#1
"The next generation of airborne drones won't just be small and silent," says the multidisciplinary group, "they'll alter their wing shapes using morphing techniques to squeeze through confined spaces, dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses, land on apartment balconies, or sail along the coastline."
They left out "and freak the living hell out of the islamonutz."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 18:43
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#2
"PTERODACTYL" = the LEGENDARY CROC/GATOR-HEAD THUNDERBIRD of INDIAN LORE [Cryptozoology]???
JAPAN is reportedly also working on their own advanced, military-capable UV.
* "Morphing techniques" > IIRC, didn't WIRED NEWS or DEFENCEDAILY report a while back that the USDOD had formally canceled the PROPOSED MORPH/TELESCOPIC-WING STRATEGIC BOMBER for the USAF, in favor the cheaper TRADITIONAL FIXED WING + MORE UV's???
Russia's offensive in Georgia in August exposed the dangers of the Western alliance's lack of contingency plans against an invasion on its eastern flanks.
Political leaders from the Baltics and Eastern Europe have subsequently demanded that Nato fulfil the requirements implied by its "Chapter 5" commitment to defend the territorial integrity of all its members.
General James Craddock, Nato's Supreme Commander, has asked for the political authority to draw up contingency defence plans at a Nato meeting in Budapest later this week.
France and Germany have signalled opposition to the move against their ally but Gen Craddock has the strong backing of American and Britain.
But even US officials acknowledge there is a risk that the move will reveal cause a rift within Nato. "This becomes politicised very quickly," a Pentagon official said.
Gen Craddock has already proposed that Estonia, the Baltic state that has a 20 per cent Russian speaking minority, should be the first country to undergo a formal military risk assessment.
* The Budapest meeting on Thursday and Friday is likely to provide a key indication of the Nato membership appetite to take a robust stance towards Russia.
Relations with the Kremlin have steadily deteriorated as Nato accepted a series of its neighbours as members. Prior to the Russian incursion in Georgia, Nato members had refused to draw up plans to fight the Russian military in Eastern Europe. The majority feared that news of the decision would unnecessarily offend the Kremlin.
The fighting in Georgia, which alongside Ukraine, has been accepted as a future Nato member, raised the stakes for advocates of expansion. A decision on granting a firm membership date to Georgia and Ukraine has been brought forward but deep divisions between Washington and Berlin could yet wreck a December summit.
Pentagon officials said a date would bolster Nato's credibility. "We do want to send a message to the Russians that their actions will not affect our commitment to our colleagues and our allies," said one official.
Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, signalled that Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defence, would lobby for a tougher line during a visit to Europe this week. "It would be a real mistake to view the secretary's trip as a move to inflame relations with Russia," he said. "The purpose is to work with our allies on common goals. But while we are not looking for the opportunity to exacerbate the tensions that have developed, we are also not going to neglect our responsibilities in that part of the world."
Camp Fallujah, Iraq -- There's a poster that I saw featured on a military website here, one that showed a helmeted American G.I. saying this:
"Hey! Mainstream media....Why not try demoralizing the enemy for a change?" Note finger salute to media. Picture not part of story, but symbolic and frequent used in Iraq when media around. This picture was pulled by AP after they fingered it out.
It's an understandable sentiment. It's certainly true that by relentlessly emphasizing the negative, by painting a gloomier picture than what really exists, and by showcasing the small percentage of troops who have had adjustment problems and the even tinier percentage of U.S. troops who have committed crimes, the news media have helped to demoralize many folks back home about this war.
But while news media coverage of the war has sparked some resentment among the troops -- "They don't want to hear the good news," Marine Lance Cpl. Philip McCulloch, 20, of Galveston, Texas, told me -- it hasn't demoralized the Marines and sailors and soldiers I have met here. Almost without exception, their attitude is that they are proud of what they're doing, and proud of what they've accomplished.
"Being here, being a Marine, has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid," Lance Cpl. Eric Chavez, 19, of Huntington Beach, told me at a remote outpost near Haditha. "I don't regret it for a minute."
"I actually like it here," Lance Cpl. Robert Raymond, 20, from Durhamville, N.Y., said as he manned a guard tower at a Marine outpost near Karmah. "It's interesting."
"We've had some hard times," said Lance Cpl. Blake Kemp, 21, of Torrance, as he waited to go out on a mission in Karmah. "But we always make the best of it."
I've heard the same sort of comments again and again.
And it's not just the young ones, the impressionable "kids," who feel that way. Recently I was waiting to catch a ride on a night convoy through Fallujah escorted by members of the 76th Infantry Brigade of the Indiana National Guard -- who I have to say were some of the most irrepressibly cheerful soldiers I've ever met. And I spent some time talking with PFC David Davis, a 30-year-old former musician who had joined the Guard at a relatively late age because he wanted to "do something important."
"I volunteered for this (deployment to Iraq)," Davis said. "You get to a point where you feel like you want to contribute something, and I think we've helped make things better here."
Well, you might think that it's just a case of lower-ranking troops giving a reporter the party line. But on numerous occasions I've stood unnoticed in the background, in the dark, listening to Marines and soldiers talking among themselves by the red glow of cigarettes in the "smoking pit," or as they stood in small groups waiting to push off for a mission "outside the wire."
And yeah, they'll gripe about the heat, or about the dust, or about the showers -- such as they are -- once again running out of water, or whatever.
But I've never heard them whine. I've never heard them sounding sorry for themselves about being in the military or being in Iraq.
I suppose I could find some chronic complainers if I looked hard enough. But they would be the rare exceptions, not the rule.
What people back home have to remember is that every one of these men and women is a volunteer. The younger ones, the privates and the lance corporals who were in junior high school when the war began, all volunteered for military service knowing full well that they most likely would be coming here. And they volunteered anyway.
As I've noted in recent columns, American casualties have dropped precipitously in Iraq; last month 25 U.S. military personnel died in this country, two-thirds of them from "non-hostile" causes such as vehicle and aircraft accidents. That's 25 too many, but far fewer than in years past -- and it means that most of the troops here are being spared the emotional trauma of losing their buddies, their brothers.
Still, Iraq remains a dangerous place, and the Marines and sailors and soldiers and airmen here are still performing a hot, dirty and often exhausting mission. And I'm still as impressed -- and moved -- by their courage and dedication and good spirits as I was when I was first here five years ago, and every time since.
So yes, for whatever reasons, a lot of people back home may be demoralized about this war.
But the vast majority of the troops who are fighting it aren't.
#1
The army is becoming progressively harder to categorize in terms of morale. An army new to the field is "green". After they have fought for a while, they become "experienced". In past, when they have been in the field too long, and they and their equipment need rest and repair or replacement, they are "tired."
But how to describe this army? At this stage of an occupation in the past, they were no longer carrying weapons, and even wearing civilian clothes when off duty. But not now. They are still primed to fight an enemy they have essentially wiped out, or fight their next enemy. Which is a very real possibility.
#3
I have long felt that if the West was all onboard together (either fighting with the US or keeping quiet) the war would have been over fairly quickly. Not just our European 'allies' but our own media and the useful idiots that spread lies about Bush and war for oil and which gave the bad guys the idea that the US would cave any minute if they just killed enough civilians and hung out a little longer.
History will not look kindly on many. The US Military however I think will come through nicely.
#4
Yep, rj. I came to the conclusion that the only reason Hussein refused to back down and kept everyone believing he had WMD was that he was more afraid of Iran than the US alliance - that he figured from all our internal dissension that we were less likely to attack him to get rid of imaginary WMD than the Iranians were if they knew they were imaginary.
Rome, 8 Oct. (AKI) - An American veteran of the first Gulf War in Iraq claims that the United States dropped a five-kilotonne nuclear bomb in 1991 in a deserted area outside the southern city of Basra on the Iranian border.
"They did! I seen it!"
The claim by US war veteran Jim Brown was made during an interview included in a 30-minute current affairs report to be broadcast by Italian state news channel RaiNews24 on Thursday. Brown told the Italian news channel that the bombing took place on the last day of the war in Iraq on 27 February 1991.
"But nobuddy noticed, 'cuz Bush had it hushed up."
Hiroshima was about 20 kT as I recall ...
RaiNews24 claims to have conducted its own inquiry and found that a seismic event took place on that day equal to a five-kilotonne blast. The network cited the online archives of the International Seismological Center, a non-profit UK-based organisation, as confirmation of its research.
The Italian journalist in charge of the inquiry Maurizio Torrealta told Adnkronos International (AKI) that there is no definitive proof of the nuclear blast and that it should not be taken as a fact. Instead he asked the international community to further investigate the claims by Brown. "We are asking journalists and the international community for help, in order to clarify this," said Torrealta.
Riiiight. Make an absurd claim, fail to back it up, and then demand that the 'international community' investigate. We've encountered that modus operandi before ...
"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. International Community and all the ships at sea! This is Intrepid Reporter Geraldo Rivera and I'm standing at the site of the five kiloton bomb that was dropped on an empty patch of land near Basra in 1991. This is a Geiger counter, and this is where Jimmy Hoffa was supposedly buried, according to U.S. war veteran Jim Brown, by minions of Al Capone, and then his corpse nuclear bombed to obliterate the evidence..."
However, in the documentary, which was shown to the media on Wednesday, Torrealta said that one of the possible reasons that the US may have dropped the bomb, was in retribution for the launch of Scud missiles on the US Dhahran military base in Saudi Arabia on 25 February. Twenty-eight American soldiers died in the attack.
The US veteran, Jim Brown was not present during the alleged launch of the bomb and it is not clear how he obtained the information.
Made it up out of whole cloth?
My guess is that he squatted, grunted, and caught it with both hands, if y'know whudda mean.
RaiNews24 said that 45-year-old Brown was originally a fourth-level engineer in the US Army and was demoted to third-level after health problems, following a vaccination against chemical weapons. The injection deteriorated his health and he was eventually discharged from the army with honour.
He is now director of the GulfWatch I.N.S. organisation. Its website claims to have 350 supporters who are or were involved in coalition intelligence during the 1991 Gulf War. "These people have agreed to work together to make sure that as much information about the war as possible is released about the activities prior to, during and after the war that have affected the health of potentially hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and their spouses and children," said a statement on the website.
The documentary included an interview with an Iraqi doctor, Jawad al-Ali, who told RaiNews24 that before the beginning of the first Gulf War in 1989 there were 32 cases of tumours, while in 2002 the number had risen to 600 in the Basra area. Al-Ali also told RaiNews24 that tumours that used to affect older citizens had started to impact younger children. He then showed alleged photos of the tumours in the documentary.
During the RaiNews24 report, Torrealta said that the US State Department had rejected Brown's claims and said only 'conventional' weapons had been used during the first Gulf War.
#1
RaiNews24 said that 45-year-old Brown was originally a fourth-level engineer in the US Army and was demoted to third-level after health problems, following a vaccination against chemical weapons.
Can someone translate that into real ranks in English? I didn't know the Army had "third level" or "fourth level" engineers.
Unless you count the 'chemical weapon' of all the smoke and unburned/partially burned hydrocarbon compounds from all those oil wells - I can certainly believe that sustained exposure to that stuff could cause tumors and other health problems.
#3
I recall an article written by a British serviceman - maybe SAS, but not certain. The article described their witnessing the detonation of a BLU-82 (volkswagen sized FAE) from the Kafj area. When the device went off, the quote was "The blokes have nuked Kuwait".
#4
Nonsense. Nuking a city is not something that just slips under the radar. Their were NGOs and inspection teams all over Iraq during the 90s and someone would have noticed the crater and radiation.
IN a previous age this guy would have been laughed off by even our enemies. It just goes to show how logic and the burden of proof are no longer required for many.
#5
Look for radiation traces, even today. That would clarify this instantly, unless, of course, Saddam had a nuke facility in the area.
That, or he spotted one of our experimental non-radioactive nuclear field tests. Don't tell anyone, but the secret ingredient is powdered water, instead of heavy water.
#6
My son-in-law was with the 24th ID during the first Gulf war, and has some interesting stories, but nothing about nukes. A FAE bomb, or even an old 25,000-pound monster dropped from a C-130, could cause a "5kt seismic event". The other problem is the size of the weapon. Most US weapons are at least 20kt in size, since anything less than that can be accomplished with "clean" conventional weapons - it just takes a few more of them.
The US veteran, Jim Brown was not present during the alleged launch of the bomb and it is not clear how he obtained the information.
It's been 18 years, and this is the first we've heard of this. We're also hearing from someone who's passing along second-hand information. I don't find much credence in this "testimony".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 16:30
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#7
rjschwarz: You are probably spot on. When the Brits, I think also that they were SAS, spotted the detonation at an ammo dump or motor park, they thought it was a nuclear blast. And they said so on the radio.
And the war very quickly came to a screeching halt.
Nobody did anything until it was figured out, because as flash traffic, it has priority over all other radio communications. Everybody else shuts up like hell.
The US military and government had to really jump through the hoops to prove it to everybody at a diplomatic and military level as well. This meant the entire UNSC, NATO, Israel, and just about every other nation with a telephone.
We probably even contacted Saddam to assure him it was NOT a nuke. And probably had the Russians in on the conference call to back us up.
This happened as well during WWII, because Americans referred to gasoline as "gas" in the clear radio transmissions, and the Germans freaked out. This is why to this day the Army calls it MOGAS.
#18
shhhh... Bush (and McCain) drop atomic bombs whenever they feel like it, killing millions, maybe even billions of innocent children. But their minions cover it all up. They probably will start dropping them on Iran any day now.
IRAQ said today it was ready to take over security responsibilities from US security forces in Baghdad as both countries say they are nearing a deal on a contested military pact.
Interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said Iraqi police are capable of handling security duties across the capital, a responsibility now held by US troops. "We have the ability to take over the internal security responsibility in Baghdad if American forces pull out of the city," he said. "The interior ministry is able to take responsibility for protecting Baghdad."
You're welcome to do so whenever you're ready ...
His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Washington and Baghdad are now "very close" to an agreement on the presence of American troops in the country beyond this year. "There have been new ideas and new language that could be acceptable, but no final decision has been made. This needs some bold political decisions now," Mr Zebari said on Tuesday.
Mr Zebari was speaking at a press conference with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte shortly after two bombs went off just outside the Green Zone, leaving at least seven people, including an Iraqi soldier, injured.
In Baghdad commander General Jeffery Hammond, who leads 28,700 US-led foreign troops said the improvement in security in the city of six million was dramatic but dangers remained. "Security has improved, let there be no doubt," said Gen Hammond, noting that Baghdad is now averaging four attacks a day, which according to US statistics was 89 per cent less than in 2006 and 83 per cent lower than in 2007. "We have been successful in creating the conditions for sustainable security for the eventual transfer to Iraq security forces but let there be no doubt that challenges remain."
The interior ministry said there had been an increase in the number of car bombs and roadside blasts in Baghdad since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan but said this did not mean a breakdown of security. "An increase in car bomb attacks and IED (improvised explosive device) attacks, particularly since Ramadan (last month) does not mean that security forces failed."
Mr Khalaf said Iraqi security services lacked explosive detectors to prevent car bombs but otherwise had been effective in reducing the overall level of violence in the country, which is said to be at a four-year low. The ministry "is seeking (financial help from) some provincial councils to import such devices and technologies to cover all areas of Baghdad and other provinces", he said.
The US military has handed over security responsibility in 11 of the 18 provinces in Iraq since June 2006. The process started with the Shiite southern province of Muthanna, which borders Saudi Arabia.
Much of Iraq's improved security has been credited to the recruitment of Sunni tribesmen and former rebels by the US military to fight against al-Qaeda. Some 54,000 are deployed in Baghdad out of a force of 100,000 across the country.
Gen Hammond highlighted the importance of the Iraqi government ensuring that the Sons of Iraq fighters, as the Americans refer to them, are properly integrated into the mainstream security forces in the city. Only 3400 of the fighters have been integrated into the national police force in Baghdad while another 7000 are currently awaiting approval from the interior ministry, he said.
"The Iraqi government has committed to accepting responsibility for the Sons of Iraq. We are going to be there to assist the transfer. I'm confident this is going to go well," he said. "We will not abandon the Sons of Iraq."
#1
That's quite a list. I'm glad they are "saying it loud and saying it proud." It'll make for some great campaign ads in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Florida....
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/08/2008 15:09
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WASHINGTON - Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field.
The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world's population: men.
Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes and for spinal cord injuries.
The testicular cells avoid the ethical dilemma of embryonic stem cells, which are harvested in a process that destroys the embryos. For that reason, some people, including President Bush, oppose their use for ethical or religious reasons. "The advantage these cells have in comparison to embryonic stem cells is that there is no ethical problem with these cells and that they are natural," said study lead author Thomas Skutella, a professor at the Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine in Tuebingen, Germany.
Using testicular cells isn't the only promising method that avoids embryos; there have been impressive experiments in reprogramming ordinary body cells into stem cells by slipping certain genes into them. The new findings and the reprogrammed cells -- which still have technical hurdles -- "take some pressure off the stem cell issue," said White House science adviser Jack Marburger.
Earlier studies showed promise using so-called spermatogonial cells from the testes of mice. The new study used cells taken from biopsied tissue from 22 different men undergoing various medical treatments. The men ranged in age from 17 to 81. Researchers found that after a few weeks of growth, the cells could differentiate into various types of cells just like those taken from embryos.
Other scientists hailed the idea as promising, but not a reason to give up on research on embryonic stem cells.
"It's exciting. We could do it for males; that leaves women without as easy a method," said stem cell scientist George Daley of Children's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He was not part of the new research. Embryonic stem cells "have their own place in biology," Daley said.
Skutella said a female equivalent could be in women's egg cells, but Daley said that's unlikely because of the makeup of those cells.
Using the new findings to treat patients could take years. But Daley said the work on the cells from testes can benefit from a decade's worth of research into embryonic cells and advance at a fast pace. He said the new research showed how similar these testicular cells are to embryonic stem cells; now science needs to see what specific differences exist because those could be important.
