she was a real piece of work and married to John Conyers (D-stolen frozen turkeys) who remains a Congressional Black Caucus and Demo party stalwart. Wish he could join her

#1: John and Monica. Pillars of the community. Detroit deserves everything that happens to it.

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 19:30 ||Comments

#2: wow! that stock Fredphoto™ went large!

Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-10 19:32 ||Comments

JihadJane, an American woman, faces terrorism charges (unveiled photo at link) A petite, blond-haired, blue-eyed high school dropout who allegedly used the nickname JihadJane was identified Tuesday as an alleged terrorist intent on recruiting others to her cause, as federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges that could send her to prison for life. Colleen Renee LaRose, 46, has been quietly held in U.S. custody since October on suspicions that she provided material support to terrorists and traveled to Sweden to launch an attack, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is continuing to unfold. Across the ocean Tuesday, Irish police conducted morning raids in Cork and Waterford, arresting four men and three women who had been under electronic surveillance by U.S. and Swedish authorities. The seven were suspected of plotting with LaRose to attack a Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, whose 2007 drawing of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog enraged Muslims, according to Irish news accounts. Mark Wilson, a lawyer for LaRose at the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia, declined to comment. LaRose has not yet been scheduled for an arraignment on the charges, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy. The path that LaRose, who is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs barely more than 100 pounds, may have taken to jihad remains murky. She has been married at least twice and, over several years since the mid-1980s, had been arrested in South Texas for writing bad checks and driving while intoxicated, according to court records obtained by The Washington Post. She's not been successful, as the world measures such things. Investigators suggest that she turned to the Internet a few years ago, using the names JihadJane and Fatima LaRose. In a December 2007 Internet posting located by The Post, "Fatima LaRose," who said she lived in Pennsylvania, asked for advice about how to bring an Egyptian boyfriend with whom she had been corresponding for more than a year to the United States for Christmas. Niiiice -- living with one man for five years, taking care of his home and his elderly father, looking to bring in another. By March 2009, LaRose had reached out to the Swedish Embassy for information about how to acquire permanent residency in Sweden. The man identified as her potential fiance sent her instructions to "go to sweden . . . find location of" the target and "kill him . . . this is what i say to u." FBI agents interviewed LaRose in July 2009 in Pennsylvania, where she told them that she had not solicited money for terrorism or posted on a terrorist Web site, according to the indictment, nor used the handle "JihadJane." In August, LaRose removed and hid the hard drive from her home computer, authorities said. The same day, she traveled to Sweden "with the intent to live and train with jihadists, and to find and kill" her target, the indictment said. LaRose took with her the U.S. passport of a man identified only as "K.G.," with whom she lived, to give it to "the brothers," the indictment said. K.G. testified to the grand jury that he had not given her his passport. In September, she performed online searches to find her target, joined an electronic community that he hosted and journeyed to his artists' enclave in Sweden, the indictment said. By Sept. 30, LaRose e-mailed the man identified as her fiance, saying it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" him and asserting that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!" Ladies, if your man wants you to kill or die for him, that's a sign he is not your Prince Charming. LaRose ultimately returned to the United States, where she was charged in October in a criminal complaint with helping transfer a U.S. passport belonging to K.G. K.G. is Kurt Gorman, the boyfriend of five years. He had no idea what she did all day at home while he was running the family company. She disappeared the day after his father's funeral. She appeared in court in Pennsylvania on Oct. 16, where she was appointed a public defender, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney and a representative in the public defender's office. Authorities declined to address Tuesday why the grand jury indictment of LaRose remained under seal for so long and whether she may have helped law enforcement during her months-long incarceration. Boyfriend: 'Jihad Jane' Suspect Wasn't Religious Her boyfriend of five years said LaRose had never hinted at Muslim leanings or attended religious services of any kind. Kurt Gorman, 47, of Pennsburg, said that he met LaRose in Texas and that nothing seemed amiss until she moved out of their apartment without warning in August. "I came home and she was gone. It doesn't make any sense," he said Wednesday outside his small business in nearby Quakertown. "She was a good-hearted person." LaRose, 46, of Pennsburg but with close ties to south Texas, has been held without bail since her Oct. 15 arrest in Philadelphia. LaRose had targeted Vilks and had online discussions about her plans with at least one of several suspects apprehended over that plot Tuesday in Ireland, according to the U.S. official. Irish police said Wednesday those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name. U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said the indictment doesn't link LaRose to any organized terror groups. Neighbor: LaRose weird lady across the hall, notorious for drunken fights CNN report embedded at the bottom of the page links LaRose to RevolutionMuslim.com, which belongs to an Al Qaeda sympathiser living in New York City. The Indictment (11 page PDF) The New York Times adds: A police statement issued Wednesday in Dublin said the Irish arrests followed a joint investigation by police in Ireland, the United States and "a number of European countries," and that the suspects were being held at four police stations in an area about 100 miles south of Dublin, under a law that allowed for them to be held for up to seven days for questioning. News reports in Ireland said that the seven being held were from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the United States, and were aged between their mid-20's and late 40's. The Irish Times reported that American investigators believe that the leader of the group was an Algerian who has been living in Ireland for the past 10 years. The MySpace page appears to have been pulled. The NYT's embedded link yields a 404-Page Not Found. If convicted, LaRose faces life in prison and a US$ 1 million fine

Jim Geraghty, "Campaign Spot" @ National Review Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas last night threatened to support a primary challenger against Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) if he doesn't support the health-care bill. "What he is doing is undermining this reform," he said. "He is making common cause with Republicans. And I think that is a perfect excuse and a rational one for a primary challenge." Filing deadline for federal candidates in Ohio for the 2010 election: February 18. Best be working on that filing right quick, there, Markos.

#1: "How dare his own personal convictions contrast with groupthink! Quick...to the bag of weed!"

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 17:10 ||Comments

#2: Well, time is distorted when smoking weed.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 18:00 ||Comments

The powerful House Appropriations Committee announced Wednesday it will no longer approve earmarks directed at for-profit companies. Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.) and newly appointed defense appropriations subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) made their ruling less than an hour after House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) asked that House Republicans meet to take up a unilateral moratorium on earmark spending. In a statement Obey said that "these new policies are not intended to be a one-year experiment. They are intended to be a long-term proposition." A number of Democrats and Republicans have undertaken efforts to rein in so-called "pork barrel" spending in recent days, sparking a battle between the parties over who can best reform the earmark process. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has lobbied members of her party in recent days to impose a moratorium on earmarks in order to get out in front of Republicans on the issue. Republicans discussed enacting a ban in the last Congress, but a vote never materialized. That the Appropriations Committee decided to bar for-profit earmarks signals that Democrats are looking to make a splash with their effort. Dicks' successor atop the defense appropriations subcommittee, the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), was known for handing out millions of dollars in earmarks to defense contractors to create projects in his district. Murtha's propensity to dole out cash for his district sparked several probes by the ethics committee and federal prosecutors. Government watchdogs have for years decried the use of earmarks, saying that they are wasteful and cause corruption. Several lawmakers have pushed for reform for several years, but spending has ballooned under both Republican and Democratic Congresses. Obey and Dicks claim that 1,000 earmark requests would have been turned down last year if the rule was in place on their panel. The ruling also requires agencies to audit at least 5 percent of non-profit earmarks. They also announced the creation of a program that allow companies that don't have connections to the Pentagon to present their products to Defense Department officials. In a release, the two Democrats also touted earmark reforms enacted by Democrats in 2007 and 2009 related to earmark disclosure. But earmark disclosure reforms pushed by the Obama administration has not reduced the amount of spending, according to a recent report by Taxpayers for Common Sense. Two Republicans have taken up the issue in addition to Boehner. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has indicated he will force a vote on a one-year moratorium on earmarks when the Senate takes up its extenders bill, which is expected to happen Wednesday. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is planning to offer a privileged resolution on the House floor requesting better guidance from the ethics committee on taking campaign contributions from companies that accept earmarks. Republicans have argued that Democratic proposals won't go far enough in cutting earmarks. In a statement, Flake praised the committee's move but said more is needed. “Banning earmarks to private companies leaves untouched the millions of dollars wasted every year by earmarks, but it is a good first step in addressing the corruption that stems from the practice,” he said. “I hope that Republicans take these restrictions a step further and impose a moratorium on all earmarks this year."

#1: ...and cause corruption. Cause nothing, they ARE corruption.

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 18:56 ||Comments

#2: So basically, this means that stuff like Defense work, which is mostly done by for-profit companies, will be outside the earmark mechanism, while less venally-driven ventures, like the non-profit ACORN, will still be eligible.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain|| 2010-03-10 19:32 ||Comments

#3: A half assed job by a half assed congress.

Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-10 19:34 ||Comments

#4: I hope the high pitched whine of Murtha spinning in his grave doesn't keep the folks in Pennsylvania awake tonight...

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 19:50 ||Comments

The twisted scheme by which Democratic leaders plan to bend the rules to ram President Obama’s massive health care legislation through Congress now has a name: the Slaughter Solution. The Slaughter Solution is a plan by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the Democratic chair of the powerful House Rules Committee and a key ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to get the health care legislation through the House without an actual vote on the Senate-passed health care bill. You see, Democratic leaders currently lack the votes needed to pass the Senate health care bill through the House. Under Slaughter’s scheme, Democratic leaders will overcome this problem by simply “deeming” the Senate bill passed in the House - without an actual vote by members of the House. An article in this morning’s edition of National Journal’s CongressDaily breaks the story, starting with the headline: “SLAUGHTER PREPS RULE TO AVOID DIRECT VOTE ON SENATE BILL.” Excerpts: House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday. Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

#1: --She can take her constituents dentures and stick it ......

Posted by: Tom--Pa|| 2010-03-10 18:44 ||Comments

The propaganda campaign by the US government is trying to mask the fact that the economic recovery plan is failing and that America is rapidly losing confidence in Team Obama. You cannot have a sustained recovery without changing the underlying conditions that caused the failure in the first place. In addition to the media blitz dissected by Yves Smith in the essay excerpted below, I have never seen such a load of rubbish being put forward with regard to the markets in US financial assets and commodities, and I have seen quite a bit in the last twenty years. In particular, the campaigns against gold and silver in particular are heavy-handed, obvious, and reaching the point of hysteria. The shorts are trapped, hopelessly trapped, and unable to deliver on their massive short positions. They are only able to manipulate the price in short term bursts, and continue to dig themselves deeper as the world demand continues to drain them. Whoever heard of a bubble in which the major money center banks are so perilously short it? A bubble requires a broad participation and belief, and the encouragement of the market makers. And now a statement from an "SEC official" that there is a gold bubble. This, from the very people who allegedly could not see the tech, housing and credit bubbles until they fell on top of them. And of course there are the funds and the wealthy, who mouth the same party line while lining their portfolios with huge positions and personal holdings. Various exigencies can compel the big players to make statements swearing gold and silver are no good, no store of value against all the evidence of history. But the fact remains that the US dollar reserve currency regime is falling apart, tumbling like the humpty-dumpty construct that it is. And the status quo is shitting their collective pants about it, and the likely backlash from the public when their deceptions are exposed. Don't expect the Ancien Régime fiancier to fall easily, quietly, or quickly. But it will change; change is the only inevitability. And we all suspect what will remain standing when the dust settles. All this noise seems more like haggling over a larger quantity for a better price, and a clearer path to the exit. Even the liberals are beginning to notice and take heed.

#1: These morons in Washington have screwed up the economy royally. You can't have a sustained recovery without a manufacturing base that provides good long-term jobs for people. About the only people doing well in this recession [depression] are politicians, government workers, and the financial people on Wall Street that helped get us in this mess. You cannot have a healthy economy when it is all directed from Washington and when it ignores the private sector.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 18:48 ||Comments

#2: JohnQC and all knowledgeable Ranties, can someone explain what kind of manufacturing base is even possible in this day and age that would provide large scale job potential? It seems that all the mass employment areas have long since been transferred to computerized equipment and that there are no auto-industries that could gainfully employ large numbers of relatively untrained workers. This isn't the depression when thousands of backs with shovels are needed. I'm not a luddite and not averse to progress but I don't have a vision for a new economy with a high number of well paid jobs. Heck, there's even less need for programmers than 25 years ago do to the amount of automation in that business. (30+ years in software here so I know what I'm talking about) Where are the jobs that make good money in the new world and how are people going to be trained to fill them? It seems that high paying jobs for most people was also a bubble that is bursting.

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 19:08 ||Comments

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist. Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon". Father Amorth, who has just published Memoirs of an Exorcist, a series of interviews with the Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti, said that the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981 had been the work of the Devil, as had an incident last Christmas when a mentally disturbed woman threw herself at Pope Benedict XVI at the start of Midnight Mass, pulling him to the ground. Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, a Rome-based exorcist, said that Father Amorth had "gone well beyond the evidence" in claiming that Satan had infiltrated the Vatican corridors. "Cardinals might be better or worse, but all have upright intentions and seek the glory of God," he said. Some Vatican officials were more pious than others, "but from there to affirm that some cardinals are members of satanic sects is an unacceptable distance." Father Amorth told La Repubblica that the devil was "pure spirit, invisible. But he manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable. At times he makes fun of me."

#1: Can we get Father Amorth to make a call on 1600 Pennsylvania Av.?

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 15:57 ||Comments

#2: That's our responsibility. One of the catches that go with a republic.

Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-10 16:57 ||Comments

#3: sex abuse scandals in my Catholic Church were a demonstration of the powerful to hide, obfuscate, and enable disgusting and (sinful and morally) unacceptable behavior. The offending parties are being rooted out (have been for the most part) and hopefully prevented forever. Evil has a face, and sometimes it's simply "the convenient over the difficult, but necessary". Sad to say, fallible human nature includes the clergy, but one expects, and rightfully demands, more

Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-10 19:29 ||Comments

What could go wrong? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to encourage public retirement funds that control more than $2 trillion to buy all or part of failed lenders, taking a more direct role in propping up the banking system, said people briefed on the matter. Direct investments may allow funds such as those in Oregon, New Jersey and California to cut fees for private-equity managers, and the agency to get better prices for distressed assets, the people said. They declined to be identified because talks with regulators are confidential. Oregon's retirement fund may contribute $100 million as regulators seek "the support of state pension funds to solve the crisis surrounding ongoing bank failures," Jay Fewel, a senior investment officer at the Oregon State Treasury, said in a presentation at the fund's Feb. 24 meeting. New Jersey's fund may also participate, said Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey's State Investment Council. The FDIC shuttered 140 lenders last year and expects the tally may be higher in 2010. Regulators have avoided signing up private-equity firms as rescuers on concern that they might take too much risk. Pension funds, whose 100 largest members manage $2.4 trillion, could provide capital to acquire deposits and outstanding loans from collapsed banks, according to the people. Welcome Mat "The FDIC is constantly looking at structures where we can get the greatest opportunity to tap into capital that we have not had the success reaching through previous disposition methods," FDIC spokeswoman Michele Heller said in an e-mailed statement. "We welcome and work with all investors." Current rules don't prohibit pension funds from buying failed banks. Until now, they have typically chosen to invest through private-equity firms using limited partnerships, which gives pension funds little to no control over the day-to-day management of the investments. They also pay management fees levied on the amount of money committed as well as a percentage of any profit. "We've been examining a broad range of alternatives to take advantage of what I believe are attractive transactions coming out of the FDIC," said New Jersey's Kramer. The state pension system faced a shortfall of about $46 billion as of last year because of investment declines and a failure to make full contributions, according to annual financial reports. Oregon State Fund Oregon would invest in Community Bancorp LLC, a bank being formed by Sageview Capital LLC, according to the Oregon presentation. Sageview was founded by former Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. executives Scott Stuart and Ned Gilhuly. Sageview is looking to raise about $1 billion from pension funds and similar investors, the presentation said. While the structure makes sense, pension funds would be better off investing in existing banks, said Chris Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics of Torrance, California. At those lenders, management will oversee details of buying failed lenders and save pension funds the time and effort needed to launch a new bank, he said. "If they are really interested in playing this area, they should put their money into a larger bank that's already playing here," Whalen said. "If you look at the risk-reward and the distraction involved, it's not worth it" to back a new bank, he said. Investing in distressed banks doesn't always pay off, as the U.S. Treasury Department learned with the Troubled Asset Relief Program. At least 60 lenders skipped some of their promised dividends to the TARP fund, according to SNL Financial, and a $2.33 billion stake in CIT Group Inc. was wiped out last year when the lender went bankrupt. Amegy's Paul Murphy Sageview, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Palo Alto, California, would get yearly fees as an adviser and would also invest about $100 million of its own. Ruth Pachman, a spokeswoman for Community Bancorp, declined to comment. Community Bancorp will look to buy three or four banks in the next three years and will be run by Paul Murphy, the presentation said. Murphy built Houston-based Amegy Bank into a $12.3 billion-asset lender over more than a decade, and it's now owned by Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation. "We're pleased with the Oregon decision," Murphy said in an interview. He declined to comment further as the group is still raising capital and in a "quiet period." Spokesman James Sinks at Oregon's Treasury said the state is still negotiating its commitment, and declined elaborate. Calpers Presentation After the credit crisis ate into private-equity returns, pension managers started looking for ways to trim fees and boost returns. The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension fund, said in a Feb. 16 presentation that one of its goals is to increase its "co-investments" in transactions alongside money managers. That kind of structure could give the pension fund an actual stake in firms purchased, rather than the private-equity firm's buyout fund, according to the people. Known as Calpers, the pension fund plans to "explore unique structures with select general partners," according to the presentation. The fund's investment portfolio was valued at $203.3 billion as of Dec. 31, according to the Calpers Web site. Spokesman Brad Pacheco didn't respond to a request for comment. Regulators have been debating how much leeway to give private buyers of failed banks on concern that they're more likely to put federally insured deposits at risk, or will look to flip the bank for a quick profit. Longer Horizon Private-equity managed funds typically promise they'll return funds to their investors in about 10 years. Pension funds are aiming to fund retirements that are decades away and thus can hold on to investments longer, which would help ease the FDIC's concern, said one of the people. FDIC guarantees may soften the risk of investing public pension money in distressed banks, Whalen said. When the FDIC sells a failed bank, it typically shares a portion of the loan losses. "Financially sophisticated people do not assume that banks have recognized all of their real estate losses," Kramer said, adding that it can still be a bad deal if a buyer overpays for a deposit franchise or if loans perform worse than expected. "We are in the early innings for commercial real estate."

#1: Dead horse. Stick. If they had rechartered Hamilton's Bank of the United States for 20 years back in the fall of 2008 to absorb all these banks and institutions, taking not just the debt but the assets as well would we still be here with crap like this? You would have seen the Wall Street firms pay big bucks for a lot of the banks and the like and take the debt in order to get their hands on them rather than see the assets disappear for 20 years. We're killing little ones so that the Big Ones won't have competition in the future rather than consolidating our own Big One from the market. Instead we pass the assets on and suck up the debt in the continuing wave of FDIC closures.

Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-10 16:51 ||Comments

#2: "Seriously. Two Words. 'Gigli 2'. It will be a guaranteed box-office smash. Trust me. The public is dying to see Ben Affleck and J-Lo together again. You'll make a fortune!...Hello?...Hello?"

Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-10 17:52 ||Comments

Reuters) - A suspected mastermind of the Bali bombings was killed in a police raid in Indonesia in the latest blow to an Islamist militant movement in the world's most populous Muslim country. Dulmatin, who once trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, was one of three militants killed in a shootout with police at an Internet cafe and a house nearby, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday. "Today I can announce to you that after a successful police raid against the terrorists hiding out in Jakarta yesterday, we can confirm that one of those that was killed was Dulmatin, one of the top Southeast Asian terrorists," Yudhoyono said in a speech in Australia's parliament house in Canberra. The series of police raids that led to Dulmatin's death will be seen as a coup in Indonesia's fight against Islamist radicals ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit March 20-22. But analysts said Dulmatin's emergence in Indonesia with a new group showed a worrisome ability of local militants to forge international links, including with al Qaeda-affiliated outfits. Police shot dead Dulmatin, who they said fired at officers with a revolver he was carrying, and two others in a series of coordinated raids on the outskirts of Jakarta on Tuesday. Dulmatin's body was identified after DNA tests and also by his chin shape, eyebrows and freckles, police said on Wednesday. The other two men killed were said to be his bodyguards. Dulmatin, an electronics specialist, was a top bomb technician for the Southeast Asian Islamist militant group, Jemaah Islamiah. Authorities say he helped plan the suicide bombings that ripped apart two night clubs in Bali and killed 202 people in 2002. He fled to the southern Philippines in 2003 and the U.S. government had a $10 million reward for his capture. The 40-year-old who was born in Central Java is said to have been wounded after escaping a raid by Philippine security forces. JIHADIST BASE Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, has launched raids across the archipelago following the discovery of a militant Islamist training camp in Aceh last month. Books on jihad, rifles and military uniforms were found during the raids in which 21 suspected members of the group were detained in Aceh and Java. Aceh's governor, Irwandi Yusuf, was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying on Tuesday the group planned to set up a Southeast Asian jihadist network in the Sumatran province. Analysts said Dulmatin had the capability to succeed Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian-born militant and bomb maker killed by police last year during a raid in central Java. Top, who set up a violent splinter group of Jemaah Islamiah, masterminded a series of bombings including suicide attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July. Sidney Jones, an expert at the International Crisis Group, said the new group was also a splinter of Jemaah Islamiah, likely calling itself the Aceh branch of al Qaeda for Southeast Asia (Tandzim Al Qoidah Indonesia Wilayah Serambi Makkah) Jones said that the militants were probably planning attacks but the recent arrests and deaths should have damaged their capacity to carry them out for now. But the analyst said it was unclear if there were other Aceh-like cells and the re-emergence of Dulmatin in Indonesia showed the worrying extent of the international links Indonesia militants have forged. "This means that there probably was far more coordination with the Philippines over the last five years than we had any appreciation of," she said. In the Philippines, Dulmatin was last thought to be operating with the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, along with another Indonesian wanted over the Bali bombings, Umar Patek. National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a news conference that the raids in Jakarta had turned up remote controls that could be used to detonate bombs. He also said that Dulmatin was more dangerous than some other well known militants, including expert bomb-maker Azahari Husin, who was killed by Indonesian police. Dulmatin's group had secured 500 million rupiah ($54,500) to buy weapons and for military training, with more money available, he added. Security analyst Dynno Chressbon said Dulmatin's group was believed to have supplied about 27 weapons, including M-16s and AK-47s to the group in Aceh. Since the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesian authorities have captured or killed around 440 militant suspects, with around 250 convicted in courts and three executed by firing squad.

#1: Wuz spotted, shot down like a dog.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 12:53 ||Comments

#2: Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88 Shades of the Crazy 88?

Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-10 13:55 ||Comments

#3: identified after DNA tests and also by his chin shape, eyebrows and freckles Does this imply that said parts were not ummm, contiguous when ID was made?

Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-10 17:40 ||Comments

Militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the offices of a US-based Christian charity in Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six aid workers in an attack blamed on Islamist rebels. The gunmen stormed the World Vision building near the town of Oghi in the Mansehra district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have waged a deadly campaign. The aid group condemned the attack as "brutal and senseless", and indefinitely suspended all of World Vision?s operations in Pakistan, where the charity has about 300 staff. World Vision said six Pakistani employees, including two women, were killed and seven others wounded when up to 15 gunmen arrived in pick-up vehicles and began firing on the aid workers. "They gathered all of us in one room. The gunmen, some of whom had their faces covered, also snatched our mobile phones," said World Vision administration officer Mohammad Sajid, who was in the office at the time. "They dragged people one by one and shifted to an adjacent room and shot and killed them... After that one of them said: 'It is enough, we should leave now'. While leaving they lobbed grenades." Rienk van Velzen, World Vision's regional communications director, told AFP by telephone from the Netherlands that all staff in the office were Pakistani. "We have four male and two female staff members killed," he said. The organisation has operated in the area since October 2005, when aid workers flooded into the northwest after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless.

#1: WV is one of the best clean charities out there. They don't suck up a lot of money into salaries, etc. They do good work and get the money to the people who need it with minimal loss. These Mulsims are beasts. And this is who Obama wants to favor over India.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 16:18 ||Comments

#2: What Spook said. WV is probably the most effective large charity in the world.

Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-10 16:26 ||Comments

LEADING papers have published a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog by a caricaturist who was the target of an assassination plot. The Dagens Nyheter newspaper said it was publishing the cartoon of Muslims arrested in Ireland as a sign of solidarity with the artist Lars Vilks. "Lars Vilks is not alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the end, a threat against all Swedish people," Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial which reproduced the controversial cartoon. Irish police arrested seven Muslims suspected of conspiracy to murder Vilks because of his cartoon. The four men and three women were arrested yesterday in the towns of Cork and Waterford in an operation coordinated with US and European security agencies. Police said there was a plot to assassinate Vilks, who has a $100,000 bounty on his head from an Al Qaeda-linked group. Dagens Nyheter called on the Swedish state to give Vilks "all the protection he needs." It said authorities must take action "against an attack aiming at one of our most fundamental rights, freedom of expression." The Expressen tabloid also published the cartoon with a picture of Vilks. "Expressen decided to publish the drawing for two reasons: To allow readers to see the controversial work and to defend freedom of expression which is more and more threatened," it said in an editorial. "An open society must show that (it) will not give in to threats, that it is ready to fight for freedom of expression." The regional daily Nerikes Allehanda first published Vilks' satirical cartoon on Aug. 18, 2007, to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression. It caused controversy in Sweden and abroad, and a group linked to Al Qaeda offered $100,000 for the killing of Vilks. Vilks said Tuesday he was not worried by the arrests in Ireland or the threats on his life. "I'm not shaking with fear, exactly," he told Swedish news agency TT.

#1: Antligen, lite ryggrad, men kanske for sent?

Posted by: rhodesiafever|| 2010-03-10 16:57 ||Comments

Committee members find ways to excuse colleagues' bad behavior. What does it take for a member of Congress to get in real trouble with the House ethics committee? Quite a lot. In fact, only one lawmaker -- Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. -- has merited even a wrist slap since Democrats were swept into the majority in 2007 on a wave of voter revulsion to scandals engulfing Republicans in Congress. Back then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through more stringent rules, vowed stricter enforcement and famously promised to "drain the swamp." Well, she's going to need a bigger pump. So far, the supposedly invigorated bipartisan House ethics committee has: Handed down its limpest discipline, an "admonishment," after finding that Rangel had taken two free trips to Caribbean conferences even though he should have known that big corporations indirectly financed them in violation of House rules. The committee has yet to finish reviewing Rangel's more serious ethical problems, such as glaring omissions on his congressional financial disclosure statements. (Pending the outcome, Rangel has taken a "leave of absence" from his powerful post as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.) Exonerated five others who took the same trips as Rangel. The committee bought their stories that they didn't know about corporate sponsorship. Funny, conference photos show lawmakers standing in front of a bunch of corporate logos. Maybe they were blinded by the Caribbean sun. Essentially gave lawmakers a go-ahead to solicit campaign donations from business executives and lobbyists who apparently believe they're paying for federal contracts. Last month, the committee cleared seven members despite the findings by an independent investigative panel that two of them -- Reps. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan. -- might have tacitly tied requests for campaign donations to legislative earmarks profiting specific companies. Visclosky, according to the panel's report, solicited contributions from a lobbying firm and its clients and gave the companies special access to himself and his staff one week before an earmarking session. Even though the committee found nothing wrong, federal prosecutors are investigating. Issued guidance telling lawmakers how to get around one of the more hated of the new ethics rules, which was supposed to end the practice of lobbyists throwing lavish parties to fete members. In 2008, the 10-member ethics panel said such parties are OK if they honor multiple members. All of this is a far cry from the Democrats' vows to improve the Republicans' old see-no-evil ethics apparatus. The Democrats like to point out that they created an independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to investigate allegations, recommend action to the ethics committee and issue public reports. But they promptly emasculated their new creation by failing to give it subpoena power and ignoring its findings in several cases, despite evidence that members violated House rules. Sadly, there is nothing new about ethically challenged lawmakers or ethics committees that act more as enablers than policemen. The solutions, too, have been obvious for a long time. The House needs an OCE with real investigative powers, an ethics committee that actually cares about ethics, and a speaker willing to stand up for strict rules when powerful members get caught breaking them. Until honest, ethical members take a stand, the sleazy behavior so accepted on Capitol Hill will continue to tar them all.

#1: Comparing Swamp Thing to Congressvarmints? I suspect you'll be hearing from Cousin Swampy's lawyers about this.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain|| 2010-03-10 14:42 ||Comments

#2: [Pelosi] promised to "drain the swamp." Well, she's going to need a bigger pump. Or someone who is up to the task. Or a much, much smaller swamp as the result of the November 2010 election.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 17:55 ||Comments

#3: She didn't drain the swamp. She's turning into a Hot Tub.

Posted by: Creating Mussolini9716|| 2010-03-10 19:09 ||Comments

#4: She didn't intend to drain it. She has dredged it so now it's deeper and the water "cleaner" so as not to endanger the Dems that are wallowing in C Musso's hot tub.

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 19:14 ||Comments

You can find more about the overall incident and a link to what a "roundabout dog" is here.

#1: Never heard the expression, something like an urban version of the Post Turtle or is it more cutting like surrounded by the modern world with no escape but to bark, bite and piss?

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 11:54 ||Comments

#2: I saw this in a bathroom stall once. I didn't think it was a big deal.

