Superintendent accidentally fires gun during class
There's some deja vue here. Back in the 90s, a Davey Crockett impersonator here in Texas discharged his Kentucky rifle while he was telling tall tales to some first graders. The kids were mightily impressed. The administrators and police were not.
BILLINGS, Mont. -- The superintendent of a rural Montana school district says he was showing students his black powder muzzleloader when he accidentally fired the weapon into a classroom wall during a history lesson. "Firearms accidents were a leading cause of death on the Oregon Trail. That is why---" BOOM!
Dwain Haggard, who used to be a Civil War re-enactor, was showing the gun to five students in Reed Point High School's American history class Friday when it fired. By this time tomorrow, we'll be able to say that he used to be a superintendent too
No one was injured, and Haggard says he can't explain how the weapon was loaded. It's simple Dwain. First you put in a measured amount of this black powder stuff....
He says he usually fires a cap during the demonstration, but this time there was a loud bang and the room filled with smoke.
A student who was in the class said the firing of the gun caught everyone off guard. This isn't LA after all....
"Holy criminy, you just shot the map," the student said.
The ball shot through the "o" in the word "North" on a wall map. A Confederate gun no doubt.
According to Haggard, the gun was never pointed at the students once he inserted the cap. The Superintendent was facing away from the students, pointing the gun toward the ceiling when he pulled the trigger.
One father told Haggard he laughed until he cried after his son explained what happened. No doubt this creep think school bus wrecks are the height of comedy.
Haggard says none of the students' parents was upset with him. Sure. If a school official accidentally fired a gun in my granddaughter's classroom, I would make a point of accidentally butt-stroking him with my AK when I spotted him in the unemployment line.
He described the incident as "bitter irony" because he has tried to increase safety in the school district.
#1
There are no excuses. It doesn't matter if it's a black powder rifle or a Class III. When you pick up a weapon, you check it. Always. Always. Always. I have NEVER found one of my guns loaded and I can't remember loading it. It doesn't not matter WHAT you are doing, you bloody check the thing.
If you fail to do that, then you are NOT a responsible gun owner.
#2
Well AC, there's them that has and them that will. Not smart to not check when he had the rifle at home but it's not like he could pull back the bolt and check the chamber. At least it was pointed in a safe direction.
The only way to check a blackpowder rifle is to run a ramrod down the barrel and check the length it goes. Even firing a cap while pointing in a safe direction (in the field) won't work if you have a bad charge.
Looks like he found a way to demonstrate his statement on firearm safety on the Oregon Trail.
Confused about the recent slew of arrests and/or deaths of al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Here's a roundup of who, what, where, and when.
Posted by: ed ||
03/09/2010
16:59 ||
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The Senate's official gatekeeper, said the Drudge Report, a conservative news aggregator, and whitepages.com "are responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate," according to an e-mail to the Environment and Public Works Committee.
In the very body sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, an e-mail is circulating warning U.S. Senate staffers not to view one of the most popular news sites on the Web, claiming it could spread computer viruses.
The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, the chamber's official gatekeeper, said the Drudge Report, a news aggregator, and whitepages.com, a telephone directory site, "are responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate," according to an e-mail from the Environment and Public Works Committee obtained by FoxNews.com.
Another e-mail from a separate office warned that staffers who had visited the Drudge Report or White Pages had experienced viruses on their PCs.
"Please avoid using these sites until the Senate resolves this issue," the e-mail read. "The Senate has been swamped the last couples (sic) days with this issue."
But the Drudge Report suggested that politics might be behind the warning, noting in an original story that the e-mail came as the "health care drama in the Capitol reaches a grand finale."
The Drudge Report noted that it served more than 29 million pages Monday without an e-mail complaint about "'pop ups,' or the site serving 'viruses.'"
"The site was seen 149,967 times since March 1st from users at senate.gov and 244,347 times at house.gov. [10,825 visits from the White House, eop.gov]" the Drudge Report wrote. "The Systems Administrator may want to continue taking her antibiotic until the prescription runs out."
A spokesman for the Environment and Public Works Committee said the Senate Help Desk cited the Drudge Report and whitepages.com only as possible examples of Web sites generating pop-up ads that might be causing a recent increase in the number of virus infections.
"Our non-partisan systems administrator notified both Majority and Minority staff that this issue had been brought to her attention," the spokesman said in a written statement. "It is still not exactly clear where the increase in viruses is coming from, and staff have been advised to be cautious with outside Web sites at all times."
A GOP aide to the Environment and Public Works Committee told FoxNews.com that there has been "a flurry of activity in the last couple of days" and that a couple of people on the staff had had "computer problems."
If Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had his way, any journalist who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a dictator would quickly find himself behind bars. I think the irony of the 1st Amendment rights (isn't he some sort of human rights activist?) is lost on this genius.
First Amendment be damned . . . If Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had his way, any journalist who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a dictator would quickly find himself behind bars.
Penn, appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday, defended Chavez during a segment in which he detailed his work with the JP Haitian Relief Organization, which he co-founded.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/09/2010
12:51 ||
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#1
ION SPACEWEATHER/TOPIX > THE MYSTERY OF PHOBOS + PHOBOS MAY BE HOLLOW?
D *** NG IT, AS ANTI-SPACE ROCK/BULLET, PRO-HUMANITY "KEVLAR" SAFE AS JELLO = TOFU = ....@ ETC.
IOW, yet anuther reason why any desired future OWG-NWO must be certain = "perfect" AMAP AS PER 2029/30-2036 COMET APOPHIS ANALYSES + KLAKULATIONS = 2030 GUAM/EARTH-VISIBLE MOON EXPLOSIONS.
A "APOPHIS" PERT(S) CALCULATOR SCREWUP CAN EASILY HAVE TRULY DISASTROUS "GLOBAL" CONSEQUENCES
Read, AMERICA = AMERIKA'S PATRIOT PAC-III'S + "SUPER-AEGIS" GMD-TMD WON'T BE ENUFF AGZ ANGRY MOON BABE-GODDESS DIANA.
#2
FREEREPUBLIC > BRRRRRRRR ANTARCTICA IS COOLING AND SEA ICE IS INCREASING.
On a NOT-NECESSARILY-UNRELATED NOTE, OLD DREAM/VISION [again] > LONDON-STYLE "ICE/ICY FOG" surrounding Guam's Apra Harbor, Agana, etc. including vessels. Sub-includes future now present Shipyard Floating Drydock.
* NEWS KERALA > SQUIRRELS LOVE/GO NUTZ OVER COCONUTS.
D *** NG IT, TODAY SQUIRRELS, TOMORROW LONDON + MOSCOW [OWG-NWO Paula "Love-Me-Becuz-I-Kick-Mangos" Abdul notwithstanding]!
#1
So-called RISING EURABIA, LONDINISTAN, etc. = IN TIME, IRELAND STAND ALONE agz ADOLF/JOZEF AHMED, ala 1940 BATTLE OF BRITAIN REDUX.
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, iff MAHA-RUSHIAN
"HISTOIRE'" is any measure, after the BATTLE OF BRITAIN comes OPERATION BARBAROSSA [invasion of Russia], ETC. + of course PEARL HARBOR???
#2
Unfortunately for the future 1940 = 2040? BATTLE OF IRELAND, the GREAT DEPRESSION for the USA was BEFORE PEARL HARBOR, NOT AFTER, + America was NOT OWG-NWO Amerika???
IRISH police arrested seven Muslims suspected of conspiracy to murder over a reported plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, they said.
The four men and three women were arrested in the southern Irish towns of Cork and Waterford following an international operation.
A police source confirmed press reports that they were Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has a $100,000 bounty on his head from an Al Qaeda-linked group.
"The operation ... is part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit a serious offense (namely, conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction)," said a statement from Ireland's national police service.
It added that the operation involved law enforcement agencies in the United States and a number of European countries.
The seven arrested range in age from mid 20s to late 40s, police said.
Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a cartoon on August 18, 2007 depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of expression and religion.
The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the western town of Oerebro, where the newspaper is based, and death threats for Vilks.
An Al-Qaeda front organisation offered $150,000 to anyone who slit his throat or $100,000 for his murder by other means, while they also offered $50,000 to kill newspaper editor in chief Ulf Johansson.
A series of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in Denmark's biggest daily led to riots in several Muslim countries in early 2006.
A strict interpretation of Islam forbids the depiction of Mohammed in any form.
A Democratic aide says a new provision in the health care bill will require businesses to count part-time workers when calculating penalties for failing to provide coverage.
The bill originally passed by the Senate only penalized businesses for full-time workers who weren't covered. The Senate bill is being used as the basis for a final package President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass in the next few weeks.
The inclusion of part-time workers is part of a package of final changes that is nearing completion, according to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it's not been made public.
Democrats feared that businesses would avoid penalties by hiring more part-time workers. But business groups oppose the change as overly burdensome.
People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid. Much of the stupidity we see today is induced by our educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities. In a high-tech age that has seen the creation of artificial intelligence by computers, we are also seeing the creation of artificial stupidity by people who call themselves educators.
Educational institutions created to pass on to the next generation the knowledge, experience and culture of the generations that went before them have instead been turned into indoctrination centers to promote whatever notions, fashions or ideologies happen to be in vogue among today's intelligentsia.
Many conservatives have protested against the specifics of the things with which students are being indoctrinated. But that is not where the most lasting harm is done. Many, if not most, of the leading conservatives of our times were on the left in their youth. These have included Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan and the whole neoconservative movement.
The experiences of life can help people outgrow whatever they were indoctrinated with. What may persist, however, is the lazy habit of hearing one side of an issue and being galvanized into action without hearing the other side— and, more fundamentally, not having developed any mental skills that would enable you to systematically test one set of beliefs against another.
#1
Ironically, "Artificial Stupidity", under that name, is regarded as one of the most difficult and advanced studies within Artificial Intelligence.
AI maxed out early in its capabilities, so its top experts created AS to get around AI's limitations. AS is needed to figure out and correct mistakes, intentionally making mistakes so that they can be identified.
#2
People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid.
Statistically speaking, somebody somewhere was too born stupid. Except in the town where A Prairie Home Companion is set, where all the children are above average.
Washington, D.C.--President Obama assured the American people that it was "no big deal" that passage of a radical and deeply unpopular health care bill that would forever limit patients' medical options could result from an ethics charge involving a drunk comment at a wedding reception brought against a Democrat of ambiguous sexual orientation who verbally sparred with the White House Chief of Staff -- whom he called "son of the devil's spawn" -- when they were both nude in the Congressional gym.
A calm and relaxed Obama told gathered reporters "It's all part of the normal legislative process," adding that "Some of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress resulted from alcohol-induced references to gay sex and naked shower roughhousing."...
Posted by: Mike ||
03/09/2010
08:51 ||
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#1
I've been trying to erase these images from my mind ever since they got planted yesterday.
Terrorism and the Middle East are continuing to roil the Republican Senate contest after a letter written by former congressman Tom Campbell emerged that appeared to contradict statements Campbell and his aides had made about his dealings with a radical Muslim professor.
The professor, Sami Al-Arian, contributed to Campbell's unsuccessful campaign in 2000 for the U.S. Senate. On Sept. 26, 2001, when he was teaching at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian gave an interview to Fox TV host Bill O'Reilly in which he conceded that he had said, "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Revolution. Revolution until victory. Rolling to Jerusalem."
Those statements quickly generated a furor and the university moved to discipline Al-Arian. Campbell, by then a law professor at Stanford University, wrote a letter to Judy Genshaft, the president of the University of South Florida, protesting any punishment.