Other scientists hailed the idea as promising, but not a reason to give up on research on embryonic stem cells.
#1
Weren't we discussing the subject of female menstrual tissue being an ideal stem cell source, and mourning that men had nothing analogous? How nice that the scientists have answered our plaint so quickly!
#3
Study: Stem cells derived from men's testicles seem to work as well as embryonic stem cells
Wotta surprise. Are you telling me this isn't an obvious line of investigation, and that nobody pursued it until now because they were more interested in winning the political battle against the "fundamentalists"?
Embryonic stem cells "have their own place in biology," Daley said.
#5
I really don't like the visual "low hanging fruit" and "twist" in the same sentence paints.
But on the other hand (so to speak), since we continue to dither about in the ME, instead of putting an end to the bullshit over there via an ARCLIGHT Strike (The Official Offensive Weapon Delivery System of Choice from Rantburg), we might as well donate our balls to science; we sure as hell aren't using them for anything useful.........
News for the terminally gullible.
Israel's most famous missing soldier escaped from captivity in Lebanon and probably died 20 years ago while trying to make his way home through difficult terrain, Hezbollah told Israel's government, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.
The Lebanese guerrilla group submitted the report on airman Ron Arad's fate to the Israeli government as part of a July prisoner swap in which Israel freed five Lebanese militants for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
Israeli security officials confirmed that the Maariv daily accurately summarized Hezbollah's account. However, they dismissed Hezbollah's claim, noting that the group provides no evidence that Arad died.
Arad's plane was shot down Oct. 16, 1986 by Lebanese militiamen. The plane's pilot was rescued by helicopter and the Israeli military believed Arad, the plane's navigator, was captured alive. Arad was initially held by Amal, a Shiite Muslim group and Hezbollah rival. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah suggested in a 2006 speech that Arad may have died in the late 1980s, after managing to escape.
In its report to Israel, Hezbollah was more specific. "The Israeli pilot escaped from his holding cell on the night between the fourth and fifth of May 1988, and headed south toward the (Israeli) occupied security zone," Maariv quoted the Hezbollah report as saying.
The guerrilla group said Arad may have died from a number of causes in the remote, mountainous area, including fever, thirst or falling off a cliff. Hezbollah said it believes Arad is dead, but acknowledged that his remains were never found.
The Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the information, said they believe Hezbollah submitted the report in a halfhearted attempt to meet Israel's demand for information about Arad as part of the prisoner swap.
Is that going to be a teaching moment on future prisoner swaps?
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008
13:12 ||
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#1
"unfortunately, most of the Paleo/Hezbollah prisoners hoodwinked their captors, escaped, yet died of obesity, alcoholism, and "dissipation" while trying to escape from Israel's entertainment zones. we'll trade their dead bodies for your fictitious-story dead guys. Ours sound better. Heh"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2008 21:30
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Two American journalists vacationing in Lebanon have not been heard from since Oct. 1 and are believed missing, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday, appealing for information on their possible whereabouts.
The two, Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, have been working for the Jordan Times and had been expected back in Amman on Saturday, the Amman-based paper's chief editor told The Associated Press.
The embassy said the two reportedly left Beirut for the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city where militants and Islamic fundamentalists are known to be active. There have been sectarian fighting and bombings in recent months.
Beirut wasn't enough, they had to go to Tripoli. Definitely in the running for Darwin awards.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008
13:10 ||
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#1
Prediction: once the bad guys positively ID them as journos, they'll be released immediately. And Mahmoud will get a mild reprimand from the personnel manager for harassing the PR staff.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008 14:45
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Given the many flaws of the seemingly anointed Future Messiah-President, you'd think that John McCain would have at least a slim but solid lead by now. But the post-Sarah bounce - which did have the effect of pulling disaffected conservatives out of the hills and into the McCain camp, checkbooks in tow - has been entirely dissipated, and we're now back to Obama with the slim but apparently solid lead. Many of us (myself DEFINITELY included) believed that the old fighter jock had seriously cut inside Obama's OODA loop by picking Sarah, and indeed, Team Obama flailed about incoherently for a couple of weeks, staggering around and punching blindly like Apollo Creed in the 13th round.
But what did McCain do after that? Well, other than introducing Sarah to the general public, not a hell of a lot. With The One still staggering from Sarah's haymaker at the RNC, where was the followup barrage on TV and online media about the rogues' gallery of Communists, terrorists, insane racist preachers, crooks and fixers who have surrounded and mentored Obama his entire political career? Yeah, yeah, I know...Obama and his media sockpuppets whined about "McCarthyism" and "guilt by association", but they'd have done that or something similar no matter WHAT criticisms Team McCain came up with - witness the recent screechings about Sarah being a racist for daring to mention The One's associations with Jeremiah Wright. It's not an unreasonable assumption that more people know who knocked up Bristol Palin than know about Obama friends and mentors who tried to murder innocent people in the name of communist revolution. Ayers is bad enough - his appalling wife is IMHO even worse. If McCain were serious about winning, this charming Bernardine quip, supporting the Charles Manson "family", would have been engraved on the brain of every voter in America:
"Dig it! First they killed those pigs and then they put a fork in their bellies. Wild!"
I think that the fact that Bill and Bernardine and the rest of that ghastly crew aren't securely pinned to Barack Obama's liver in the public's mind is proof that at some point, McCain wasn't truly in it to win it. What happened and why? One theory bouncing around inside my noodle is that J-Mac took a hard look at the clouds gathering around the economy, coupled with electoral math that indicated a possible veto-proof Quislingcrat Congress, and made the cold, hard decision that he didn't want to wind up as a failed President; that if he did win, the Quislingcrats would do everything they could to thwart him, the country be damned. He imagined an economy circling the drain, and the government powerless to do anything because of political paralysis, and decided that was something he couldn't be part of.
So what to do with the campaign still going on? Make a good fight of it...and give Sarah Palin plenty of national exposure and big-league campaign experience. Let's face it - whatever our problems with McCain (immigration was my biggest case of the ass with him), he's done our side one HELL of a big service. Before Sarah, the only future star most of us saw was Bobby Jindal. An exciting prospect, to be sure, but there's only one of him. With Sarah, McCain in a single stroke has deepened our bench, allowing the Republican Party to complement Jindal's raw intelligence and executive abilities with the charisma of a woman whose natural political talents have impressed even Bill Clinton. and no, I don't think it was just her legs, either. Although those didn't hurt. And you know damn well ol' Slick noticed 'em, too.
The prospect of Obama running amok with solid Bolshevik Democrat majorities in both houses is for sure a sobering one. But if my theory is true, McCain's betting that the harm that can be inflicted in two years before the '10 midterms is less than what would arise from a McCain Presidency frozen in carbonite for his entire tenure. At least in '10, the Pubbies might have a chance to pull a replay of 1994 and prevent Obama from carrying on further with what's certain to be a very radical agenda. McCain doesn't like it...he really, really wanted to be President at some point in this cycle...but I suspect that "Country First" is more than a slogan to him, and the best way for him to act on that is to set the table for Jindal/ Palin. Or would it be Palin / Jindal? At least there'll be a choice!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008
12:50 ||
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#1
I think McCain was blindsided by the economy tripping up all of a sudden and the Republicans getting blamed by a bunch of people covering their butts. I think he then waited until afterwards to go on the attack, losing momentum. Now he's got to try to regain is.
A mediocre showing at the debates and a lame plan to buyout failed mortgages is not the right way to do that, however.
#2
I think McCain needs to get a theme, and make it humorous when he goes after Obama. I think two. Something like "That's just not right" combined with "Rookie move".
Then have that tagged on the end of a bunch of ads showing the nation the Ayers, Bernardine, Wright. I'd also include one showing some of the more misogonyst things said by Obama or on his behalf, tag it with That's just not right" and show it everywhere Hillary voters are likely to dwell.
Don't get people chanting it in a rally, that's creepy, but get it in peoples minds so that whenever they hear this stuff that flashes into their mind reinforcing that Obama is a rookie who does questionable things.
Posted by: Harry Whamp1091 ||
10/08/2008 12:11
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#2
2 point spread with a 2.8 point margin of error. Obama isn't getting much value for his 3 to 1 spending over McCain. Don't the dems usually go in with a healthy lead and still lose just barely? I wonder what would happen if they went to the polls with only a tiny lead?
#4
Rasmussen has The One ahead by six points with a +/- 2% margin of error. It's a 3-day rolling average & Rasmussen states that most of last night's interviews were conducted before the debate as well.
So in conclusion...what Harry said.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008 12:45
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#5
With most polls being LV these days, I put little stock in them.
#7
My very regretable assessment is Senator McCain finished himself with the bailout vote. I suspect Obama's people are negociating contracts on the luxury busses which will bring the million-man march replacement administration to D.C.
#8
Two points is within the margin of error of the poll, I believe, ie. functionally McCain and Obama are equal. As someone else posted, that's not much return for Obama spending three times as much on advertising, not to mention the 15 point boost the media believed they provided Candidate Kerry last time round.
I've been called four times recently by Democratic pollsters wanting to know how I plan to vote. (Straight 'warmonger', in case anybody wondered.) I don't think Obama's campaign is as confident as their candidate would like to believe. The Democrat's messiah was singularly uninspirational last night, which is not supposed to happen to godlings.
#9
Yeah, except the margin of error is a zone on either side of the mean. Since this is the *closest* poll in a week and a half, there's the suspicion that this is on the upside of true.
Christ, I'm about ready to just go get drunk instead of making campaign calls. I'm afraid I'll demoralize the room in the mood I'm in.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/08/2008 17:06
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#10
Realclearpolitics' poll aggregate page is a horrible sea of blue numbers. The stupid fuckers are going to do it...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/08/2008 17:07
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#11
Mitch. WHhat ios at stake is not finaces, it is not even the Republic it is terrorists getting nukes (from Iran) and blowing your children. Stop being silly and act. And BTW that is teh second poll in two days showing MacCain closing the gap.
#12
Appears the FBI is in the middle of the ACORN voter registratione effort. Some eleven investigations of ACORN voter fraud have already been launched.
#14
JFM, this is only a specific poll that's showing McCain closing the gap. Almost every other poll (including Rasmussen, which is cosponsored by Fox, shows a higher lead for Obama) The gallup poll, for instance, shows Obama opening up an 11-point lead just before the debate (www.gallup.com). That is Obama's largest lead ever.
I'd love to be more optimistic, but that will just make it more painful on election day.
#15
Well, if Obamam wins or loses, the fact that so many Americans were willing to put him in office or damn close to it is a sad commentary on the apathy and stupidity of the average American.
The only poll that really counts is the one on election day. And how are we to know that the pollsters aren't cooking the books to favor Obambi like the rest of the media, hoping that normal people conservatives will feel hopeless and not go to vote? Do you trust them?
So get out there and VOTE no matter what - bad weather, bad health, bad "polls," bad hair. And convince your conservative friends to do the same.
We cannot allow a communist to be elected as our President.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 18:33
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#17
McCain seems real weak to me. After not shaking Obama's hand, he left while Obama was still with the crowd. Either he was pissed or had to change his diapers.
#20
Trannysaurus,
We don't kill ourselves over thing like elections. Heck, we don't even threaten to leave the country like others do. We just "cling to our guns and bibles", and begin the fight for the next round. We can't start looking at the next round until the bell rings on this one though.
#21
Yeah, your republicans in Congress just take bribes in Alaska, play footsies in bathrooms, prey on little boys in DC, and your president starts 2 wars he doesn't know how to finish. The last great republican was Reagan and you guys have been drained of any good leaders.
I would be bitter too and cling to my bible, maybe you'll have hope in 4 years.
#22
No tarnish what so ever on those halos worn by the left. Nope, no way, notta. Regular ole choir boys and girls. Good hard working folks keeping their hard cash cold in the freezers, I tell you.
Thank you for allowing me to continue to cling to my bible. That and the CHANGE in my pocket will get me through, by God.
At least Republicans object when one of theirs does something wrong. The DemocRats cover up for theirs.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 19:51
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#24
I'd figure the left would have pedophiles and undercover fags since their so liberal but it's the other way around, my friends.
Also, I don't see the republican justice department going after those on that list. Either the dems didn't commit a crime or the justice department is not doing it's job but I think it's the former because they are investigating republicans.
I'm all for moral and doing the right thing, but I hate most of all...those that claim to be so righteous but are hypocrits (especially Craig)
"is a nasty, nasty, naughty boy and deserves a smack" LOL
#25
I'm sorry but I'm only allowed to feed trolls twice a day. A little more research by you may stir up some much needed info. Bawney Fwank doesn't count I guess since his closet door bursted open.
I must go now, my penance for feedin more than twice is to clean the barn stalls of the unicorns, and then feed the fluffy ducks and bunnies. If your a good troll, Obambi might get you a pony for Christmas.
#26
I've gotten at least five telephone calls from pollsters in the last two weeks. I got rooked into answering one of them. I finally shut the moron on the other end up by saying I was scratching out McCain's name and voting for Palin for President. She got very irate, telling me that Palin had "absolutely no experience to be President". I answered that she has 100% more executive experience than her little commie community organizer and ACORN POS. Haven't been called back since.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 20:41
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#29
...he left while Obama was still with the crowd.
No, he did not leave. The camera operators made a point of keeping him out of frame as much as possible. Every now and then you could catch a glimpse of him and Mrs. McCain.
The media is all the way in on this, the mask is well and truly off. If McCain wins and there isn't any prosecutions...then "something" else will need to be done to rein the media in.
If McCain loses, well, I shudder to think what is going to happen. Listen for the call.
Its no surprise most Germans favour US presidential candidate Barack Obama over his conservative rival John McCain, but as Brittani Sonnenberg reports, some young activists are even teaming up with Americans in Berlin to rally support for the Democrat.
Following the second of three presidential debates on Tuesday night, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain are gearing up for a final mad dash of what has been an excruciatingly long campaign.
While the race for the White House will likely be won or lost in a few key battleground states, some young Germans have decided they dont want to remain idle spectators in an election that has global implications.
To that end, the JungSozis, a pragmatic offshoot of the more leftwing youth group of Germanys Social Democratic Party (SPD), the JuSos, has forged ties with young US Democrats in the German capital.
Together with the Young Dems Berlin which is associated with Democrats Abroad the JungSozis organized their first joint event last week at a café near Humboldt University. The politically active youngsters invited Stan Otto, a political expert at the US Embassy in Berlin, to describe the American election process and field questions from the audience.
Our positions have more in common with the American Democratic Party than with traditional JuSos, who tend to be anti-capitalist, and would never have considered organizing something like this, said JungSozis member Florian Szamocki. Birds of a feather ...
A law student, Szamocki said he had been interested in US politics since high school, when he traveled to Oklahoma on a US Congress-Bundestag exchange program. The JungSozis have also been quietly working on the sidelines to assist the Young Dems in recruiting American voters in Berlin. But the group has to walk the fine line between helping out likeminded Americans and being perceived as a foreign influence on another countrys politics.
The Dems Abroad have a regulation not to interfere with German politics, so we cant officially campaign for Obama with them or register voters, said Szamocki. But as much as it merely touches the German side we will be there. Theres approximately 20,000 Americans living in Berlin, and theres a lot we can do for them. "Yes we can!"
Alexander Zimmerman, chairman and treasurer of Young Dems Berlin, said the JungSozis have been instrumental in increasing the groups manpower for voter registration efforts by passing out flyers and directing Americans towards Young Dems volunteers at Obamas speech in Berlin in July and at the US Embassys Independence Day party.
But he also stressed developing ties between the two organizations was important to transatlantic ties on a grassroots level: It gives us a new lens on our own politics.
That sentiment was seconded by Otto, the US Embassy official, who also said he had never witnessed anything like the partnership between the JungSozis and the Young Dems. It seems like they know each other well, he said, praising it as an excellent thing working together like this is the glue of international relations. Thanks, State Department!
#1
The politically active youngsters invited Stan Otto, a political expert at the US Embassy in Berlin, to describe the American election process and field questions from the audience.
if McCain's able to pull out a victory, wouldn't you just love to see Secretary of State Bolton walking into Foggy Bottom on his first day of work? With a bullwhip and a firehose?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008 14:32
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#2
It is really strange watching Europeans getting so wrapped up in American politics. Perhaps they should dump the EU and join the US as territories. Eventually if they accept the Constitution and English as their language they'd even get to vote for President.
Either that or emigrate as many of the boldest and brightest Europeans have done through the years.
Can the war in Afghanistan be won? It depends on whom you ask.
The senior British commander in Afghanistan recently was quoted in The Times of London, "This war cannot be won." A French diplomatic dispatch reports that the British ambassador said the best solution would be to find an "acceptable dictator" to take over the troubled country.
But the British soldiers with whom I was recently embedded in Helmand Province had very high morale and felt optimistic about Afghanistan. And British and American officers whose judgment and honesty I trust share that optimism, even acknowledging the difficult challenges they face, and that this will take a decade (according to Brits) or decades (according to Americans).
Do these soldiers know something their leaders don't? Or is it just another Afghan paradox?
This is a land of paradox. The people here are friendly and hospitable, violent and suspicious. The war effort enjoys broad support, yet our alliance is unraveling. The Taliban are widely despised, and yet certain elements of it are integral parts of Afghan society. People want the national government to succeed, yet they have little or no faith in it. In many respects, while the country takes center stage in today's geopolitics, it is stuck in the Middle Ages.
I've driven over a thousand miles up and down Afghan roads during the past few weeks to find that many locals are thankful to the coalition of American, British and other NATO forces that are trying to bring peace and stability to the country. Others say they hate us.
It has become clear to me that we're losing this war. But losing doesn't mean lost.