Posted by: Omique Gonque4915|| 2010-03-10 14:53 ||Comments

#3: From Wikipedia: A roundabout dog (Swedish: rondellhund, originally Östgötsk rondellhund, "Ostrogothian roundabout dog") is a form of street installation, which began occurring during the autumn of 2006 in cities and towns all over Sweden. Anonymous people put out homemade dog sculptures, typically made of wood (or sometimes plastic, metal and textile) in roundabouts. The phenomenon has been reported all over Sweden and has also started occurring in other countries, such as Spain after it was being mentioned on Spanish television (PuntoDos).[1] Swedish tabloid paper Expressen even placed one at Piccadilly Circus.[2]

Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-10 15:36 ||Comments

#4: So, since Muzzies get there knickers in a twist about this picture it must be a good likeness of ol' 'hamhead, huh? Ugly pisant ain't he?

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 15:54 ||Comments

#5: I'm waiting for "Piss Mohammed" myself...

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:16 ||Comments

#6: Sooo...kinda a garden gnome..or as a sort of civil protest? Just trying the understand the context. I mean, if someone did a Boticelli style painting of mo looking into a pool and seeing a million faces of mo and none of the matching his perfection, a mockery of sorts, then yeah I would put that there with piss cross if grading on a level of uproar potential. As it was said this looked like bathroom graffitti. It could have been see-through mo with the thin skin, a ton of other things. Just trying to understand why get upset about this (which is the point of course).

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 16:31 ||Comments

#7: It's a remarkable likeness - considering it was done on an etch-a-sketch!

Posted by: LeighG|| 2010-03-10 18:08 ||Comments

#8: Damn insulting to dogs if you ask me.

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 19:42 ||Comments

Just seven minutes into Glenn Beck's hour-long interview of Eric Massa on Tuesday evening, things had already gone very wrong. Conservatives had hopes that the now-former Democratic congressman from Upstate New York, who resigned abruptly under an ethics cloud, would deliver the goods about corruption and strong-arm tactics in the Obama White House and Congress. But instead, Massa served up an icky new confession. "Now they're saying I groped a male staffer," he volunteered. "Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday."

#1: Massa was just looking for another soap box. I don't get him; he was an Annapolis graduate and a career naval officer. Turns out he is kind of goofy. Perhaps what he had to say was true; maybe not.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 18:36 ||Comments

#2: I think the part about his party being corrupt and using thug tactics is true; the rest maybe.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 18:36 ||Comments

#3: --This is now the 4th vacancy in the House with the potential to be a YES to the bill, just sayin? (Fl 19, Pa 12, Hi 1, now NY 29)-- (Senate bill officially expires 12/24/10)

Posted by: Tom--Pa|| 2010-03-10 19:09 ||Comments

#4: I get the storyline: like Tiger Woods all these incidents with the various D's were not common knowledge but well known so why are they all coming out now? New York snubbed the overauthority of KSM, various other deeds by the WH, this guy and others like Kucinich catching hell for being their own instead of blanks for the party vote. I get that, not a Beck fan, long shot interview to say the least.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 19:17 ||Comments

In September 2006, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders treated AB 32's enactment as a huge milestone. Meant to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming, the law forced a shift to cleaner-but-costlier forms of energy. This shift would be accomplished with a "cap-and-trade" system in which companies would buy and sell their emission rations, creating market incentives to reduce pollution. The landmark legislation was meant to inspire other states, the federal government and the rest of the world to follow suit with similar laws. The governor was so sure this would happen that he declared the bill "will change the course of history." Forty-two months later, this claim looks silly. No other state has imposed a similar law. The Senate has grown increasingly cold to a measure the House approved last summer. Most tellingly, a December summit in Copenhagen meant to build a global cap-and-trade consensus went nowhere. Why? Because there is a widespread assumption that it is not a good idea to suddenly force the use of costlier energy during an economic downturn that has wiped out tens of millions of jobs around the world. This common sense is on display in Washington. On Jan. 20, seven Senate Democrats -- including California's Dianne Feinstein -- called for "cap-and-trade" to be put aside in favor of an intense focus on jobs and reviving the economy. But in Sacramento -- even with unemployment at a 70-year high of 12.7 percent -- this common sense is assailed. Even as the respected, nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office warns that AB 32's implementation would force the loss of jobs, proposals to suspend AB 32 by Republican lawmakers and GOP gubernatorial candidates are ridiculed by the governor and the likely Democratic candidate to replace him. Schwarzenegger calls the idea a throwback to the "Stone Age." Attorney General Jerry Brown is similarly contemptuous. What is driving this immense disconnect? Why would they dismiss what looks like common sense to the rest of the world? Why are they so blithe even as the LAO warns AB 32 is likely to make the state's astronomical unemployment rate even higher? The answer with Schwarzenegger lies in his abiding conviction that the 2006 law will lead to his being remembered as a global green giant -- even as the evidence accumulates that its main effect was not to inspire the world but to kneecap California's economy. The answer with Brown lies in his determination to woo greener-than-thou West Los Angeles and Bay Area liberals -- even as the evidence accumulates that AB 32 will destroy blue-collar jobs held by the folks Democrats are supposed to care most about. Either way, these key leaders aren't helping Californians. Perhaps when state unemployment reaches 15 percent, what's common sense to the rest of the world will finally register with the governor and his would-be successor.

#1: its main effect was not to inspire the world but to kneecap California's economy. The INTENT of the global equivalent is to kneecap the US economy. California is demonstrating the effectiveness.

Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-10 13:00 ||Comments

The economic crisis and the resulting growing unrest offer the EU government in Brussels a welcome opportunity to quietly test the deployment of a 'secret' EU force, which was established to put down uprisings in the EU. This secret unit is called EUROGENDFOR, has its headquarters in northern Italy, and is now preparing to leave for Greece, to be deployed against the population of an EU country. In Brussels, all preparations are being made to for the first time employ the 'secret' EU force to crack down on uprisings. Most Europeans have never heard of this 'secret' unit. The staff of the European task force of 3,000 troops has its headquarters In the Italian town of Vicenza [in the "Generale Chinotto" barracks], and is called "EUROGENDFOR". It was initiated by the former French Defense Minister Alliot-Marie after the French had to deal more and more frequently with internal uprisings of Muslim immigrant youth with street battles and looting. With the powers of the secret service, the equipped unit must in close cooperation with the European military guarantee the 'security in European foci of crises'. It is its duty as a police force to crush rebellions. More and more EU countries are joining EUROGENDFOR. From the Eurogendfor website: "...the EGF HQ is now developing a comprehensive and coherent operational system, which will permit to be ready in case of prompt deployment to crisis areas. EGF goal is to provide the International Community with a valid and operational instrument for crisis management, first and foremost at disposal of EU, but also of other International Organizations, as NATO, UN and OSCE, and ad hoc coalitions." Note: Turkey joins the European Gendarmerie force as Observer. "Furthermore," Furthermore EGF states: "...it is excellently suitable for deployment parallel with or immediately after a military operation to maintain public order and safety as well as in situations where local police services are not (sufficiently) deployed. Since January 2007, the EU has in theory always had two battlegroups on call, each comprising at least 1500 combat soldiers." EUROGENDFOR is nothing else but a paramilitary police unit which in times of crisis can be deployed instead of the regularly army, so as not to raise the impression that an army of the country itself would fire on its own citizens. To that purpose the secret unit EUROGENDFOR exists. The European Gendarmerie Force could theoretically be deployed anywhere the EU sees a crisis -- for example, when an EU country does not ratify the Lisbon Treaty, or against the will of the central government in Brussels wants to leave the EU. It's in the Lisbon Treaty, which regulates the deployment of EUROGENDFOR.

#1: I'm sure this would go over well among the Greeks. At least there doesn't appear to be any German involvement.

Posted by: DoDo|| 2010-03-10 11:20 ||Comments

#2: Well, if it was needed, this is a perfect statement that there is no such thing as national sovereignty left in the EU. Greeks no longer control their country and every other "nation" in the EU is the same. Who will be the next to feel the weight of the EU? Portugal? Italy? Spain? If the EU goes after a larger "province" with its police might, things could get a trifle interesting, no?

Posted by: Alanc|| 2010-03-10 13:19 ||Comments

#3: Where do they get the idea this force is going to Greece? It sounds like a glorified policeman's association to me. The sort of thing that could muster a few thousand troops of lousy quality, not some sort of ridiculous fascist boot brigade.

Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-10 14:00 ||Comments

#4: The peoples of Europe are about to find out just how "free" they are. Big brother is watching you.

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 14:01 ||Comments

#5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUROGENDFOR Call it a hunch, but I suspect that the European intent is to model this after one of the 40+ US national police agencies. Which one, I have no idea.

Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-10 14:36 ||Comments

#6: If they do go to Greece, I hope they get butchered. I want to see the complete collapse of the EU and then a disbanding and return to its individual Nation States & currencies.

Posted by: Don Vito Uleash|| 2010-03-10 15:49 ||Comments

#7: The Brussels Journal is getting a little paranoid here. So far in Greece, all that has happened is a few Lefties and trade unionists have instigated some minor disturbances. Wait till next year and the year after when the austerity measures really bite and the Greek economy goes into a major slump. You may well see large scale disturbances then.

Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-10 16:40 ||Comments

It has been said well and famously that politicians only really commit a gaffe when they tell the truth without meaning to. Add House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the list. Speaking Tuesday to the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, Pelosi began the windup of her healthcare pitch by alluding to the controversies over the healthcare bill and the process by which it has reached its current state. Then, just after saying, "It's going to be very, very exciting," Pelosi gaffed, telling the local elected officials assembled that Congress "[has] to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it, away from the fog of controversy." This is the same Nancy Pelosi who, only weeks earlier, was bragging about the transparency of the process that produced the bill that is currently stalled in Congress. The same Pelosi who brushed aside concerns raised by organizations like Let Freedom Ring!--where I am a senior fellow--that members of Congress actually commit to reading the bill before voting for it and that it be posted online for at least 72 hours before any vote so that the American people can read it, too. In fact, as supporters of the current healthcare bill will no doubt point out, the bill Pelosi and the White House are trying to move to the president's desk passed the Senate at Christmas. It has been on the Web for well over 72 hours; indeed it has been discussed and dissected by healthcare policy experts repeatedly over the last two months. But if that is the case, why is Pelosi telling the National Association of Counties that the bill has to pass before they--and the rest of us "can find out what's in it." What is she hiding?

#1: Ah yeaz, the olde snapping gum parlor trick.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 11:16 ||Comments

#2: Just like poker, huh, Nancy? You have to match the other guy's bet if you want to see his cards? Too rich for my blood. I'm out.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305|| 2010-03-10 12:32 ||Comments

#3: This is just outrageous! She wants the American people to buy a "pig in a poke." These people will do anything to pass this abortion of a bill. It is not about health care for the Amercian people but about a sheer, raw grab for power.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 18:05 ||Comments

Road signs warning drivers that intoxicated people may be in the road have been put up as Romania tries to reduce the number of accidents. The signs read "Attention — Drunks" and show a reveller crawling along with a bottle in his hand. Petru Antal, the Mayor of Pecica in Romania said his town had a vibrant nightlife. "We are a border town and have lots of cars thundering through here all the time," he said. "But we also have a very vibrant nightlife and the two don't mix. We have to target the drivers because by the time they get to this state the pedestrians are beyond caring."

#1: Yeah, no drunken kids will be stealing those things every weekend, right?

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:33 ||Comments

#2: The crosswalk would only be 1 line perp. to the road? Reminds me of the joke of the city driver out in the country upset at hitting the deer b/c the deer didn't cross at the sign.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 18:51 ||Comments

China's exports jumped by 46% in February compared with a year ago, raising hopes of a strong recovery in global trade. The increase was higher than analysts' expectations of a rise of between 35% and 40%. The recovery seems to have gained legs and this will give China's government more confidence to start revaluing the yuan. Ren Xianfang, IHS Global Insight It is likely to increase pressure on the Chinese government to raise the value of the yuan, which the US in particular complains is undervalued. China's imports also rose strongly, increasing by 44.7% last month. The rise in imports reduced China's trade surplus to a one-year low of $7.6bn (£5bn) for February.

Is the Middle East about to go officially nuclear? Dual announcements Tuesday by bitter rivals Israel and Syria that they want to pursue atomic power plants could complicate the diplomatic storm over Iran's nuclear program and fuel a widening web of suspicion across the Middle East. In a region where few trust each other to keep a nuclear program peaceful, Israel -- which is widely thought to have a secret nuclear weapons program -- is unlikely to accept Syrian assurances its program is civilian. Looming in the background Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates also have ambitions to develop nuclear power. Israel's Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau dodged regional politics in announcing his country's intentions at a nuclear energy conference in Paris, painting them instead in earth friendly tones. "We need this energy source because it is environmentally clean," Landau told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference. Nuclear fission contributes far less to global warming than burning of coal, but it worries many because of the risks of long-term waste storage and proliferation of potentially deadly nuclear technology. Building atomic power plants would enable Israel to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels and meet its long-term energy needs. Such construction could also increase pressure on Israel to open its facilities to inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which would shine a spotlight on an area the country has long kept secret. The Jewish state is used to being accused of nuclear hypocrisy. It demands a nuclear-free Iran when no one doubts Israel has nuclear weapons of its own. Charges of double standards could intensify -- making it harder for Israel to argue that Iran must open all its facilities to world scrutiny. Landau said his country would open any nuclear power plants to international inspections -- but said "we don't see a reason" to allow inspectors into sites that are believed to house Israel's nuclear weapons, or to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The situation could also complicate U.S.-led efforts to level a new round of U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to cooperate with nuclear inspectors. Tehran says its uranium enrichment activities are peaceful but many world powers suspect the Islamic republic is seeking weapons. "Israel's probably trying to create an exemption for itself, but I don't think people will buy it. Too many Arab countries and too many non-aligned countries would react pretty badly," said David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector who now heads the Institute for Science and International Security. The Iran standoff and Israel's own case illustrate how hard it is for the U.N. watchdog to keep nuclear technology confined to producing electricity and out of the arms sphere. Syria, meanwhile, has its own nuclear ambitions. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad, also at the Paris conference, said his country would like to consider alternative energy sources, "including nuclear energy," to meet rising demand. So far those dreams appear distant. Syria has little know-how or money to invest in building nuclear power plants, which are enormously expensive. They do, however, reflect rising regional interest in the technology. The United States is providing financing and training for nuclear power plans in Jordan. The United Arab Emirates in December awarded a South Korean consortium a contract to build energy-producing nuclear reactors. Egypt has two small nuclear reactors used for research and is pursuing power-producing reactors. Israel has acted in the past to keep regional enemies from pursuing nuclear programs. In 2008, Israeli warplanes struck a Syrian site the U.S. alleged was a plutonium-producing reactor secretly being constructed with help from North Korea. Syria has maintained the site was an unused military installation. An Israeli raid in 1981 destroyed Iraq's partially built Osirak nuclear reactor. Landau called Israel's need for nuclear energy "imminent" but gave no timeline for building a nuclear plant. Israeli energy expert Amit Mor estimated it would take 15 to 20 years for Israel to build a reactor. The country will also have to find someone willing to sell it the equipment to build the nuclear power plants, which could prove challenging since Israel is not a signatory to non-proliferation treaty. India could be one source, as well as a possible example for Israel to follow. India has avoided signing the non-proliferation treaty but has developed nuclear energy and weapons with international help, including from the United States. Landau said his country would like to build a reactor in cooperation with scientists and engineers from "our Arab neighbors" -- a prospect that appears unlikely in the current atmosphere of particularly strained Arab-Israeli relations. In the past Israel floated the possibility of cooperation with Egypt on nuclear energy; the current talk is of a possible French-Israeli-Jordanian project. Jordanian officials dismissed the idea. "It's too early to talk about any regional cooperation with Israel before a solution is found to the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts," said Khaled Toukan, chief of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission. Landau met several months ago with the French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo to discuss possible joint nuclear efforts. France derives more of its electricity from nuclear power than any other country and Paris sees export potential. It was France that, beginning in the 1950s, helped Israel build its nuclear reactor at Dimona. Israel is believed to have used that reactor to construct a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel also has a smaller nuclear reactor for research at Nahal Soreq, not far from Tel Aviv.