Campbell had previously conceded that he wrote a letter on Al-Arian's behalf, but had said during a candidates' debate Friday that he did so before Al-Arian's interview with O'Reilly. His campaign's website also said the letter was written before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The text of the letter showed otherwise. Dated Jan. 21, 2002, it said, " . . . I respectfully wish to convey my sincere alarm that Professor Al-Arian may be treated harshly because of the substance of his views."
Campbell went on to write that "I have formed this fear because of the paucity of evidence supporting the purported reasons for this discipline against him. I read a transcript of the 'O'Reilly Factor' interview last autumn, and I did not see anything whereby Professor Al-Arian attempted to claim he was representing the views of the University of South Florida."
Carly Fiorina, one of Campbell's opponents in the primary race, called on him to release the letter last week. The text of the letter was first disclosed by the website of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Campbell's aides, who had said the candidate no longer had a copy of the original letter, then posted a link to it on the campaign website.
On Monday, Campbell said in an interview that despite the language of his letter, he had never read the full transcript of the O'Reilly interview, specifically the "Death to Israel" language. If he had seen it, he said, he never would have written the letter.
#4
Nothing like being on the wrong side of things. Burnt toast!
Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison, given credit for time served, and ordered deported following his prison term. He was to serve the balance of 19 months. In March 2008, the United States Department of Justice subpoenaed Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury. He refused to testify, and prosecutors charged him with criminal contempt in June 2008. On September 2, 2008, Al-Arian was released from detention on bond. He remains under house arrest, as he awaits a trial on contempt charges
#10
Yeah, I don't have a vote in it, being happy up here in Pennsyltucky, but from this vantage DeVore looks like the only respectable option. Campbell has some bizarre skeletons in his closet, and Fiorina left a trail of wreckage behind her in private life and seems to be a two-faced clown in political life.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/09/2010 16:39
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#11
". But I just can't vote for Carly. I can't. Sorry."
So you will vote for DeVore and get Boxer re-elected? That makes a lot of sense ... for a Democrat!
So are you saying that Boxer is better than Carly?
Because that is actually what you are saying. You can't vote for Carly which means you will in effect be voting for Boxer.
#12
This is why Caliphornia is in the shape it is and why it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. DeVore is clearly the guy you want and just as clearly doesn't have a chance. So you've got Carly, Professor Tom or Babs. Helluva choice. The only real difference is who they vote for for Senate Majority leader.
And it's not like it's a lot better elsewhere. Spector is leading Toomey in PA right now. And I'll really rile things up by saying that Bambi will easily be a two termer if health care is defeated. So things aren't really going to change until the war starts and looks to be as lost as in January 1942.
A man U.S. prosecutors say received bombmaking training in Somalia from the Islamist militant group Al Shabaab has been brought to New York to face charges, the U.S. Attorney's office said on Monday.
Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, who was arrested in Nigeria and brought to New York on Saturday, appeared in U.S. Magistrate Court wearing a blue prison suit. His lawyer said he would enter a plea of not guilty when he is arraigned on Tuesday. He is charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support to Al Shabaab, which the U.S. State Department lists as a foreign terrorist organization, and receiving and conspiring to receive military-type training from Al Shabaab. Prosecutors believe Ahmed is an Eritrean citizen who has been living in Sweden.
According to the indictment unsealed on Monday, Ahmed received Al Shabaab "jihad training" in the vicinity of Kismayo and Barawa, Somalia, in April 2009, and provided the group with $3,000. Ahmed faces a maximum sentence of 45 years if convicted.
#1
Interesting that Mr. Ahmed was picked up in Nigeria, rather than staying in Somalia for his stint as a jihad tourist. After all, he'd paid $3000 for the opportunity. Where was he going, I wonder, and for what purpose?
#2
ION TOPIX > SOMALIA > REPORTS- MASTERMIND OF 1996 US EMABSSY [Ahmed al-Fazul]BOMBINGS BELIEVED TO BE TAKING OVER AL-SHABAAB REINS; + AL-SHABAAB VOWS THEY WILL DEFEND AGZ ANY ATTACK FROM THE US + TFG.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA ARMS TO AFRICA - UNUSUAL ONLY BECAUSE ITS [SSSSSSHHHHHH, technically statutorily] ILLEGAL; + AFRICA: RUSSIA OUTPACED BY CHINA ON THE CONTINENT.
INDONESIAN police believe they have shot dead Dulmatin, one of the region's most wanted terrorists and one of the architects of the 2002 bombings, who is believed to have behind a new terror cell training in Aceh.
Police say they are waiting on DNA results but believe a man shot dead in a South Jakarta shop today was Dulmatin, also known as "Genius", for whom the US Government has offered a $10 milion US reward and who was one of the dangerous masterminds of the nightclub bombings in Bali.
Dulmatin is believed to have been in hiding in the Southern Phillippines since the 2002 bombings and his re-emergence in Indonesia, running a new terrorist cell, is a massive development in the country's fight against militants and terrorism.
Police operations over the past two weeks have arrested 19 people involved in the Aceh cell and uncovered weapons, training manuals and videos of the 2002 Bali bombings in which 200 innocent people were killed. Two others and three police officers have been killed in the operation.
Police have confirmed the group was training for terrorism but have not revealed the group's intended target.
Initially analysts claimed the group was more likely to have been GAM, a separatist movement in Aceh and not related to terrorism but that view has since changed.
Dulmatin has been one of South East Asia's most wanted men since the 2002 bombings in which he played a major role, helping to assemble the bombs and setting one of with a mobile phone.
A protege of Jeemah Islamiyah's master bombmaker Dr Azahari Husin, Dulmatin also trained in Afghanistan. Dr Azahari was shot dead during a police operation in 2005.
The man killed today was shot dead in a Multiplus shop in south Jakarta. Multiplus is a shop which offers printing, emailing, mailing services. Witnessses said the man, with a long beard, had been inside the shop for about 10-15 minutes, using a computer, when it was raided by heavily-armed Detachment 88 officers.
Gunfire followed, some witnesses said five to seven shots fired. Witnesses said before the raid the man had gone to the second floor, to computer number nine, and had sat down to use it.
Then 30 minutes later police emerged with a body bag.
If indeed it is Dulmatin who has been killed, it is a significant coup for Indonesia's anti-terror police who have been hunting him for years. And it takes out of play one of the most dangerous terrorist masterminds still on the run and capable of planning massive attacks.
It comes shortly before US President Barack Obama is due to visit Indonesia on a two-day visit with his family.
#1
Powerful speech, good presentation, appreciate the poster for bring this forward.
Let us do the right thing. No Obamacare.
Posted by: Bill Omomong2682 ||
03/09/2010 6:55
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#2
Just sent the clip to Sen. Boxer asking her to reflect on her socialized medicine position. Not expecting her to do so but what else can one do (In the short run) in CA where one's conservative vote is negated by ACORN or an illegal? In the long run, vote with your feet.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
03/09/2010 8:42
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#3
Best thing I've listened to today. Makes me wanna fight.....
#4
Judge Napolitano is a straight up guy--a strong constitutionalist. I drafted a letter to my Congressmen including this short video. My Congressmen are fairly reasonable; Congressman John Duncan, Senator Corker, and Senator Alexander.
The guy is pretty cool and objective about it. He couldn't find much wrong with the whole procedure other than the possibility of him having a heart attack.
I've heard of a case where a Navy Seal took it until they gave up after something like 20 minutes!
#2
This confirms what I've said for years...how can it be torture if afterwords all you need is a Kleenex and comb?
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
03/09/2010 8:52
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#3
I've had my eyes clamped open and flushed for 15 minutes in an emergency room. After the first 15 or 20 seconds I could stand it. Probably not quite the same but close. I was on a gurney at the time in the prone position.
[Dawn] Unknown assailants opened fire at an imambargah in Quetta on Monday injuring one FC official who was later shifted to a hospital.
Earlier, police foiled an attack on the same imambargah which also killed the attacker.
According to police officials, the attacker was killed after he fired three bullets at the time of prayers at the Imambargah Punjabia situated on Quetta's Qambrani road.
The attacker intended to targeted the imam but missed. The security guard retaliated, killing the attacker.
The attacker's body was then shifted for further interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
00:00 ||
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#1
As I recall, being the imam for a popular imambargah (mosque?) can be quite a lucrative situation, and so the jostling for position would naturally be fierce. Possibly what's going on here?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's most celebrated living poetess Simin Behbahani faced a travel ban on Monday after being prevented from leaving for France for International Women's Day ceremonies, an opposition website said.
Behbahani, 82, is also a feminist advocating better rights for Iranian women who face several inequalities under the Sharia-based law in place in the Islamic republic since its 1979 revolution.
Officials confiscated Behbahani's passport at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport Monday morning as she was set to leave and told her to follow up the matter through the revolutionary court, Keleme.com said.
"Paris municipality had invited me for March 8 and I had prepared a text about feminism and a poem about women which I was going to read at the ceremony and return on Wednesday," Behbahani was quoted as saying.
"After I crossed customs and my passport was stamped, two officials called me, took my passport away, kept me till 5 a.m. (0130 GMT) and asked questions," she said.
The octogenarian poet is close to Iran's Nobel peace prize winner and human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi -- both condemning the Islamic republic's treatment of women as discriminatory.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
GRACEFULLY SHE APPROACHED
Gracefully she approached,
in a dress of bright blue silk;
With an olive branch in her hand,
and many tales of sorrows in her eyes.
Running to her, I greeted her,
and took her hand in mine:
Pulses could still be felt in her veins;
warm was still her body with life.
"But you are dead, mother", I said;
"Oh, many years ago you died!"
Neither of embalmment she smelled,
Nor in a shroud was she wrapped.
I gave a glance at the olive branch;
she held it out to me,
And said with a smile,
"It is the sign of peace; take it."
I took it from her and said,
"Yes, it is the sign of...", when
My voice and peace were broken
by the violent arrival of a horseman.
He carried a dagger under his tunic
with which he shaped the olive branch
Into a rod and looking at it
he said to himself:
"Not too bad a cane
for punishing the sinners!"
#5
Presumably that's a translation. Translating poetry is exceedingly hard to do well, as anyone who had to read one of the many bad translations of the Iliad or anything by Aeschylus can attest -- doubly good find, g(r)omgoru. :-)
And good point TW: I am still trying to dig up an old english book of mine in which the translator of a Moliere play was able to translate it and keep the rhyming couplet style. I read the play in French, and was astounded at how good the translation was.
Poets and Musicians should share a primordial dislike of Islam: A poetess was murdered on orders from Mohammed because her poems and songs were more effective at pointing out his flaws and dangerousness than anything the men said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A car bomb blast in Lahore has destroyed the offices of a Pakistani state spy agency, killing 15 people and injuring 83 others, security officials say.
In the incident, a two-storey building used by the Special Investigation Agency (SIA), a police anti-terrorism unit in Punjab province, was destroyed by a bomber using a car laden with up to 600 kilograms of explosives.
Later, pro-Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the latest bloody attack in an upmarket area of the capital of Punjab.
Javed Akram, the head of Jinnah Hospital, said eight intelligence officials were among the dead. A woman who was taking her daughter to school was also killed. The girl is in critical condition.
The bombing severely damaged a neighboring Muslim seminary and several other buildings and vehicles around the blast site, creating a panic in the area.
Rescue workers and volunteers digging with their bare hands pulled injured employees and bodies out from under the rubble of the collapsed building, which was used to interrogate suspected militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
ION INDJUH, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > MAOISTS THREAT TO ATTACK CITIES [ + forcibly create approxi 50 new Indian States] SHAKES NEW DELHI | TALK OR WE'LL ATTACK CITIES: KISHANJI WARNS CENTRE.
