extensive scientific studies that have tied these to prior global climate changes. We're due for another ice age in about 2000 years, if the preceeding pattern of 13,000-14,000 years of warming, then 75,000+ years of cooling (Ice Age).
As AlanC said, the best way to check the validity of a model is to use it to explain what's already happened. The solar/sunspot models come far closer than the AGW claims. The real climate may be somewhere else entirely, simply because current computer models aren't strong enough to handle even 30 variables, much less 115,000. And as LOTP said, we may find, as we study the earth's climate more closely, there are even variables we haven't discovered yet. There's still a lot we don't know about this planet we live on, or the universe it's in.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2009 14:26
Comments ||
Top||
#17
The worst thing about this is that THERE IS NO SCIENCE HERE!!!!!!!!!
Talking about the variables for the models etc. gives this scam more benefit than it deserves. Look at the really simple stuff, data collection.
Have you checked out the siting of these weather stations? Have you noticed that there are none to speak of in most of Asia or the Antarctic? Where do these liars get their numbers? THEY MAKE THEM UP!!!!!!
This is all a fraud and I wish Gore and his myrmidons could be sued into peury for the harm they have caused.
(AKI) - Philippines security forces have sealed off a vast mountainous area of Muslim-dominated southern Sulu where kidnapped aid workers, including Italian Eugenio Vagni, are reportedly being held, local TV channel GMANews reported on Tuesday.
Unnamed officials said Vagni, and two other hostages and Islamist militants from Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf who are suspected of having kidnapped them are believed to be hiding in the town of Indanan.
United States marines are helping Filipino security forces in the search operation, providing intelligence and unmanned US drones to fly over the area, GMA said.
Five gunmen abducted Vagni, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba from their car on 15 January in Jolo, capital of Sulu, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is notorious for kidnappings and terror attacks.
Vagni, Notter and Lacaba work for the International Red Cross. GMA quoted Philippines National Red Cross president, Richard Gordon on Tuesday saying he had not officially been informed of a ransom demand for the hostages' release and that the organisation had never paid a ransom for any of its workers.
The kidnappers have demanded a five million dollar ransom for the hostages' release, according to local media.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
WELLINGTON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Fiji on Tuesday rejected the need for further sanctions, saying the country was not in crisis and was determined to complete electoral reform before holding elections.
The Pacific Islands Forum leaders special meeting, held in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, gave Fiji a deadline of May 1 to announce an election date. Elections must be held by the end of the year. If the Fiji interim government does not meet the terms, its leader, ministers and officials will be suspended from all meetings of the forum, the Pacific leaders said in a statement. Fiji will also be prevented from receiving benefits that come from belonging to the forum, including new financial aid.
Fiji's interim attorney general Aiyaz Saiyed Khaiyum, a special envoy of interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, put Fiji's case to the leaders in Port Moresby. Saiyed Khaiyum on Tuesday questioned the forum's right to impose further sanctions and said electoral reform rather than timelines are his country's priority. "There is no crisis in Fiji at the moment," he said. "You have a government in place that's been held to be legally and validly appointed by His Excellency our president (by) a three member panel of the High Court. So we do not understand what the crisis is," Radio New Zealand quoted him as saying.
Khaiyum said he spoke to Bainimarama after the meeting. Fiji was determined to complete electoral reform before holding elections, he said. He told reporters democracy was about more than elections and Fiji did not have universal suffrage. The country wanted "long-term and sustainable" democracy which "seems lost on some people," Radio New Zealand reported on Wednesday.
He said the new Presidential Political Dialogue Forum would look at reform issues and once an electoral system was decided on elections would take a further 12 to 15 months.
Khaiyum disputed the forum's right to take steps against Fiji which only allowed action if there was a crisis. Since Fiji's president ruled the interim administration was valid, backed up by a high court ruling, there was no crisis, he said. He accused Australia and New Zealand of hurting innocent citizens through sanctions -- especially a ban on travel for officials and government figures.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Put the heat on the forum, Commodore Frank!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/28/2009 0:54
Comments ||
Top||
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday suspended poll results of seven upazila parishads on grounds of massive irregularities in the elections, following an investigation sparked by an onslaught of complaints from defeated candidates.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
The government has decided not to tolerate further untoward incidents at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque centring newly appointed Khatib Maulana Muhammad Salahuddin.
A high-level meeting of the home ministry after thorough discussion on the matter decided on Monday to go tough on troublemakers.
Unpleasant incidents including chase and counter-chase and hurling of shoes took place in and around the country's main mosque during the last three Juma prayers.
Sources say the government perks and other benefits for the khatib, who enjoys the status of a joint secretary, seem to be the main reason behind the troubles brewed often centring the post.
The home ministry meeting also observed that if necessary they would create a panel of khatibs, who in turn will conduct the Friday prayers. Besides, reducing the perks of the khatib was also discussed at the meeting.
Apart from getting a government vehicle for use and home allowance, the khatib receives a handsome monthly salary and enjoys the chairmanship of Islami Bank's Shariah Council.