By Thomas Friedman

#1: But this election is a big deal because Iraqis — with the help of the U.N., the U.S. military and the Obama team, particularly Vice President Joe Biden — overcame two huge obstacles. - Thomas Friedman nuff said. A$$hole of the day award. The man loves authoritarian China over the rough and base politics of American democracy. He lauds his masters, to whom he's sold his soul to, ignoring the blood and sacrifice of the American soldier and W's surge effort his masters denounced as failed. Note to NYT, there is no memory hole with the internet.

Posted by: Unererong Lumumba4394|| 2010-03-10 07:52 ||Comments

#2: Oops, #1 twas moi.

Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-10 07:53 ||Comments

#3: I'm no Friedman fan, but at least he does give some credit to Bush: Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing. As for those who, "argue that nothing that happens in Iraq will ever justify the costs.", they are either willfully ignorant or think nothing is worth fighting for. What do they have to say about the cost and sacrifice incurred to give birth to our own democracy? What do they have to say about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWII? Were those not worth the costs, as well? "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill “If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” -Samuel Adams

Posted by: eltoroverde|| 2010-03-10 09:03 ||Comments

#4: And here I thought we were being bvisited by Patrice's spawn.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble|| 2010-03-10 09:04 ||Comments

#5: "If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -Samuel Adams Makes me yearn more for the writings of our founding fathers. We have strayed too far away from their wise guidance...

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 09:21 ||Comments

#6: Methinks Obama needs to read less of Saul Alinsky and more of Sam and John Adams and Thomas Payne and Jefferson and Hamilton...but he won't he's an America hater from way back and we were played by the media who were played by the Obama team who were played by Obama. Newsflash to all of you dingbats that voted for the moron that is President....ITS TIME TO SCRAP OFF THE BUMPER STICKERS. You don't want anyone to know you willingly voted for him!!!

Posted by: Karl Rove|| 2010-03-10 10:13 ||Comments

#7: Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. My take on the whole thing is that W didn't want to fight both wars at the same time. The region and the type of enemies we are fighting demands the kind of fighting we are doing today with restrictive ROEs and therefore insane numbers of troops. Can't do both at the same time. So he fought to settle the war in Iraq first, and left Noblahblah to figure out how to deal with Afghanistan since his mouth already wrote the check that "Afghanistan is the right war" and Noblahblah's political promises wouldn't allow him to walk away from it without crushing results. I'd say W did as well as anyone could possibly have imagined once he saw the path through the chaos, which was impossible to foresee. With as many armchair generals as we have, myself included, some of them will see it before the rest but the trick for those in charge is to recognize whose vision is correct in foresight, not hindsight.

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 11:14 ||Comments

#8: Good job Iraqis, doin just fine, lots to do still, keep it up. I know much has been made concerning Obama's Dad's view of the British. Those names listed were not exactly fond of the British as well. Would it be irony or (classical) tragedy for Obama to ruin a country designed and built by men who shared some deep opinions and/or goals similar to his dad?

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 13:04 ||Comments

#9: Logging in from new work computer

Posted by: Sherry|| 2010-03-10 14:02 ||Comments

#10: The reason the Left hates Bush is that according to Marxist theory, individulas can't influence the course of history, only social forces can. Bush's invasion of Iraq was a project to shape the 21st century in the ME by bringing democracy to the region. It may yet fail and you can argue it wasn't worth the cost, but GW Bush has done more to influence the course of the 21st century than any other man. Succeed or fail in Afghanistan, it will and can never be more than a sideshow. This is the reason for the deranged hatred of Bush on the Left.

Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-10 16:07 ||Comments

#11: It needs to be said, apparently again and again, for the amnesiacs who were pushing containment as the alternative to going in. By the time of the two major sweetheart oil deals in late 2002 between Saddam and a) ChIrak's TotalFinaElf and b) Putin's LUKoil, the containment regime was kaput, finito, shredded. Saddam was signing major, multi-billion $$$$$$$$ oil deals with two of the five UNSC members who had pledged not to do business with him! He was most assuredly out of the "box" that, we were told, containment had placed him in.

Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-10 16:24 ||Comments

#12: Bush's invasion of Iraq was a project to shape the 21st century in the ME by bringing democracy to the region. It may yet fail and you can argue it wasn't worth the cost, but GW Bush has done more to influence the course of the 21st century than any other man. That right there sums up the strategy in a nut shell. We could have done the status-quo, or tried to change things in a way that hasn't been tried before. It may fail, it may work, but now Iraq's future is in the hands of Iraqis. The only other option we have is to slaughter vast numbers of the guilty and the guiltless. Rubble don't make trouble.

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 17:45 ||Comments

#13: The only other option we have is to slaughter vast numbers of the guilty and the guiltless. Rubble don't make trouble. This would be my preferred approach. Not only does rubble not make trouble, but the Victor gets to dictate to the Vanquished how their rehabilitation proceeds. Additionally, stomping your adversary flat sends a powerful message to other would be miscreants. Might always makes right...always. That is natures law.

Posted by: Chugum Dingle3255|| 2010-03-10 18:18 ||Comments

A Spanish official says the country's foreign minister has met with President Moammar Gadhafi to try to resolve a simmering diplomatic dispute between Libya and Switzerland. The official told AP Tuesday that Miguel Angel Moratinos came away from Monday's meeting in Tripoli feeling there was hope for ending the conflict.

A Delhi court today sentenced a Bangladeshi national and his Kashmiri associate belonging to banned militant organisation Harkat-Ul-Jihad-al-Islami(HuJI) to life imprisonment for possessing explosives and waging war against the country. Additional Sessions Judge Nivedita Anil Sharma sentenced Md Amin Wani, a Jammu and Kashmir resident, and Lutfur Rahman, the Bangladeshi national who is alleged to have received training at the instance of Pakistan-based Jamaat-Ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed to life imprisonment and said they did not deserve capital punishment as the case was not the rarest of rare.

The U.S. State Department has apologized for remarks made by its spokesman, joking about Moammar Gaddafi's call for jihad against Switzerland. The State Department says a senior U.S. diplomat will travel to Tripoli to try to smooth over relations. Tripoli has been denying entry visas to Americans since the remarks made on February 26. Speaking to the press, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley had said Gaddafi's call for jihad on Switzerland reminded him of a previous address by the Libyan leader which, he said, involved "lots of words and lots of papers flying all over the place, not necessarily a lot of sense." Tripoli retaliated by denying visas to Americans and warning U.S. oil companies that this could have consequences for them as well. Rumsfeld called it "provocative weakness." Mr. Rumsfeld has had moments of wisdom.

#1: Looks like Mo can award himself another sprocket...

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:10 ||Comments

#2:

Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-10 16:57 ||Comments

#3:

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain|| 2010-03-10 17:07 ||Comments

#4: But wait, there's more!

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain|| 2010-03-10 17:08 ||Comments

#5: Another troubling aspect: Will Gaddafi interpret this as the Obama administration's official green light for Libyan sponsored terrorist attacks on Switzerland?

Posted by: Whesh Chineger7304|| 2010-03-10 17:12 ||Comments

#6: Sure they will, Whesh. Anything the Bambi Admin says/does can be interpreted that way by these clowns.

Posted by: bskolaut@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 17:34 ||Comments

#7: spppttthhhpph! Agh, all over the screen danggit. Effn hilarious Thing.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 19:01 ||Comments

The alleged driver for a terrorist group led by the late Noordin M. Top faced his first hearing Tuesday at the South Jakarta District Court. Supono faces charges of harboring known fugitives and obstructing a police investigation, and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. “Supono was fully aware that Noordin and his accomplices were terrorists, yet he failed to report the matter to the police,” said prosecutor Lila Agustina. “We therefore charge him with harboring terrorists.” Supono previously worked at a factory before joining a Koran recital group led by Bagus Budi Pranoto in Surakarta, Central Java. Bagus was one of the suspected terrorists killed on Sept. 22 last year alongside Noordin during a police raid in the town. Other wanted terror suspects killed in the incident were Aji and Adib Susilo. Supono has claimed Bagus had indoctrinated him on jihad, or holy war. Lila alleged Bagus had taught Supono that jihad was obligatory for all Muslims, particularly in light of the “oppression by Western powers”. “Supono was fully aware that Noordin and his accomplices were terrorists, yet he failed to report the matter to the police. He was told that everyone must perform their own personal jihad in revenge for their Muslim brethren,” she said. The trial has been adjourned until Wednesday next week, when the court will hear from the defense team led by lawyer Ashluddin Adjani. Also facing terrorism-related charges in a separate hearing at the court Tuesday was Muhammad Jibriel Abdulrahman, who ran the online Arrahmah network allegedly to raise funds for terrorist activities. Jibriel had earlier moved to be transferred to Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta from the Kelapa Dua Maximum Security Penitentiary in Depok, West Java. His father, Abu Jibriel, said the motion had been filed following repeated visitation denials by wardens at Kelapa Dua. Jibriel has also moved for his trial to be heard in South Tangerang, pointing out he had been arrested at his home there and should thus stand trial in that jurisdiction. Prosecutor Firmansyah objected to the motion, saying the trial should proceed in the capital where Jibriel’s security and that of the trial itself could be guaranteed.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address was "very troubling" and that the annual speech to Congress has "degenerated into a political pep rally." Responding to a University of Alabama law student's question about the Senate's method of confirming justices, Roberts said senators improperly try to make political points by asking questions they know nominees can't answer because of judicial ethics rules. "I think the process is broken down," he said. Obama chided the court for its campaign finance decision during the January address, with six of the court's nine justices seated before him in their black robes. Roberts said he wonders whether justices should attend the address. "To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we're there," said Roberts, a Republican nominee who joined the court in 2005. Roberts said anyone is free to criticize the court and that some have an obligation to do so because of their positions. "So I have no problems with that," he said. "On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court -- according the requirements of protocol -- has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling." Breaking from tradition, Obama used the speech to criticize the court's decision that allows corporations and unions to freely spend money to run political ads for or against specific candidates. "With all due deference to the separation of powers, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. Justice Samuel Alito was the only justice to respond at the time, shaking his head and appearing to mouth the words "not true" as Obama continued. In response to Roberts' remarks Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs focused on the court's decision and not the chief justice's point about the time and place for criticism of the court. "What is troubling is that this decision opened the floodgates for corporations and special interests to pour money into elections -- drowning out the voices of average Americans," Gibbs said. "The president has long been committed to reducing the undue influence of special interests and their lobbyists over government. That is why he spoke out to condemn the decision and is working with Congress on a legislative response." Justice Antonin Scalia once said he no longer goes to the annual speech because the justices "sit there like bumps on a log" in an otherwise highly partisan atmosphere. Roberts opened his appearance in Alabama with a 30-minute lecture on the history of the Supreme Court and became animated as he answered students' questions. He joked about a recent rumor that he was stepping down from the court and said he didn't know he wanted to be a lawyer until he was in law school. While Associate Justice Clarence Thomas told students at Alabama last fall he saw little value in oral arguments before the court, Roberts disagreed. "Maybe it's because I participated in it a lot as a lawyer," Roberts said. "I'd hate to think it didn't matter."

#1: Hat tip to Justice Scalia. Other Justices please take note.

Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-10 08:51 ||Comments

#2: Roberts said he wonders whether justices should attend the address. I'd say yes, don't boycott such charades although tempting. The power of the Supreme Court needs to be maintained within the Constitutional framework of our country. There is a need to maintain the balance of powers between legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Currently, the executive branch would probably love nothing more than to have this balance ignored.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 09:00 ||Comments

#3: A good point, John; I was leaning strongly towards the "don't bother to attend next year" position but you've made me re-think that.

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 09:34 ||Comments

#4: Noobama wasn't considering that even if he does manage somehow to get HC Takeover through Congress, there will be constitutional challenges. His behavior at the SOTU will not tip the scales in his favor, that is for sure.

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 09:34 ||Comments

#5: The SOTU has become so silly that some brave POTUS should just send in a written SOTU, as was done in the early days of the republic. But the POTUS are such egomaniacs that they would never dream of doing this. In many ways, it is like the stupid requirement that the Queen of England has to annually address parliament, even though they write her speech for her.

Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-10 09:50 ||Comments

#6: Welcome to Chicago, Justice Roberts. If you think the SOTU address was troubling, wait until you are the target of the Two Minute Hate.

Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-10 10:05 ||Comments

#7: Just as Obama and his comrades became dictators of US Congressmen, it was a barroom slam and intimadation tactic against another segment of US government that this tyrant wants to "rule over". Congress was viewed as Obama's hood, and the Supreme Court was on his turf and surrounded by his gang. It will get worse.

Posted by: Bob Gleanter3083|| 2010-03-10 10:49 ||Comments

#8: Obama could have voiced the same concerns about the USSC in another venue. It would have been in better taste, and more diplomatic. 0 has poor taste and is undiplomatic, but we already knew that.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418|| 2010-03-10 17:07 ||Comments

#9: You know, iPods are pretty cheap.