#2
CHINA NETTERS > to defeat the USA = USNavy ala TAIWAN, China must defeat same OTH outside of the specific Taiwan Theater of Conflict/Battle, e.g. GUAM = WESTPAC, + HAWAII = EASTPAC + US WEST COAST.
DITTO FOR RADICAL ISLAM vee US = US-ALLIES IN AFPAK + PERIPHERALS.
Thus we see escalating Radic Islamist or Pro-Islamist/Muslim ALL OVER NON-AFPAK ASIA + NOW AFRICA. BATTLE FOR AFPAK = BATTLE FOR ISLMAIST ASIA = BATTLE FOR [Islamist] AFRICA], ETC. TO COME.
North Korea has put its forces on full combat alert against the backdrop of the US and South Korea's launch of a joint military drill.
"The units of the three services of the KPA (Korean People's Army) should keep themselves fully ready to go into action in order to blow up the citadel of aggressors once the order is issued," the North's KCNA news agency quoted its military command as saying on Monday.
Earlier in the day, some 18,000 American soldiers and 20,000 South Korean troops started their annual joint military exercises called Key Resolve/Foal Eagle.
While the US and South Korean officials say the military drills -- which include live-firing by US Marines, aerial attack drills and counter-infiltration exercises -- are aimed at testing the defense readiness of the two countries, North Korean officials criticize the exercise as a nuclear war maneuver.
Pyongyang has also called the drill a blow to nuclear talks spearheaded by the US. The talks are meant to force the North into rejoining international disarmament talks on halting its atomic weapons program in return for aid.
Last April, the North pulled out of the talks following what it described as provocative statements by the US, the undermining of its national security and failing living up to commitments to the country.
The two Koreas have technically been at war since 1953 as the Korean War ended with a truce and not a peace treaty. The United States has about 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
I wouldn't worry until they start stomping their little feet.
Six months after U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson accused President Barack Obama of lying on national prime-time TV, the South Carolina Republican's re-election bid has broken fundraising records.
Wilson and Rob Miller, his Democratic challenger, likely have raised a total of $6 million. While updated campaign finance reports won't be filed for another month, that total would blow past the S.C. record for a U.S. House race -- and is on track to challenge the richest contests ever in the country.
Both men are trying to deal with the intense attention their rematch -- Wilson defeated Miller by margin of 54 percent to 46 percent in 2008 -- is drawing.
Wilson has traveled more frequently outside South Carolina than he said he would in the aftermath of his Sept. 9 "You lie!" yell at Obama. At the time, Wilson said he would take only three trips outside South Carolina, declining other requests from GOP groups and candidates seeking to cash in on his newfound fame.
Miller has run a stealth campaign, holding few public events and kicking a Columbia TV crew out of a speech to Democrats.
Two weeks after his outburst, Wilson said he would limit his out-of-state trips to Michigan, Missouri and Virginia. "I love traveling the country, but I love traveling the 2nd District more."
Wilson has taken at least eight trips to New York, California, Georgia and beyond, sounding more like a sportsman on a victory lap than a contrite congressman who says Obama accepted his apology and "the incident" is over.
When Wilson campaigned in October in Michigan, trying to help Republican Tim Walberg regain the U.S. House seat that he lost, Walberg campaign's invitation had a photo of Wilson with the caption "Stand for Truth."
Wilson recently acknowledged he has taken more trips beyond South Carolina than he had intended, adding, "I've declined dozens and dozens of other invitations."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
00:00 ||
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#1
What are the nutroots moneymen looking to punish lese majeste or something? You'd think they'd be trying to save powder to protect Democratic seats in this cycle...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/09/2010 17:24
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[Straits Times] MYANMAR'S military government has quietly begun the largest sell-off of state assets in the country's history, including more than 100 government buildings, port facilities and a large stake in the national airline, said diplomats and businessmen here.
The sell-off, analysts said, appears to be part of a political transition as the government introduces elections for the first time in 20 years and a new Constitution under which the military seems likely to perpetuate its rule, though more from behind the scenes.
Diplomats and businessmen said the sales may allow ruling generals to build up campaign coffers for election to the new parliament, where they will hold 25 per cent of seats, or to pay for salary increases for civil servants and other populist measures. It also helps the ruling generals raise cash for their retirement accounts in the more anonymous banks around the world ...
The ruling junta has not announced the actual date for the polls, which it said would be held this year.
Many of the assets are being sold to businessmen allied with the military. But the privatisations could also have the effect of injecting some competition into what is an almost Soviet-style economic system, and some analysts said they may herald a shift in direction.
Reformers in the government, they added, may be hoping to follow a path similar to that of China or Vietnam, where the economies have been liberalised but the ruling party has remained firmly in charge. In charge of both government and the businesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Baluchi Kamal Narui, spokesman for the armed Sunni Jundallah Organization, which opposes the current Iranian regime, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the organization -- which has been engaged in confrontations to restore the rights of the Sunnis and Baluchi minority for years now -- will soon publish confessions made by an Afghan agent who works for the Mossad who was involved in the arrest of Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi.
Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat by phone, Narui stressed that Rigi was arrested at a friend's house in the Afghan City of Kandahar. He dismissed the Iranian version of events, which claims that Rigi was arrested after the plane on which he was traveling to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, to meet with American officials, was forced to land at the airport of Bandar-Abbas City.
The official spokesman for Jundallah recounted the details of Rigi's arrest. He said that the internal security investigations, which the organization has conducted, showed that Rigi was arrested by US forces. He referred to a clear role by Mossad in this case.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
My head hurts. How does he get from American custody to the hands of the Iranians? Why would Mossad be involved, let alone telling tales to a member of Jundallah? Why shouldn't we just dismiss this as another fantastically-decorated room somewhere deep inside the Dream Palaces?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/09/2010 16:49
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"Bankers don't need another vote in the United States Senate," President Obama said as he urged Massachusetts voters to support Attorney General Martha Coakley over Republican Scott Brown. He also railed against "the same fat-cats who are getting rewarded for their failure."
But in Illinois, Democrats have nominated a banker for Obama's old Senate seat. Not only is Alexi Giannoulias's family bank on the verge of failing, but he has a golden parachute made of federal tax refunds:
Alexi Giannoulias, kin could walk away from Broadway Bank Collapse with $15 million
(Crain's) -- The family of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias stands to collect more than $10 million in federal tax refunds even if its Broadway Bank fails, which Mr. Giannoulias said last week is likely.
Obama might have to watch what he says about bankers. And fat cats, for that matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
Mr President, tomorrow night, go have some more kids with your life so you may become a prime example of the sin of the fathers.
Faced with diminishing numbers, a threatening ballot measure and the perpetual challenge of being a small third party in a two-party system, the California Green Party may be fading to chartreuse.
But that won't happen if a hardy core of delegates, who gathered in San Jose over the weekend for a semiannual state meeting, have their way. Still, the Greens couldn't even hold the attention of their own members. By Sunday, the meeting had shrunk by half to 40 people. Even its two candidates for governor, Laura Wells of Oakland and Deacon Alexander of Los Angeles, skipped Sunday's talks on platform and procedures.
Five years ago, there were 158,000 registered Greens, or 0.95 percent of California voters. By January this year, the number had shrunk to 111,000, or 0.66 percent of the electorate.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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"A 17th-century electoral system keeps minor parties minor," Stauffer said.
Under a modern European parliamentary system minority parties would still be minor, but combined in a more popular coalition can have their policies advanced or codified.
That is why the American left is so in love with Euro-socialism
#2
In proportional representation extremists have their own small parties---releasing the steam presure. In winner take all, extremists have no choice but to take over a major party. For example: US democrats & ultra-left. And wait until religious-right takes ofer republican party.
#3
In proportional representation if a party puts a pedophile (or a scammer, like in Israel some years ago, OK he only scammed foreigners) first position he will be elected
In proportional represntation, representatives have to bow in front of party leadership because the leaders decide who will be in "guaranted to be elected" or "guaranteed to not be elcted" position".
In proportional represntation voters have no saying in which parties will govern. It is negoatio between paarty leasderrs totally behind their backs.
In proportaional represntation sme small party represnting 5% of the people holds the keys to governemnt and the larger ones (that is those who represent far more people have to bow in front of it.
In proportional represntation losing votes is no problem as long as you are needed to form goverment (minor party) or you + minor party over 50% (major party).
In proportional representation you don't have democracy but partitocracy.
#4
And lets be honest, small party or big party, that all do not want to give the American voter the choice on the ballot of "None of the Above" for fear of the consequences when NA gets the plurality.
#5
In the US if you have a small party you might still gain influence with those in one of the big two who are always trolling for votes and inclusive with the big tent idea. In most cases if the small party isn't entirely nutty their ideas find their way in without the small party being able to hold a coalition hostage because they demand Ferret-laws be changed and it isn't happening fast enough.
For example the LIbertarian ideas find their way into the Republican party from time to time. if not, we get Tea Parties which force the Republicans to reconsider.
Or another example is the Greens. There ideas have been entirely looted by the Democrats so what do they really have to offer except an impossibly slim chance of winning an election?
I think the US system tends to work well. If third parties were serious and had something unique to offer they'd storm the local and state elections with victories before even considering the national jobs. Instead they hitch their wagon to a big name (Nader, Perot, Ventura) and fade away when the Cult of Personality fades.
#7
another advantage with the American system: voters get an opportunity (through primaries) to oppose their party being hijacked by a minority (Ok sometimes get an Obama). In proportional system you, have zero chancesgto do something aboutyour (big) party dancing to the tune of a small one represnting those 2% votes it needs to get the majority.
Also a problem with the proportional system: regionalisms. You have a party in region who has say 5% off teh regional vote and 1% nationally. But they are still in position to be kingmakers. That means they will get concessions from the would-be governing parties andmore importantly the means to brainwash children (control of scholls) so future generations become more and more radical, until they ask for independency. That is how Spain is imploding.
In a a majority system vote swings give majorities of 100 representatives or more so the national parties don't need to bow in front of the nationalist parties in order to get 10 reprenstatives elected in their region. So the independentists don't get credit for bringing funds to the region and they don't get control of the schol.
#10
another advantage with the American system: voters get an opportunity (through primaries) to oppose their party being hijacked by a minority (Ok sometimes get an Obama). In proportional system you, have zero chancesgto do something aboutyour (big) party dancing to the tune of a small one represnting those 2% votes it needs to get the majority.
I agree with this analysis, but as far as the Democratic party is concerned, I believe Obama represents how a majority of them really feel. They've made good starts at nationalizing finance, _and_ the automobile industry, and they don't even think they're governing if they're not nationalizing a new industry this month. (The current target is health, and the next one after that is energy).
#11
Probably the best PR system around is the multi-member, single vote system. The Irish use this system as do elections to the Australian senate.
You get to vote for the man woman of your choice, and choose between candidates from the same party. Because excess votes are transfered to the person from your party with the next highest number of votes, the overall result accurately reflects total votes cast.
A party has to get around 15% (in Ireland) in a constituency to elect a member, so it is also good for reflecting regional issues.
Pakistani security agents denied on Monday that an American al Qaeda spokesman wanted in the United States for treason had been arrested, saying there had been confusion over the identity of a detained suspect.
Some Pakistani officials had said on Sunday that Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a $1 million US bounty on his head, had been arrested on the outskirts of the city of Karachi.
But a senior government official and two security agents said on Monday the suspected al Qaeda operative picked up in Karachi was not Gadahn.