When someone says they know what to do in Afghanistan, it's best to remain skeptical. Some folks are flat-out lying, like recent attempts to deny the existence of a secret report documenting how 10 French soldiers who were killed didn't have enough ammo or working radios. Others are telling us what we want to hear, like it will just take a few more troops and some border incursions into Pakistan to straighten out this mess.
There are a few honest players in Afghanistan, and I'm listening carefully to them. But please understand this much: In a land whose paradoxes can confuse and even crush powerful empires, any solutions - if they even exist - will not be simple or painless.
When I traveled extensively in Iraq, I spent a lot of time with combat units that were consistently winning against the enemy, both in kinetic operations and gaining the support of the people. All the while, we were losing certain aspects of that war, both in Iraq and back on the home front. It wasn't until our tactical superiority was supported by an effective strategy that we started turning things around. Iraq now has the chance to become a peaceful andprosperous country, and a good ally. I sense that the day will come when I will request a visa togo on vacation in Iraq.
Can the same thing happen in Afghanistan? I am less confident - for today, anyway.
Gen. David Petraeus, who recently assumed command of Centcom, responsible for U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq (and many other countries), knows that these two countries present different challenges. The counterinsurgency manual he revised, and his own doctoral dissertation on the effects of Vietnam on the American military and foreign policy, show an intellect that is subtle enough to recognize a paradox and honest enough not to try and hide behind it. One of the paradoxes described in the counterinsurgency manual is: "Tactical success guarantees nothing."
If anyone can unravel Afghanistan, it's Petraeus. But that might be beyond even his talents.
Describing his successful partnership with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, Petraeus recently said: "There has to be absolute unity of purpose, unity of effort, even if there cannot be and will not be unity of command."
Right now, our enemies have unity of purpose: They want to kick us out of here. Meanwhile, we can't even agree about whether or not this war can be won.
#1
i don't think the US government thinks of this as a winnable situation like a normal one would. This has too do with keeping the radicals of the muslims in kind of a cetral place too fight instead of spread out all over the place. Also looks like another good place for pour jets too land just in case it ever does break loose with Iran
#6
We tried that in South and Central America and most became Democracies after the Cold War. Only a couple have reverted to questionable governments.
We tried that in South Korea and Taiwan and both became raging successes and transitioned over to Democratic governments once they were wealthy enough.
We tried that in Greece in the 70s and they also became a Democracy in time. A few still hate us today but nobody considers them an enemy of the USA.
We never tried that in Afghanistan, we walked away after the Soviets were defeated and we've been trying to help a fledgling Democracy run by Karzai.
Before everyone succumbs to a terminal case of inevitabilititis, it's worth remembering we've been here before. In the last months of the primary campaign, the press kept assuring Hillary fans that Obama's victory was inevitable and the shriller the media Obamaboppers got, the more bluecollar Dems sat on their hands. In the end all the King's horses and all the King's men had to drag the guy across the finish line. You couldn't replay his spectacular victory in slow-motion because it was already slower than any slo-mo technology ever invented.
So we already know there's a huge disconnect between the unstoppable Messianic force promoted by the media and the cooler appraisal by actual voters. What's happened since primary season? The Iraq surge (McCain's unique selling point) is a victim of its own success and has dwindled away to an irrelevant footnote, and the front pages are full of a supposed economic catastrophe which the crude rules of politics suggest any fool should be able to hang on the incumbent.
Yet Obama still can't open up a solid lead. After all, why would record numbers of viewers watch the vice-presidential debate if the election's already over?
Meanwhile, the supposedly damaged Republican brand is proving suprisingly resilient. I see one of the two New Hampshire seats that flipped blue in '06 may return to the red fold next month. Where's the blowout?
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2008
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#1
You gotta love Mark for trying to rally the troops. but lets's face it - what might have been McCain's last chance to score some solid hits on Obama passed with only a few jabs being landed. Steyn himself says as much (hilariously, I might add) in the article:
"As everyone says, Obama wins by not losing. He looks more and more as if he's already the president, while McCain prowling the stage seeking to 'connect' looks more and more like Yosemite Sam after the dynamite failed to go off."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008 12:25
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#2
Don't go getting so negative about McCain and his chances. What every one of the "right" persuasion has to think is the following: Do I want to see a congress and presidency controlled by the most liberal, left-wing, possibly Marxist executive in the history of our nation? Do you? The market is reacting to Obama's standing in the polls not to the bail-out or foreign financial markets. Believe me if the market sees a strong movement of support and effort to push McCain over the finish line - it will go up by a 1K points.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/08/2008 12:52
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#3
There are still many possible changes in the financial world before the election, and many more afterwards. al Qaeda is still plotting.
#4
Do I want to see a congress and presidency controlled by the most liberal, left-wing, possibly Marxist executive in the history of our nation? Do you?
You're preaching to the choir, Jack. I agree in full with your assessment of The One and his gang of thieves, terrorists and crooks...but the only reason you and I know about him is because we're political junkies who prowl the Burg and blogs of similar persuasion on a regular basis. But a lot of voters only start paying attention to the political news right about now - and they're getting their info from the MSM. Which is to say, from the Obama campaign itself.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/08/2008 14:27
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#6
I'm with Steyn. For a variety of reasons, I do not accept that the election is a foregone conclusion. In fact, I think if it were then the media would not be reporting is as such -- Americans still love an underdog. I'm also very, very skeptical of published polls. The only thing that does keep me up nights is all the vote fraud Soros is paying for and ACORN is accomplishing, and the fact that we ran such a weak candidate.
A slowdown in the world economy may give the planet a breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on Tuesday.
Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who has in the past floated the possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to cool the earth, said clouds gathering over the world economy could ease the earth's environmental burden.
Slower economic growth worldwide could help slow growth of carbon dioxide emissions and trigger more careful use of energy resources, though the global economic turmoil may also divert focus from efforts to counter climate change, said Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the depletion of the ozone layer.
"It's a cruel thing to say ... but if we are looking at a slowdown in the economy, there will be less fossil fuels burning, so for the climate it could be an advantage," Crutzen told Reuters in an interview.
"We could have a much slower increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere ... people will start saving (on energy use) ... but things may get worse if there is less money available for research and that would be serious." "But give us money anyway."
#1
blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to cool the earth
So the Chinese get the credit for stopping global warming in it's tracks.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 11:34
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#2
As an Atmospheric Scientist, I am constantly amazed at what seemly rational people will definitively state about climate change...a subject that absolutely no knowledge.
It's pretty obvious he does not understand thermodynamics and the concept of heat sinks and lag coefficients.
#6
It still works out that the current Sunspot cycle has been on the VERY low end of sunspot activity, and the average temperature this year here in Colorado Springs has been about two degrees below the seasonal average. If you want to keep track of it for yourself, go here.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 16:46
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#7
The SUN having anything to do with man-made (trademark pending) global coolingwarming climate change is so laughable to be ludicrous!
PHOENIX -- The McCain campaign pushed back hard against the new Obama attack over the Keating Five, arguing that the Arizona senator was treated unfairly by the Senate ethics investigation and asserting that John McCain had been much more open about his relationship with disgraced thrift executive Charles Keating than Obama has been about his connection with one-time radical William Ayers.
In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, John Dowd, the Washington lawyer who represented McCain during the Senate investigation, called the inquiry a "classic political smear job" by the Democrats running the Senate at the time, saying that they only included McCain to make sure that a Republican was among the targets. "John had not done anything wrong," Dowd said.
Dowd's point of view was amplified by Robert Bennett, the Washington lawyer and Democrat who served as special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee during the Keating Five investigation, which focused on whether McCain and other senators exercised improper political influence over the regulation of Keating's failed Lincoln Savings & Loan.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Charles Keating than Obama has been about his connection with one-time radical William Ayers.
That baloney Ayers connections. It's all falling apart the more I read about it and will backfire if they continue.
Talk about rumors, McCain is a Manchurian candidate with controllers in Hanoi. Maybe that's why he didn't want to look for more POWs? WHO IS THE REAL JOHN MCCAIN?
That rumor is about as low Palin and McCain are stooping too with this Ayes claim.
I don't care about Ayers and I don't care about Keating. Enough rumors and talk policy.
Obambi is a Marxist and will do his damndest to turn America into a Marxist state.
McCain, for all his faults, isn't, and won't.
If you're looking for a Manchurian Candidate, look harder at Obama. Somebodyhas greased a lot of skids for him is behind his rise in politics, and it ain't him.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 19:09
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#3
We're broke.
Our allies hate us!
Our military is weakened.
People don't trust their Republicans anymore.
McCain says he doesn't know the economy! McCain is an idiot, no matter who much you try to make him look smart, same thing with Bush..people defended him until he just gave up on himself.
#6
The President (or either party) doesn't send jobs to India or anyplace else, idiot.
He also doesn't set tax rates.
Y'all keep blaming the President for things CONGRESS is responsible for.
(And in the case of Congress, I use the word "responsible" very loosely.)
And I hate to break it to you, but Bush ain't running again. So you all just keep running against him.
Fool.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 19:48
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#7
NO! That's where you are wrong! Bush didn't do anything to protect American jobs, you stupid ignorant tool (back at you). He could have but let it slide so corporations could save on cost. McCain is going to continue doing just that.
Do not lose heart my brother! The republican imperialsts and their Calcutta based lackey's are doomed. The Obamessiah and the Democratic machine party will pull us through. You and your brothers will get your Escalades. Please begin your colour selection and window tint schemes immediately.
#11
I see we've been visited by a Demoncritic troll, and a not-very-bright one at that. His choice of handle speaks much about him - all appetite (to be heard), no brain (to actually come up with something that's not a pre-printed talking point). Barrack Obamaramadingdong is a highly-educated, highly-trained fool with absolutely no personal accomplishments of any merit. I never went to fighter-pilot's school, but 26 years around flying units allowed me to "taste what it's like" several times. It takes a helluva lot more brains than being a lawyer - especially one that has had so VERY little actual legal WORK experience. Sarah Palin has worked in a number of jobs, and has helped run a family business. I HAVE been there, and it's not a picnic, especially when you have to share the receipts with dozens of family members. She's been a mayor and a governor. Those are both jobs where you have to actually DO something, not vote "present".
I don't want an Obama presidency, because I don't want to have to put up with another Gimmih Kahtah for four years. I also don't want a communist, anti-American phony elitist bas$$$$ in the White House. It'll take forever to get the sh$$ out of the carpets.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 20:53
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#12
TE1948: probably your friends are being laid off because they are slacker losers with an entitlement attitude, no job or life skills, and little ability to get along with others. Pretty much the report card you've been getting since first grade. Get over it, end it for good, or move elsewhere where your skills are appreciated (I'd suggested an uninhabitated isle).
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2008 21:34
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#13
President Bush has not played a single game of golf his he was elected.
Eliyahu Shahar's family were perturbed, but not in any way surprised by the images displayed to the world this week of Samir Kuntar engaging in weapons training.
Shahar was killed by a terror cell led by Kuntar into the northern coastal town of Nahariya in 1979. It was during that raid that Kuntar also murdered Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat. An appeal filed by the Shahar family to prevent Kuntar's release was rejected by the High Court of Justice. He was repatriated to Lebanon along with several other terrorists and the bodies of hundreds of Lebanese fighters in return for the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
"The Kuntar deal was despicable, we said from the onset that it's something we would grow to regret," Yoram Shahar on Tuesday after watching the video of Kuntar training with live gunfire and shells.What we saw in this movie is just the tip of the iceberg. Kuntar will carry out a major attack against Israel, which has placed its fate squarely in the hands of murderers, said an irate Shahar. "I opposed Kuntar's release not because I was against having the captives returned. I was opposed to watching the government throw sand in the eyes of the public to prevent them from seeing the full picture, who it was that they were setting free. This is a man who tried to carry out a terror attack against Israel at the age of 14, and was arrested by the Jordanians. It must be understood once a terrorist, always a terrorist."
Shahar asserts Kuntar was released out of political considerations: It pains me that Ehud Olmert wanted to create a media spin, and so let him go. If people in Israel had the full picture, everyone would have been against his release. You have to understand, this person sat in jail for 30 years and spent that time priming himself for a major attack. He now knows exactly where our weaknesses are, said Shahar.
Eliyahu's second brother, Haim, says the video proves the family was right to appeal the deal. I want the High Court of Justice, which twice rejected our case, to sit down and watch these images As someone who has served this country, and who continues to volunteer even today, I am very upset. This is how they (the court) pay us back."
Shahar stressed that his family was not out to avenge his brother's death, only to prevent future attacks. I wish I could go to Lebanon on my own," says Haim, "I would go destroy him. This is not a vendetta. My brother will not rise from his grave if Kuntar dies."
Haim said that his family members paid a heavy personal price following Eliyahus death. My mother died from the grief. Yet after everything we endured, Kuntar was let go and now he's back to his old habits. This ruined us, and he's just continued with his life."
Yoram said he laments the feeling of national helplessness: "We are the strongest nation in the world. I ask Olmert - why don't we get (Hamas leader) Ismail Haniyeh and trade him for (kidnapped soldier) Gilad Shalit, just like they snatched Mustafa Dirani from his bed. That's the kind of country I want to live in, he said. We just give and give, and the world's terrorists see this and understand that hey, they really should carry out more kidnappings. We need to understand that we are fighting for our existence, and I feel sorry for the next family in line, added Shahar.
A Catholic priest of Sambalpur diocese has claimed that a Hindu girl, mistaken for a Christian, was raped by a group of Hindu activists before being burnt alive.
Father T.V. Peter disclosed October 4 that a fanatical mob descended on a Church-run orphanage in Bargarh district where 20-year-old Rajani Majhi worked, raided the orphanage, gang-raped her and set her on fire, August 25, as anti-Christian violence broke out in the tribal-dominated areas of the eastern Indian State.
Peter, who is the procurator of the diocese, is also said to have expressed his willingness to testify in any court of law Majhi had been raped and killed by the VHP goons at the Padampur village orphanage. Soon after the VHP men raided the orphanage, I went to the spot and spoke to some eye-witnesses. The mob thought she was a Christian girl but actually she was a Hindu and was adopted by a childless couple.
She was working in the orphanage, Father Peter was quoted as saying by a news agency. He also alleged that the policemen present at the spot remained mute spectators to the criminal act. Rajani was a student in Padampur Womens College and worked at the orphanage to support her education. The orphanage houses children of leprosy patients.
However, a day after Father Peter making the allegations, the Sambalpur diocesan authorities have denied such a thing had happened in the orphanage. The official spokesperson of the diocese, Father Alphonse Toppo, told the media October 5: No such information has come to us. If Father Peter told some people that Rajani was gang-raped, then it is his view. We have not come across any such complaint.
#1
No such information has come to us. If Father Peter told some people that Rajani was gang-raped, then it is his view. We have not come across any such complaint.
It's no biggie, no no she wasn't rapes, she was just burned alive.
Posted by: Harry Whamp1091 ||
10/08/2008 12:07
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#2
No such information has come to us. If Father Peter told some people that Rajani was gang-raped, then it is his view. We have not come across any such complaint.
I'm assuming they don't include any church witnesses as "any information".
Posted by: Harry Whamp1091 ||
10/08/2008 12:09
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#3
Compare wid TOPIX > WHAT REALLY ANGERED THE HINDUS AT KARNATAKA [India]. Oversealous or abusive prosletyzing + malicious degradation of the normally very tolerant, CHristian-accepting Hindu religion on the part of a local Christian missionary org. Artic indics that INDIA'S PEACE-MINDED, PRO-TOLERANCE/DIVERSITY HINDUS ARE FACING SERIOUS OR INTENSIVE PRESSURES TO CHANGE VIA CHRISTIANITY, AMERICANIZATION, NATIONAL MODERNIZATION, MARXISM, ISLAM/ISLAMISM, ...@etc.
IOW, THE HINDUS LOVE TOLERANCE AND DIVERSITY, ETC. BUT SAID SAME TOLERANCE AND DIVERSITY, ETC. DOESN'T LOVE HINDUISM.
You just know there's whole lotta TASERIN' that needs to be done.
The Prime Minister hailed the package, which will see the taxpayer take large stakes in major banks in return for an injection of billions of pounds to prop up their shattered balance sheets, as a comprehensive, ground-breaking solution to the economic crisis.
"This is not a time for conventional thinking or outdated dogma but for the fresh and innovative intervention that gets to the heart of the problem," he said at a Downing Street news conference.
The package includes:
£50bn to recapitalise banks
£250bn to underwrite debt
£200bn injection into the money markets
Admitting that Government borrowing will have to be drastically increased to fund the package, Mr Brown insisted that "for every family in the country, the stability of the banking system matters."
He said taxpayers would "earn a proper return", saying: "This support is on commercial terms. We expect to be rewarded for the support we provide."
The announcement prompted volatile trading in the shares of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS, the banks hammered hardest on the stock market in recent days. By mid-morning, HBOS had jumped by more than 44 per cent, while RBS - which plunged by more than 40 per cent at one point - was up by almost 16 per cent.
However other banks continued to suffer. Barclays was down more than 9 per cent, HSBC dropped by five per cent and Lloyds TSB, which has made clear its takeover of HBOS is going ahead, was down six per cent. The FTSE 100 index was down by four per cent.
The bail-out plan will see the Government spend up to £50 billion - the equivalent of £2,000 for every taxpayer - on buying priority shares in the banks in order to boost their capital. Half is available immediately, while a further £25 billion can be used if necessary in future. In addition, the Government will make £250 billion available to underwrite the banks' medium-term debts in an attempt to prevent a disastrous funding gap in the next few years.
Meanwhile the Bank of England will inject a further £200 billion into the money markets under its Special Liquidity Scheme - which sees banks swap risky mortgages for Treasury bonds. The scheme had previously been limited to £100 billion.
The potential liability of £500 billion amounts to more than a third of the annual value of the British economy and is approaching the almost £600 billion of total government spending. It is hoped that the injection of liquidity will encourage the banks to start lending to and borrowing from each other again. The credit crisis has seen the market for money - which banks rely on for their funding - seize up.