Posted by: ejablow@cox.net|| 2010-03-10 19:27 ||Comments

NEW YORK -- Bank of America customers will soon be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that may become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees. Rules set by the Federal Reserve that will ban banks from charging such fees, without first getting permission from the customer, are set to take effect July 1. But Bank of America is going a step further than the regulations require. It will simply no longer allow debit card purchases to go through if there isn't enough money in the account. That's how it should be: no money, no purchase. For ATM transactions, customers who try to withdraw more than their balance will have to agree to pay a $35 overdraft fee before they can get the money. "The majority of our customers who overdraw their account do so with everyday debit purchases," said Susan Faulkner, senior vice president of consumer banking for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America. "They're doing this unknowingly, because they aren't aware that they are about to overdraft." Since the bank doesn't have the ability to notify the customer when they're at the register and give them the chance to agree to a fee, it will simply reject such transactions. Consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay overdrafts for covering the mortgage and the car payment, said Greg McBride, who follows the banking industry for Bankrate.com. "But not if it's things like covering a latte and a scone." The bank's new policy will kick in on June 19 for new accounts, and in early August for existing accounts. It will replace the bank's current terms, which allow overdrafts to go through but only charge a fee if the deficit is greater than $10. Bank of America likely won't be the last to make the change. That's because while the new rules will save consumers from surprising dings on their accounts, they will also cut deeply into the more than $1.77 billion annual revenue overdraft fees generate for the banking industry. Faulkner would not estimate how much such fees pulled in for Bank of America in the past. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates about 41 percent of that total is from point-of-sale debit transactions. About 8 percent was from ATM transactions. The rest were from bad checks and online bill payments, which are not addressed in the regulation. What's more, 93 percent of overdraft fees are generated by just 14 percent of customers. The 80/20 rule in action. Because most of the fees were paid by what Robert Meara, a banking analyst with the consultant Celent, called "serial overdrafters," the rules may not save the average consumer much money. In fact, because banks will look to make up that lost revenue, it may actually cost most individuals more. "What this may do really is produce the unintended consequence of creating the demise of free checking," said Meara. Banks jumped into free checking in the last decade because of competition, but at the same time started allowing overdrafts that generated huge sums. If they can't charge those fees, it's likely they won't offer the free products anymore either. Or, he suggested, consumers might start seeing deals advertised where free checking kicks in after a certain number of transactions, or if a customer has several accounts linked together. "I think banks will use this as an opportunity to be creative and differentiate themselves in ways that was really hard to do when everybody had a free checking account," Meara said. "There's a way this can be a win-win for everybody, but in the short term I think it's going to be challenging for banks to make up for that lost revenue."

#1: Limiting spenders to what they have in their account is downright un-American.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418|| 2010-03-10 17:04 ||Comments

With just 29% of likely Republican primary voters approving of his job performance, Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate campaign appears on the verge of defeat. A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Marco Rubio leading Crist in the primary by 32 points -- a stunning collapse of a candidate many assumed a year ago would be serving in the Senate in 2011. Rubio's campaign is boosted significantly by his support among conservatives, who favor him by a 71%-17% margin. Crist wins among moderates, 49%-36%. Rubio 60 Crist 28 Und 12 Rubio leads by 16.8 points in the RCP Average. The survey was conducted March 5-8 of 492 GOP LV with a MoE of +/- 4.4%.

In Beck's defense, the title on this YouTube video is misleading, Beck doesn't explicitly call Wilders a fascist. He does (after labeling Wilders "far-right") claim in Europe, all of the far-right is fascist. Still, Beck is talking out his ass, how many so-called "fascists" like Wilders have unwavering support for the Jewish state? What is Beck thinking? Have some knowledge of what you're talking about before making an ass of yourself in front of millions of informed people... When he said that he read the qur'an front to back and came away that islam is unequivocally a religion of peace told me all I needed to know how he feels about islam.

#1: What does fascism have to do with support or opposition to Israel? If you're talking about Nazism it's a different story.

Posted by: Snique Bourbon4350|| 2010-03-10 08:04 ||Comments

#2: I think Beck did a great job explaining Progressivism to an ignorant audience of millions. While they give him a lot of rope, he does have to toe the line.

Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091|| 2010-03-10 09:02 ||Comments

#3: What does fascism have to do with support or opposition to Israel? If you're talking about Nazism it's a different story. Actually in the (small) portion of France occupied by Italy, the Italian authorities banned the enforcement of Vichy's antisemitic legislation. I don't know if the initiative came from Italy's (fascist) civilian authorities. from the (monarchist) Army with Mussolini looking the other way. Anyway, most of post-war fascist movements have lent to antisemitism. Also, the left has used the F bomb on anyone it disliked. We shouldn't brand somenone with it just because the left has told so.

Posted by: jfm512@free.fr|| 2010-03-10 10:06 ||Comments

#4: Glenn Beck is full of Shit himself. He is also pretty much a fool and vastly ignorant on many issues about which he pontificates. He is just an opportunist trying to piggyback himself on the Teaparty movement. As for him "losing" me, he never had me. Throw him in the dumb-ass talking-head bin, right next to O'Reilly (but on opposite side of the rabid insane Olberman).

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 10:14 ||Comments

#5: "He does (after labeling Wilders "far-right") claim in Europe, all of the far-right is fascist.” Ummm…no Mr. Weaselzipper…he didn’t. Beck was attempting to illustrate the difference between the American experiment and the polarized governing of old Europe. His thrust was that by adhering to constitutional principles America has, thus far, avoided the pendulum of extreme governing ideologies. Moreover, the context of his presentation was to show how by the Progressive movement’s penchant for shifting the US to a European style might result in dramatic swings both to the left and right. In this context using The Dutch Party of Freedom as an example of a movement that, in a crisis, could move towards fascisism is not unreasonable. And it’s hardly the same as insinuating that Wilders himself is a fascist.

Posted by: DepotGuy|| 2010-03-10 11:51 ||Comments

#6: It's too bad that Fox News tends to generate more heat than light. I never watch it. It's not that I trust ABC. I just can't stand all the shouting.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305|| 2010-03-10 11:54 ||Comments

#7: I'm with Old Spook as well. He never had me. Fox's news shows are pretty good. Brit Hume's show was full of WIN. I haven't it in the last few years (in Europe), but from what I hear, it's become the video version of talk radio.

Posted by: Mizzou Mafia|| 2010-03-10 11:59 ||Comments

#8: Have heard bits here and there, agree and disagree, like everyone who freely shares their opinion keep your bullshit filters on.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 12:56 ||Comments

#9: Politics has little to do with this. Viewed accurately, Beck is a successful entrepreneur in the entertainment industry who from time to time will reposition his product so as to maintain/extend market share.

Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-10 16:11 ||Comments

Whoops, I think we just lost Crist. Even if it were true, he should be careful of accusing someone with that much testosterone of anything like this as he might just get his arms pulled out of their sockets. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio has been taking heat for charging a $130 barber shop visit to his Republican Party of Florida credit card when he was the state House Speaker. Now his GOP primary opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, is insinuating that Rubio was paying for something other than a haircut. A back wax, to be precise. During an interview Monday evening on Fox News, Crist attacked Rubio for "trying to pawn himself off as a fiscal conservative." "And yet just in recent weeks, two weeks ago it has come out in news accounts he had a Republican Party of Florida credit card that he charged $130 haircut, or maybe it was a back wax," he said. "We are not sure what all he got at that place." Host Greta Van Sustern interrupted. "Wait a second, stop. A back wax? Wait a second." "I don't know what it was, you know," Crist continued. Van Sustern responded, "I know, but was there a suggestion it was for a back wax? Or a haircut? Or are you being flip?" "I don't know what it was," Crist replied. "Initially we were told it was a haircut. And then he said it wasn't a haircut." "The detachment from reality is stunning to me," he continued. "And to try to say that you're a fiscal conservative, yet you spend $130 for maybe a haircut and maybe other things, I don't know what you do at a salon when you are a guy." "I get my haircut for $11 from a guy named Carl the Barber in St. Petersburg, Florida where I grew up. And to me that's real fiscal conservatism." Rubio has said he later paid for the personal charges on his party credit card, including the barber shop visit, out of his own pocket. While Rubio did charge for a haircut at the Miami barber shop, his campaign said his tab also included several other items purchased as gifts. His campaign called Crist's interview "disastrously bizarre." "Today, Charlie Crist is the sitting governor of the 4th largest state who has fallen so far and so fast that he's now reduced himself to making up stories about his opponent's grooming habits," said Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos.

#1: I am a fiscal conservative - I spend other people's money carefully. With my own money, I am sometimes profilgate - extravagant, even.

Posted by: Bobby|| 2010-03-10 05:50 ||Comments

#2: for someone who uses enough spray-on tan to look like an Ooompa-Loopma, he should refrain from criticizing others' grooming habits. He has no idea what the charge was for, and is just flinging feces throwing mud. What a putz. Bye Charlie

Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-10 07:57 ||Comments

#3: The mud wax slinging begins.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 09:07 ||Comments

#4: I haven't followed the Florida press on this, and am certainly no fan of the Governor, but regardless of whatever Mr Rubio spent, has anyone asked why the chief law enforcement officer of the state is discussing someone's credit card receipts? And why that person should become a Senator opining on all matter of financial reform, privacy, and security issues? Back wax, back rubs, back to the future Mr. Fusion machines - it hardly matters given how tone deaf and amateurish the Crist campaign is proving itself. You'd think this guy had never run a competitive race. Come to think of it . . .

Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division|| 2010-03-10 09:38 ||Comments

#5: sniff. sniff. Ahhh. I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Its smells like victory. Sorry Charlie. Charlie is done. The only question is: will he go third party and throw this senate seat to the Dems. And FYI, it was a $20 haircut that included a razor cut in the back.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 09:47 ||Comments

#6: One ohter thing: the receipts he is discussing were STOLEN by his ally at GOP HQ, before they booted his ass out. Crist is a crook, old school country club liberal powermongering POS who deserved to be thrown oon his head.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 09:48 ||Comments

#7: The only question is: will he go third party and throw this senate seat to the Dems. Or he could just endorse the Dem. That's happened and more than once: a moderate Pub, defeated in the primary, endorses the Dem instead of the conservative Pub. Frankly if I were the Florida state party chair, if Charlie does anything other than endorse Rubio after the primary (assuming Rubio wins, of course), I'd spend the rest of my political days ensuring that Charlie loses at everything he tries.

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 12:35 ||Comments

#8: That's happened and more than once: a moderate Pub, defeated in the primary, endorses the Dem instead of the conservative Pub. If you are referring to Scozzafava, she is not a moderate Pub, she is a full blown Liberal pretending to be a moderate Pub.

Posted by: Pliny Unavimble6666|| 2010-03-10 13:52 ||Comments

#1: Gee. I wonder who's in charge of the RBDS today . . . .

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 00:48 ||Comments

#2: Happy Birthday Gone to the Big Gam Locker in the Sky Philippine Amann aka Betty Amann aka German "princess" in "Rich and Strange" Elisabeth De Mezey aka Lisa Ferraday Marion Thornburg aka Marion Hutton, singer with the Glenn Miller Orchestra Muriel Angelus, Adriana in the original Broadway production of The Boys From Syracuse Caution – Open Daily Gam Shots at your own risk. María Antonia Abad aka Sara Montiel (82) Marina de Poliakoff-Baidaroff aka Marina Vlady aka Regina in "The Conjugal Bed" (72) Carpet Kitten Shannon Tweed aka Playmate November 1981 aka Playmate of the Year 1982 (53) Nightie Night Sharon Stone aka Catherine Tramell in "Basic Instinct" (52) Couch Kitten Daily Gam Shot Women Who Bathe Jasmine Guy aka Southern belle Whitley Gilbert in " A Different World." (48) Jean Louisa Kelly aka Kathy in "Friends" (41) Haifa Wehbe, a long way from a burqa (Lebanese)(34) Daily Gam Shot Rita Simons aka Roxy Mitchell in "EastEnders" (33) Daily Gam Shot

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-10 04:31 ||Comments

#3: A soon as I could see her face and before scolling to the bottom,I knew Fred was away and Steve would play. I think Steve has a Harmon for Angie.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-10 04:34 ||Comments

#4: Maybe it is photo, but Haifa looks rather exotic.

Posted by: Whiskey Mike|| 2010-03-10 06:07 ||Comments

#5: Mike: She is exotic! Wehbe is a Shiite Muslim, and has three sisters, though Haifa's mother is Egyptian. Wehbe's brother died at the age of 24 during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-10 06:34 ||Comments

#6: Haifa Wehbe, a long way from a burqa Darlingest, what did you think they wore under the burqa, another burqa?

Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-10 06:54 ||Comments

#7: I'm just a babe in the woods in such matters TW; I'd say "Yes" to your question.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 08:52 ||Comments

#8: From the stories I've heard, JohnQC, the ladies with expat friends wear the latest designer fashion in excessively low-cut, indecently short, and skin tight, at least when socializing. Basically the message is, "Here's what he got, envy him!"

Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-10 12:16 ||Comments

#9: indecently short No such thing in Wehbe's case, fortunately. >:-}

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 12:33 ||Comments

#10: gorb dear, I think you may be mistaking indecent with undesirable...the difference between attire appropriate for public appearances and that which is appropriate for very, very private ones.

Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-10 15:23 ||Comments

#11: Haifa Wehbe, Red Hot Mama? She began to work as a model at a young age and won the title of Miss South Lebanon at the age of sixteen. Wehbe won an ancillary title at the Miss Lebanon competition, which she had to relinquish when it was discovered that she had already been married (at age 18) and had a baby girl called Zeineb, disqualifying her.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-10 15:53 ||Comments

#12: TW: Preview seems to work fine on Comments, not so good on regular post?

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-10 15:58 ||Comments

#13: Is that a 1911 in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Posted by: no mo uro|| 2010-03-10 17:46 ||Comments

DOHA (AFP) — Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar warned Tuesday that Tehran has "great means of deterrence" to face any possible attack over its nuclear programme. "We are highly confident about our capacities, and our great means of deterrence," he said during a visit to Doha, where he signed a security agreement between Iran and Qatar -- a major regional US ally. "We do not feel in danger... If someone tries to endanger our national security, we will retaliate and make him regret his action," he added. Israel has not ruled out striking Iran's nuclear sites. Najjar said on Tuesday that Iran was working on strengthening relations with its Arab neighbours in the oil-rich Gulf region to "ensure security and stability in the region." His country's security agreement with Qatar focuses mainly on the issue of combating crime, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as the protection of borders. Qatar, which maintains good relations with Iran, hosts the US Al-Udeid air base and As-Sailiyah camp, which is the headquarters of the US Central Command since 2002.

#1: So could Syria.... just saying...

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 00:29 ||Comments

#2: Does that 'great means of deterrence' also apply to power plants and those almost on-line refineries? A country without electricity is a country without spinning gas centrifuges.

Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-10 01:08 ||Comments

#3: Dont big yourself up Mostafa , you'll just look stupid in a few weeks and be used as a scapegoat for incompetence .. Oooh wait a minute !

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 05:26 ||Comments

#4: Yeah, we can completely mess up the trajectory of your infidel bombs by interposing the ceilings of our underground weapons stockpiles.

Posted by: Elmish Henbane5787|| 2010-03-10 07:23 ||Comments

#5: Actually, they have had a pretty good means of deterrence for years: talk, talk, talk. Works especially well on EUros.

Posted by: spotnpuff@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 08:27 ||Comments

#6: 750kT airburst, followed by deep penetrators at 320kT per. See ya.

Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-10 11:55 ||Comments

#7: I believe the "deterrent" that Iran is indirectly referring to would be trying to attack Israel after getting their a$$ handed to them. I'm sure they know they don't stand a chance.

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 12:39 ||Comments

#8: That they have deterrence I have no doubt. That Israel will get thru I have even less doubt.