"Our initial impression was that the guy was Adam Gadahn but that information now looks incorrect," said one security official, who declined to be identified.
The arrested man was believed to be an American who goes by the alias Abu Yahya, the officials said. Gadahn is known to have used a similar alias.
"Probably the name and his origin caused the confusion," the first official said.
He declined to speculate about the identity of the arrested man except to say he was apparently an American al Qaeda operative.
"We don't know yet how big a catch he is," he said.
While ruling out another big offensive soon, Pakistan has arrested several senior members of the Afghan Taliban in recent weeks, including a top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
But Islamabad has only officially confirmed Baradar's arrest.
Gadahn has been involved with al Qaeda's as-Sahab media wing and has appeared in al Qaeda videos wearing robes and a turban and warning the United States that it would face attacks if it did not heed al Qaeda demands.
On Sunday, a video was released on Islamist websites in which Gadahn called for Muslims in the United States to launch attacks to undermine the economy, according to a website that monitors al Qaeda announcements.
The FBI has been seeking to question Gadahn since May 2004, and the U.S. government has offered up to $1 million in reward money for information leading to his arrest.
The 2006 treason charge against him carries a maximum punishment of death.
Separately, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander linked with al Qaeda who the government said last week may have been killed in a Pakistani air raid telephoned a Reuters reporter to say he was alive.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday senior Pakistani Taliban commander Faqir Mohammad may have been among 16 insurgents killed when helicopter gunships attacked a militant hideout in the Mohmand region on Friday.
"I'm fine. It's just propaganda," said the man on the telephone who identified himself as Mohammad. The reporter has spoken to Mohammad before and said he recognised his voice.
"I was in Bajaur, not Mohmand that day. None of our commanders were killed in the attack. We lost some fighters and women," the man purporting to be Mohammad said, referring to another region on the Afghan border.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
NEWS KERALA > AL QAEDA FANATIC [A. Gadahn] OFFERS "GOLDEN OOPORTUNITY" TO LAUNCH TERROR ATTACKS ON US, UK [ + also Israel = "ENEMIES OF ISLAM"].
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [Gates]CIA CHIEF: AL QAEDA CHANGING ITS TACTICS.
* WORLD NEWS > CAPTURED AL QAEDA AMERICAN SPOKEMAN ["Gadahn"]ONCE THREATENED TO ATTACK AUSTRALIA [Post-MADRID, LONDON 2005 Tape].
SAME > [Gates - see above]CIA: INDIA, BRAZIL FACE THREAT FROM AL QAEDA [ + TALIBAN]. Emerging threats.
D *** NGED 1960's = 1980's MTV, OWG PAULA ABDUL + HER "TRIPS TO BRAZIL"! First she's wiping out her Daddy's Banana trees, next is BRASILIA + RIO!
China has gained the use of a pier at North Korea's Rajin Port for 10 years to help development of the bordering region and establish a logistics network there.
Lee Yong-hee, the governor of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China's Jilin province, made the announcement to reporters after the opening of the People's Congress at the Great Hall of People in Beijing on Sunday. He was quoted by the semi-official China News on Monday as saying, "In order for Jilin Province to gain access to the East Sea, a private company in China in 2008 obtained the right to use Pier No. 1 at Rajin Port for 10 years. Infrastructure renovation is currently underway there." It also provides access to the East Sea for Chinese naval units that otherwise have to go around Korea. Not sure how much that helps the Chinese, though it's convenient to the Russian/NK border and Vladivostok.
In an interview with Yonhap News on Monday, Lee said, "We're considering extending the contract by another 10 years afterward."
Jilin abuts the mouth of the Duman (Tumen) River in the southeast but its access to the East Sea is blocked by Russia and North Korea. "We hope that an international route to the East Sea will be opened via Rajin Port," he added.
Lee did not specify which Chinese company obtained the right and which North Korean agency awarded the concession. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Feb. 25 said business investment in the North Korea-China border area is a normal business deal and does not therefore run counter to UN sanctions against the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2010
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#2
See also TOPIX > SOUTH KOREA: NORTH KOREA OPENS PORT TO CHINA, RUSSIA; + NORTH KOREA GIVES CHINA DIRECT TOEHOLD IN SEA OF JAPAN [ first time after 100 years].
* SAME > PENTAGON HACKED BY FAKE EMAILS CLAIMING NORTH KOREAN NUKE ATTACK AGZ JAPAN, + PENTAGON WILL NEED A STEALTHY NEW AIRLIFTER BY END OF THE DECADE [2010-2020].
[Al Arabiya Latest] Germany security forces arrested Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi, the leader of Iranian Kurdish opposition group, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), at his apartment near Cologne, the group confirmed Sunday.
Nooroz news, the satellite channel affiliated to PJAK, said the Iraq-based militant group warned that actions will be taken against Germany and other European countries if Haji Ahmadi is not released, without elaborating on the type of action.
"Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi is a hero in both Kurdistan and Iran and his arrest is a blatant violation of rights" said a PJAK statement aired on Norooz.
"The arrest is not an action against a certain person or a specific trend or group," the statement added. "It rather constitutes a conspiracy against the free will of the people."
According to the statement, Haji Ahmadi has been the leader of PJAK since the group was created in 2004 and neither he nor the group has ever been involved in any "undemocratic activities."
The German police have not so far made any comments regarding the reasons for his arrest.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards, reported that "terrorist gang leader" Abdul Rahman Haji Ahmadi was arrested by German security forces on Friday alongside two other senior members of the group Ramzi Kartel and Zobayr Aydan
According to Fars, Haji Ahmadi was arrested in his residence during a two-hour-long operation, where officers confiscated computers, mobile phones and other communication equipment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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ION AKNEWS [Kurdistan] > FOUR THOUSAND TURKISH SWEDES THREATEN TO SECEDE FROM SDP IFF PARTY SUPPORTS "ARMENNIAN GENOCIDE" [Party-Govt national legislations, etc recogn WW1 genocide].
[Al Arabiya Latest] A powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey on Monday buried villagers as they slept in mud-brick houses, killing at least 57 and injuring dozens more, officials said. The quake, which measured 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck at 4:32 am (0232 GMT) at a depth of five kilometres, with an epicentre near the Karakocan town in Elazig province, the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory said.
Rescuers struggled to dig survivors from the rubble after the tremor tore down mud-brick houses in several mountainous villages in the mainly Kurdish area, killing whole families in their sleep.
In nearby villages, locals lit fires to keep warm on the streets after rushing out of their houses in panic before dawn as the quake struck.
A Red Crescent team has reached the quake zone and set up a crisis center, meanwhile rescuers worked to search for survivors still trapped under rubble.
The quake toppled the minarets of three mosques in villages in the area, said Elazig governor Muammer Erol.
"The number of people injured is not clear. Ambulances keep on going back and forth. Rescue work is continuing. Our gendarmerie and civil defense teams are at work," he said.
More than a dozen smaller aftershocks followed the main quake, Kandilli said.
Panicked residents rushed out of their houses onto the streets when the quake hit and many stayed outside fearing aftershocks in the town of Tunceli, some 40 miles (64 km) from the epicenter of the quake.
Turkey is criss-crossed with faultlines and frequently suffers earthquakes. A large earthquake measuring 7.4 killed some 18,000 people in August 1999.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
6.0 is not powerful. It's just that there was so much corruption in the construction industry at the time these buildings were built that they fall down at the slightest nudge. More heads need to roll.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has highlighted the importance of advanced technology for confronting "soft war."
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the Leader's senior military advisor, said that in his opinion the western culture has waged a new war against Iran.
His comments come as Tehran plans to hold a national conference on "soft warfare" later this year.
"We can block the enemy's cultural onslaught by using our own culture. Our enemies have realized that our culture and the Islamic Revolution is ever-expanding, therefore, they have launched an all out cultural war against us" Rahim Safavi said.
He pointed out that the number of Iran's 24-hour satellite television networks should increase to counter the enemy's "soft warfare."
"IRGC can expand the Islamic revolution's culture both inside and outside the country. We can export the Islamic Revolution's culture," Rahim Safavi concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
OTOH TOPIX/PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > IRAN SHUTS DOWN ANOTHER 17 NEWSPAPERS; + NORTH KOREAN ARMY [special section] TIGHTENS CONTROLS OVER [SoKor]POWS, ABDUCTEES, + CELL PHONE OWNERS.
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged robber and an operative of outlawed Gono Bahini were killed in separate 'shootouts' with law enforcers in the capital and Kushtia yesterday.
The robber Monir Hossain was killed in an encounter with the members of Rapid Action Battalion in city's Jatrabari area at about 2:15am, said Rab officials.
Police said Monir was wanted in at least 20 criminal cases in Demra, Jatrabari and Siddhirganj police stations.
According to Rab official, a team of Rab-10 conducted the drive when Monir along with his accomplices was gathering beside local Uddipan School at Sutikhalpar for committing a robbery.
"Sensing presence of the Rab, the robbers opened fire on Rab members prompting them to fire back that triggered a gun-battle. At one stage of gunfight the robbers fled the scene leaving the bullet-hit body of Monir," Rab official said.
Talking to The Daily Star, Banu Begum, wife of Monir, said that Rab officials picked up her husband on Sunday midnight after he came back from Dubai.
In another incident, Monzurul Islam Monju, 32, a regional leader of outlawed Gono Bahini was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and police at Pyiarpur village in Kushtia sadar upazila.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Detective Branch of Kushtia and Islamic University police raided GK (Ganges-Kabadak) canal at the village where Monju and his men were holding a secret meeting at about 4:15am, police said.
Sensing their presence, the gang hurled a cocktail towards them and also fired gunshots, prompting them to retaliate. Monju was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
"Sensing their presence, the gang hurled a cocktail towards them and also fired gunshots, prompting them to retaliate. Monju was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot, police said." what kind of cocktail, a margarita or a sazerac. Maybe a gin and tonic a hurricane. This sounds like a few bar fights I've heard of.
Republicans will run on a platform of repealing President Obama's health care reform bill, the Republicans' Senate campaign chairman said today. NRSC Chairman John Cornyn, R-Tex., said that he prefers both to run against President Obama's health reform bill and to stop it in Congress, but that in the event that it passes Republicans will guarantee it remains the main issue of the 2010 election by promising to repeal it.
"If the bill passes, I think that's surely one of the things they should and will run on," Cornyn said, although he added, "I'd prefer to run against the bill and stop it." Cornyn said that if the bill passes, Democrats will be hard-pressed to change the subject ahead of the November ballot. Recent polls suggest that the bill is unpopular, and a Republican candidate won a Senate seat in Massachusetts two months ago in part by promising to vote against it if elected.
Moreover, the bill's provisions are mostly delayed until 2014 -- except for its tax hikes and cuts to the Medicare Advantage program for senior citizens, which begin almost immediately.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
I promise that if this Obamacare bill passes, I will not vote for any Democrat in any election, for the rest of my life . Period
Posted by: Bill Omomong2682 ||
03/09/2010 7:10
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#2
Or any McShame-type RINOs.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
03/09/2010 8:58
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#3
So far, except for the viet. from LA., the republicans including the rino's have held firm against the takeover bill.
[Dawn] At least 500 people were killed Sunday in communal clashes near Nigeria's central city of Jos, a state governor's advisor told AFP Monday, revising a previous toll of around 100 dead. "We have been able to make 95 arrests but at the same time over 500 people have been killed in this heinous act... by Fulani herdsmen," Dan Manjang said in a telephone interview.
Nigeria's central Plateau State was also quoted on state radio saying 500 people had been massacred in a night raid on three villages on the fringes of Jos.