Appearing alongside Mr Brown, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said the move came in response to "extraordinary times".
He said: "We want to make sure that we can get the system going again" and insisted that the Government would get taxpayers' money back within three years.
The Treasury made clear that the deal "will carry terms and conditions that appropriately reflect the financial commitment being made by the taxpayer" - expected to mean that the Government has first claim to any dividends and that chief executives cannot be paid huge bonuses. It said that eight banks had confirmed they would seek Government help under the scheme: "Abbey, Barclays, HBOS, HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society, RBS and Standard Chartered."
However HSBC denied it would take advantage of the scheme and Nationwide and Standard Chartered suggested they had no need to do so.
Mr Darling rejected claims that he had "dithered" in failing to make an announcement earlier, saying: "Inevitably, given the complexity of the discussions that need to take place to put together a proposal such as this, it takes time."
"If you look at America, if you announce something and you haven't thought through the consequences, then you get into real difficulties," he added.
The Conservatives said that recapitalising the banks and guaranteeing inter-bank lending was the "right thing" and that they would be "as constructive as possible" in helping to implement the Government's rescue plan. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: "We want this to work, we hope it will work." However, he added that taxpayers' money must not be used to pay the bonuses of wealthy bankers.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, also promised support for the Government on what he called "a day of reckoning for the British economy".
"There will of course be a need to examine the detail, but today is a day to stand together," he said. However he insisted: "There can be no doubt that today marks a fundamental shift in the way we view banks ... The short-term bonus-driven ethos must end today."
#3
I just saw on Fox that the British Parliment is going to nationalize the major British banks.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/08/2008 11:59
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#4
LMAO! And people where crying about the money the US is spending.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/08/2008 12:17
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#5
Nothing to laugh about here. Also note that during the Great Depression, very very few banks failed in the UK, unlike the USA. Things are quite different in the UK this time around. Keep your seat belts fastened.
#6
The $700B bailout is only part of the adding liquidity to markets. The US gov has pledged to add $1.5-2.0 trillion in capital.
With all this new money coming in, I am optimistic the worst is over and businesses will be able to function. The open question is how much will individuals and businesses cut back on spending and how deep will the recession be.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 13:23
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The Hyperion Power Generation uranium hydride reactor will weigh fifteen to 20 tons, depending on whether you're measuring just the reactor itself or the caskâthe container that we [this is the CEO talking] ship it inâas well. It was specifically designed to fit on the back of a flatbed truck because most of our customers are not going to have rail. It's about a meter-and-a-half across and about 2 meters tall. It will generate 27-30 Megawatts of electrical power from 70 MW of thermal power. This means 0.5 to 0.75 tons per MWe for the nuclear reactor. The steam turbine to convert the power is counted separately....
As of September 9, 2008, HPG has ten installation commitments and 50 pending. The first HPG reactors should be ready in 2013. The cost of the reactors will be about $1400/kw. After 5 years, each reactor would have a softball size amount of waste. The uranium hydride reactor can burn up to 50% of the uranium or about ten times more than current reactors.
#2
I want one. By the time it's ready for sale I'll be ready to fill in the swimming pool in the back yard. Perfect fit ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2008 11:05
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#3
I am rooting for small nuclear reactors like this. The idea is that if you could mount one on the back of a heavy haul truck, and a powerful high volume reverse osmosis water purification system on another truck, you would be able to provide the electricity and water needs of a large area in an emergency situation.
In normal times, they can be used as "emergency back up generators" to isolate a failure in the electrical grid, to prevent things like multi-State blackouts.
The most common use would be in peak summer grid loads, which were such a major pain in the butt in the western States some years ago.
#6
It sounds nice w/r to emergency generation and for small towns, ect. There are some cons however that MUST be addressed. Doable but critical.
1. I suspect it is not power that is lacking after a hurricane or tornado but infrastructure (repair required for transmission lines, substations, poles, lines, home electrical, ect.)
2. Security - This IS nuclear material. If it is small enough to be transported it is small enough to be stolen or sabotaged.
#9
I remember the National Guard supplying generators to our neighborhood in 1957, after Hurricane Audrey had done everything it could to leave the area flattened. Yeah, there was no power distribution, but it's amazing how one generator, a nice fat transformer circuit, and about 20 miles of extension cords can cool down refrigerators and freezers, run a load of laundry (drying was outdoors, on a clothesline - not THAT much electricity), etc. It helped out 18-20 families at a time for 1.5 hours, then moved on down the street. It got us through the ten days to two weeks we were without power. This sounds far more capable of providing service in equally as difficult times.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 23:26
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Defendant to appear before federal judge magistrate in U.S. District Court in Knoxville this morning. More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel.
As Drudge would put it:
Developing . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2008
09:22 ||
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#1
Developing my a$$. Sorry, but this deserves clarification:
"David C. Kernell, the son of Democrat State Rep. Mike Kernell who broke into Sarah Palins email account."
Let's also not forget that the kid is a bumbling idiot, given his performance in this little stunt, and that wise men say that 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'.
I vote for idiot of the month.
And while we're on the vague topic of fathering & mentoring, let's also not forget about who Frank Marshall Davis is (relative to another democrat we all know).
#3
When I originally posted the story, there were no details. They've updated the story since this morning:
David C. Kernell can stay out of jail for now as long as he stays off his computer.
The University of Tennessee student, who is the son of a Memphis legislator, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of hacking Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail.
Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Palin, the governor of Alaska and Sen. John McCain's running mate, according to U.S. Attorney James R. Dedrick.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2008 11:30
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Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2008 11:42
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#5
Who's funny now, smartass?
Sadly, max sentence is only 5 years, and he might not get any jail time at all. Probably has great career prospects with ACORN in his future to look forward to too.
#7
Remember all those broad brush convictions of parents of households who raise the little tikes back in the 60s when they did something incredibly cruel or sadistic against a person of color. It was always about the 'atmosphere of hate and intolerance' that was supported by the adults of the household. Wonder if the usual suspects will apply the same standard to the Kernell household as well. [rhetorical question]. Of course the usual suspects rationalize the act because for them Trunks are not really human, just another form of political infidel with lesser rights.
A Kansas man whose girlfriend was physically stuck to the toilet in their home wins $20,000 in the state Lottery for the second time this year.
Kory McFarren of Ness City cashed in his winning $2 Bonus Crossword ticket in Great Bend Monday. On July 29, the 37-year-old McFarren received six months of probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor mistreatment of a dependent adult.
McFarren called Ness County deputies in February to report that his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, had refused to come out of the bathroom for two years. Authorities found her stuck to the toilet.
Medical personnel estimated Babcock had been on the toilet for at least a month and said the seat had adhered to sores on her body. She was released from a Wichita hospital after several months of treatment.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2008
09:18 ||
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#1
So do his lottery winnings go towards paying the hospital bill?
The U.S. Federal Reserve led a coordinated round of global official rate cuts on Wednesday, easing by a half-point, as did the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss, Canadian and Swedish banks. In an attempt to stem unprecedented global market turmoil, the Fed cut its key federal funds lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent and also lowered its discount rate by the same amount to 1.75 percent. The ECB also cut by a half-point to 3.75 percent as did the Bank of England, taking its rate to 4.5 percent.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008
07:17 ||
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Global rate cuts lift futures but off highs S&P 500 futures SPc1 rose 23.20 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures DJc1 climbed 139 points and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures gained 31 points.
The interbank cost of borrowing overnight dollars jumped again on Wednesday, indicating that credit markets remained gridlocked, according to the latest daily fixing from the British Bankers' Association, just before coordinated interest rate cuts.
Still having liquidity problems. I think the Fed's plan yesterday to provide working capital loans to businesses is the smartest thing the government has done yet to prevent the economy grinding to a halt.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:25
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#1
I've been thinking about this. There is no reason for everyone to tank just because our housing prices have. What's at work is something more fundamental, and deeper: the total dependence upon US liquidity.
WE have to buy foreign oil to keep the price high enough to satisfy our Middle East "allies".
WE have to buy from every nation of the world, at their prices, while our exports are given short shrift.
WE have to provide credit for failed states and dictators, to "buy" friends in far-away places.
WE have to defend Europe so they can support their cradle-to-grave welfare state, and ignore their own defense needs.
The golden goose is dead. Long may it remain dead. Let the world take care of itself, and may the United States stop being so "european" - and stupid. We've been played for suckers long enough, and the party's over. While it might not be the best thing for the world to dive into a financial black hole, it seemed to have survived several times without us rescuing it.
I know lots of people who have money tied up in the stock market, with that money a major portion of their retirement plan. I'm sorry, but in the short term, you're going to get terribly hurt. If you're wise enough to go long-term, I don't think any American investor will be critically hurt. The rest of the world can go to hell in its own chosen way.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 19:44
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Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is distantly related to the late Princess Diana and late U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, genealogy experts said on Wednesday. The governor of Alaska and the princess are tenth cousins, while Palin and Roosevelt are ninth cousins once removed, said Ancestry.com, online genealogists based in Provo, Utah.
The genealogical connections are not the first to gain attention in the U.S. presidential campaign. Last year, Lynne Cheney said she found while tracing her family roots that her husband Vice President Dick Cheney was a distant cousin of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Other researchers discovered Obama is distant cousins with actor Brad Pitt.
"When you've got candidates who have deep roots in America, there's a good chance that they're going to have some famous cousins," said Ancestry.com's chief family historian Megan Smolenyak. "We've all got literally millions of cousins. The trick is finding that one little connection that results in something like Sarah Palin being related to FDR or Diana," she said.
Palin and the late princess descended from John Strong and his wife Abigail Ford, Ancestry.com said. Strong was born around 1605 in England and emigrated to the United States, where he died in Massachusetts in 1699, Ancestry.com said.
Palin and Roosevelt share ancestor John Lothrop, who was born in England in 1584 and also emigrated to America, where he died in Massachusetts in 1653, Ancestry.com said. According to family and local histories, Lothrop was a Puritan Presbyterian minister who arrived in the Massachusetts colony in 1634, said Ancestry.com, which says it has access to 7 billion records online.
#1
Look, if you have a Northern European ancestor in North America going back to the 1630s, you're probably related to me and *everyone else* with that ancestry. They have online you're-cousins-eleven-times-removed-with-Winston-Churchill applications which have *automated* this little parlor trick. This is how they discovered that Obama and Cheney are 'cousins'.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/08/2008 7:11
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#2
More importantly, what's her relation to Michael Palin? Or John Cleese?
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:15
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#3
We each have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents... Even at 16, 15 of them had different last names. By the time you take this back to the 1600's, you're pretty well related to everybody.
(SomaliNet) International aid agencies can operate in central Somalia where they control, a major Somali Islamist group reiterated on Monday.
A senior Islamist official, Sheik Dahir Addow said that aid agencies can safely work in central Somali regions where Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an insurgent movement that has ruled much of southern and central Somalia since 2006, is in its control.
Islamist-named governor of Middle Shabelle region in central Somalia while speaking to local reporters said that his administration met with officials from three international aid agencies in the Middle Shabelle regional capital of Jawhar and discussed ways of strengthening of security for foreign and local humanitarian staff.
"We had the common understanding with the agencies that we allow them to operate here and help our people and we guarantee the security of their staff," Addow said.
Addow added that a six member delegation from UN aid agencies had arrived from Nairobi for a meeting with Islamist administrators and an agreement was reached that they resume their operations which have been halted because of an escalating security situation.
The development came three days after another faction, Al-shabaab Islamist movement, banned some aid agencies from operating in places under their control in south Somalia including the main port town of Kismayu.
The group accused Care International and International Medical corps of anti-Islamic activities but Care International, the U.S.-based aid agency, said on Monday that the direct threat by the Somali military group has put at risk the lives of 1 million people who need humanitarian aid.
Leaders of ICU, which is in full control of the central Somalia provinces of Middle Shablle, Hiran, Galgadud and Mudug, late last month invited aid agencies to freely operate in the regions under their control.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
TOPIX > US OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES NEW AFRICA COMMAND; versus THE WEST HAS FAILED SOMALIA.
Stocks plunged on Tuesday in their fifth straight declining session as fears mounted that the spiraling credit crisis would drag the economy into a deep recession.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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(AKI) - Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday threatened to launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target Kurdish militants as the military bombed suspected terrorist bases in the region.
He made the comment as Turkish warplanes bombed 21 bases allegedly linked to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside the country and across the border in northern Iraq.
It was the fourth round of raids by the Turkish military after PKK militants killed 17 Turkish soldiers near Semdinli in the country's southeast on Friday. The military said its fighter jets attacked 21 rebel positions early Tuesday in Iraq's Avasin Baysan region and Turkey's Iki Yaka and Buzul Dagi mountains that border Iraq.
According to Turkish media reports, Erdogan warned that Turkey would launch an incursion into northern Iraq to target the PKK "if needed". "The sole target of a possible cross-border operation will be the terrorist organisation," Erdogan told members of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group in Ankara. "If need be, such an operation will not target either civilians or Iraq's unity and integrity," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
I wonder if we are pre-notified by the Turks so we accidentally don't happen to be watching (and shooting) when these incursions happen. The PKK is not exactly our insurgency of choice.
#2
The Kurds living in northern Iraq aren't terribly fond of the PKK (communists), but they're "family". They certainly don't like the Turks. Iran, as usual, is the "unindicted co-conspirator" in this battle, but little is said about them. Something definitely needs to be done, but it's something that's going to have to transcend four or five different political boundaries, and that's not going to be easy to do. The Kurds also have a long memory of prior promises not kept, and real grievances with the governments of all the involved states.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 15:55
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#3
ION TURKEY, TOPIX > TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN TO SPLIT GEORGIA INTO AUTONOMIES? Turkey, Azeri Govts insist and demand that Georgia become a FEDERAL-ORGANZ STATE into to protect the rights of Muslims + Turkic, Ajaria Minorities. AZERBAIJAN indics, iff necessary, it will be willing to send AZERI MILITARY FORCES INTO GEORGIA TO PROTECT THE ETHNIC AJARIA COMMUNITY.
Also from TOPIX > TURKISH PRESIDENT GUL: CAUCASUS STABILITY CAN BECOME A GATE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST.
The pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, citing high-ranking security sources, said Syria has also deployed tanks along the border facing the northern Bekaa town of al-Qaa.
Al Hayat quoted witnesses coming from northern Bekaa as saying Syria deployed vanguards along the border at noon Monday. They said the deployment coincided with the digging of trenches and setting up tents for its soldiers.
The witnesses said they saw Syrian forces setting up checkpoints along the area of deployment. They quoted people crossing on foot from Syrian territory into northern Bekaa as saying that all border crossings that link Homs with the Bekaa Valley have been placed under Syrian control. They said Syrian troops have put up earth mounds to prevent smuggling and to counter terrorism.
The security sources, however, confirmed no Syrian military penetration into Lebanese territory has taken place since the first troop buildup along Lebanon's northern border was reported Sept. 21.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC Posters > SYRIA may be protecting SADDAM'S WMDS + IRAN TECHS???
#2
Wonder how long it would take to train the Israelis to fly a dozen A-10s...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 16:01
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#3
Poor Lebanon. Even without the curse of Hezbollah, having backwards Syria control westernized Lebanon is like having the Clampetts rule Beverly Hills.
German lawmakers said Monday that they were drawing up a massive intervention plan to protect the country's financial system as Europe's biggest economy braced for the possibility of more bank failures.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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Local Taliban blew up two private girls' colleges in Sangota area of Swat on Tuesday. Before bombing Excelsior Public Girls College and Sangota Public Girls College, the Taliban kidnapped two policemen and two security guards deployed there for security. Meanwhile, security forces arrested 10 key Taliban during a search operation in Matta and shifted them to an unknown place, Online reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
Because nothing says 'taliban' like a smoldering school
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/08/2008 0:56
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#2
The jihad lunatics are beyond depraved.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/08/2008 2:13
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#3
Capture taliban and chain 'em to girls' schools. It might at least make a few of 'em think for a second or two. Heck, that's enough to blow some talibunny's brain.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 2:30
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday signaled a readiness to lower U.S. interest rates in a dramatic shift to support an economy battered by a financial crisis of "historic dimension."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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Despite some evidence of a minimal policy response to the crisis generated by the latest spate of terrorist attacks across India -- in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi -- the reality remains that the reaction is still largely confined to shrill and partisan denunciation of largely symbolic policy proposals. What has been missed is a progressive marginalisation in our calculus of what Pakistan's Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI), the prime mover in all this, is trying to do. The overwhelming discourse has now focused on the supposed 'indigenisation' of so-called jihad, and on a range of measures, including harsher laws and the creation of new agencies for their implementation, which would be directed principally against our own citizens.
An incoherence of ideas continues to advance a false construct of 'Islamic' or 'Islamist' terrorism, while the reality is that, in both Afghanistan and India, what we are experiencing is, quite simply, ISI terrorism. This reality is, in no way, diluted by the fact that some of the perpetrators of terrorism are Indian citizens, with affiliation to extremist organisations created on Indian soil.
It is crucial that this reality be factored into our policy framework. While the improvement of security and intelligence on Indian soil is necessary, it is useful to recall the Irish Republican Army's admonition: "Remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always." Unless the fountainhead of terror is capped, there will always be a module that gets lucky, especially when the targets they seek are the softest and most vulnerable.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
10/08/2008
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An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday declared 11 suspected terrorists, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, as proclaimed offenders (POs). The terror suspects were allegedly involved in a case in which police and the law enforcement agencies arrested 12 persons and seized three explosives-laden vehicles in the limits of Sadiqabad Police Station.
Earlier, the court had issued the suspects' arrest warrants and ordered them to surrender, but they did not comply and were, therefore, declared POs. According to details, the Federal Investigation Agency and police want to question the POs included in the trial of the 12 suspected terrorists arrested from Dhok Kala Khan in June this year. The accused were allegedly plotting to blow up important buildings and kill prominent personalities.