He also holds the posts of adviser or member of other Islami banks and insurance companies. But the most alluring side of becoming the khatib is the hadia (gifts) given by people at home and abroad.
Chaired by Home Minister Sahara Khatun, the meeting also unanimously reached a consensus that the immediate past caretaker government chose the right person as the khatib, who delivers sermon during Friday or Eid prayers.
"Mosque is the holy place and no disorder there will be tolerated. Tough actions will be taken against troublemakers if they try again to create unrest," said State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj.
Talking to The Daily Star, the minister said the government would not allow anyone to do politics with mosques and religion. People won't tolerate it either, he added.
He said they would ensure safety and security of the people and deal with terrorism and crime in an iron hand.
The national mosque witnessed chaotic situation on last two Fridays as devotees supporting and opposing the appointment of khatib engaged in commotion.
Chairman of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini called the new Khatib a "controversial figure" following the skirmishes.
Maulana Salahuddin, former principal of Madrasah-i-A'liah, Dhaka, was the khatib of Gausul Azam Mosque in Mohakhali and was appointed at Baitul Mokarram on January 1.
Bangladesh Awami Olama League yesterday urged all devotees to show deep reverence during prayers at the national mosque.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
MUMBAI: Police and security agencies here have got a specific alert from the police of a North Indian state about RDX having been smuggled into the country as part of a cement consignment from Pakistan and the target being an oil refinery.
Officials said the high alert sounded at vital installations like railway stations and hotels in Mumbai last December was not a reaction to the 26/11 carnage but had its basis in this specific intelligence input.
Officials also told TOI that more RDX could be coming in as part of cement or other consignments. But the alert did not name any refinery that was supposed to be the target.
That explained the reaction by Delhi Police and Mumbai Police during the days following the terror attacks on Mumbai. The two closest refineries to Delhi are at Panipat and Mathura. But most of the major refineries are near the coast, including those at Vishakhapatnam, Paradip and Jamnagar.
The alert also mentioned railways as a possible soft target''.
Several ports, especially those in Vishakhapatnam and Ennore (Tamil Nadu), were also on a high alert on Tuesday. Shipping officials met home ministry and IB officials, agencies reported.
ATS joint commissioner of police Rakesh Maria was not available for comment and state intelligence chief D Shivanandan said he was not privy to the information.
Security was stepped up at all railway stations in National Capital Region following the threat. The police deployed extra Quick Reaction Teams at New Delhi railway station and other stations. "After 26/11, every input is taken seriously,'' said Delhi Police's DCP (crime and railways), Neeraj Thakur.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Several previously intercepted arms/missile shipments have been concealed in cement. Time to track the cement?
WASHINGTON In Iraq, wounded American troops are treated at a well-equipped field hospital within one hour, regardless of where they were fighting or how bad the battle. In Afghanistan, with its rugged terrain, their comrades are not so fortunate. Some wounded troops there do not receive advanced trauma care for almost two hours, lessening the chances of survival and rapid recovery.
Now, Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary, is trying to address the imbalance, directing the military to send more helicopters and a fourth field hospital to Afghanistan to guarantee that wounded Americans there are treated within what the military calls the golden hour.
The order is Mr. Gatess latest foray into a Pentagon bureaucracy that he has complained is sometimes too slow to respond to the needs of the troops. It comes as the Obama administration is preparing to double American forces in Afghanistan as part of a plan to battle Al Qaeda and the Taliban more effectively.
In Iraq, our goal is to have a wounded soldier in a hospital in an hour, Mr. Gates told Congress on Tuesday. Its closer to two hours in Afghanistan. And so what weve been working on the last few weeks is, how do we get that medevac standard in Afghanistan down to that golden hour in Iraq?
Mr. Gates has directed that the number of helicopters assigned to medical evacuation in Afghanistan be increased by about 25 percent. They will be drawn from Army, Air Force and Navy equipment, officials said. Some medical evacuation helicopters will be assigned to forward bases, closer to where troops may come into contact with adversaries, the officials said.
Mr. Gates has also directed that some of the helicopters set aside for search-and-rescue missions for downed pilots in Afghanistan be reconfigured and reassigned to medical evacuation. That represents a departure from military doctrine that calls for certain numbers of combat search-and-rescue teams to be on 24-hour call, but it was seen by Mr. Gates and his advisers an acceptable tradeoff. The question is, can you take a little risk there especially as we are going to have more and more forces sent to Afghanistan? said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, who cited military statistics that no American jets or bombers had been shot down in Afghanistan in seven years.
As those new rules have been put in effect over recent weeks, the officials said, the average medical evacuation time in Afghanistan already has dropped to 71 minutes today from nearly two hours last year.
Mr. Gates had previously ordered the military to spend billions for mine-resistant troop vehicles and to spend millions more to increase combat surveillance flights in battle. In his testimony on Tuesday, he made it clear that he was dissatisfied with the response across the Pentagons civilian and military bureaucracy. Efforts to put the bureaucracy on a war footing have, in my view, revealed underlying flaws in the institutional priorities, cultural preferences and reward structures of Americas defense establishment, a set of institutions largely arranged to plan for future wars, to prepare for a short war, but not to wage a protracted war, Mr. Gates said.