Witnesses, reporters and local rights activists put the figure at slightly over 200.
Shamaki Gad Peter, head of the League for Human Rights in Jos, told AFP:
"By our latest count there are 202 bodies".
Shehu Sani, another rights activist spoke of 250 people killed.
"So far we understand there are about 200 people dead in the three villages," a resident of Dogo Nahawa, Frank Tatgun said.
He reported no clashes overnight Monday amid tight security after authorities put the area under a red security alert and deployed troop.
The attacks blamed on mainly Muslim nomadic cattle rearers, targeted the local Berom ethnic group, which is predominantly Christian.
An explosion of violence between rival ethic and religious groups in January left 326 dead in Jos, according to police although religious and human rights activists put the overall toll at more than 550.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
The attacks blamed on mainly Muslim nomadic cattle rearers, targeted the local Berom ethnic group, which is predominantly Christian.
#4
VARIOUS NET > Many of these Christian Nigerians, inclduing WOMEN + CHILDREN, were seemingly intentionally chased into ANIMAL TRAPS/NETS where they were then hacked or chopped to death by machetes.
Shade of 1970's PLANET OF THE APES Movies = e.g. "The only Good Human is a DEAD HUMAN" [IIRC movie line]???
#5
TOPIX > ALLAFRICA.com > NIGERIA:JOS MASSACRE- 387 BODIES GIVEN MASS BURIAL; + NIGERIA: PLATEAU STTAE INSISTS 500 KILLED + IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.
The business of politicians is getting re-elected, and business is bad for President Obama and his cronies in congress. Failing domestic policies and two endless wars have White House and Pentagon spin doctors working overtime, especially on Afghanistan and recent "victories" over the Taliban. But the inconvenient truth is that there is no Taliban, and the victories belong to Pakistan.
The real Taliban was a horde of fanatical Pashtun Muslims that swept out of Pakistan to overrun most of Afghanistan by 1994. The fighters had been educated in militant religious schools created in Pakistan for the vast refugee community fleeing the Afghan civil war that began after the Soviet army withdrawal in 1989. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) and Saudi Arabia realized the Sunni Muslim refugees could make a useful proxy force in the feud with Hindu India over Kashmir, and a buffer against Shia Iran. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the ISI reckoned they would prove even more useful in helping Islamabad maintain an influential position in whatever finally arose from the Afghan quagmire of warlords and tribal warfare. So the ISI and the Saudis fed, financed, and armed the Talibs--a "talib" is a religious student--and Mullah Mohammed Omar, a one-eyed veteran of fights with the Soviet army, led them into battle. Capturing the capital they forced Afghans to adopt stoning, amputations, and beheadings in accordance with Sharia law, destroyed functioning government, blew up the priceless Bamiyan statues of Buddha, and invited Osama bin Laden to stay. Things were going well for the Talibs until 9/11.
When the Bush administration determined Al Qaida was behind the terror attack on New York they demanded the Taliban turn over Osama for trial. They were refused. Then an unsung chapter in the history of warfare began. On 7 October 2001, the United States swung into action. The CIA's elite Special Activities Division (SAD) was the first to enter Afghanistan and organized the Northern Alliance for the subsequent arrival of US Army Special Forces. The combined forces of the CIA, Special Forces, and the Northern Alliance overthrew the Taliban without significant loss of American lives, and without the use of a large army or Marine forces. In December, just two months after the SAD arrival, the Taliban abandoned their last stronghold of Kandahar and dispersed. That was the end of the real Taliban.
What emerged after that victory was a gaggle of independent forces, each calling themselves Taliban, that are now fighting a guerrilla war against a huge NATO army. Mohammed Omar and his Quetta Shura try to make life difficult in the southern province of Helmand. In the east there is the Haqqani network, and in the north the Hekmatyar group. Foreign fighters arrive from time to time, Iran makes noises, but the old Taliban is no more. So why are we grinding it out on the ground with over 100,000 troops?
Massive military power is largely ineffectual in guerrilla warfare, and with the exception of US Army Special Forces and the CIA, our generals are not inclined to fight a guerrilla war. They may have studied British success in Malaysia, but what are lots of troops, armor, artillery, airborne, close air support and tons of equipment good for, unless you use it all to justify those all-important requests for more funding. General Petraeus can write another manual, and we can hope "Iraq surge" works in Afghanistan too, but the White House and the Pentagon have yet to learn that a guerrilla war is very hard to win with conventional strategy. Lessons of Vietnam have faded. Even with his huge army the NATO commander, General Stanley McChrystal, warns of "mission failure" unless even more forces are deployed. So why the sudden spate of victories? How did captures of "most wanted Taliban" happen? And what about those successful drone strikes?
The explanation of recent "victories" is simple. After Mullah Baradar and his henchmen set up shop in Karachi, the ISI decided the Quetta Shura was becoming more internal threat than external asset. Hence the ballyhooed arrest of Baradar, supposedly by CIA and ISI operatives. On top of that, Pakistani "Taliban" groups like the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were shooting up Pakistan. The TTP cares nothing about Afghanistan but wants control of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the northwest frontier. When the Pakistani army asserted itself in that mountainous region the TTP took revenge with attacks on settled areas. Finally, the ISI realized Pakistani "Taliban" and Afghan "Taliban" were joining forces. They knew the benign relationship with proxies that were to be used in Afghanistan, when the Americans leave, was ending. Hence intelligence was given to the Americans resulting in victorious captures and drone attacks.
The 2012 elections are fast approaching, so what can President Obama do about his unpopular Afghan war and General McChrystal, who declares his guerrilla warfare mantra to be "protecting the people." The White House solution may be to use Pakistani intelligence, kill a few phony Taliban, and send the troops home, telling voters their mission was accomplished. A different president would be able to remember 2001 and would reactivate the Northern Alliance. They hate Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar, and Haqqani, and they defeated them once before in just 60 days--with help from the CIA and Special Forces.
But Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, would probably go along with the Obama White House plan. He goes along with anything they say anyway.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
There isnÂ’t a Taliban or was there a threat from Saddam/Iraq.
What there is most definitely is a strong Islamic following of Jihad that motivates young male followers to carry out armed conflict against those they consider “the enemy”.
Unfortunately the enemy is everyone that isnÂ’t ultra orthodox Islamic, so also ironically and hypocritically includes most of the Islamic people of this world.
“As long as their enemies are armed and uniformed whether with a gun or a briefcase makes no discerning difference, this is the dress of their enemy and justifies attack under the name of Islamic Jihad”, this is my understanding of the Islamist message, correct me if I’m wrong please.
We have all seen their actions and heard their voice to know we are directly threatened by these small but motivated groups. We are directly threatened within our own countries that have our names and our religions upon them because this ideological belief is being taught in questionable mosques here thanks to backing from certain Islamic states.
The reality is that the anger that exists in these young males bearing European or American passports is going to manifest itself in some cases.
It is best if that manifestation occurs outside of our borders and directed at fit men trained to kill i.e. our armies, than in our streets, transport systems, offices, pubs.
By placing a battle ground outside of our borders directly makes our countries safer.
Posted by: Sir Victor Emmanuel Glomomble IV ||
03/09/2010 3:16
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A different president would be able to remember 2001 and would reactivate the Northern Alliance. They hate Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar, and Haqqani, and they defeated them once before in just 60 days
Someone gets it.
Although, you could argue the Northern Alliance has already been reactivated. It's now called the Afghan National Army.
[Ma'an] The Palestinian Detainees Center on Monday called on human rights organizations to intervene for the release of a Palestinian prisoner suffering from cancer.
The center said Kayed Hassan Hiron, from Nablus, was detained on 1 January 2003 and was sentenced to nine years. The Israeli Prison Service in Meggido prison transfered Hiron to Soroko Hospital, where his cancer diagnosis was confirmed and described as serious.
Hiron's family were allowed to visit him in prison, where they told the center they noticed a deterioration in his health and said he required special treatment, which would only be made available to him upon his release.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2010 7:53
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I would think he is probably getting better treatment in a Israeli prison hospital than he can get in a palestinian hospital
Posted by: chris ||
03/09/2010 9:33
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The Lockerbee bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, was released from a Scottish prison based on his terminal prostate cancer. Last I heard he had showed remarkable improvement after release.
[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a car in a northwestern Afghan province, killing at least 10 civilians, the govt said on Monday. Another civilian died in a separate bomb blast in the same region, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The first bomb went off as civilians drove over the device in the Muqur district of Badghis province on Sunday, the statement noted.
"The mine was planted by the enemies of Afghanistan on a public road," the statement said without identifying a specific group.
No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack in the remote Afghan province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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The first American to be charged with treason since World War II was back in the news Sunday, both for a new videotape he released and for reports of his capture that turned out to be false. In the videotape, al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn, an American convert to Islam, praised the Fort Hood jihad murderer and called upon Muslims to carry out jihad attacks in the United States. The reports that Gadahn had been captured caused widespread excitement until the arrestee turned out to be a different American convert to Islam, Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al-Adam, who like Gadahn is an al-Qaeda leader. The videotape and the arrest of the other American-born Muslim demonstrate yet again the cognitive dissonance that prevails at the highest levels regarding the nature of the jihad threat.
In the videotape, Gadahn called Nidal Hasan, who murdered thirteen people in the name of jihad and Islam at Fort Hood in November 2009, “Brother Nidal' and held him up as “the ideal role-model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes.' And not just military personnel: Gadahn added that “Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role-model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers.'
Posted by: ed ||
03/09/2010
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I'm still trying to figure out what lessons this POS has to teach. That some screwed up kid from California converts to islam and sells out his country? That there are others of his ilk out there?
[Iran Press TV Latest] Brazil has subjected a number of US goods to higher tariffs to retaliate against Washington's move to unlawfully pay subsidies to the US cotton producers. And after we gave them money to drill their off-shore region for oil. That's gratitude for you ...
The World Trade Organization has authorized the South American country to impose levies as high as 14 and 100 percent on US imported goods. The higher tariffs on US products including cosmetics, home and kitchen appliances, cars and boats would worth USD 591 million annually, AFP reported.
Brazil may apply another USD 238 million penalty in sectors like intellectual property and services.
According the US Embassy in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, the US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will visit the South American nation on Tuesday in a bid to settle disagreements.
"There is time for us to resolve this in a peaceful and productive way without any further action," the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to Brazil last week.
Earlier this month, Brazil set a 30-day deadline for Washington to reach a mutual deal to avoid higher levies.
"We want a comprehensive solution to this issue; so far we have not received a concrete response," said Carlos Marcio Cozendey, head of the economics division at the Brazilian foreign affairs ministry.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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..Washington's move to unlawfully pay subsidies to the US cotton producers.
Yep. Whether its Washington, Paris, Brussels, or Tokyo, we all subsidize and protect our farmers. Well, the Agribusiness interests. Farming Congresscritters is very profitable.
#4
Send the million plus Brazilians home. There's enough unemployed in the US.
Posted by: ed ||
03/09/2010 18:20
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BTW, the real reason:
US-Brazil trade balance
2005: -9.0B
2006: -$7.5B
2007: -$1.7B
2008: +$1.8B
2009: +$6.1B
The trade balance was pulling into US favor.
Posted by: ed ||
03/09/2010 18:29
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The 2 Billion we gave Petrobras was for George Soros.He had increased his position to 49% before the loan. Stock went up,he sold to get his cash back, and still has a 22% holding.
[Al Arabiya Latest] International police agency Interpol on Monday issued arrest notices for 16 further suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing of a Hamas leader there.
The announcement brought to 27 the total number of suspects on Interpol's wanted list for the murder of Mahmud al-Mabhouh in a luxury hotel room in January, which Dubai police suspect was ordered by the Israeli secret service.