Posted by: Kelly|| 2010-03-10 14:25 ||Comments

#9: And we now turn to a live interview with Mahmoud al-Mabahouh coming to us from our newsroom in Abu Dhabi.... Can you hear us Mahmoud? Salaam Mahmoud, can you hear us our brother? We seem to be having technical difficulties. Zionists dogs jamming our signals obviously.

Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-10 15:00 ||Comments

GENEVA - United Nations human rights investigators called on the Obama administration on Tuesday to prosecute the accused Sept 11 masterminds in a civilian court, declaring that US military tribunals would not be fair. Usual nonsense from the usual, meddling suspects. The White House is reviewing options to bring the 9/11 detainees to justice and US officials said on Friday senior administration officials may recommend that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in the 2001 attacks face a military trial. 'I take the view that the Military Commissions Act is fundamentally flawed. It is very far from international fair trial standards and probably cannot be fixed,' said Martin Scheinin, UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Not that we care what Marty thinks ... Mr Scheinin and other UN rapporteurs are independent investigators reporting to the UN Human Rights Council, whose 47 members include the United States. The Finnish international law professor, who has visited the US-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, also said it would be a mistake for the Obama administration to try to reform the Military Commissions Act, proclaimed under President George W. Bush, to try to provide for fair trials. 'To me the only safe option is to go to regular federal criminal courts which also have a much better track record in dealing with terrorism cases than the very unfortunate military commissions,'Mr Scheinin told a news briefing in Geneva. Military trials allow for evidence obtained by cruel or degrading treatment of detainees and have a 'backdoor' for using confessions obtained under torture by allowing hearsay, he said.

#1: The UN has no jurisdiction in US domestic legal matters. If the UN has a problem with the Geneva Conventions, it should take their problem up with that body.

Posted by: crosspatch|| 2010-03-10 00:12 ||Comments

#2: So what did this flaming idiot had to say about the people who got their heads sawed off on video? Did they get a civilian trial? How about the Korean women who were kidnapped and probably raped? Did they get even a military tribunal? What does the grand UN special rapporteur have to sat about that? Nothing? Then he should sit down and shut-the-fuck-up.

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 00:27 ||Comments

#3: Burrrp (FOAD).... Excuse me. NUTS!

Posted by: closedanger@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 01:04 ||Comments

#4: yall covered everything that needed too be said in the first 3 comments. good job guys

Posted by: chris|| 2010-03-10 02:27 ||Comments

#5: Maybe it's just me, but I can't think of a better reason to hold the trial at Gitmo. I put the UN's opinions right up there with Alec Baldwin.

Posted by: Bobby|| 2010-03-10 06:00 ||Comments

#6: Here is the deal for UN et al: you can handle the terrorists YOU CAPTURE any way you want. And we will take care of the ones we capture.

Posted by: Cyber Sarge|| 2010-03-10 08:27 ||Comments

#7: We should listen to the UN the day after they pay all their parking tickets.

Posted by: rwv|| 2010-03-10 12:28 ||Comments

#8: Tell the UN to go peddle their papers.

Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-10 12:37 ||Comments

#9: We get a harrrrumph from Marty every so often. Probably just to remind everybody that he's still around and he can protect his phony baloney job. And keep getting his expense accounts approved...

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:22 ||Comments

#10: Somebody remind me why we keep funding the fecal waterslide called the UN?

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 17:03 ||Comments

#11: Escape from U.N. starring: Snake Plisskin "Sad Story. Gotta Smoke?"

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 17:17 ||Comments

Still allegedly dead JAKARTA - AN ALLEGED mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings is believed to be one of three suspects shot dead by Indonesian anti-terror police yesterday. The authorities said they were still trying to confirm whether the man was Dulmatin, a leader of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network and an explosives expert. It could take up to two days to identify the body. Dulmatin, nicknamed 'Genius', has been wanted by the police since 2002. The suspect was killed in a shootout when members of the anti-terror Detachment 88 (Densus 88) raided a shophouse in Pamulang district in Tangerang around noon. About an hour later, the other two suspects, said to be his bodyguards, were shot dead near the shophouse, which houses an Internet cafe. The trio had been the target of a series of raids across the country following the discovery of a terrorist training camp in Aceh last month. Police operations conducted in Aceh and Java have so far nabbed 21 people suspected of being members of an Aceh-based terror group with links to JI.

#1: seems like all these terrorist groups have alot of leaders

Posted by: chris|| 2010-03-10 02:24 ||Comments

#2: Dulmatin is the last of the jemaah Islamiyah 2002 crop of leadership. Most are dead, Hambali's in custody.

Posted by: Fred|| 2010-03-10 07:37 ||Comments

Washington -- The operation that American and coalition forces are planning for Kandahar in southern Afghanistan won't look like D-Day, the top commander there said Tuesday. Fresh off a recent success, so far, in Helmand Province, American military planners are thinking ahead to the next phase of challenging the Taliban in southern Afghanistan: Kandahar. But the fight for Kandahar -- described as the New York City of Afghanistan for its cultural, political, and economic significance -- is expected to be more measured than the operation in Marjah in Helmand, which was a precision strike that began with the insertion of hundreds of US marines by helicopter. "There won't be a D-Day that is climactic," said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander there told reporters in Kabul, during a trip in which he escorted Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "It will be a rising tide of security when it comes." The operation in Marjah included about 2,500 marines and 1,500 Afghan soldiers with as many as 10,000 troops in support. The top Marine commander in Marjah said last week the objective there was to come in "big, strong, and fast, [to] put the enemy on the horns of a dilemma." By contrast, the mission in Kandahar, expected to begin by summer, will be more gradual. Few details are clear, even in a counterinsurgency in which the NATO command has telegraphed its intentions before starting an operation, such as in Marjah last month. But military officials say Kandahar will require a more nuanced, measured approach in which forces will build up slowly, probably on the outskirts, before entering the city itself perhaps months later. Kandahar is a much larger city and province, and coalition forces will take their time to enter due to the area's more complex political and tribal nature. McChrystal has had his eye on Kandahar, which the Taliban took over years ago, for a long time. But when he took charge of the mission last year, many American forces were already amassed in Helmand to the west. While Helmand was a Taliban stronghold and much of the poppy crop that provides financial support for the insurgency grows there, many experts say it is not a strategic prize. Nonetheless, McChrystal mounted his first operation there under the new US strategy (and increased troop strength), as a demonstration of what could be done. Citing the clear-hold-build approach, military officials say that most combat operations are over in Marjah and that it is now in the "hold and build" phase. That leaves room to begin planning for Kandahar and the districts that surround it, including Zhari, Panjawai, Khakrez, Arghandab, and Dand. Counterinsurgency experts say these outer areas hold the key to success for coalition forces entering Kandahar itself. Gates warns of 'dark days' aheadWhile not referring to operations in Kandahar specifically, Secretary Gates sought to prepare the military and the American and international community for the likelihood that the next few months will be no cakewalk. "Looking forward," Gates said, "there are grounds for optimism as our countries pursue what President Karzai has called an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned initiative to ensure peace and stability."

#1: As most of our enemies come from Pakistan sealing the border would be more important! No coincidence all our top targets have been caught/sheltered there!

Posted by: Paul2|| 2010-03-10 10:39 ||Comments

KHOST, Afghanistan – A suicide attack Tuesday at a joint NATO-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan killed two international service members and wounded several others, the military alliance said. The attack in remote Khost province near the Pakistan border was on a compound used by both international forces and the Afghan Border Police, NATO said. Residents in the province's Ali Shir district said they heard a large blast at the base after dark. A NATO statement later said that two international troops were killed and several others wounded. It gave no further details, but said an investigation was under way.

By Jack Goldsmith What will it be, Mr President? So asked the full-page advertisement by the American Civil Liberties Union in Sunday's New York Times. The ACLU was responding to reports that Barack Obama might reverse the decision by Eric Holder, US attorney-general, to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged September 11 co-conspirators in a civilian court and send them instead to a military commission. Beneath panel images of Mr Obama morphing into President George W. Bush, the ACLU noted Mr Obama's campaign pledge to change Bush-era terrorism policies, and urged him to "remind the world that America stands for due process, justice and the rule of law". If this is surprising to some inside and outside the US, it is because they do not share the US government's view that it is at war and must use the tools of war -- including military commissions and military detention -- to defeat its enemies. The problem for the ACLU is that America's conception of due process, justice and the rule of law includes military commissions. Commissions are politically damaged and still raise legal questions. But their pedigree reaches back more than 200 years and they have the support of every branch of US government. The Supreme Court invalidated Mr Bush's commissions in 2006 on technical grounds but affirmed their validity in theory. That same year, Congress reinstated commissions after addressing the Court's concerns. It made further revisions in 2009. The Obama administration embraced commissions last year and plans to use them for lower-level alleged terrorists. American law also permits military detention without trial against members of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and its affiliates until the end of the country's conflicts with these groups. As with commissions, Congress has approved military detention; courts have upheld it; and the administration has embraced it and plans to use it for several dozen alleged terrorists. Thus when Mr Holder was considering last autumn how to handle Mr Mohammed and associates, he had three options: a military commission, military detention or a civilian trial. His choice of the latter was pragmatic and not required legally. He based it on the overwhelming evidence against the alleged 9/11 plotters, which should make conviction relatively easy, and on the symbolism of using the most demanding standards of American justice. His decision had the effect of distinguishing Mr Obama from the Bush administration in a high-profile case and tamping down criticism by the ACLU and similar groups of Mr Obama's underlying embrace of the basic Bush approach to terrorism. "This was a tough call," Mr Holder said at the time, "and reasonable people can disagree with my conclusion that these individuals should be tried in federal court rather than a military commission." Reasonable people did disagree -- strongly. Security for the proposed Manhattan trial turned out to be outlandishly expensive and disruptive, and local politicians who originally supported the trial asked the administration to reconsider. Many Republicans argued that the administration had a criminal law mentality and was soft on terrorism -- a position that gained traction after the seemingly passive handling of the underwear bomber in December. Calls have been growing in Congress to cut off funding for the New York trial. So New York politics and the politics of appearing soft on terrorism are leading Mr Obama to reconsider what to do with Mr Mohammed. Another factor is Mr Obama's desire, three months after a blown deadline, to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. This goal, too, has aroused charges of weakness on terrorism. The administration is reportedly negotiating with Republican senators to move Mr Mohammed to a military commission in exchange for their support in closing Guantanamo. It is not obvious, however, that commissions are the best choice for Mr Mohammed. They have not been used for a high-profile trial in 70 years, and many legal issues, some thorny, will need to be ironed out over many years before a final judgment on Mr Mohammed can be reached. This is not the ideal setting for what Mr Holder called the "trial of the century". It might be more prudent to continue to hold Mr Mohammed under the military detention rationale that has justified his imprisonment for more than seven years. Military detention is easier, quicker and no less legally legitimate. Compared with commissions, it would give Mr Mohammed a smaller stage on which to make political mischief. Using a commission or military detention to put Mr Mohammed away will anger the ACLU and others on the American left who insist on civilian trials, as well as many around the world who expected something different from Mr Obama. It would be the latest in a string of disappointments caused by the continuation of Bush-era policies such as commissions, detention, limited habeas corpus, targeted killing and rendition. Mr Obama has embraced these policies because the realities and domestic politics of war and the responsibilities of the presidency have led him to use every legally available option to keep America safe. These policies mark a change from the campaign trail, but they enjoy broad political support in the US. If this is surprising to some inside and outside the US, it is because they do not share the US government's view that it is at war and must use the tools of war -- including military commissions and military detention -- to defeat its enemies. The writer, an assistant attorney-general in the Bush administration, teaches at Harvard Law School and is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University

Joe Biden, the US vice-president, condemned a plan by Israel to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem settlement. Okay, Israel, you may shake in your boots now, you got Slow Joe coming down on you ... President Obama sent his Number 2, the self-proclaimed Friend of Israel, to persuade the government of Israel to do nothing while the UN's strengthened sanctions against Iran go forward. Those would of course be the strong sanctions incumbent on every member state except Russia, China, and perhaps a few others I don't remember. Dear VP Biden, Friend of Israel, saw fit to couple love-drenched platitudes with this condemnation of Israeli development in East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel as part of her indivisible national capitol in 1967 following the Six Day War. On the other hand, dear President Obama, friend of Son of Israel Rahm Emanuel and of Palestinian Hamas supporter Whatsisname, at whose Hyde Park kitchen table he wrote his second memoir, will likely never set foot in the Jewish state. Perhaps that's why the Israelis don't trust VP Biden's assurances that Israeli security is the highest priority to America. Said more briefly: Biden's an idiot. The Israeli interior ministry's approval of the plan cast a cloud over a visit to the country by Biden just hours after he pledged strong support for the Israeli government. In an unusually strong statement issued after he arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units." Arriving significantly late for dinner is an insult. So is the first thing public statement dear VP Biden made following his arrival. Israelis may be a blunt and plain-spoken people, but even they notice such things. He said the blueprint for Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox settlement in an area of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem, "undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions I've had in Israel". Oh well. Might as well go home. The approvals came just a day after the Israeli defence ministry announced that 112 apartments would be built in Beitar Illit, a settlement on the occupied West Bank. The new building comes at a delicate moment in the long-stalled peace process after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to start indirect negotiations. These are indirect talks, after Annapolis, etc were face-to-face negotiations. Special Envoy Mitchell has apparently announced that the agreements of the Annapolis negotiations will not be the starting point of this round of talks. There are those who believe this is a distinct leap backward, not a mere step toward the rear, and designed to harm Israel. There are those, of course, who think a leap backward is exactly the right direction for Israel to go. The interior ministry said the Ramat Shlomo approvals had been passed by the Jerusalem district planning committee. A spokeswoman said there were 60 days to appeal against the decision. Ramat Shlomo, built 15 years ago, is on land captured in the West Bank in 1967 and annexed to Israel in a move not recognised by the international community. Israel's interior minister, Eli Yishai, who heads a religious party in Netanyahu's governing coalition, said the timing of the plan's approval was coincidental. "There was certainly no intention to provoke anyone and certainly not to come along and hurt the vice-president of the United States," Yishai told Israel's Channel One television. "Final approval [for the project] will take another few months. I agree that the timing [of the announcement] should have been in another two or three weeks." Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the announcements were "destroying our efforts" in peace negotiations. "With such an announcement, how can you build trust?" he said. "It's a disastrous situation." Earlier in the day, Biden said Israel and the Palestinians needed to "take risks for peace". Not that Joe is risking anything, mind you ... Nor are the Palestinians. But his talk of a "moment of opportunity" obscures a reality in which the two sides are a long way apart. Although the peace process has been under way for nearly two decades, there have been no direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since Israel's war in Gaza a year ago. In talks with Netanyahu, Biden appeared to focus not on the struggling peace process but on Iran, saying Washington was committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. "There is no space between the US and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," Biden said after their meeting. "We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," Biden said. In private, he is also believed to have cautioned the Israeli government against any unilateral military strike on Iran, and to have tried to win Israeli support for the US administration's policy, which is moving towards sanctions against Iran. Netanyahu made clear the Israeli government hoped for a tougher sanction regime against Iran. "The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to chose between advancing its nuclear programme and advancing the future of its own permanence," he said. Netanyahu frequently cites the need to address Iran's nuclear ambitions as his priority in government and Israeli leaders have pointedly not ruled out a military option.