This article starring:
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
MUHAMAD EJAZ OF WAH CANTONMENT
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
MUNIR DAR OF RAWALPINDI
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
NUR MUHAMAD OF MALAKAND
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
REHAN OF MIRANSHAH
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
SAID OF RAWALPINDI
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
SARDAR OF SWAT
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
SULEMAN OF RAWALPINDI
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
TARIQ OF DARRA ADAM KHEL
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
UBAIDUR REHMAN OF SWAT
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
WALI MUHAMAD
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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(AKI) - The United States has reiterated its support for an independent Kosovo and its opposition to any move to partition the country. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates made the remarks about Washington's position during a visit to Kosovo on Tuesday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic said in a recent interview he might consent to a partitioning of Kosovo's Serbian enclaves if all other efforts failed.
However, Gates said the US opposed partition. "Kosovo is an independent state...and the partitioning can't be a solution. Therefore the US supports territorial integrity of Kosovo," he concluded.
Gates, the highest US official to visit Kosovo since it declared independence, met Kosovar President Fatmir Seidiu and Prime Minister Hasim Taci in Pristina. He also visited American soldiers at the US military base of Bondsteel near Pristina. He made a brief stop in Kosovo between visits to Hungary and neighbouring Macedonia.
Gates said the 16,000 strong international force (KFOR) enjoyed great respect in Kosovo and would remain there as long at least until the end of next year. KFOR was deployed in Kosovo in 1999, after Serbian forces withdrew from the province following NATO bombing and the province was put under United Nations' control.
Serbia, which rejects Kosovo's independence, is fighting a diplomatic battle to retain the former province under its control. Close to 50 countries have recognised Kosovo in the past eight months, but Serbia's ally Russia has threatened to block a resolution recognising Kosovo in the United Nations' Security Council.
Seidiu and Taci thanked Gates for American support to Kosovo's independence bid and said they expected more countries to recognise it in the coming months.
Serbia has submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly demanding the International Court of Justice to consider the legality of Kosovo independence. The resolution will be considered by the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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ION WAFF.com > NATO TO BEGIN DRAWING UP [controversial] PLANS TO DEFEND EX-SOVIET BLOC MEMBERS/STATES FROM RUSSIA. Post-GEORGIA = US + UK approve, France + Germany still debating the proposal.
*STRATEGYPAGE > US F15's have begun patrols of LITHUANIAN-BALTIC SKIES near RUSS BORDER.
#2
Sometimes you have to bang your head at the stupidity of the people on your own side. Russia and about half the world have got their noses out of joint over recognition of Muslim Kosovo, which is in breach of every International Law regarding the integrity of sovereign states. You would think the US, after fighting a civil war over this issue would understand this. The only people who are happy are the 57 Muslim states led by Saudi Arabia.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip on Tuesday blamed what it called the "Jewish lobby" in the United States for the global financial crisis. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement that the crisis was due to "bad administrative and financial management and a bad banking system put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby."
He said that despite pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into a rescue package, U.S. President George W. Bush had remained silent about "the Jewish lobby that put the U.S. banking and financial sector into place."
Barhum added that the lobby "controls the U.S. elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said last week that the U.S. financial crisis has provoked an outpouring of anti-Semitism on the Internet, with Jews being blamed for the debacle on Wall Street. "The age-old canards about Jews and money are always just beneath the surface," said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the U.S. group which fights anti-Semitism.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
What took 'em so long?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2008 13:42
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#2
I did not know that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were part of the Jewish lobby.
Posted by: Scott R ||
10/08/2008 18:47
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European finance ministers on Tuesday more than doubled the guarantee on bank deposits to 50,000 Euros ($68,000) to help restore confidence in the continent's shaken banking system, even as ripples from the ongoing crisis claimed another casualty in Iceland and pummeled banking stocks in London.
Meeting in Luxembourg amid calls for a more coordinated response to the crisis, the ministers failed to come to terms on any broader proposals beyond raising the deposit guarantee from the current 20,000 Euros ($27,000).
The ministers, representing the 15 countries that use the Euro, said in a statement that they would continue monitoring the situation and coordinate their individual responses. The EU nations "all commit to take all necessary measures to enhance the soundness and stability of our banking system and to protect the deposits of individual savers," the statement said, the Associated Press reported from Luxembourg.
The increase in deposit insurance across the Eurozone replaces a patchwork of guarantees that emerged after Ireland acted unilaterally last week, creating a sense of confusion surrounding Europe's country-by-country response to the crisis.
There have been calls for even more significant action on the part of the Eurozone countries, but some nations -- most notably Germany -- have been hesitant to join in a common response.
As the ministers met, the crisis continued to ripple through the financial sector both inside and outside of the Eurozone.
Iceland nationalized Landsbanki, the nation's second largest bank, pegged its plummeting currency to the Euro, and announced it was negotiating with Russia for a loan. Prime Minister Geir Haarde was quoted by the BBC as saying the steps were needed to avoid "national bankruptcy."
In Moscow, officials announced they would make an additional $36 billion available to bolster Russian banks after a previous bailout efforts proved unable to restore confidence in the country's economy.
Media reports in London, meanwhile, indicated that the government was preparing an emergency plan to invest nearly 45 billion pounds ($80 billion) of public funds into several large banks -- news that sent U.K. bank shares tumbling.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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SIMI leader Safdar Nagori and four other accused in Ahmedabad serial blasts of July 26, were on Tuesday sent to police custody till October 14. The five accused Nagori, Abdul Sibley, Hafeez Hussain, Kamruddin Nagori and Amil Pervez were produced before metropolitan magistrate G M Patel after their one-day police remand ended on Tuesday.
The crime branch, investigating the blasts cases had sought 12-day police custody of the accused for their alleged role in the blast that took place in Naroda area of the city on July 26. But the court granted police custody of the accused till October 14.
While arguing the demand for custody of the five accused, special public prosecutor Mitesh Amin submitted that they were in touch with Indian Mujaheedin members arrested by the Mumbai and Delhi police. Their custody was also required to get more information about absconding SIMI members accused in the blasts cases and to find out about people who attended the 'Jihadi' meetings at camps held by the banned organisation, Amin said.
Meanwhile, accused Tanveer Pathan and Jahir Patel were sent to one-day police custody for allegedly planting bomb in Katargam area of the city. Another accused Raziuddin Nasir was also sent to one-day police custody for his alleged role in blast that took place in Maninagar area of the city.
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10/08/2008
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Police are pursuing DNA tests to identify the suicide bomber who attacked a Shia MNA in Bhakkar on Monday, and officials said he had received threats from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi sectarian group. "The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is active in the neighbouring Dera Ismail Khan district," senior police officer Iqbal Mahmood told AFP.
"Four police guards were on security duty with PML-N's Rashid Akbar Niwani at the time of the blast because [the Niwani family] had received threats from the same group previously," he said.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been accused of killing hundreds of Shias -- many of them in Dera Ismail Khan.
Many of the sectarian outfit's senior members are being sheltered in the nearby South Waziristan, the stronghold of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud with Afghanistan in the northwest and Dera Ismail Khan in the southeast, security officials said. A spokesman for Mehsud issued a denial. "Tehreek-e-Taliban is not involved. It is the work of those powers who have formed a lashkar (tribal militia) in the cities to create a rift among Muslims," Waliur Rehman told Reuters by telephone.
Punjab police chief Shaukat Javed told Reuters the suicide bomber's head had been found. "He was around 30 years old and looks as if he was ethnic Pashtun from a tribal area. Probably he had links with militants there." An investigation team under the supervision of the Sargodha regional police officer has been formed to investigate the attack, the state-run APP reported.
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10/08/2008
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(SomaliNet) A group of Somali pirates who have hijacked a tanker loaded with military supplies say they will fight to the death before giving in to Russian and U.S. authorities.
Hokay ...
U.S. and Russia have been unable to end the standoff and remain concerned that the ship's cargo of 33 tanks and other weapons could fall into enemy hands.
However, a local official reported that the pirates turned down a demand from Islamist insurgents for some of the arms.
The tense situation off the coast of Somalia began 11 days ago when the pirates took control of the Ukrainian vessel MV Faina. They have asked for a ransom of about $22 million, or 11 million British pounds, to release the 21 Ukrainian, Latvian and Russian hostages and the cargo.
"If we are attacked we will defend ourselves until every last one of us dies," Sugule Ali, a spokesman for the pirates, said in an interview over satellite telephone from the ship. "We only need money and if we are paid, then everything will be OK," he said. "No one can tell us what to do."
Ali's words came as U.S. warships continued to surround the ship and American helicopters buzzed overhead.
A Russian frigate is also expected to arrive within days.
It may come as some comfort to authorities that the group reportedly refused to hand over arms to the al Shabaab group, which opposes Somalia's interim government. But the outcome of the stand-off remains uncertain.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
See WIRED NEWS > CAN MERCENARIES [Contractor Companies] RETURN AS PIRATE FOES?
#2
How can the Somalian pirates hand over the arms to the other Somalian pirates (Shabaab) when the ship that they seized is surrounded by the American Navy? Just words?
#7
Enough of this death talk. Let's have some actual death, shall we?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/08/2008 10:41
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#8
Usually, if you have to say it, you don't mean it. And it's not like these pirates are fighting for some kind of ideology - they're just after loot.
#9
Other articles say they have lotsa guns, but at some point the refrigerator is gonna get empty. And maybe the only available take out will be ham sammiches.....(and beer).
And even if the authorities cave to the food demands, they could always 'enhance' the food with knock out drugs.
#11
If those are your preconditions before talks, so be it.
Everything that floats along the coast of Somalia should be sunk and any fascility that can launch or build a boat should be blasted. Sucks to be an innocent fisherman but that's life. Pirates cannot be tolerated.
Give a man a fish and he will eat today. Send an anti-ship missile his way and his eating problems are over...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/08/2008 12:20
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#13
I keep saying, but nobody's listening. The Somalis are like all Arabs, they follow the strong horse. One six-ship B-52 ARCLIGHT strike from 45,000 feet at 3AM would put an end to ALL the piracy along the Somali coast. It will surely suck for the town chosen as the first target, but in the end it'll save lives. Even knowing what it was, my first live introduction to ARCLIGHT nearly soiled my drawers to the knee. Can you imagine what it'd be like for a bunch of 7th-Century semi-nomads in the middle of the night? Flying at 45,000 feet, you don't hear a B-52. The only thing you hear are the screams of the bombs as they enter terminal velocity, and the sudden explosions that go on, and on, and on, and... The overpressure from the continuous explosions were enough to kill healthy, fully-grown Indian elephants (and just about everything else) five miles from the actual impact point. In Vietnam, the explosions tore to pieces huge trees 300 feet high and five or six feet around. Think of the impact where there are no trees or much of anything else to absorb the shock. Just one attack would change the entire complexion of the fight in the Muddled East. Add to that leaked information that the US is pulling 60-70 older "D" models out of mothballs and refurbishing them, and see which way the wind starts blowing.
The United States has forgotten that one of the major objectives of war is to make the enemy so afraid of you he quits without a fight. It's getting a lot of American military personnel killed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2008 16:16
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#14
I'm listening OP and in complete agreement. Wasn't the argument of an overall life saving one of the main arguments for that little 'event' in Japan back in August of 1945?
We've gone from 'Fat Man' and 'Little Boy' to 'A Nation of Pussies.'
#15
Old Patriot, I read exerpts from a VC diary about an Arclight. The guy was in the best hardened bunker they had and still I think he knew it was a miracle he lived. 10 feet of topsoil overturned.
I read that about the time of the original Gulf War. I pretty much knew anyone underneath our bombing was gonna be in no shape to fight afterwards.
The one thing Somalia hasn't really learned is there aren't many people that would even notice if one of their coastal towns disappeared.
#16
I can't speak for Air Force attitudes these days but based on conversations I've had lately I doubt you'd get any support for such a strike from Army officers, OP. Lots of reasons for it, including the ubiquity of electronic media a la abu Graib.
#18
WAFF > STRATEGYPAGE - FRANCE AND RUSSIA WANT TO PLAY ROUGH, in Affrique [AfRICA] agz Somali Pirates. UNO-UNSC formally requested to consider and approve MIL-LED "VIOLENT OPERATIONS" AGZ LOCAL PIRACY, espec as per Somali.
(SomaliNet) Denying it planned new talks later in the day with President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, Zimbabwe's opposition renewed a call on Monday for regional mediators to help break an impasse over a fragile power-sharing deal.
Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported that new talks would be held Monday on how to allocate contentious cabinet posts under the deal, which would keep Mugabe as president while naming opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister.
However, the spokesperson for Opposition Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said that no new talks were scheduled for Monday, and again called for regional mediators to step in to break the impasse with Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
"As far as we are concerned, there are no talks lined up today," spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP.
"Nothing has been concluded. Zanu-PF and Mugabe are trying to mislead the world and the nation," Chamisa said. "It is now time SADC and the AU come and assist in this matter," he added.
The MDC had called last week for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the African Union to help break the impasse, but Mugabe's party insisted that no outside mediation was needed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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Pakistan is awaiting help from its friends as the rupee edged to a record low to the dollar during the last few minutes of inter-bank trade on Tuesday, weighed down by worsening economic fundamentals and unrelenting demand for dollars to cover imports.
The rupee closed at 78.65/75 to the dollar in inter-bank market. The previous low was made at 78.65 on Monday. The rupee has lost 21.7 percent since the beginning of the year. In the kerb market, the rupee crossed 79 to the dollar for the first time.
With red lights flashing across Pakistan's macroeconomic dashboard, the rupee is expected to remain under pressure following a credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poors Rating Agency. The State Bank has just enough foreign currency to cover two months of imports, and a potential default on a sovereign loan is looming in February. Pakistan has a $500 million euro bond debt obligation due in February next year, but analysts believe a default to be averted.
"Risk of default on the bond debt obligation due in February 2009 may be a bit exaggerated," Farhan Rizvi, a senior analyst at JS Global Capital Ltd, said. "But if reserves continue to fall at $800 to $900 million per month, then certainly the concern to default will rise too," he said.
There is also a T-bill auction on Wednesday with a target of 80 billion rupees.
Some bankers said they expected the State Bank to reduce either banks' statutory liquidity requirement or their cash reserve ratio by at least 50 basis points or possibly both.
Analysts say Pakistan's best hope lies in the goodwill of multilateral lenders and friendly governments, like the US and Saudia Arabia. "We expect Pakistan's debt obligations to be covered through the 'Friends of Pakistan' conference lined up later this month coupled with about $5 billion to $6 billion through lateral foreign pledges," said Asad Farid, economist at AKD Securities Ltd.
Analysts said there are expectations that Pakistan would receive some aid from 'Friends of Pakistan' but were sceptical about the timing. "From the meeting this month, we could get commitments but the payment structure may be over a period of time or even a couple of years," JS Global's Rizvi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
So Zardari, what's 10% of flat broke?
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:10
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#2
More debt to be "forgiven" by us later? Let's cut our losses now and give up our seat at the game table.
#3
"Pakistan's best hope lies in the goodwill of multilateral lenders and friendly governments, like the US"
Sorry, Pakistan, but we're a little short right now, having spent all of our goodwill funds on drones and missiles to clean up your northwest doorstep.
Anti-government protesters were tear-gassed in Bangkok on Tuesday, even as Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat "escaped" from Parliament and his Deputy Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigned. The military-linked Mr. Chavalit, in charge of security affairs, cited his responsibility for the turn of events.
Over 100 persons, mostly protesters and a few security officials, were reported injured. An anti-government activist was killed, apparently in a "vehicle blast," according to opposition sources.
Trouble broke out after the protagonists of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-government umbrella group, sought to blockade Parliament, where Mr. Somchai was making a policy speech.
The activists, already occupying the Government House compound for over a month, intensified their campaign, following Sunday's arrest of their leader, Chamlong Srimuang.
Mr. Somchai finished his speech and "fled" by climbing over a fence near the building and landing on the premises of an adjacent royal mansion. This account, doing the rounds in Bangkok's political circles, was not challenged by the authorities; and the Prime Minister was said to have proceeded to the military headquarters for a prior appointment there.
The military chief, who was recently mandated to free the Government House from the PAD under an emergency decree that was confined to Bangkok, indicated his desire to steer clear of the civilian political tussle. And, the current protest in Bangkok is directed against the alleged political links between Mr. Somchai's People's Power Party and Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006.
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World stock markets suffered one of their worst days ever Monday amid fears that government responses to the global financial crisis, including the U.S. bailout and inconsistent moves by European leaders, would not be sufficient to prevent a worldwide recession. The day opened with heavy losses in Asia and the Middle East, followed by record losses in Europe and sharp drops in Latin America before the closing bell finally sounded to end another dismal day on Wall Street.
Central banks continued to pump billions of dollars into money markets in hopes of unlocking seized-up credit markets. The Bank of England will inject an additional 40 billion pounds, equivalent to about $70 billion, on Tuesday, according to Alistair Darling, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, or finance minister.
Australia's central bank on Tuesday cut its benchmark lending rate by a full point, to 6 percent, in its biggest rate cut in more than 16 years, the Associated Press reported. The news sent the country's stock market up nearly 2 percent in early trading. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged Tuesday. Tokyo's two main indexes fell to their lowest level in nearly five years. The Nikkei average was off 4.25 percent, and the broader Topix was down 4.67 percent. Markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai lost 5 percent of their value, and the Mumbai exchange was down more than 4 percent.
Saudi Arabia's stock market, the Arab world's largest, suffered one of its worst trading days on record, falling 9.81 percent. Even the exchange in Dubai, the Persian Gulf's roaring boomtown, ended 7.6 percent down.