The announcement brought to 27 the total number of suspects on Interpol's wanted list for the murder of Mahmud al-Mabhouh
"Investigative information provided by the authorities in Dubai bore out the international links and broad scope of the number of people involved, as well as the role of two 'teams' of individuals identified by the Dubai police as being linked to al-Mabhouh's murder," Interpol said in a statement.
It said the 16 new names make up the second of these "teams", in addition to 11 for whom Interpol issued arrest alerts, known as Red Notices, on February 18.
"According to the Dubai police investigation, the first team consisted of a smaller core group alleged to have carried out the killing," it said, referring to the 11 named last month.
The second team of 16 "is believed to have aided and abetted the first team by closely watching, following and reporting Mabhouh's movements from the moment he landed at Dubai airport until his murder" on Jan. 19, it said.
Interpol's latest list includes the names of at least six Britons and three Australians, along with several whose nationalities were not given
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
Like they said here on the Berg, "Everyone is looking at everyone sideways now."
The hospitalized terror suspect who shot policemen in northern Yemen killing one of them on Sunday was a German citizen of Somali origin, the September website reported on Monday.
The state-run website quoted a source at al-Jomhori Hospital in the capital, Sana'a, as saying that suspect wanted to escape from the hospital but the attempt was thwarted.
One policeman was killed and another was injured when the suspect, identified as Sherif Mobily, took the gun of one of the policemen who were guarding him after he was rushed to hospital almost a week ago and started firing on the policemen.
The incident took place when the victim helped Mobily to go to the bath.
Mobily then escaped to another room in the hospital but guards caught him.
Reports noted Sunday he was arrested during a terror raid last week in which about 11 Al-Qaeda suspects were arrested in Sana'a.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has charged that the United States and Britain are engaged in spreading terrorism in the region.
"The United States and Britain and their forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan are encouraging acts of terror in the region," Mottaki said in an address to a regional conference in Tehran.
"Foreign (military) bases in our region have not been set up for stability and security purposes and military cooperation but are aimed at interfering in internal affairs of regional countries," he added.
He warned regional countries to exercise vigilance making sure that "deals with foreign forces will not threaten regional security."
The Iranian minister urged US officials to define the meaning of terrorism, saying, "They should speak about their links with terrorists, violation of rights in the name of human rights and their reason for keeping silent about the killing of human beings."
Referring to the recent capture of the terrorist leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Iranian intelligence forces, Mottaki questioned reasons behind the presence of the terrorist leader in the US military base in Afghanistan.
On February 23, the leader of the Jundallah terrorist group was on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Kyrgyzstan when he was tracked down by Iranian security forces.
Rigi and one of his deputies were captured after Iranian security forces forced their plane to land at an airport in the Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas.
Iranian security forces said he was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture.
In his confessions, Rigi revealed details about his ties with some intelligence agencies such as the CIA and said that he had closely cooperated with the security services of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mottaki addressed arrogant powers, saying, "They are fomenting terrorism in the region while chanting anti-terrorism slogans. The Islamic Republic has long ago given warning against this danger."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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US President Barack Obama and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou are to hold talks overnight on economic issues amid concerns that speculators are undermining Greece's efforts to overcome a severe debt crisis. Everyone else is getting a handout from Washington, why should the Greeks be left out?
Mr Papandreou arrived in Washington after visits to France and Germany as part of efforts to drum up international backing for his debt-crippled nation, which has adopted new austerity measures to pull out of its crisis.
In his first public address on arrival, Mr Papandreou called on the US to crack down on speculators, apparently referring to reports that some US funds have placed big bearish bets against the euro, the sole currency of 16 European Union member states, including Greece.
"Unprincipled speculators are making billions every day by betting on a Greek default,'' he said. I think he means you, Mr. Soros ...
The single European unit has come under market pressure since it was disclosed that Greece's public debts have mushroomed to €300 billion ($450 billion), well above its annual economic output.
Mr Papandreou warned that the repercussions of any coordinated speculative attacks on the euro would also be detrimental to the US.
"That is why Europe and America must say 'enough is enough' to those speculators who only place value on immediate returns, with utter disregard for the consequences on the larger economic system -- not to mention the human consequences of lost jobs, foreclosed homes, and decimated pensions,'' he said. A little hard to complain when your country has spent decades living beyond its means ...
The White House said that "economic issues will be an important part of the discussion'' between Mr Obama and Mr Papandreou and that they were expected "to discuss their shared commitment to financial reform and economic recovery,'' among other topics.
Mr Papandreou is unlikely to ask for financial aid from the US although his hard-pressed Socialist government, which faces a mounting barrage of strikes over its austerity cuts, has suggested it could appeal to the International Monetary Fund for help if rebuffed by the European Union. The IMF being paid for by Uncle Sugar ...
"Neither the prime minister nor Greece has asked the United States for anything,'' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after talks with the Greek leader.
She said Mr Papandreou wanted the US to lobby for financial reforms in the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations.
"What I think Greece is looking for, as the Prime Minister alluded to, is that the United States, working in the G20, will make some of the changes in regulatory regimes governing some of these financial instruments that have been used to the detriment not only of Greece, but of other countries, including our own,'' Ms Clinton said.
She cited as an example credit default swaps or CDS, which function like an insurance contract for bonds. US and European regulators are scrutinizing such contracts in the wake of the Greek debt crisis amid concerns that excessive speculation could have exacerbated the country's fiscal woes.
Ms Clinton said the US wanted to work with other nations to reform the "unregulated financial market that globally moves money at the speed of sound, if not light, and leaves in its wake all kinds of consequences that governments have to contend with.''
Whatever he has done or not done, I will miss Eric Massa, for no other reason than his gift with a phrase.
In an amazing, far-ranging interview with a Rochester-area radio station, Massa admits making an off-color, sexual comment to a young staffer -- but still claims Democratic leadership ratted him out to kill a health care "no" vote.
That brought him to the subject of Rahm Emanuel and arm-twisting:
"Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn," Massa said, according to City Hall. "He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive."
Later in the interview, Massa -- who sits down with Glenn Beck for a one-hour interview on Tuesday -- tells a bizarre story about Emanuel accosting him in the House gym -- in the buff:
"Let me tell you a story about Rahm Emanuel," Massa started. "I was a congressman in my first eight weeks, and I was in the congressional gym, and I went down and I worked out and I went into the showers...I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn't going to vote for the president's budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?"
Massa has never enjoyed a particualrly close relationship with Emanuel, who was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when Massa first ran for unsuccessfully, without much DCCC support, in 2006.
Massa's near defeat of incumbent Randy Kuhl that year -- he lost by 6,033 votes -- attracted the attention of Emanuel's successor Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who helped Massa defeat Kuhl in a nail-biting rematch in '08.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Massa's got the quote of the day, and he's certainly taken his revenge on Rahm Emanuel, whom we will now all instinctively picture naked and poking. I mean, back when the movie "Psycho" came out, it was a standard thing to be afraid to take a shower, because we were picturing Anthony Perkins, in his dress, come to jab us with that knife. Now, the image is Rahm, naked, come to poke us with that finger.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/09/2010 8:37
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That is why I wouldn't do well in politics. Some asshole comes up naked and pokes me and yells at me in the shower and it would be the last goddamn thing he ever did.
Fortunately, blood washes off in the shower so it would be a win for me.
#5
An off-color, sexual comment to a young staffer? And yet Bill Clinton gets away with his escapades with Monica Lewinsky? Can you say double standard? Can you say hypocrisy? It kinda makes me wonder what the hell is really happening.
The Department of Defense already has omnipresent eyes in the sky, underwater and, of course, on the ground. It's only when you start going underground that the surveillance powers of the Pentagon begin to wane — at least until now.
Just last month, the Pentagon's risk-taking research arm, DARPA, announced plans for a program called ‘Transparent Earth'. They're spending $4 million this year on preliminary plans for a digital, 3D map that would display “the physical, chemical and dynamic properties of the earth down to 5 kilometer depth.'
A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than it was two years ago and think President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, a new poll finds.
The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin -- 51% to 41% -- Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency. The two polling groups are on the progressive side of the political divide, so you imagine what reality really is like ...
"This is surprising, given the global acclaim and Nobel peace prize that flowed to the new president after he took office," said pollsters for the liberal-leaning organizations. "surprising" and "unexpected" vie for most-used word in the journalists' dictionary this past year ...
On the national security front, a massive gap has emerged, with 50 percent of likely voters saying Republicans would likely do a better job than Democrats, a 14-point swing since May. Thirty-three percent favored Democrats.
"The erosion since May is especially strong among women, and among independents, who now favor Republicans on this question by a 56 to 20 percent margin," the pollsters said in their findings.
A May 2009 survey by the pollsters found the public saw the Democratic and Republican parties as equally able to handle national security (41% trusted Democrats more, and 43% trusted Republicans more.) On conducting the war on terrorism, the two parties were tied at 41%.
The Democrats' gap on national security has widened on several other fronts:
"Keeping America safe": Democrats now trail by 13 points (34 percent to 47 percent.) The gap was just 5 points in July 2008.
"Ensuring a strong military": Democrats trail by 31 points (27% to 58%.)
"Making America safer from nuclear threats": Democrats trail by 11 points (34% to 45%) "despite the president's strong actions and speeches on steps to reduce nuclear dangers," the pollsters said.
The poll, conducted late last month, found "the administration's response to the Christmas Day terrorist attempt has contributed to the erosion."
"While public polling showed that initial approval of Obama's response was above 50%, two months of Republican criticism have taken a toll. Now a narrow 46 to 42% plurality of likely voters say they feel less confident about the administration's handling of national security because of how it responded to the incident," the pollsters said.
In addition, the detention of terrorist suspects and the Obama proposal to prosecute suspects in civil trials in New York City, which was later abandoned, also have taken a toll on the president's approval ratings.
"Whereas a majority of the public approves of the job President Obama is doing in most aspects of national security, a 51 to 44% majority of likely voters disapproves of his efforts on the prosecution and interrogation of terrorism suspects," the pollsters found.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2010
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There is much going on in the world, and most all of it bad.
As if thine enemy could not discern your king from a straw man in a fan dance.
"Stop messing with Texas!" That was the message Gov. Rick Perry bellowed on election night as he celebrated his victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor. In his reference to Texas' anti-littering slogan, Perry was making a point applicable to national as well as Texas politics and addressed to Democratic politicians as well as Republicans.
His point was that the big-government policies of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders are resented and fiercely opposed not just because of their dire fiscal effects but also as an intrusion on voters' independence and ability to make decisions for themselves.
No one would include Perry on a list of serious presidential candidates, including himself, even in the flush of victory. But in his 10 years as governor, the longest in the state's history, Texas has been teaching some lessons to which the rest of the nation should pay heed.
They are lessons that are particularly vivid when you contrast Texas, the nation's second most populous state, with the most populous, California. Both were once Mexican territory, secured for the United States in the 1840s. Both have grown prodigiously over the past half-century. Both have populations that today are about one-third Hispanic.
But they differ vividly in public policy and in their economic progress -- or lack of it -- over the last decade. California has gone in for big government in a big way. Democrats hold big margins in the legislature largely because affluent voters in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area favor their liberal positions on cultural issues.
Those Democratic majorities have obediently done the bidding of public employee unions to the point that state government faces huge budget deficits. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to reduce the power of the Democratic-union combine with referenda was defeated in 2005 when public employee unions poured $100 million -- all originally extracted from taxpayers -- into effective TV ads.