A strong turnout from Iraq's Kurds in national elections on Sunday has enhanced their status of kingmakers in forming the central government, with preliminary voting results expected within 24 hours. The electoral commission said today that votes had now all been counted, although the official results will not be declared until the end of March. The ballot appears to have narrowly favoured the political list of the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, but the rival bloc of former leader Iyad Alawi is also predicted to have performed well. Whoever wins will have to form a coalition in order to build a government, with the Kurds expected to play a prominent role. However for the first time, a nascent Kurdish opposition has threatened to splinter the Kurdish alliance, whose truculent factions have invariably united when dealing with post-Saddam Baghdad. The allegiances of a breakaway Kurdish group, Gorran, are an unknown factor in the post-election negotiations. Gorran is thought to have won about 15 seats in the new 325 seat parliament, damaging the bloc of warlord turned president Jalal Talabani, who wants a second term as Iraq's head of state. Even if Maliki, or his bloc, ends up with the most popular votes, his claim on the prime ministership remains heavily contingent on his ability to appease potential coalition partners and the residual wrath of any enemies he has made during the past four turbulent years. Maliki's supporters were privately claiming today that he has won as many as 85 seats in the new parliament, having swept the south and performed solidly in Baghdad. Alwai's backers were equally upbeat, with a senior figure in Iraqiya, the secular alliance he took to the election, also claiming the party had won 85 seats. In private, officials are hoping for as many as 110. So far there have been no claims of vote-rigging or fraud. Election observers have generally endorsed the conduct of the election, which saw a 62% turnout nationwide, and up to a 73% showing of registered voters at provinces that had boycotted the previous poll.

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani on Tuesday granted a one-year extension in service to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha – making him the fourth such beneficiary in recent months, according to official sources. Pasha – who was scheduled to retire from service on March 18 – would now continue serving the Pakistan Army as a lieutenant general and the ISI chief for another year. Having replaced Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj, Pasha has been heading the country’s premier intelligence service since October 2008. Before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and assuming charge of the top ISI office, Pasha served as the Military Operations director general. Born in 1952, Pasha has had a distinguished career, spanning more than 30 years, in the Pakistan Army. He has commanded an infantry division, a mechanised infantry brigade and an infantry battalion, and served as the chief instructor of the Command and Staff College of the Pakistan Army. From 2001 to 2002, Pasha also served as a contingent and sector commander with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. So he has a perfect record: he's never won a battle ... He is the fourth general to be given an extension in service by the current army chief over the last few months. The other beneficiaries are Lt Gen Tanvir Tahir, Lt Gen Masood Alam and Lt Gen Sikandar Afzal. Under army rules, a major general retires on reaching the age of 57, while a lieutenant general retires either on reaching the age of 58 or completing a four-year tenure – whichever falls first. It is believed that the decision to extend Pasha’s service has been made to ensure the continuity of the army’s operations against militancy. During Pasha’s tenure as the ISI director general, the army has conducted three successful operations and flushed out terrorists from Swat, South Waziristan and Bajaur. An operation in Orakzai Agency is now on the cards, while the army is also gradually augmenting a build up in North Waziristan. The successful operations and the recent arrests of high-profile al Qaeda and Taliban commanders are considered by the West a significant turnaround in ISI policies.

#1: Gotta work on those titles, guys. I thought this was an article about the rising use of Extenze in Pak.

Posted by: Skunky Thrusort3577|| 2010-03-10 14:14 ||Comments

JEHLUM: A five-year-old British boy kidnapped in Pakistan nearly a week ago has been found to be alive and police are making headway in the investigation, a police official said on Tuesday. Sahil Saeed, who is of Pakistani origin, was abducted from his grandmother’s house last Thursday. “The child is safe. We have made some progress and hopefully, we’ll sort out this case soon,” Jehlum SP Khalid Mehmood said. Police have said the Taliban use ransoms from kidnappings to fund their insurgency against the US-backed government. But no signs have emerged which show that the abduction of the boy is linked to terrorists.

#1: follow up on bbc...Interesting to say the least . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8560038.stm my fav part being : Pakistani community groups in Oldham have said they are considering setting up a fund to pay ransoms in the event of kidnaps. Sounds like a jolly good scam to me

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 09:56 ||Comments

#2: Is this " Britistan " at its best.

Posted by: Dave UK|| 2010-03-10 17:11 ||Comments

DERA MURAD JAMALI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Dera Allah Yar on Tuesday sentenced four men to 25 years in prison for burying alive three young girls in Naseerabad in 2008. ATC Judge Muhammad Alam Mengal also fined the four accused, Allah Bakhsh, Muhammad Arif, Rehmatullah and Ghaus Bakhsh, Rs 100,000 each. Janat, Farida and Izaat were tortured and buried alive on July 2008 in the Baba Kot area of Naseerabad district, after they had attempted to choose their matches without the consent of their families.

#1: How do you put a human face on a culture such as this?

Posted by: penguin|| 2010-03-10 00:10 ||Comments

#2: The same way mexican drug cartel sewed a man's face on to a football in January, penguin.. A lot of effort and stretching , but in the end its unrecognisable from its real form . Truely sad, and why the rest of humanity has put up with Islam for so long is totally beyond my comprehension

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 05:31 ||Comments

#3: Oscar: A rule of thumb in anthropology is that a primitive culture cannot exist next door to a more advanced culture for more than a short time before it is assimilated or destroyed. In history, this rule become more encompassing, that barbarism cannot coexist with civilization. In such situations, barbarism is either absorbed or destroyed--with the only alternative the complete destruction of civilization. This presents the great irony of Islam, because at its inception, *it* had the power of civilization, compared to the tribal barbarism that surrounded it. Mohammed even integrated what was then the most advanced rural technologies into the religion, to modernize the Ummah; but he failed to incorporate the idea that it must continue to intellectually advance. Several hundred years later, a Persian philosopher then formalized the idea of fundamentalism, that all knowledge was within the Koran and its commentaries, and so outside knowledge should be shunned. And there have been several other fundamentalist themes introduced since then, with the same idea. But this leaves modern Muslims in a paradox. They still have the "righteous arrogance" of civilization, as superior to barbarism. But at the same time, they have become the new barbarians, surrounded by what is obviously a superior civilization. Yet their choice remains the same. As the situation stands today, Islam and its ways are dying out. So the only choices left to it are either a complete and blatant hypocritical reformation, or to utterly destroy modern civilization. It is far less the actions of civilization that is intolerable to them, but just its existence, which eats away at them. If you ask the typical Muslim on the street, he will choose civilization. So half their effort has to go into *forcing* Muslims to stay Muslim, under threat of severe abuse and murder. Otherwise, they just defend the indefensible, such as arguing that wrapping women in burqas and denying them an education, while treating them like farm animals, is somehow *better* for women than treating them like intelligent and capable human beings.

Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-10 08:09 ||Comments

#4: Anonymoose, was a good read .. Cheers

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 08:30 ||Comments

#5: Moose, That was great commentary. Very insightful and on point. Thank you

Posted by: Big Grenter5060|| 2010-03-10 10:08 ||Comments

#6: Only one flaw moose, the surrender and appeasement of the civilization to the barbarian. That is the West's flaw.

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 10:44 ||Comments

#7: Moose, you nailed it. Thanks.

Posted by: WolfDog|| 2010-03-10 10:46 ||Comments

#8: Good stuff there.

Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-10 16:46 ||Comments

#9: "primitive culture cannot exist next door to a more advanced culture for more than a short time before it is assimilated or destroyed" In this case, those who refuse to be assimilated need to be destroyed. Just sayin'....

Posted by: bskolaut@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 17:31 ||Comments

KHAR/GHALANAI: Security forces and a local tribal lashkar (militia) torched 14 houses of the Taliban in the Mamoond tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Tuesday. Political administration officials told Daily Times that nine Taliban also surrendered to the political authorities in the Mamoond tehsil. Explosives material and mortar shells were recovered in a large quantity from the Taliban houses. Separately, security forces in a raid in Barokhel area of Halimzai tehsil on Tuesday arrested three suspects and demolished the house of a wanted terrorist in Safi tehsil. An administration official said the arrested suspects were identified as Jehanzeb, Roohullah and Samiullah. Also on Tuesday, members of a peace jirga and tribal elders destroyed the house of a wanted terrorist, Jamshed, in the Mulla Mandi area.

#1: Just givin' it back to them. I'm going to enjoy watching this movement as it picks up momentum.

Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-10 12:35 ||Comments

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Scores of displaced Christian families returned to Mosul, the media department of the Ninewa council said on Tuesday. “Scores of Christian families returned to Mosul to take part in the elections,” the department said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq new agency. “Ninewa witnessed the return of more than 30 Christian families, which took part in the elections, while the province witnessed on Monday (March 8) the return of scores of Christian families to their houses,” it added. Mosul witnessed two weeks ago the displacement of Christian families from their houses after the assassination of ten Christians in ten days.

#1: I wouldn't sell them insurance.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-10 04:47 ||Comments

#2: Heck, I wouldn't sell insurance to anyone urban recolonizing renewing Detroit either.

Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-10 07:58 ||Comments

#3: Don't worry, P2k, the Department of Agriculture will sell crop insurance to the new farmers in Detroit ...

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 09:39 ||Comments

#4: I imagine they only came to vote, then quickly scuttled back to the relative safety of wherever they'd gone two weeks ago.

Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-10 12:38 ||Comments

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two gunmen were killed and a third one was arrested in a failed attack in central Baghdad on Tuesday, a police source said. “Three gunmen, driving a modern car, opened fire on a checkpoint in Abu Nawas street in al-Karada region, injuring a policemen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The policemen responded to the attack, killing two of them and arresting the third,” he added. “Security forces sealed off the whole region."

ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: An armed group commander was arrested and a large weapons cache was found inside his house in Falluja City, a local security source said on Tuesday. “On Tuesday morning, a force from the Anbar police arrested a leader of an armed group during a raid on his house in downtown al-Aameriya district, southern Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The man has been involved in acts of violence against civilians and security personnel, the source pointed out. A cache containing arms, explosives, 31 IEDs, five Katyusha rockets and materials used in manufacturing explosive belts was found inside his house, the source noted.

Northrop Grumman drops out WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The Pentagon may speed up awarding a multibillion-dollar aerial tanker contract after Northrop Grumman Corp and Europe's EADS pulled out of the contest, leaving Boeing Co the sole bidder. The current plan calls for companies to submit their bids by mid-May, with a contract award expected in September; but Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said defense officials are looking at accelerating the current timeline for the program. "We may be in a position where we will be able to take a look at reducing some of those milestones," he said on Tuesday, referring to the 75-day deadline for bids, and plans for the U.S. Air Force to award a contract 120 days later. Senator John McCain, whose probe of an earlier $23.5 billion lease-then-buy tanker deal with Boeing eventually scuttled that contract, declined to fault the latest contest. McCain told reporters on Tuesday the Air Force's handling of the competition appeared to be "legitimate," which made it difficult for lawmakers to intervene, even if they would have preferred to see a competitive process. "I don't see how we can, unless we find some flaw in it, and we haven't found any flaws so far," McCain said. Defense analyst Jim McAleese said McCain's endorsement of the Air Force process, however tepid, made it unlikely that Congress would intervene to avert a sole-source bid by Boeing. "No one else has the conviction or credibility to generate an intervention," McAleese said. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton chimed in late on Tuesday, saying he was disappointed that there would be no competition, but said it was important to start replacing the aging current KC-135 fleet "without any further delay." Whitman said the Pentagon was confident it could negotiate a reasonable price for the tankers even if Boeing were the only bidder. EADS on Tuesday ruled out a solo bid for the work. "There is baseline cost data that is associated with these air frames," he said. "There are also measures the department can take to make sure we are controlling the costs." He declined to specify what measures were in mind, but federal acquisition rules require sole-source providers to certify their pricing data is accurate, timely and complete. The government could also buy less than the 179 airplanes expected in this competition if it believed Boeing's prices were too far off the mark, McAleese said. Unlike the new radar-evading fighter being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp, aerial tanker planes already exist today, Whitman said. He said officials also have ample cost data from the last competition, which Northrop and EADS won in February 2008 but later lost after government auditors upheld a Boeing protest. Boeing last week said it would offer an updated 767-based tanker this time around, including a new digital flight deck from its 787 Dreamliner and a new fly-by-wire refueling boom. The European Commission on Tuesday said it regretted Northrop's decision and would be "extremely concerned" if it became clear that the terms of the competition were written to inhibit competition from Northrop and its European partner. It also noted that the United States traditionally sold more defense goods to Europe than vice versa. In 2008, the United States exported $5 billion, and imported only $2.2 billion of defense material from the European Union. Northrop said it was disappointed that the rules favored Boeing's smaller tanker, but said it would not protest to avoid further delays in the Air Force getting new planes that are used to refuel fighter jets and other planes in mid-flight.

#1: Golly geez. Think ya need one of dem buffalo when Bush is not Pres? Well, we needed three. So how, pardner will you give us THREE refuling planes? Will ya storm tha gates for em or just call em home? Dem refueling planes can be a tricky bunch when you are out in the brush without em... yep. Make you dream of sweet JP-8 all night long the day you find you could not fuel half of your fleet because you assholes in congress were playing money games with your your local gas station pump extorter's mechanics new flim flam device or prosthetic seem-a-like. Get three, yes 3 refueling planes or I will drop kick you in da eye. Hear me pardner? ;)

Posted by: closedanger@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 01:13 ||Comments

#2: 767 is still the basis. THat means its nto a s good as the EADS/NG. It should have gone to the 777 for design, but ignorant flag-waving fools helped Boeings lobbyists push the process their way, so we ended up with the inferior 767, which Boeing was planning to shut down had this contract not come. The EADS/NG was not flawless, but it was better over-all, and had a lot more potential. Anyone that knows military aircraft knows that it usually takes a few years until the aircraft are tinkered with by the operations people and made better. But you cannot change fundamental limits involving the airframe and basic range/load capacity. Politicians pushed this one (Looking at you John "the Asshole" McCain). The EADS/NG tanker was newer airframe, easier to maintain, longer range and carried more load. The only thing it didn't have was Boeing's lobbyists and a lot of jingoistic morons who wanted a "made in the USA" plane (in spite of 20-30% of the components sourced overseas) instead of one that serves better (and was still 60% US). So congrats to Boeing, they saved their crappy old 767 assembly line at the possible cost to taxpayers of more money, and cost to military personnel of less capability and higher risk due to shorter range. And the latter part bothers me the most. This will have negative effects: the shorter legs require forward basing - meaning we have to entangle ourselves with other countries in order to base tankers there, instead of merely getting overflight. That also has strategic impact in that we now need to maintain bases for these aircraft in forward areas, and they will not be able to haul as much cargo as the other would (and yes, the tankers typically do haul cargo in addition to fuel). All in all, not a good day for the USAF or the nation.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 10:08 ||Comments

#3: what a congress led wreck.