Pentagon officials said the medical evacuation initiative did not even require purchasing new equipment or hiring additional personnel just shifting priorities and changing assignments accordingly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
Vice President Biden made his first -- and probably not last -- apology for a joke gone bad, reportedly calling Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to offer a mea culpa for cracking wise about Roberts' flubbing the oath of office during President Obama's inauguration.
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday the United States is "lost" unless it can find a way to not kill so many civilians in the pursuit of militants in Afghanistan, and that flooding the chaotic country with US troops would be a disaster.
WASHINGTON President Obama intends to adopt a tougher line toward Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, as part of a new American approach to Afghanistan that will put more emphasis on waging war than on development, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
Chris Lippincott, director of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation, confirmed that a portable traffic sign at Lamar Boulevard and West 15th Street, near the University of Texas at Austin, was hacked into during the early hours of Jan. 19.
Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," President Barack Obama said in his inaugural. But in truth, the new way forward is a return to realpolitik and business as usual in America's encounter with that Greater Middle East. As the president told Al-Arabiya television Monday, he wants a return to "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."
Pakistan has signed a $500 million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) in a bid to stabilise the country and alleviate poverty. 
(AKI/DAWN) - Militants in the volatile Pakistani area of Swat blew up a school and at least seven people were killed and several others injured as violence continued on Monday.
(AKI) - The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, says no donations destined for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip should go to the Palestinian National Authority led by president Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israel Air Force attacked targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, hours after an Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a Palestinian-rigged bomb attack near the border. 
President Obama wants a fresh approach to toppling Robert Mugabe and is discussing with aides an unprecedented, US-led diplomatic push to get tough new UN sanctions imposed against the Zimbabwe regime, The Times has learned. 
(AKI) -- An impartial international investigation into allegations of serious violations of the laws of war by Israel and Hamas during the recent fighting in Gaza is essential to establish key facts, hold violators accountable and provide compensation to victims, New-York based campaign group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Twelve Taliban were killed in an operation in Darra Adam Khel on Monday, a press release by the military said on Tuesday. The operation was planned after the military was told that the Tor Chappar Valley, "is again witnessing terrorist activity", the statement said. It said, "The operation was planned and executed for one day."
Gov. Rod Blagojevich was hundreds of miles away but his voice boomed through the Illinois Senate's chambers Tuesday as his impeachment jurors listened to FBI wiretaps of conversations in which he seems to demand campaign contributions in exchange for signing legislation.
Islamic scholars in India including those at the Darul Uloom Deoband say they do not object to Muslims practicing yoga, contrary to a recent decision by Malaysian clerics to ban yoga for Muslims, reported The Indian Express on Tuesday. The Indian scholars said chanting mantras like 'Om' that had religious connotation was not necessary for yoga and Muslims could replace them with verses from the Quran or references to God. 
The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the main city of Swat, said a statement by the army's media centre in the valley on Tuesday -- hours after the security forces launched the third phase of a military operation in the valley. 
Climate change is "largely irreversible" for the next 1,000 years even if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be abruptly halted, according to a new study led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Aswat al-Iraq: Joint police and army forces on Tuesday arrested two suspected gunmen during a crackdown operation in the north of Hilla city, said a police source. "Acting on intelligence information, joint police-army forces raided hideouts of gunmen in al-Ubeidi region in al-Mahaweel district, north of Hilla, where they arrested two suspected gunmen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Psychologists warn that Gaza's traumatised youth will become easy prey for extremists.
Gunmen killed a Shia Muslim in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday, police said, in at least the second sectarian-linked attack to blight the country in 48 hours. "Unidentified gunmen shot dead Athar Hussain Shah on the Dayal road while he was returning to town from his nearby farm and then escaped," local police official Tauqir Abbas said. Abbas said the victim was the son of a caretaker at a local Shia mosque. "It seems to be a sectarian killing," the official said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
(AKI) - Yemeni police have detained three men suspected of being involved in a shooting near the US embassy in the capital, Sanaa, on Monday.
The French navy has arrested nine suspected Somali pirates, foiling their attempt to hijack a cargo ship. 
Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army troops on Tuesday captured four gunmen from the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq in eastern Mosul, a military source said. "A force from the 3rd brigade of the Iraqi army on Tuesday (Jan. 27) arrested four al-Qaeda's Islamic state in Iraq gunmen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that one of the detainees is a leader of the armed group. "They are residents of the Talafar district and one of them is wanted for perpetrating six murders in al-Karama neighborhood in eastern Mosul," he explained.
The U.S. navy was forced to release an Iranian boat detained in the Red Sea on suspicion of carrying arms to Hamas-ruled Gaza. Weapons of various kinds were found aboard the ship, which was flying the Cypriot flag when it was stopped January 19. 
The government has decided not to tolerate further untoward incidents at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque centring newly appointed Khatib Maulana Muhammad Salahuddin.