Californians have responded by leaving the state. From 2000 to 2009, the Census Bureau estimates, there has been a domestic outflow of 1,509,000 people from California -- almost as many as the number of immigrants coming in. Population growth has not been above the national average and, for the first time in history, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from the reapportionment following the 2010 census.
Texas is a different story. Texas has low taxes -- and no state income taxes -- and a much smaller government. Its legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, compared with California's year-round legislature. Its fiscal condition is sound. Public employee unions are weak or nonexistent.
But Texas seems to be delivering superior services. Its teachers are paid less than California's. But its test scores -- and with a demographically similar school population -- are higher. California's once fabled freeways are crumbling and crowded. Texas has built gleaming new highways in metro Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.
In the meantime, Texas' economy has been booming. Unemployment rates have been below the national average for more than a decade, as companies small and large generate new jobs.
And Americans have been voting for Texas with their feet. From 2000 to 2009, some 848,000 people moved from other parts of the United States to Texas, about the same number as moved in from abroad. That inflow has continued in 2008-09, in which 143,000 Americans moved into Texas, more than double the number in any other state, at the same time as 98,000 were moving out of California. Texas is on the way to gain four additional House seats and electoral votes in the 2010 reapportionment.
This was not always so. In the two decades after World War II California, with its pleasant weather, was the Golden State, a promised land, for most Americans, while Texas seemed a provincial rural backwater. Many saw postwar California's expansion of universities, freeways and water systems a model for the nation. Few experts praised Texas' low-tax, low-services government.
Now it is California's ruinously expensive and increasingly incompetent government that seems dysfunctional, while Texas' approach has generated more creativity and opportunity. So it's not surprising that Texas voters preferred Perry over an opponent who has spent 16 years in Washington. What's surprising is that Democrats in Washington are still trying to impose policies like those that have ravaged California rather than those that have proved so successful in Texas.
Posted by: Fred ||
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What's surprising is that Democrats in Washington are still trying to impose policies like those that have ravaged California rather than those that have proved so successful in Texas.
Because Donk policies are largely built upon 'belief' rather than practicality. While they demand perfection of all others and demonize those who fall short, they absolve themselves of those same standards and of their failures because they 'cared'. Their indulgences are paid for by others, so why should they be concerned how ruinous they despoil the nest.
[Geo News] Unknown assailants stormed a police station and managed to secure the release of three arrested terrorists from the police custody. Three policemen on duty there were wounded, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), police said. Sources privy to police said that three terrorists, who were under FIA custody, were shifted to Multan a few days ago for further interrogation. The highly dangerous terrorists were kept in the Purana Alpa Police Station, which came under attack by the unknown gunmen today morning. As a result of the gun-battle, three policemen were injured while attackers fled the scene after taking the arrested terrorists with them. Police sources said that they were arrested from Lahore.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was not persuaded by President Obama's just-completed healthcare speech in Pennsylvania.
"President Obama's latest health care sales pitch is, just like all the others were, heavy on snake oil and light on the harsh reality Americans would face under his plan: higher taxes, reduced Medicare benefits, and lost jobs," Boehner said in a statement.
"It's now up to the President's fellow Democrats to choose between siding with their constituents and joining his crusade for a government takeover of health care."
Boehner repeated the GOP call to scrap the current reform legislation and start from scratch.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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Thank you John, for stating the obvious.
I know people out there who want Obamacare, so keep pounding this stuff out until they understand the serious consequences of enacting "Obamacare".
Posted by: Bill Omomong2682 ||
03/09/2010 7:03
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I heard the President say yesterday that "children" could stay on my medical insurance until they are 26.
The question I have is if my wife and I do not keep our children on our insurance, say as a means of controlling cost to ourselves, will we go to jail? Will our children be able to sue us?
Posted by: Kelly ||
03/09/2010 8:01
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No, Kelly. Under Socialism you are merely stewards of property and wealth that belongs to the state. The state will act in your behalf, of what they know is 'right', and make sure your children are covered. The state will just send you a bill for the cost plus administrative overhead and processing costs. /[but just barely] sarc off
#4
Obama is selling less than snake oil. Health care will be a big government takeover and destruction of a very good health care system that is the envy of the world. "Cap and steal" is the selling of will-o-the-wisp, airy-fairy stuff.
Five Wisconsin residents have been charged with criminal counts of voter fraud in the November 2008 general election, state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today.
Two of those charged - Maria Miles, 36, of Milwaukee, and Kevin Clancy, 26, of Racine - worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the embattled community organizing group.
"The complaint alleges that Miles and Clancy submitted multiple voter registration applications for the same individuals, and also were part of a scheme in which they and other (special registration deputies) registered each other to vote multiple times in order to meet voter registration quotas imposed by ACORN," the Van Hollen release says.
Both were charged with one felony count.
Attempts to reach ACORN today were unsuccessful. What name did you try under?
Also charged was a couple - Herbert, 60, and Suzanne Gunka, 54, both of Milwaukee - for allegedly double-voting in November 2008, once absentee and once at the polls.
Michael Henderson, 40, was hit with two felony charges of being a felon who cast a ballot even though he was still on probation. The Milwaukee man was convicted in 2005 in Rock County with two felonies for bail jumping and one disorderly conduct misdemeanor. He was sentenced to five years' probation.
Each felony count for voter fraud carries a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. All five individuals are scheduled to appear in court on April 20.
The charges were brought as part of the Milwaukee Election Fraud Task Force.
Van Hollen's announcement comes the same day that No Quarter disclosed that the Milwaukee County prosecutor for election fraud accused Milwaukee police of sitting on their hands and failing to investigate these cases for the first half of this year.
The prosecutor, Bruce Landgraf, said the Milwaukee Police Department began looking at election fraud cases last year only after Van Hollen's agency " stepped up to start the work MPD should have commenced immediately after your referral."
Landgraf was addressing a city election official.
Posted by: Fred ||
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IT WAS ELIOT NESS and the Untouchables, as played by the Keystone Kops.
More than a dozen armed State Police officers conducted simultaneous raids last week on three popular Philadelphia bars known for their wide beer selections. The cops confiscated hundreds of bottles of expensive ales and lagers, now in State Police custody at an undisclosed location.
The alleged offense: Although the bar owners had bought the beer legally from licensed Pennsylvania distributors and had paid all the necessary taxes, the police claimed that nobody had registered the precise names of the beers with the state Liquor Control Board - a process that requires the brewers or their importers to pay a $75 registration fee for each product they want to sell in Pennsylvania.
Based on a complaint from a competitor someone the State Police refuse to identify, three teams of officers converged last Thursday on the three bars, run by Leigh Maida and her husband, Brendan Hartranft. Checking their inventories against the state's official list of more than 2,800 brands, the cops seized four kegs and 317 bottles, totaling 60.9 gallons of beer, according to police calculations. Wonder who they pissed off?
In fact, according to Maida, more than half the beer removed by the State Police was properly registered - but the cops couldn't find it on their lists because of "clerical errors" or "blatant ineptitude" between the police and the Liquor Control Board, with whom the officers were conferring by telephone. And the coppers are returning the brewskis when?
She estimated the total value of the confiscated stock at $7,200, representing about 20 brands, some of which go by multiple names. Make sure to stop in this weekend to sample their newest brew called Screw The Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Board...
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Millions of faceless bureaucrats can oppress as well as any king.
#3
So let me see if I got this right: Officials paid over a dozen officers salaries for two or three hours of their time and who knows how much administration fees to nab 60 gallons of beer.
#7
"We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!" - Governor William J. Le Petomane
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's gas exports will show a 35-percent rise in the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20) compared with last year, says a senior energy official.
This is while the country's gas imports will show a decrease of 25 percent compared with the previous year, Iran's deputy energy minister said, IRNA reported.
Javad Oji, who is also the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, pointed out that although Iran sits on the world's second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia, the sanctions imposed by UN and the US on Tehran over its peaceful nuclear program have slowed its development as a major exporter.
"Gas import and export volumes have decreased by 25 percent and increased by 35 percent respectively in the current year compared to last year," he added.
Oji pointed out that Iran's gas producing capacity in the current Iranian year was 630 million cubic meters per day.
Iran is currently an exporter of gas to Turkey and Armenia.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > EAST ASIA TO LEADE GLOBAL ECONOMY IN TEN YEARS HENCE [2020-Beyond] TEN ASEAN NATIONS + economies of KORYE [Korea(s)], CATHAY [China], + YAMATO/NIPPON [Japan] to exceed that of 16-NATION EU + USA???
[Ma'an] A man was shocked to death by a loose wire in a tunnel near the As-Salam neighborhood of Rafah on Monday, medics said. Where the hell is OSHA of Gaza on this?
He was identified by medics as 29-year-old Nidal Mahmud Dahliz. Officials at the Abu Yousef An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah said he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The smuggling industry, necessitated by a blockade led by Egypt and Israel, is notoriously dangerous.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday congratulated the Iraqi nation for the high turnout in the parliamentary vote on Sunday, despite threats and "enemy plots."
In a statement, the ministry said the Iraqi people proved that the will of a nation determines its fate.
Iraq's electoral body announced Monday afternoon that 62.4 percent of the eligible 20 million voters had cast their ballot in the elections amid rains of mortar and rocket attacks.
At least 38 people were killed and 110 others were wounded in and around Baghdad on the elections day.
Iran's Foreign Ministry praised the high turnout as an act of great courage that could help improve democracy in Iraq, branding the elections as a turning point in the fight against occupation and dictatorship.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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[Bangla Daily Star] A top Rajshahi University Shibir leader, accused of murdering Chhatra League leader Faruk Hossain, linked key central leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Shibir with the killing upon his arrest and interrogation by Rab.
Arrested Ekram Hossain, president of Amir Ali Hall unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir and a masters' student of Islamic studies department at RU, told a press briefing yesterday that prior to the attack on February 9, RU Shibir unit president Shamsul Alam Golap was in constant contact with the key Jamaat leaders and Shibir central president Rezaul Karim.
The key Jamaat leaders involved include Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, he claimed.
Jamaat refuted his claim.
Mojahid said what Ekram said in Rab custody cannot be credible and it is 100 percent untrue. "We'd never think of doing such activities," he said, adding that such propaganda by Rab will tarnish the force's image.
A team of Rapid Action Battalion intelligence wing arrested Ekram at Kalampur in Dhamrai upazila Sunday raiding the home of a colleague of his elder brother.
Ekram claimed that SM Hall Shibir unit former president Anis' blow with an iron rod killed Faruk.
Ekram said he did not know what Golap and the Jamaat leaders talked about. He claimed that in the wee hours of February 9, Golap ordered the all-out attack on different dormitories of the university following directives of Rezaul Karim.
In the two cases, one for murder and the other under the Explosives Substances Act, filed in connection with the violence, Ekram is accused number-2 and -5.
He said Shibir men that night launched the attack in five groups. He along with Golap led a group of 30 to 35 and assaulted Chhatra League activists in three dormitories.
He said after the attack they brought out a procession on campus and around 3:00am took shelter at the home of local Jamaat leader and RU staff Hamim.
"There I came to know from Shihab, debate secretary of RU Shibir unit, that Chhatra League worker Faruk died after Shibir leader Anis hit him with an iron rod," Ekram said.
He claimed SM Hall Shibir unit former presidents Anis and Faruk, and incumbent Shibir president of the dormitory Ahad, secretary general Bappi, RU Shibir unit debate secretary Shihab, and leaders Sumon Gazi and Raju dumped Faruk Hossain's body in a manhole.
However, Ekram also said around noon of February 8, at least 100 Shibir leaders and activists including Golap and Shibir RU secretary Mobarak held a meeting and decided to attack.