In Europe, where ad hoc government responses to the crisis continued to confound investors, the Paris CAC 40 index finished down 9 percent, its largest single-day loss ever. London's FTSE 100 dropped 391 points, or 7.85 percent, its largest one-day drop since 1987. In Frankfurt, Germany, the DAX index was down 7 percent.
Russia's leading stock markets suffered record one-day losses, with the MICEX index losing 18.6 percent and the RTS 19.1 percent. Alarmed Russian officials were forced to halt trading on both exchanges to prevent an even worse free fall. "It's a bit like swimming," Digby Jones, a British government economic official, told the BBC. "You don't know where the bottom is, whether it's a foot below you or 10 feet below you."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
ASIAN NETTERS > opine that the US + UK are intentionally engaging in ECONOMIC/FINANCIAL IMPERIALISM???
The Kerala police on Monday arrested two persons for their suspected links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Abdul Hakeem, 22, from Azheekal, Guruvayur, and Shameer, 29, Karukapadathu Puthenveedu, Eriyad, Thrissur, were brought to the Police Club here on Tuesday for interrogation. Later the Paravoor Judicial First Class Magistrate remanded them to judicial custody till October 21.
The arrests were made by a special investigation team, headed by Deputy Inspector-General T.K. Vinod Kumar, on information that the duo attended a clandestine meeting of SIMI activists at Panayikulam on August 15, 2006. The police had taken 18 persons into custody. Five of them were arrested and the others released for lack of evidence.
Shibili and Ansar, who were among those arrested from Panayikulam and later released on bail, were again arrested from Indore with firearms in their possession. The State police decision to release 13 persons drew flak after the crackdown on SIMI activists some time ago.
The special team was formed in August 2008 to probe the Panayikulam meeting and also the reported arms training given to SIMI activists at Wagamon in Idukki district.
During interrogation, Shibili and Ansar were said to have confessed to attending the Wagamon camp. The special team is now after those who were let off after the Panayikulam meeting.
Though the team is specifically looking into the Panayikulam and Wagamon meetings, the suspected links of these persons with the recent blasts are also being probed, police sources said.
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The prosecution and trial of Indian Mujahideen-SIMI members for serials blasts across the country may see an anomaly: while modules hauled in by Mumbai Police will be proceeded against under the tough MCOCA, police in Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat may not have recourse to special laws.
The Maharashtra government's decision to use the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) is aimed at faster trials while increasing the prospects of conviction of the accused. This is because special MCOCA courts -- like those provided for under TADA and POTA -- can be expected to deal with the cases expeditiously.
While TADA courts had a mixed record -- some cases have carried on for years -- delays are also because of the complex nature of crimes as in the 1993 Mumbai bombings. But these courts have handed out convictions, as in the 1993 blasts itself and other cases like the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
TADA was an anti-terror law introduced after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; it was also subjected to misuse. The Gujarat government under Congress's Chimanbhai Patel in 1990-92 arrested thousands of farmers belonging to a BJP-affiliated union under TADA. Later, with successive court rulings, special laws were upheld, reformed and fine-tuned.
MCOCA was born after NDA convened a joint session of Parliament to pass POTA and like the central law -- repealed by UPA -- the Maharashtra law has certain provisions that give bite to anti-terrorism measures. Brought in by the Congress-NCP government, it has provisions for admitting wire taps and confessions before a senior police officer (to be repeated to a magistrate) as evidence, tougher bail conditions and stringent sentences for crimes that result in deaths.
As things stand, Delhi can use MCOCA as it is a Union territory and its police system is under the Union home ministry, but so far those arrested for the September 13 blasts have not been charged under this law. This could make, said official sources, the task of Delhi Police more complex apart from underscoring the dichotomy of linked modules being prosecuted under very different sets of laws.
Offical sources said taht while special laws had become politically contentious as they had been attacked for being "misused", particularly against minorities, they did make a difference. Special laws were a statement of the government's political will and stiff sentences acted as deterrents, underlining that terrorism was a high-risk enterprise.
While concerns over special laws and individual rights were valid, the larger question was whether special laws were required to tackle terrorism, given its national and international spread. In the case of IM-SIMI, despite the close coordination between the police forces of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi and UP, the Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad and UP court blast cases will be tried under varying laws.
Some of POTA's provisions like admissibility of wire taps have been included in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), but officials point out that establishing the conspiracy angle was not easy, particularly in the case of tech-savvy terrorists. When plans were made and discussed in code in internet chat rooms, through SMSs and in great secrecy, confessions were a valuable tool for investigators.
The political faultlines are also likely to sharpen as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has already launched a high-decibel campaign against the Congress and the UPA for keeping GUJCOCA on hold, alleging that the ruling alliance at the Centre was playing vote-bank politics. Similarly, Rajasthan's version of MCOCA remains in cold storage.
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Hundreds of British Tamils held a protest outside the Parliament complex here demanding an end to what they described as "indiscriminate" bombing of Tamil areas by Sri Lankan forces.
They carried banners in English and Tamil calling for the British government's help in seeking an end to the bombing.
"Britain -- help now. Diplomacy can wait. Starving people can't," said one banner. Another highlighted the plight of the "2,50,000 displaced Tamils" and asked: "What are we waiting for?"
Over 6,000 people participated
A spokesman for the British Tamil Forum, which organised the protest, claimed that more than 6,000 people from across Britain joined the protest -- the latest in a series of such demonstrations held in London. He said protesters were drawn from all faiths --Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims. A number of MPs also extended their support. "We wanted to draw attention of the general British public who are largely unaware of the state terrorism that has been unleashed against the Tamil civilian population back in Sri Lanka. Most people were flabbergasted when they heard that the government of Sri Lanka is bombing its own people," said Suren Surendiran, the Forum's media spokesman.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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A Nigerian UN peacekeeper was killed when up to 60 gunmen ambushed a patrol in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday. The sergeant died when 40 to 60 gunmen ambushed a patrol from the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission north of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, at around 5 p.m. on Monday, Kemal Saiki said.
His death brings to 10 the number of UN peacekeepers killed in hostile incidents since the launch of the joint mission on December 31.
"About 75 kilometers north of Nyala, they came into an ambush by unknown armed attackers. They were fired at. They replied," Saiki told AFP by telephone from Darfur. "The attackers withdrew but in this firefight we had one of our peacekeepers wounded. We arranged for him to be evacuated by helicopter but he died before he could be evacuated," added Saiki.
The spokesman said one assailant was wounded, captured and handed over to police but that there was no information on the identity of the attackers or their motivation.
The ambush came on the same day that the new head of UN peacekeeping arrived in Sudan, the biggest country in Africa, for a weeklong tour. Alain Le Roy was on Tuesday due to visit Abyei, the flashpoint town devastated by fighting in May that threatened to re-ignite a North-South civil war that ended with a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005. Le Roy is scheduled to visit Darfur on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - A Palestinian human rights group has complained to the Dutch government about its failure to arrest an Israeli minister to face torture charges in The Netherlands.
Media reports on Tuesday claimed that the Netherlands declared Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's spy agency Shin Bet, persona non-grata and advised him to leave the country when he was there in May. He is said to have escaped arrest in The Netherlands after a case was filed against him by a Palestinian man who claimed he was tortured in Israel.
Ayalon, minister without portfolio, was the head of Israel's security service, Shin Bet, when Palestinian Khalid al-Shami was allegedly tortured and held for 50 days in an Israeli jail in 2000. Israeli and Palestinian media reports said secret talks had taken place during Ayalon's visit between Dutch and Israeli authorities that averted the arrest of Ayalon.
"I think it was politically motivated, and that is why we are complaining," said Raji Sourani, lawyer and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI). "The rule of law was not applied in this specific case."
And who knows more about the rule of law than the Palestinians?
"That is why we are making this appeal in The Netherlands. We applied to the Attorney General's office when Ayalon was visiting there."
"The Dutch government informed the Israelis in case Ayalon comes back, he will face arrest and is persona non-grata," said Sourani.
Before Ayalon arrived in The Netherlands to attend a conference marking Israel's 60th anniversary, the PCHR approached the Dutch courts through an Amsterdam law firm asking for an arrest warrant, said Palestinian news agency Maan.
This article starring:
Ami Ayalon
Khalid al-Shami
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
May want to consider telling the Dutch to stick it in their arse.
Normally we look for somebody who's not on the other side to broker talks.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is willing to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, his spokesman said Tuesday, amid reports that the politician is already playing a key role. The offer came after a Pakistani newspaper reported that Sharif, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia, is helping to seek a settlement between the hard-line Taliban movement and the US-backed regime of President Hamid Karzai.
Pakistan backed the Taliban during Sharif's second spell in power from 1997 to 1999. He also has strong ties to Saudi Arabia, having spent seven years in exile there until his return to Pakistan last year.
Spokesman Siddiqul Farooq confirmed that Sharif had spent the last two weeks in Saudi Arabia for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, but told AFP that he could not immediately comment on the report.
"But Nawaz Sharif is a credible leader of Pakistan and he has dealt with Taliban wisely during his government in the past," Farooq said of the former prime minister. "He would be more than happy to play a role in national and international peace," he added. "I cannot say whether he has established any contact with Taliban and the Afghan government with Saudi Arabia's blessings," the spokesman added.
The Afghanistan government on Monday denied a US media report that a first round of negotiations took place in Saudi Arabia last month. Karzai has recently called for peace talks with the Taliban.
The Taliban were toppled in a US-led invasion after failing to hand over top leaders of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
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#1
Isnt he the Saudis spokesman in Pakistan re Sharia Law etc?
Posted by: Paul ||
10/08/2008 5:10
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#2
Does Fred have a photo of uncle Nawaz with a light bulb in his mouth? For the next time he spouts such a brilliant idea.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:07
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#3
TOPIX/WAFF > PAKISTAN: TRIBAL MILITIAS FIGHT ALONGSIDE PAKISTAN ARMY AGZ TALIBAN; + US WILLING TO ACCEPT CONDITIONAL TALIBAN RETURN TO POWER IN PAKISTAN [anti-AL QAEDA rift].
US' only two conditions is PERMANENT RENUNCIATION OF ARMED VIOLENCE + ADHERENCE/
OBEYANCE OF PAKI CONSTITUTION [incl. Voting Process].
(AKI) - Forty-three Taliban militants have been killed in clashes with US and Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan.
I saw another report that put it at 60 deaders...
The US military said on Tuesday that the militants attacked the allied troops with sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades in the Qalat district of Zabul province. The joint force said its troops retaliated and also called in air strikes that killed the militants. A civilian, working as a contractor for the US military, was wounded in the operation but there were no other casualties among the Afghan and US troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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(SomaliNet) Following recent attacks by the rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has renewed calls for the arrest of LRA leader Joseph Kony.
"Kony, just as he has many times in the past, uses the peace talks to gain time and support, to rearm and attack again. The price paid today by civilians is high," a statement issued yesterday in The Hague said. "The criminals remain at large and continue to commit crimes and they are threatening the entire region. Arrest is long overdue."
The prosecutor said the LRA attacked villages in the Haut Uele district in the DRC on September 17. "These attacks all follow a similar method with markets surrounded and looted, students abducted from school, properties burned and dozens of civilians killed, including several local chiefs," said the statement. "Tens of thousands have now been displaced."
The UN estimates that between 43,000 and 100,000 Congolese are on the run.
Ocampo's office collected information indicating that at the end of 2007, Kony issued orders to abduct 1,000 persons to expand the ranks of the LRA, the statement added.
The ICC in 2005 issued arrest warrants for Kony, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. The ICC prosecutor urged regional and international organisations to support the DRC and Uganda in the "planning and execution of the LRA arrests." He commended those who had complied with requests to cut off financial and other support to the LRA.
Meanwhile, the UN Peace Keeping Mission in the DRC has appealed to the governments of Uganda, Sudan and DRC to develop a joint strategic plan to deal with the LRA. The mission's political affairs officer, Jacob Mogeni, told a security conference in Arua on Friday: "As a UN force, we have no mandate to directly engage the rebels. In fact, we can't pursue them. We can only launch an offensive against the rebels if they fired at us."
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10/08/2008
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Three remote-controlled bombs went off one after the other in three juice shops in the Garhi Shahu area of Lahore on Tuesday, injuring seven including two children and a woman.
Lahore District Co-ordination Officer Sajjad Bhutta told AFP the bombs appeared designed to 'spread panic and fear' rather than kill. He said local religious hard-liners might have planted them to scare young unmarried couples who frequent the area. But there was no evidence and no claim of responsibility.
The first bomb went off in the Chhino Juice Corner near the Garhi Shahu Chowk, injuring two waiters, aged 12 and 14. Rescue officials said shopkeepers were asked to shut down and evacuate the area. Fifteen minutes later, the second explosion occurred in the Rehman Juice Corner, which had been closed.
The third bomb exploded another 15 minutes in the Dasco Juice Corner, injuring passers-by. The injured were taken to Ganga Ram Hospital and Mayo Hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
juice shops - why do they hate us?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2008 9:50
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Mauritania's military junta met top African Union officials in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, a day after an AU deadline for reinstating the ousted president passed unheeded. The eight-man delegation held talks with the pan-African body's top executive, Jean Ping, even as opposition protesters were set to defy a ban on demonstrations in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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North Korea has fired a short-range missile into the Yellow Sea, media reports said Tuesday. Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted officials as saying Tokyo was trying to verify a report from a third country that the communist nation fired a missile. NHK said the firing did not involve a ballistic missile.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said two missiles were fired Monday. The Japanese daily Mainichi carried a similar report and said it was a routine military exercise. Japanese officials said they could not confirm the media reports.
In Washington, the Pentagon declined to confirm or deny whether any missile firing had been detected. "We cannot provide information regarding specific intelligence," said Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Defense Department spokesman. "However, our concerns about missile activities in North Korea are long-standing and well documented.
"North Korea's development, deployment and proliferation of missiles and missile-related materials, equipment and technology pose a threat to the region and the world," Upton said.
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#1
fired a short-range missile into the Yellow Sea
Perhaps it was another long-range missile but that was as far as it got.
#3
Lest we get the impression the Norks are a bunch of buffoons. N Korea 'developing nuclear warhead' South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said intelligence authorities believe the North is preparing to test-fire an advanced model of the Taepodong-2 which could theoretically hit parts of the US west coast. It said the modified model would have a range of 10,000km, compared to 6700km currently.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:17
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#1
Employees or relatives of employees of AIG, Lehman Bros, Goldman Sachs, Wachovia, Countrywide, members of the US Congress, Ben Bernanke, and Hank Paulsen are prohibited from entry.
(SomaliNet) According to data from NATO, pirates have attacked six more vessels off the coast of Somalia in just the past week.
The now-infamous, weapons-clogged MV Faina remains in pirates' hands. And international tensions are ratcheting up by the day.
The latest attacks bring the total number of "piracy-related incidents" in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast to 93. A dozen vessels are currently being held for ransom. "Larger cargo/oil/gas/chemical tankers" are now the pirates' favorite target. The idea isn't just to make money off of a single attack. Often, the vessels are being hijacked "with the sole intention of using them" as "mother ships," to launch more small-boat strikes.
Often, the Islamic militants battling the Somali government benefit from the operations. The Al Shabaab group "received a five per cent cut of the $1.5 million paid out for a Spanish ship released several months ago," the Telegraph reports. But this time, the pirates allegedly dissed the insurgents.
"Al Shabaab wanted some weapons from the MV Faina but the pirates rejected their demands," an unnamed local official tells the paper. Maybe that's because there's now a Russian frigate closing in on the hijacked vessel "and a half-dozen U.S. warships within shouting distance," as the AP notes.
What exactly happens next is anyone's guess. "They have enough guns to fight for another 20 years," Ted Dagne, a Somalia analyst in Washington, tells the AP. "And there is no way to win a battle when the other side is in a suicidal mindset." Plus, they've got hostages.
Last week, however, the pirates seemed game to negotiate for the ship. But now, the Kenyan government has arrested the man at the center of the talks. Officials accused Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Program over being overly-cozy with the pirates. "Critics of the arrest, however, say Mr. Mwangura was arrested because he revealed that the hijacked arms were bound for Southern Sudan, which is under a UN arms embargo, and not Kenya," AllAfrica.com notes.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
someone had a graphic of the pirate attacks by location... can someone re-link it?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/08/2008 0:55
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#2
Ted Dagne, a Somalia analyst in Washington, tells the AP. "And there is no way to win a battle when the other side is in a suicidal mindset." Plus, they've got hostages.
I thought we did just that all the time in Iraq and Afghanistan???
So we should give up and go home?
This guy sounds like a real "expert".
The Constitution is Iraq's only viable road map to overcoming the bitter sectarianism that has torn the nation apart since the US-led invasion of 2003, leading Shiite politician Ammar al-Hakim told AFP. Hakim, eldest son of Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), is likely to take over the influential Shiite religious party from his father, who is undergoing treatment for lung cancer.
In an interview with AFP at his heavily fortified headquarters in Baghdad, Hakim said Iraq's feuding factions had to engage in constructive dialogue and adhere to the fledgling democracy's laws for the sake of national unity.
"We agree we must stick to the Constitution, to the laws and how the Constitution says power should be distributed," the up-and-coming politician said. "What is written in the Constitution in regards to power for the central government, we are going to support and the same goes for the local governments."
Hakim's party holds 30 seats in Parliament and is a key member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite-led coalition. The SIIC also has strong ties with the Iranian government.
However, differences have emerged with Maliki's Dawa party over the SIIC's championing of a federal system for Iraq with greater powers devolved to the provinces. "Such differences can always be solved as long as we rely on the Constitution as a base," said the 37-year-old Hakim. "A strong Iraq is not only one that has a strong capital. There should be strong local governments besides the strong capital," the politician said.
The Constitution was approved in October 2005. But it was largely rejected by Sunni Arabs who feared it would place too much power in the hands of regions, leave the country's vast oil resources in the hands of Shiites and Kurds and lead to a break-up of Iraq.