So far Rab and police have arrested 29 Shibir leaders and workers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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American International Group will sell an overseas unit to rival MetLife in a $15.5 billion deal which will help AIG pay back part of a government bailout. MetLife will take over American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) for $6.8 billion in cash and $8.7 billion in MetLife stock, the two firms said in separate statements on Monday.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal would leave AIG owning about 20 percent of MetLife.
The announcement comes a week after the sale of AIG's Asian unit AIA to UK group Prudential in a $35.5 billion deal. Harvey Golub, chairman of the AIG board of directors, said the two deals would generate about $50.7 billion which will be used to repay the government bailout funds.
AIG plans to use $31.5 billion in cash to repay the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which helped bail out the company during the global financial crisis. The insurer was provided a loan of $85 billion in September 2008 which was subsequently raised to some $180 billion.
MetLife chief executive Robert Henrikson said in a statement that the deal will expand the business of America's largest life insurer in Japan, the Middle East, Latin America, and central and Eastern Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
Now all we need is someone to buy the General Motors golf course.
[Bangla Daily Star] A trial court here yesterday framed charges against Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and five others in the case filed for the city's bomb blast hours ahead of a pre-poll rally of Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina on September 26, 2001.
Two young men were killed in the incident when they were making bombs.
Additional District and Sessions Judge-III of Sylhet Md Belayet Ullah yesterday framed charges against the accused persons and fixed April 12 for recording deposition of the prosecution witnesses, said Shamsul Islam, additional public prosecutor of the district.
The accused Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami, Bangladesh Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, Moulana Abu Sayeed, Masud Ahmed Shakil alias Sumon, Sheikh Shahjahan alias Shahjahan and Obaid alias Abu Obaida alias Harun were produced before the court while Dr Arif Ahmed Rifa appeared before it.
Dr Rifa is now on bail while others are in jail, court sources said.
AL Chief Sheikh Hasina addressed her public rally in Sylhet government Alia Madrasa maidan at night on September 26, 2001. The bomb went off at a house in the city's Fazil Chist area, 2 km off the maidan, just hours ahead of the meeting. Accused Arif Ahmed Rifa owns the building.
The blast happened place when bombs were being made for attacking the rally, the investigators said quoting the accused who made confessions during interrogation.
Accused Mufti Abdul Hannan, Moulana Abu Sayeed and Shakil Ahmed alias Sumon gave confessional statement before the magistrates. Injured Shakil was caught while fleeing the scene.
CID's Inspector Pranab Kumar Roy submitted charge sheet against four accused on March 15, 2004.
However, Pranab filed supplementary charge sheet adding names of Huji-B Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and Moulana Abu Sayeed on September 16, 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
A trial court here yesterday framed charges against Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and five others in the case filed for the city's bomb blast hours ahead of a pre-poll rally of Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina on September 26, 2001.
"SEE? Even the Bangla Daily Star sez we wuz framed!!!"
[Bangla Daily Star] A significant headway in the former finance minister SAMS Kibria killing case is likely as law enforcers on Sunday arrested suspected grenade thrower Mizanur Rahman Mithu of banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami.
The other suspected grenade thrower, Badrul Alam Mizan, who is in Habiganj jail, however claims he only "accompanied Mithu, who hurled a grenade at Kibria".
Following Mithu's arrest by Rapid Action Battalion on Sunday midnight in Habiganj, the investigation officer of the case started interrogating him yesterday evening.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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North Korea has launched a massive campaign to persuade people into farming to make up for a shortage, giving them ideological indoctrination and offering large benefits, sources say. Come for the fresh air, the invigorating labor, and the opportunity to give away at gunpoint everything you grow ...
Civic group North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said the party held seminars at party chapters on Feb. 23 promising W10,000 in cash and 120 kg of food for households if they voluntarily move to farms.
The Workers' Party recently distributed copies of a training manual for senior officials on fortifying rural bases. "To increase grain production the most important thing is to make up for a shortage in the rural workforce. This is why blue-collar workers and office workers in urban areas, senior officials in particular, should lead the vanguard in the campaign." The regime is urging the wives of senior officials in the party and security agencies to set an example for others.
The regime is afraid of the possibility of mounting public discontent if it forces people to relocate at a time when they are seething in the wake of a disastrous currency reform. The regime is giving indoctrination classes to senior officials to move to rural areas and urging them to set an example, news media speculated.
But the group said such efforts would not be effective in persuading ordinary North Koreans to move to rural areas because living conditions there are very bad. "It's very likely that the regime will end up forcibly relocating them," it added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2010
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I suppose they have to do something. The military traditionally does much of the planting and harvesting and with the army on "full alert", who is going to prepare the fields for planting?
Recent lifting of all restrictions on farmers markets might help keep kids on the farm if they can make some money but there have been reports of some destroyed stores of grain when prices were fiddled with by the government. If storage space must be rented and the return from the product can not meet the rent, it pays to get rid of the product and shed the rent payment.
#5
like hunger isn't enough of a reason too farm, but I guess when you're starving it's hard too work a farm
Posted by: chris ||
03/09/2010 7:49
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#6
Even when the French ran Haiti as close to a slave labor death camp, they knew that they had to feed their slaves *something*, even if it was just a minimum of rice and some locally caught dried fish. Still, when the slaves revolted, it was not a polite affair.
One can hope that if the Nork people revolt, they will be equally harsh on their masters.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/09/2010 9:51
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Unlike the Khmer Rouge, the North Koreans are in it for the long haul, Frank. Besides, they've got their multigeneration concentration camps should they need additional labour battalions.
#9
gorb, the Ukrainians were the first to discover that being a peasant is no defense against starvation in a Communist state. Totalitarian regimes are really, really good at confiscating foodstocks, hidden or otherwise.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/09/2010 16:42
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#10
My history professor spent about 2 years in a reeducation camp in Hungary in the 1940s.
He told us about the tiny garden plots the Soviets allowed farmers for their own families. These plots provided 95% of the vegetables consumed in the country. The collective farms, of course, failed; why work hard for something you won't be able to profit from?
I suspect that Kim et al haven't even permitted a postage stamp sized veggie garden for anybody.
[Dawn] According to official sources suspected US drone has fired five missiles in Maley Khan Sirai area located near Miranshah bazaar killing at least five people and wounded three.
A security official in Peshawar confirmed the strike saying the missiles hit militants gathered in a compound in Miranshah.
"I was in the mosque when I heard three huge explosions. The electricity was disconnected after the explosions," one resident told AFP by telephone requesting anonymity.
"Two drones fired three missiles in Miranshah bazaar. Two buildings in the centre of the bazaar were hit and destroyed in the attack," he added.
A US drone strike in Miranshah in February killed Mohammed Haqqani, a brother of Al-Qaeda-linked warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose network is fighting against US and local forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The covert US drone war against Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders has focused increasingly on North Waziristan, a bastion of multiple militant groups, since a December 30 suicide attack killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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The new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Yukiya Amano, is stealing the spotlight with his dangerous approach to Iran.
The veteran diplomat, who took control of the UN nuclear agency after the 12-year reign of Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei, inherited one of the most chaotic eras in the agency's history -- including the weak global security system meant to reduce nuclear weapons around the globe, while those non-members conducting nuclear programs -- such as Israel whose nuclear arsenal of 200 to 300 warheads precedes the regime's reputation and its belligerent actions in the volatile Middle East -- continue to refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The IAEA was founded 52 years ago for two primary objectives: to provide a sound basis for the global development of civilian nuclear programs and to prevent the development and spread of nuclear weapons.
The agency, which consists of some 2,200 professional staff members from more than 90 nations, has dispatched teams of inspectors around the globe to monitor and find government that are breaking their commitments to the NPT.
Upon taking the reins at the IAEA in December, Mr. Amano, who comes from the only nation struck with nuclear arms, befittingly pledged to fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to promote and regulate the civilian nuclear industry.
Mr. Amano, however, spared no time to divert the agency's full attention toward Iran and the long lasting dispute over its nuclear energy program, which the world powers allege is a cover for developing and spreading atomic bombs.
His first report on Iran, released on February 18, claimed that the UN agency had "concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities" that could enable the Iranian military to develop a working nuclear bomb.
The agency, Mr. Amano said, will now seek to discuss with Iran projects "involving high precision detonators fired simultaneously; studies on the initiation of high explosives and missile re-entry body engineering; a project for the conversion of UO2 to UF4, known as 'the green salt project'; and various procurement related activities."
Iran, however, says it is not willing to discuss the alleged activities unless it is provided with the original documents that have allowed the agency to link the country's conventional military projects with its civilian nuclear program.
It also reserves the right not to share the information demanded by the IAEA, arguing that any country is entitled to keep its military secrets.
Nonetheless, Mr. Amano, who enjoys the full support of the United States and its allies, ignored the history of the nuclear dispute. And he even went on to contradict an American intelligence estimate in 2007 that claimed Iran had not conducted weapons-related activities beyond 2003.
"Addressing these issues is important for clarifying the agency's concerns about these activities and those described above, which seem to have continued beyond 2004," he said in the report.
In 2003, Iran announced its voluntarily suspension of uranium enrichment, which it is entitled to under the NPT, and reprocessing activities. The next year, the Iranian Parliament, Majlis, extended the confidence building measure while UN inspections at Iran's nuclear installations forced the then IAEA director general, Mr. ElBaradei, to declare in November 2003 that there was "no evidence" Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.
His assurance was ignored by the powers, who responded to Iran's decision to sign the Additional Protocol by the imposition of United Nations Security Council sanctions resolutions.
The accusations continued under Mr. ElBaradei, while the IAEA continued to verify the non-diversion of Iran's civilian program.
Mr. Amano, meanwhile, stepped into the spotlight by claiming that the "alleged studies" -- branded by the ElBaradei administration -- were "factual."
The unusual tone prompted Iran to accuse the Japanese diplomat of bowing to the White House pressure his predecessor had managed to fight for years.
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on February 22 that judging on the report, Mr. Amano -- who worked as director general for the disarmament, nonproliferation and science department at the Japanese Foreign Ministry -- has proven to be an amateur in the new position and must receive on the job training, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
It is noteworthy that the IAEA report was released amid an effortless US campaign to win international support for penalizing Iran for its program and delays surrounding a nuclear fuel swap deal, which, if the West had shown flexibility, could have been a door opener for the struggling Obama administration on Iran.
Whether Mr. Amano wrote the report to lend an apparent hand to the White House and indoctrinate an international consensus against Iran remains to be uncovered but the report's immediate impact was likely to accelerate the confrontation between Iran and the Western countries.
Now, thanks to Mr. Amano, the dispute with no practical resolve in sight will continue to plague the ties between Iran and the United States.
The White House, under Congressional, Israeli and neo-con pressure, is fiercely pursuing a failure on Iran: Sanctions in the hopes of a breakthrough -- not realizing, that even if China and Russia finally support such a measure, sanctions will not alter Iran's course of action.
The Japanese diplomat, meanwhile, needs to be briefed on the history of Iran and understand the beliefs and objectives of the Islamic Republic.
The IAEA chief needs to realize that when the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issues a fatwa -- an Islamic declaration that all Muslims are obliged to comply with -- and forbids the building and spreading weapons of mass destruction, including atomic bombs, he means business.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2010
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#1
ION WND > {John Bolton] DIRE WARNING: ISRAEL MUST STRIKE IRAN NOW. Israel's military option agz Iran declines every day nothing occurs.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > IN NEW "RED DAWN" MOVIE/REMAKE, PLA TARGETS DETROIT.
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.