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The Islamist Hamas movement sent a delegation to Egypt Tuesday for talks aimed at restoring Palestinian unity amid a dispute over the presidency that could sharpen internal divisions. The delegation headed by Moussa Abu Marzuk, the number two official in Hamas' Damascus headquarters, also includes Mahmoud al-Zahar, Said Siyam and Khalil al-Hayya.
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Top executives at the failed insurance giant AIG spent more than $440,000 at a company retreat days after the federal government bailed out the company with $85 billion in taxpayer funds.
American International Group (AIG) paid the exclusive St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., more than $200,000 for rooms some costing as much at $1,000 a night as well as more than $150,000 in meals, according to released documents an testimony during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
"Less than one week after taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation," said committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat. The invoice also included almost $25,000 in spa and salon charges for pedicures, manicures, facials, massages and other services. "If a company is drowning and you're going to spend that kind of money, that's crazy," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat, at the hearing's morning session. "The American people are paying for that."
No current AIG officials are scheduled to testify at the hearing, though two former company chief executives Martin J. Sullivan and Robert B. Willumstad, are scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon. Lynn E. Turner, a former chief account with the Securities and Exchange Commission, told the committee that, based on known evidence, executives at AIG or other failed Wall Street firms shouldn't be criminally charged for their actions that lead to their company's financial demise.
"I don't think you send people to jail for making bad biz decisions," said Mr. Turner, who was one of two witnesses who testified at the hearing's morning session. But he added that if evidence later reveals that company officials were aware of illegal activities and kept quiet, "Then yes, a little time behind bars might be warranted."
Eric R. Dinallo, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, told the committee that the industry and regulators should have detected signs earlier that Wall Street practices were detrimental to the overall health of the industry. "It is the case that a lot of us... got wrong what was going to be the default rates, which our global economy hinges on," Mr. Dinallo said.
AIG only avoided collapse in September with a $85 billion Treasury loan, stock market losses began to plummet, prompting the Federal Reserve to inject $180 billion into the global market. The company's failure was followed by the most significant Wall Street downturn since the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks, prompting the Congress last week to approve a Bush administration plan to spend $700 billion to help rescue failing financial institutions.
The deal gave the government an 80 percent stake in AIG, the right to remove senior management and to veto payment of dividends to shareholders as ways to protect taxpayers. The hearing was the second in two days that the Oversight Committee held to explore the lead to the recent Wall Street crisis. On Monday, the committee heard testimony that Lehman Brothers doled out more than $20 million in bonuses to top executives just four days before the investment giant declared bankruptcy and accelerated last month.
#1
Oh, hooray! They found one example where they could make executive pay a public issue (thanks to the loan). Which does nothing to reduce the idiocy and irrelevance and degrading envy of the focus on executive compensation. If you don't like a company's executive pay, don't buy their stock or products, or don't work for them. Free country and all that. And spare us the illiterate bolshevik crap and bigotry.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/08/2008 1:04
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Financial glossary:
CEO Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET A random market movement causing an investor to temporarily mistake himself for a financial genius.
VALUE INVESTING The art of buying low and selling lower.
GROWTH INVESTING - The art of buying high and selling lower.
P/E RATIO The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market declines.
BROKER What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
MARKET CORRECTION What happens the day after you buy a stock.
CASH FLOW The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS What you jump out of when youre the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR Former investor whos now institutionalized.
PROFIT An archaic word no longer in use.
#4
The people with Rich Derangement Syndrom will eat up stories like this and think it's actually part of the credit problem and that it 'needs fixing'
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/08/2008 1:51
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#5
You can just feel the "SAVE THE COMPANY/HELP THE INVESTORS-CUSTOMERS" loyalty and ethics, can't ye???
#6
The deal gave the government an 80 percent stake in AIG, the right to remove senior management
I hope this retreat was senior management's farewell party.
If you don't like a company's executive pay, don't buy their stock
I was essentially forced to buy their stock, and I don't like the poor management judgement this expenditure demonstrates, so as an owner I wish to show my displeasure by firing them.
(And that claim of poor judgement holds even though this event was probably scheduled and contracted before TSHTF.)
#7
So much for the propaganda that senior executives are worth the piles of money shoveled to them.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 8:13
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#8
I think you guys are missing the point. They cried and sobbed and convinced the govt that they needed a bailout so they wouldn't go down the shitpipe, but hey have almost half a million to spend on a spa retreat that has nothing to do with generating revenue or mitigating this so-called crisis? I think what the author may be getting at is that they misrepresented the degree of difficulty they were if they have money for this sort of stuff.
The bailout money wasn't really for spa retreats, was it?
#9
I think Glenmore is right too, anyone who has a mutual fund or an Index fund has basically bought into stocks like this without much redress. Any employee under the AIG umbrella, and that's a lot of people, had no choice but to take their profit sharing and 401k in AIG stock. So, it isn't that easy to divest from AIG. I have yet to break it down in my funds, but I'm assuming it will be under 5%, their written policy on max holdings. But AIG employees just watched their retirements go down the crapper.
#10
That's my objection ed. These guys think they're smart and 'entitled', the same personal disease that afflicts so many others [particularly on everyone else's dime]. However, the evidence is that they're not. They're demonstration of ego says a lot about them and their approach to the 'problem'. It's an issue of efficiency and results not envy. $440k in psych counseling and transition training bills would have been far more appropriate.
#11
"more than $200,000 for rooms -- some costing as much at $1,000 a night"
Let's be fair here. There had to be more than just the top executives attending this meeting if the room tab hit more than 200 times the highest room rate. So this thing was not an impulse -- it was a long-planned meeting for a bunch of people and it was no doubt largely contracted in advance of the bailout.
Here's the big story in this article:
"On Monday, the committee heard testimony that Lehman Brothers doled out more than $20 million in bonuses to top executives just four days before the investment giant declared bankruptcy"
AIG execs' retreat after bailout angers lawmakers
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Tue Oct 7, 11:15 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.
AIG sent its executives to the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.
This was a top producers conference paid for well in advance.
The St. Regis conference included recognition for vital independent agents who distribute AIG American Generals products - insurance for individuals and businesses. AIG American General - a subsidiary of parent AIG - is in much, much better financial shape than AIG itself. Its one of our viable businesses, said AIG spokesman Joseph Norton. Theyre fully capitalized. Theyre fine. It wasnt a corporate kind of thing.
#15
The Regis also offers these two outstanding packages. I would recommend the Last Hurrah for the AIG crowd as well as many in Congress, but NOT for a preggies celebration.
Pamper Your Pooch Package
The package consists of an overnight stay in a Resort view guestroom, a personalized welcome letter to the pet, the exclusive St. Regis doggy bed, pet amenities including Sniffany & Co., Bark Jacobs, Dog Perignon, or Jimmy Chew toys, personalized silver food and water bowls, an array of treats, biscuits, and bones, along with an issue of Hollywood Dog! Pricing for this package begins at $545 per night. (two-night minimum required)
Last Hurrah Package
Enjoy a stay in a luxuriously appointed guest room, while you can indulge with a 60-minute couples massage - for her a Pregnancy massage and for him a Therapeutic massage, and a special take home amenity from Spa Gaucin. The package also includes a DVD selection of baby movies including Shes Having a Baby, Nine Months and Baby Boom, available through concierge. Also enjoy a special cravings menu which includes items such as Fried Chicken and French Fries, PB&J, Macaroni & Cheese, Angus Beef Burger, Warm Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream Sundae. The Last Hurrah package is available starting at $735 per night, excluding tax and gratuity, and is based on availability. For more information or to make reservations, please contact the resort at (949) 234-3200.
Firing bad management or those who misspend company money, or whatever, is fine with me and everybody, I'd guess.
But if it's really public business what private companies do with their money, because people work for them or have 401Ks or invest in mutual funds holding their stock, then I guess there IS nothing that isn't public business. Congress better staff up, lots of work coming their way.
And that's aside from the fact that this apparently was something for people not involved in the issues that brought down the huge company, and even for associated outsiders. Geez - some actual reporting from a wire service. Stop the presses (er, or something)!
I didn't follow the drama, but for those more informed, can AIG's fatal involvement in mortgage-related activities have anything to do with the departure of the former CEO or the actions of former NY AG Spitzer?
#18
It seems like if one branch of your business is fully capitalized and making money, you don't need a bailout. Why don't the bail themselves out if they can afford to do shit like this? Planned or not, no matter the branch, it was almost half a million for a golf weekend. I don't know if you guys pay taxes in the US, but this seems a pretty poor use for them.
#19
This discussion has been an interesting mix of issues.
(1) A corporation is not a "private" company, but an entity chartered by the government (often the state of Delaware). Its liability is limited -- the directors & stockholders are generally not on the hook for debts the corporation doesn't pay, or for damage the corporation might inflict on "the general welfare". Corporations have eternal life, and can accumulate assets & power in ways "real" human beings cannot. I suspect the original idea (centuries ago) was to create institutions like colleges and hospitals that were given special legal privileges in return for the benefits the community at large received. Over the centuries laws and court decisions have given corporations rights and privileges similar (or better than) to those of individuals, with little if any input from most of the flesh and blood people affected. Whether the benefits we the people have been receiving from many corporations (like AIG) are balanced by the harm the corp's have caused is currently open to public discussion.
(2) The administration of 401Ks tend to be as opaque as possible for the beneficiaries. Often the options for investing are unnecessarily narrow. Few have the opportunity to sell all stocks & go into cash equivalents, for example. It is interesting that 401K investors seem to pay attention to these issues only when the stock market is going down.
(3) Gross overcompensation of corporate executives suggests the corporation is being run by corporate insiders for the benefit of corporate insiders, rather than for the benefit of the stockholders. If corporate dividends paid to stockholders were comparable to corporate compensation for executives, this would not be an issue.
#20
AIG's stock has gone from $70.13 a share to $3.50 a share in 52 weeks. Seems to me that shareholders have much more of a legitimate claim on that $440,000 than the company's executives do. That's not illiterate bolshevik crap, its plundering your investors and pampering the pirates.
#21
OK, I'll ask the really important question: What, exactly, is $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees? Because I'm thinking high dollar sportin' ladies. But I must be off the mark on that, right? Somebody tell me I'm off the mark on that.
#22
Yes, you are. This is a spa resort - sports and other legitimate massage is a standard goodie offered at such places.
BTW, this sort of bash is the usual way to reward top sales people in a wide variety of organizations. If it isn't part of the official revenue contract the independent insurance agents get, it's certainly what they would all expect. Stop rewarding top agents from outside the firm and AIG stops selling policies at a sufficent rate to keep the rest of the corporate less under water ....
But in any case, as others have noted, the arrangements for this event were certainly made prior to the US Govt loan. Chances are most of the expenses were already incurred and could not be recovered by cancelling it.
#25
No need for hearings if nobody did anything illegal. I would remind you that it's not illegal to lose money and it's not illegal to project confidence in order to prevent cusotmers from fleeing in a panic.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/08/2008 22:13
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#26
I'd remind you that one of the key provisions of Sorbannes Oxley (SOX) is that CEO's are responsible for the accuracy of corporate financial statements. You don't wake up one morning and suddenly 'discover' billions of dollars in dodgy loans. Fraud is illegal. Covering up material financial data from regulators and shareholders is illegal. Someone needs to go to jail.
The U.S. Embassy issued a travel warning to American citizens living in Lebanon alerting them to possible violent actions around Mid October 2008 that will be targeting Americans.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
Send Biden in to negotiate.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/08/2008 12:40
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#2
Why anybody would want to visit Lebanon is beyond me; other than the fct that Yemen is closed.
If you want to get shot at, just vist Detroit and keep the $$ in the U.S.
South Korea is considering sending a navy ship to waters off Somalia, where its merchant ships have often fallen victim to pirates, the foreign minister said Tuesday. "We are discussing the issue of sending a navy ship to waters off [Somalia]," Yu Myung-Hwan told parliamentarians during an inspection of his ministry. He did not elaborate.
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10/08/2008
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A Southern Sudan Cabinet minister said on Tuesday that more than 20 women were arrested and beaten for allegedly dressing inappropriately under a new edict against "bad behavior."
"Between 20 and 30 girls were picked up from different points, hurled into police lorries, arrested and taken to the police station and some of them were beaten," said Mary Kiden Kimbo, the gender, social welfare and religious affairs minister in the semi-autonomous southern government. "This is absolutely not acceptable: it is not the job of police to judge what is and what is not a correct way to dress in such a manner of blanket punishment," she said.
The police crackdown on young women wearing trousers or short skirts follows an order from the commissioner of Juba county, the capital of Southern Sudan. Most of the women, said to be in their late teens and 20s, were rounded up as they left Catholic mass in Juba on Sunday, Kimbo said. Others were picked up in market places.
The order bans "all bad behaviors, activities and imported illicit cultures," according to a copy seen by AFP, signed by Juba's commissioner, Albert Pitia Redantore.
Inappropriate behavior may include wearing tight trousers, short skirts or skimpy tops considered "Western" attire.
The order, dated October 2, said that it aimed to "preserve the cultural values, dignity and achievements of the people of southern Sudan, checking out the intrusion of foreign cultures into our societies, for the sake of bringing up [a] good generation." Those deemed in contravention of the order are liable to three months imprisonment. Those convicted for a second time face another three-month sentence and a fine of 600 Sudanese pounds ($300).
Traditional values are important in largely Christian and animist Southern Sudan, which is recovering from decades of war against the mainly Muslim north. It was the imposition of Sharia law by the north that helped spark the southern rebellion, which was rooted in complaints of marginalization.
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10/08/2008
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Sri Lanka has counselled India and others concerned about the situation in the island country and welfare of Tamils to 'perceive marginalisation of the LTTE in the correct perspective' and not to be 'influenced by malicious propaganda' against the military campaign of the government targeting the Tigers.
In a suo motu statement on the floor of Parliament on the assassination of the former Sri Lankan Army General, Janaka Perara and several of his United National Party colleagues by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber in Anuradhapura on Monday, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama specifically referred to the move by National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan to summon the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi to express India's 'concern over the situation' in the island country.
"It is very important that all those who are concerned about Sri Lanka, including the welfare of the Tamil community, should perceive the marginalisation of the LTTE in the correct light. LTTE does not represent the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Therefore, military action against the LTTE should never be perceived as action against our brethren, the Tamil community. We are concerned about them and will work with them to ensure their welfare, security, and aspirations since they are our fellow citizens," he told the House.
Reminding members about reports of Mr. Narayanan expressing concern on the situation, the Minister reiterated Sri Lanka's policy of maintaining a close dialogue with India, with whom it has a 'time-tested relationship based on mutual goodwill and trust.'
Mr. Bogollagama said the Anuradhapura suicide attack makes it clear that the LTTE is 'firmly and irreversibly entrenched in the path of violence and terrorism' and it is not the time for recrimination or finger pointing.
"No attempt should be made to whitewash the LTTE and throw it a lifeline, as it faces imminent and certain defeat at the hands of our valiant security forces. All political parties who subscribe to democracy should unite and join hands with the government to once and for all rid Sri Lanka of the scourge of terrorism," the statement said.
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10/08/2008
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Settler leaders on Tuesday urged Defense Minister Ehud Barak not to transfer the security control of the West Bank town of Hebron to the Palestinian Authority. The leaders, from Hebron and the nearby settlements of Kiryat Arba and Gush Etzion, made this plea in a letter they sent in the wake of recent reports about the potential transfer of security control over the town.
In the letter, rabbis expressed shock and outrage about the proposal, which they say would transfer control to what they call "the Fatah and Tanzim terrorists known as the Palestinian Authority." They added, "Similar steps in the past have always lead to terrible bloodshed."
The letter detailed a number of terror attacks in which Jews were murdered by Palestinians in the area, including the killing of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pas and 12 Israel Defense Forces Soldiers. The settler leaders claim their deaths were caused by a previous attempt to transfer security control to the Palestinian Authority in 2002.
"A wave of terror washed over all of Israel, and terrorists from Hebron reached Haifa," the letter read. "All of this was a result of IDF forces withdrawing from the city and its transfer to the Palestinian Authority."
It went on to say that, "The transfer of security in Hebron to the terrorists of the PA will endanger the lives of thousands or residents in our area, and the lives of all citizens of Israel. All participants in this step are wanton and irresponsible and will not be able to say 'our hands did not spill this blood.'"
Tension often runs high in Hebron, home to some 180,000 Palestinians and around 650 settlers. The city is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians as it holds the Tomb of the Patriarchs, believed to be the burial place of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah.
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10/08/2008
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Syrian military leaders marked the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War Monday by saying that Syria was interested in peace, not war, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported.
"In their speeches, military leaders spoke about the just and comprehensive peace that Syria hopes for," SANA said.
Both Syria and Egypt consider the Yom Kippur War a victory over Israel, even though it ended with Israel still holding the land they ostensibly went to war to regain.
In Syria, the day was marked by President Bashar Assad's visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier and a 21-gun salute in each district.
An editorial published by Syrian newspaper Tishreen stated that the indirect peace talks with Israel constitute part of Syria's strategy to recover its lost land. Syria "is taking into account everything that a just peace demands," the editorial wrote, indicating that Damascus is willing to pay the price of normalizing relations with Israel. However, the editorial added, Syria would only countenance a peace that returned all the land it is seeking.
The editorial also called for Arab solidarity and joint action in light of the challenges facing the Arab world. The Yom Kippur War, in which the Syrian and Egyptian armies worked together to attack Israel, is viewed as an exemplar of such cooperation.
In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak said his country was not being swayed by various threats to the peace with Israel. In a speech to the nation, he vowed that Egypt was moving toward a better future.
Government opponents tried to embarrass the government by an attempt to organize a rally demanding an end to the blockade of Gaza. However, security officials quickly ended the rally.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
BIGNEWSNETWORK > IS AL QAEDA WINNING THE BATTLE? Despite seeming near-destruction as an Islamist organization vee the US-Allies, AQ has managed to recruit new generations of young and Western-raised fighters [e.g. in JORDAN]to fight in Iraq abd Afghanistan, via proclaimations that the US is waging [imperialist?]WAR AGZ ISLAM AROUND THE WORLD.
Also from SAME > NATO [Sec-Gen] SAYS WORLD [UNSC-UNO] MAY FAIL TO STOP IRAN FROM GETTING NUCLEAR BOMB.
#2
"part of Syria's strategy to recover its lost land"
See, there's the problem right there: it is not "its lost land" -- it is "land it lost". Syria started a war and lost its land. Now that is Israel's land, not its land. Once again the Islamic world does not understand cause and effect.
JALANDHAR: In a special operation in the Indo-Pak border, the BSF on Tuesday seized nine kg of heroin worth Rs 45 crore in the international market, at Border Out Post GG-I Fazilka.
The contraband was found concealed in nine packets at the outpost between Border Security Fence and international boundary, a BSF release said. The packets were found buried in soil and covered with grass near a tree around which a red cloth was tied.
Due to record production of opium in Afghanistan, the smugglers from across the border were constantly trying to push heroin into India for its onward destination to Europe and America, release added. In recent months, the BSF had seized 88 kg of heroin along the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2008
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#1
sadly only a tiny drop in a very large bucket
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/08/2008 0:58
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#2
I wonder what the total Afghan poppy crop sells for - at the farm, before refining, distribution and marketing costs.
#4
Opium Amounts to Half of Afghanistan's GDP in 2007, Reports UNODC n its final Afghan Opium Survey for 2007 issued today, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that opium is now equivalent to more than half (53%) of the country's licit GDP. Speaking at a conference in Brussels on the future of Afghanistan, hosted by Princeton University, the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, announced that the total export value of opiates produced in and trafficked from Afghanistan in 2007 is about $4 billion, a 29 per cent increase over 2006.
Approximately one quarter of this amount ($1 billion) is earned by opium farmers. District officials take a percentage through a tax on crops (known as "ushr"). Insurgents and warlords control the business of producing and distributing the drugs. The rest is made by drug traffickers.
While opium has a significant impact on the Afghan economy, massive profits are made abroad through its export as its value increases with every border crossing. The wholesale price of a gram of heroin is, on average, $2.50 in Afghanistan, $3.50 in Pakistan and Iran, $8 in Turkey, $12 in Albania, $18 in Slovenia or Slovakia, $22 in Germany, $30 in the United Kingdom, and $33 in Russia. Retail prices can be up to ten times as high as wholesale prices, also because of "cutting" that mixes the drug with other substances.
I'm guessing the other half of GDP comes from skimming aid.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2008 11:43
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#5
So for $5 billion we could give Afghanistan a 25% premium and buy their entire production, including the value of any in-country processing in addition to the farmer's value. Sounds cheaper than fighting the drug war here. Of course, the drug lords further up the chain might have something to say about it.
"The legal term of president Abbas ends on January 8 and Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not remain president for a single minute after this date," Hamas parliamentary leader Ahmed Bahar told AFP.
Hamas members of parliament said on Monday that they will not recognise Mahmud Abbas as president after January 8, a move that could sharpen the internal divisions plaguing the Palestinians.
Could?
"The legal term of president Abbas ends on January 8 and Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not remain president for a single minute after this date," Hamas parliamentary leader Ahmed Bahar told AFP. "On October 8, president Abbas must order the Central Committee for Elections to prepare for the next presidential election, which must take place on January 9," he added, following a meeting of the Hamas parliamentary bloc.
The Islamist movement has had no contacts with Abbas since it drove his forces from Gaza in a week of bloody fighting in June 2007 but the movement still recognises him as the head of the Palestinian Authority. When asked if Hamas would put forward a candidate to stand against Abbas, Bahar said: "All possibilities are under discussion." Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 but has never fielded a presidential candidate.
The Palestinian constitution says presidential elections must be held every four years, which Hamas interprets to mean that Abbas's term expires in 2009, since he was elected in January 2005. Under their interpretation, if Abbas does not step down, the speaker of parliament, Hamas MP Aziz Dweik, would become acting president. Since Dweik is currently in an Israeli jail,
Heh.
Bahar would serve in his place.
Abbas's supporters however cite a different provision of the constitution which says that presidential and parliamentary elections should be held together, which would extend Abbas's term to January 2010.
Bahar said Palestinian politics was entering a bloody "difficult" period but expressed hope that there would be ponies for everyone reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party, which have been bitterly divided since the Gaza takeover. Representatives from the two main Palestinian factions are due to meet in Cairo on November 4 to try to agree on a national unity government.
The current 120-member Palestinian parliament includes 74 Hamas MPs, 30 of whom are in Israeli custody. Israel and the West have in the past boycotted every Palestinian government that included Hamas, which they blacklist as a terrorist organisation.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday accused a "Jewish Lobby" in the United States of fomenting the global financial crisis.
The crisis was the result of "bad administrative and financial management and a bad banking system put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.
Barhum said that despite approving a bailout plan of $700 billion dollars, the U.S. government was ignoring the role of "the Jewish lobby that put the U.S. banking and financial sector into place."
This lobby, said Barhum, "controls the U.S. elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy."
The Anti-Defamation League reported last week a major upsurge in the number of anti-Semitic postings on the Internet relating to the financial crisis engulfing the United States.
The Jewish-American organization cited hundreds of posts regarding the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers and other institutions affected by the subprime mortgage crisis.
The messages railed against Jews in general, with some charging that Jews control the U.S. government and finance as part of a "Jew world order" and therefore are to blame for the economic turmoil.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said: "We know from modern history that whenever there is a downturn in the global economy, there will be an upturn in the level of anti-Semitism and bigotry, and that is what we are seeing now.
#3
For those of you who tend to forget what a walking Godwin Effect Hamas is, Hamas provides a reminder.
What is that, auto-Godwinizing?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/08/2008 7:06
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#4
Out of left field, It hit me totally by surprise. I don't know why, everyone knows jews are the root of all that is evil and stinky in this world. There's just one thing they don't explain: How does Israel profit from this turmoil???
#5
The "Jews are to blame for it" meme is only one of the Islamic world themes on this crisis. Another is "This shows Allah is against capitalism and credit".
#6
If Nancy Pelosi could get them to modify that to "Republican Jewish Lobby" they'd have a unified platform to speak from. Same style, same substance.
#7
I should have mentioned that the "this proves Islamic banking is best" meme is probably not going to work well in the Islamic world because the big banking companies in the Islamic world took basically the same major hits as did the banking companies in the non Islamic world.
And Sharia banking companies were, as I understand it, hit similarly (notwithstanding the 'no interest' boilerplate they just call it something else).
#8
Sun-tzu's maxim about knowing your enemy and knowing oneself is always applicable. Encourage your enemy (Hamas) to be as wiggy crazy as possible. If they can be induced to have delusions and see a screws within screws reality, all the better for us.
A nutjob is not going to be a calculated planner or a determined executor of any realistically effective strategy. He will be erratic as booga hell and blunder into the open just waiting to howl with a cement bag headed for the end of the pier.
Wave at him and let him have all the rope he needs.
Pirates holding a Ukrainian weapon-laden ship with the crew off the coast of Somalia are close to negotiating a deal for the vessel's release.
A group of estimated 50 pirates seized the Ukrainian freighter called MV Faina, about 200 miles off the coast of Somalia, on September 25, initially demanding USD 35 million as ransom. The ransom was later reduced to USD 20 million.
"A deal might be sealed by Wednesday and then we will issue a statement regarding the end of the matter," AFP quoted a pirate spokesman as saying Tuesday. Sugule Ali would not comment on the amount of ransom being negotiated.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the pirates may have further reduced the ransom demand. "There are high hopes we will release the ship within hours if they pay us USD 8 million," Jama Aden, a pirate onboard the ship told AP. Statements made by Aden, who reportedly answered Ali's phone, could not be verified.
The Faina was reportedly carrying 33 T-72 tanks, munitions, grenade launchers and other armaments to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. A surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia threatens to cripple world trade, London-based think tank Chatham House warned in a briefing paper last Wednesday.
Soaring insurance premiums for ships dispatched to the Suez Canal may prompt companies to bypass the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most important trading routes, and take the long route to Europe and North America around the Cape of Good Hope, it said.
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Britain's Finance Minister Alistair Darling will announce a rescue package for the UK banking system on Wednesday and a government source said it was likely to include public money being injected into banks.
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High speed chases, car crashes and illicit escapades may sound like a Hollywood movie, but citizens in Saudi Arabia were anything but amused by the antics of some overly enthusiastic officers from the religious police in recent days.
Officers from the from the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice gained attention in recent days for their attempts to crackdown on "illicit privacy," a term that refers to the prohibition against an unrelated man and woman being alone together.
A car chase in the capital Riyadh by officers who suspected a couple of "illicit privacy" ended in a crash that damaged several vehicles. The chase ended when the man's car hit a fence and four cars, according to eye-witness reports. Officers arrested the woman after brutally beating the man and taking his identity card, the paper reported. The owners of the cars involved said they would ask the Commission for compensation for the damage.
The actions of the officers violated the Commission's rules against car chases. Commission Deputy Chief Sheikh Ibrahim al-Howaimel vowed to penalize the officers, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported on Tuesday.
In Medina, Commission officers chased a man and his wife for alleged "illicit privacy," resulting in a dual car pileup. The man's brothers got in a brawl with police and the wife's brother, who tried to assault the Commission officers, was interrogated and released on bail.
The wife said she was the one who asked her husband not to stop because there was nothing to prove that the vehicle belonged to the Commission, and that is why she and her husband were scared and ran away.
Head of the Commission office in Medina Dr. Abdullah al-Zahrani said the officers were suspicious of the couple's behavior and asked the man to stop, but he refused. When the officers managed to stop him the woman he was with ran away and the man's wife took her place. The couple denied the accusations and the husband said he will seek compensation for slander.
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I am ready to negotiate with terrorists so long as they laid down arms, Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
"I want to make it clear that I can't negotiate at gunpoint," Asfandyar told a news conference in Peshawar. "I again appeal to these people, even though they have accepted the responsibility for the attack, that they come and sit, because issues can be resolved through talks, not through guns," he said.
"We still support dialogue and political solution to problems, but those holding guns must know that they have no place in our policy of peace," Asfandyar said.
He said the ANP would never tolerate terrorism whether he remained alive or not. "This is my motherland. We have sworn that we will defend it against all those who are out to disturb peace by attacking innocent civilians and bombing mosques and killing those offering prayers," he said. The ANP chief also asked all the political parties to shun their 'dubious' policies on terrorism. "There is no mid way. They [political parties] should either stand for peace or announce their support for the Taliban," he said.
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Pilotless aircraft continued their flights over Miranshah as tribesmen fired rockets to target them as they entered Pakistan's airspace on Tuesday.
According to locals, the tribesmen fired without success on the drones when they attempted to fly at low altitude in various areas of the agency. The tribesmen in the Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan Agency had also fired rockets at two drones that had crossed into Pakistan on October 5. The two drones entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan, locals said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
One way to help the tribals get rid of all those rpg's that have gone past their expiration date.
There are several possibilities here. The buzz overhead can induce frustration and fear. Excellent. Play it and orchestrate it. Make their inner soul express itself.
#8
I wonder, couldn't an ultra small drone be created for propaganda purposes/ It could fly for hours over enemy territory and broadcast at will and generally drive those on the ground quite goofy.
(PTI) A Pakistani court today deferred till next month the hearing of graft cases against former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and their kin due to a lack of judges in anti-corruption courts. The Special Judge (Central) Shaukat Ali Sajid in Rawalpindi adjourned the hearing of the three cases till November 7.
Prosecutor General Danishwar Malik of the National Accountability Bureau had told the court of the Special Judge last month that the cases against the Sharif brothers and their kin related to the amassing of wealth and property allegedly through illegal means.
The Sharif brothers were accused of illegally acquiring a paper mill, a foundry and their estate on the outskirts of Lahore in the cases filed by the previous government. The current Pakistan People's Party-led government had not filed any case against the Sharif family, Malik had informed the court.
The cases were revived shortly after the PML-N withdrew from the PPP-led ruling coalition in August, prompting PML-N leaders to accuse the government of victimising the Sharif brothers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's mother-in-law died Sunday afternoon, and the Obama campaign has canceled the Delaware senator's schedule through Tuesday, a spokesman said.
Jill Biden's mother after a long illness, said spokesman David Wade. "Other details will follow, but we appreciate everyone's respect for the family's privacy during this difficult time."
A grand jirga of Salarzai tribal elders in Bajaur Agency vowed on Tuesday to continue action against the Taliban.
The jirga decided to torch the houses of those found providing shelter to Taliban, while also imposing a fine of Rs 1 million on such people and expelling them from the agency.
Unwelcome Afghans: Meanwhile, Afghan refugees were returning to Afghanistan after officials accused them of links with Taliban and ordered them out. Bacha Khan, a police official at the Toorwandi border post in Bajaur, told AP that refugees had been crossing steadily into Afghanistan, while others had moved to other parts of Pakistan. He said an estimated 20,000 refugees had returned home in recent weeks.
An Afghan community leader in Khar, Bajaur's main town, urged the government to provide transport to the refugees who complied with the order to leave the agency. "We are poor people, and we don't have enough money to pay for the buses," Ghulam Jan said.
Kunar provincial police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said a total of 30,000 people had arrived from Pakistan.
Orakzai: Meanwhile, locals released 14 Taliban after foreigners withdrew from Orakzai Agency following negotiations with elders from Chapri Ferozkhel.
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(SomaliNet) An Italian, working for the United Nations in Somalia, was wounded in Merka, probably in an explosion.
The UN staff's driver was killed, reported a security official. The Crisis Unit of the Foreign Ministry stated that the official was wounded with a Somali colleague and that the conditions of the two were nothing to worry about. "It was a bomb placed on the side of the road that had as its objective the vehicle of the UN employee", explained Mohamed Mohamud Elmi, head of the security forces in the southern region of Shabelle.
According to a local UN employee, the attack took place in the late afternoon while the Italian and Somali were heading towards the office in Merka, coming from the airport. Witnesses reported that the bomb destroyed then automobile.
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The Federal Reserve stepped forward as a commercial lender of last resort and signaled a readiness to cut interest rates as governments around the world scrambled to stem the global financial crisis and calls arose for concerted action.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
TOPIX > WALL STREET CRISIS: THE ERA OF CHEAP BANK LOANS IS OVER. The end of Liberal Capitalism = super-convenient Lending-Investments. PERSONAL, LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CREDIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY COMING BACK WID A VENGEANCE.
D *** NG IT, CAN "EASY MONEY" SURVIVE IN 'CUZIN PARIS HILTON'S TOTALLY HOT, "GIVE ME PENCILS OR GIVE ME DEATH" OWG AMERIKA!?
[Theme from DRAGNET = WELCOME BACK, KOTTER? here].
The army has no intention of launching a military operation in North Waziristan, Seven Division Brigade Commander Brig Khushnood Iqbal Kiani said on Tuesday. Talking to a jirga in Mir Ali, he denied reports of an operation on October 10. He said the army wanted to restore peace with the co-operation of the people. "It is the duty of the people to strengthen the hands of the army in the fight against the anti-state elements disrupting peace," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Camp Fallujah, Iraq -- There's a poster that I saw featured on a military website here, one that showed a helmeted American G.I. saying this:
Rome, 8 Oct. (AKI) - An American veteran of the first Gulf War in Iraq claims that the United States dropped a five-kilotonne nuclear bomb in 1991 in a deserted area outside the southern city of Basra on the Iranian border.
An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday declared 11 suspected terrorists, including 
Police are pursuing DNA tests to identify the suicide bomber who attacked a Shia MNA in Bhakkar on Monday, and officials said he had received threats from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi sectarian group. "The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is active in the neighbouring Dera Ismail Khan district," senior police officer Iqbal Mahmood told AFP.
(SomaliNet) A group of Somali pirates who have hijacked a tanker loaded with military supplies say they will fight to the death before giving in to Russian and U.S. authorities. 
Pakistan is awaiting help from its friends as the rupee edged to a record low to the dollar during the last few minutes of inter-bank trade on Tuesday, weighed down by worsening economic fundamentals and unrelenting demand for dollars to cover imports.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is willing to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, his spokesman said Tuesday, amid reports that the politician is already playing a key role. The offer came after a Pakistani newspaper reported that Sharif, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia, is helping to seek a settlement between the hard-line Taliban movement and the US-backed regime of President Hamid Karzai.
(AKI) - Forty-three Taliban militants have been killed in clashes with US and Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan.
(SomaliNet) Following recent attacks by the rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has renewed calls for the arrest of LRA leader Joseph Kony. 
North Korea has fired a short-range missile into the Yellow Sea, media reports said Tuesday. Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted officials as saying Tokyo was trying to verify a report from a third country that the communist nation fired a missile. NHK said the firing did not involve a ballistic missile.
Syrian military leaders marked the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War Monday by saying that Syria was interested in peace, not war, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported. 
Pirates holding a Ukrainian weapon-laden ship with the crew off the coast of Somalia are close to negotiating a deal for the vessel's release. 
A grand jirga of Salarzai tribal elders in Bajaur Agency vowed on Tuesday to continue action against the Taliban.
(SomaliNet) An Italian, working for the United Nations in Somalia, was wounded in Merka, probably in an explosion. 
The army has no intention of launching a military operation in North Waziristan, Seven Division Brigade Commander Brig Khushnood Iqbal Kiani said on Tuesday. Talking to a jirga in Mir Ali, he denied reports of an operation on October 10. He said the army wanted to restore peace with the co-operation of the people. "It is the duty of the people to strengthen the hands of the army in the fight against the anti-state elements disrupting peace," he said.