Posted by: closedanger@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 10:31 ||Comments

#4: Boeing is headquartered in Chicago and the 767 production line in Washington state, bluest of the blue states. Northrop's version would have been built in Alabama, a truely red state. Politics over value? Surely not.

Posted by: rwv|| 2010-03-10 11:28 ||Comments

#5: Hmm I overlooked that: Boeing = union labor for the most part, NG/EADS = not nearly as much union, especially in major workign areas in Alabama and Texas. On the upside, at least they are FINALLY getting something to replace the superannuated KC135s (originally entered service in 1957).

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 11:48 ||Comments

#6: many of the components are made in Wichita which could use the employment since the President's attack on private business jets destroyed the market. Wichita is in flyover country called Kansas, and is not a blue state.

Posted by: bman|| 2010-03-10 11:49 ||Comments

#7: Other than size, why would we prefer the 777 to the 767? Boeing claims they're going to update the 767 based tanker with 787 technology, so other than the fact that the 777 is considerably bigger (and more expensive), what's wrong with the 767?

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 12:37 ||Comments

#8: Boeing is at least a US company, while EADS is not. I would not want to buy a plane built be committee; we tried that once ( think A-12 AvengerII) and that didn't work out so well. As to the union argument; look again at the EADS labor force, 35 hour work weeks. take a look at the EU regulations that go way beyond anything we can think up ( OSHA, EPA) they are really burendsome. as to the airframe itself; there is nothing wrong with a 767; agree that it is not the latest and greatest gee-whiz toy, but it is proven. funny i don't hear a lot of people putting down the C-130J (first flight 1954) in favor of the A400M (first flight 2007). i am glad that BMAC did not try to stretch the Screamliner into a tanker; it is not mature enough for that, IMHO. we don't need fancy, we need hoses in the air.

Posted by: USN, Ret.|| 2010-03-10 14:50 ||Comments

#9: 'We don't need fancy, we need hoses in the air.' Well said.

Posted by: Kelly|| 2010-03-10 15:37 ||Comments

#10: No! We need the BEST hoses in the air - and more; the tankers are not just flying gas stations. Did you know that the KC's haul cargo nearly every bit as much on their mission as they do fuel - and that's why cargo is so important which you didn't account for. These planes will likely be flying 50+ years. The 767 line had been planned to close in a decade except for this contract. Didn't take that into your decision did you? Did you consider that the original bid the KC45 outperformed the KC767 in cargo lift, range and fuel capacity? Too me it looks like you'd rather have an inferior flag waving product for the troops than better gear for about the same money. I see where you stand. You are more worried about flag waving than function. Let me tell your boat riding candy ass something: when you are in the shit, you don't care who made it or where it was made - you just need stuff to work. And that includes the logistics chain. As for the 777: The 777 is a more modern design air frame, lower cost to maintain, longer between main times, and will remain in production far longer than the 767, meaning we don pay a premium in the out years to get upgrades and parts. One of the good things to come from the protest and rebid is that it forced Boeing to rework the original inferior design. They did re-engine the 767, update the cockpit to glass, go with the FBW boom (cuts a lot of weight), and in doing so, they upgraded the cargo, lift, range and capacity of the 767 based design to something competitive with the NG/EADS design. FYI, the Assembly maint, etc was to be done in Alabama. I could go on. But I will not, the die is cast and idiots like you got their way, and as usual the troops pay. Go wave a flag and cheer that Boeing is getting the money. Like it will do any difference for the troops out on the pointy end of things.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 16:11 ||Comments

#11: And USN Ret you are one of the jingoistic buttheads I was referring to. I've run into your sort time and again in the service and the various agencies I worked in over my career. I know the stink. Your kind does more harm then you realize with your interference, you tend to be very handy for politicians to use - and use you they did. How does it feel to be a tool? Guys like you burn me up eventually and I let go. Man up and deal with it.

Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-10 16:11 ||Comments

#12: Spook - which pols do you blame, specifically, for this clusterf&&k?

Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-10 16:17 ||Comments

#13: The European Commission on Tuesday said it regretted Northrop's decision and would be "extremely concerned" if it became clear that the terms of the competition were written to inhibit competition from Northrop and its European partner. It also noted that the United States traditionally sold more defense goods to Europe than vice versa. In 2008, the United States exported $5 billion, and imported only $2.2 billion of defense material from the European Union. I don't know whether to laugh or rage. 2008 US-EU trade deficit: $96 billion. That includes the measly $2.2 defense surplus but does not include the tens of billions spent subsidizing European defense. Another way to look at $96 billion is more than twice the entire German military budget. That's goes into Euro retirement funds while it comes out of American kids futures. So who has a bone to pick with whom? In addition, I would not be surprised if in 2009 the $2.2B surplus turned into a deficit (Can you say LUH-72?). Bottom line: The B767 won on cost. While it is cheaper to produce is also cheaper to operate. The A330 burns 20% more fuel. That comes out to around 1500 gallons on every 6 hour mission and will do so for the next 50 years of service life. This does not even include the new hangers and tarmac the A330 requires but the N767 does not. Did you know that the KC's haul cargo nearly every bit as much on their mission as they do fuel - and that's why cargo is so important which you didn't account for. Less than 5% of the time. Less than 2% of the time as primarily cargo hauler. But the A330 carries the weight and fuel burn penalty 100% of the time. Tankers are limited and expensive assets whose airframe hours is better spent doing it primary mission than using up life hauling MREs. Tankers make poorer freighters than their commercial cousins due to extra weight and drag they carry. There is nothing either the B767 or A330 can carry that UPS won't for much less cost and that is why the Air Force contracts that stuff out to the thousands of commercial airframes. Combi tanker/freighters only make sense for small Air Forces that can't afford separate tankers (or too cheap/rely on Uncle Sugar) and proper airlifters (C-17). These planes will likely be flying 50+ years. The 767 line had been planned to close in a decade except for this contract. Didn't take that into your decision did you? The A330 will close (see A350 XWB) before the B767 line closes. The Air Force just guaranteed that. Did you consider that the original bid the KC45 outperformed the KC767 in cargo lift, range and fuel capacity? 20% more initial capacity, decreasing to 0% end capacity due to the 20% greater fuel burn. That is why both aircraft have the same range. The A330 is also is limited in basing options due to it's near 2X footprint. And with billions in new required infrastructure not included in the A330 cost calculations. Too me it looks like you'd rather have an inferior flag waving product for the troops than better gear for about the same money. I see where you stand. You are more worried about flag waving than function. Looks to me like you want to blow billions on unneeded, unwanted and unused capacity. Money that could be better used elsewhere, like buying ammo or preparing for the 30% cut Obama desires for the US military. Let me tell your boat riding candy ass something: when you are in the shit, you don't care who made it or where it was made - you just need stuff to work. And that includes the logistics chain. The B767 works. You get more refueling booms/hoses that cost less to operate. That's called combat effectiveness. As for the 777: The 777 is a more modern design air frame, lower cost to maintain, longer between main times, and will remain in production far longer than the 767, meaning we don pay a premium in the out years to get upgrades and parts. Wrong tender. Look to KC-Y or KC-Z tender in 10 or 20 years to replace the KC-10 "strategic" tanker. The Air Force wants to tankers to refuel fighters. One of the good things to come from the protest and rebid is that it forced Boeing to rework the original inferior design. They did re-engine the 767, - Stock B767-200ER engine. update the cockpit to glass, - Yes go with the FBW boom (cuts a lot of weight), - Nothing new. Boeing included that in the 2007 proposal and is offloading fuel. Can't say the same for the Airbus boom. and in doing so, they upgraded the cargo, lift, range and capacity of the 767 based design to something competitive with the NG/EADS design. - Still a 767-200 fuselage (200LRF vs 200ER). Fuel/cargo capacity has not changed. The wing comes from the larger -400 (vs -300). FYI, the Assembly maint, etc was to be done in Alabama. Design and airframe parts built in France. Screwdrivers turned in Alabama. I could go on. But I will not, the die is cast and idiots like you got their way, and as usual the troops pay. Go wave a flag and cheer that Boeing is getting the money. Like it will do any difference for the troops out on the pointy end of things. And USN Ret you are one of the jingoistic buttheads I was referring to. Yada yada... No need to go on. You've waved your weewee quite enough. In the mean time, the Boeing tanker will get to the troops quicker and cost less to buy and operate. The Air Force wanted a KC-135 replacement, an updated 100,000 lb class aircraft that could carry 200,000 lbs of fuel. Instead they will get a 200,000 lb widebody that will carry 200,000 lbs and not the 300,000 lb monstrosity. Unfortunately the US is broke and doesn't have the funds to develop a new tanker airframe.

Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-10 18:47 ||Comments

#14: Still a 767-200 fuselage (200LRF vs 200ER). Correction. The 2007 Boeing proposal already used the strengthened freighter airframe. Airbus proposed using the passenger airframe. That ought to have been fun for the aircrew having tons of pallets on rollers on an non-level surface. To overcome the standard A330's nose-down body angle on the ground, the A330F will use a revised nose landing gear layout. The same leg will be used, however its attachment points will be lower in the fuselage, requiring a distinctive blister fairing on the nose to accommodate the retracted nose-gear. This provides a level deck for cargo loading.

Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-10 19:12 ||Comments

The Iraq election committee is expected to have a third of the votes from Sunday’s parliamentary elections counted by today, with the first results to be announced tomorrow. But it's already known that there was far greater participation in Sunni Arab-dominated provinces than in previous parliamentary votes. As reported by the Monitor this week, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission put total turnout at 62 percent – slightly higher than the 55 to 60 percent observers expected, but a significant drop from the 79.6 percent turnout in the last parliamentary elections four years ago. It was, however, comparable to the 58 percent turnout in a January 2005 election for an interim parliament, which Sunnis largely boycotted. Since Sunnis comprise roughly a third of Iraq’s population, that means that Shiite Arabs and Kurds must have voted in quite high numbers in that election five years ago. So far indications are that Sunni Arab participation in Sunday’s election was greater than Shiite Arab turnout. In the predominately Sunni province of Salahuddin, nearly 75 percent of voters headed to the polls, according to the Los Angeles Times. In Anbar, another largely Sunni province and a one-time hotbed of insurgent activity, 61 percent of registered voters came to the polls – a huge improvement over the 2 percent who voted in January 2005, reports the Financial Times. The Guardian newspaper in London also reports a strong Kurdish turnout but doesn’t offer any percentages. One thing that’s clear though is that the upstart Gorran party, which reportedly won up to a dozen seats, is likely to lead to major upheaval in the way Kurdish politics are conducted – and how the autonomous Kurdistan region deals with Baghdad. One of US officials’ top concerns going into Sunday’s elections was the potential for Arab-Kurdish tensions to flare into violence, the Monitor reported from Salahadin last week. With such a strong showing from Kurdish voters, it’s very possible that Arab leaders – none of whose parties are strong enough to govern outright – will need to incorporate a Kurdish party in their coalition. Initial results from the election, based on a third of ballots, are expected Wednesday evening in Iraq, with official results due March 18 – allowing officials time to consider any appeals, reported Agence France Presse. Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna in Baghdad said the early results may not be representative of the final tally. More than 6,000 candidates from 86 political groups were competing for the 325 seats in parliament.

A new election law issued by Burma's ruling military bars pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from joining a political party, and thus from running in upcoming elections. State-run newspapers on Wednesday published the Political Parties Registration Law, which excludes anyone convicted by a court from participating in the elections. Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention. She was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam to her lakeside residence.

#1: ION NEWS KERALA > FORMER NEPAL MONARCH BACKS CALL TO DECLARE NEPAL [Tibet] A "HINDU STATE".

Posted by: JosephMendiola|| 2010-03-10 02:25 ||Comments

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged quake-stricken Haiti on Tuesday to hold legislative elections “as soon as appropriate,” saying new polls were key to the stability and legitimacy of the Haitian government. Clinton, speaking to reporters after meeting with Haitian President Rene Preval, said rescheduling elections delayed by the Jan. 12 earthquake should be a top priority “to ensure the stability and legitimacy of the Haitian government.” There is no government. There won't be a government after an election. Haiti is a basket case. It needs aid, technical assistance and outside governance until it can recover, not just from the earthquake but from fifty years of dictatorship and turmoil. “I assured President Preval that the United States would work with the international community to hold elections as soon as appropriate,” Clinton said. Preval has said he would not seek to extend his term in office beyond its scheduled conclusion on Feb. 11, 2011, and said on Tuesday he was confident that legislative elections — originally scheduled for Feb. 28 — could be organized in time to ensure an orderly transition. “What we must absolutely avoid is that we have a temporary provisional government that does not enjoy legitimacy,” Preval said during his appearance with Clinton, although he gave no dates for when the elections might be held. “Before I depart we must have a parliament and a new president. We have almost a year to do that,” Preval told reporters after the news conference. “If in a year we have a provisional government, that would be a catastrophe. That government would have no legitimacy, there wouldn’t be a parliament ... it would really be a return to 2004.” Presidential elections had been set for November, but it is unclear whether that will happen on schedule. Organizing new elections would be a major task, but is crucial to put in place a new parliament that will be legally empowered to spend the billions of dollars in relief aid flowing in. The offices of the Electoral Council collapsed in the Jan. 12 earthquake, members of the U.N. mission working with the commission were killed and election materials were buried. Many of Haiti’s government offices were also severely damaged in the earthquake, further slowing recovery efforts.

#1: I call BS. The key to Haiti's stability is them being responsible for themselves. We are "aiding" them to death.

Posted by: crosspatch|| 2010-03-10 00:31 ||Comments

#2: you got that right. Damn , all those idiots can think about is an election somewhere

Posted by: chris|| 2010-03-10 02:31 ||Comments

#3: Simply a matter of ending oppressive colonial rule and Aparthied, establishing legitimate majority rule, etc. Examples include 'legislative elections' in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Detroit.

Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-10 08:48 ||Comments

#4: The key to Haiti's stability is the establishment of heretofore absent property rights. Then maybe France could return some of the money it extorted.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble|| 2010-03-10 09:32 ||Comments

#5: Maybe she can recall Baby Doc from Paris.

Posted by: Willy|| 2010-03-10 14:55 ||Comments

#6: Merely imitating the Bush Doctrine. Of course, Haitis' a basket case, fit only to be screwed over by the United Nations. I'll post the link tommorow, but the UN officials responsible for the rampant corruption in Somalia, got 'promoted' to Haiti.

Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-10 17:18 ||Comments

#7: Replacing a corrupt and ineffective government with an elected corrupt and ineffective government = EPIC FAIL

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 17:41 ||Comments

#8: Any bets on whether she actually believes that?

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 19:15 ||Comments

Another ejaculation from Martin Scheinin, UN extra-special rapporteur GENEVA - A UN expert on Tuesday said the growing use of full body scanners in airport security was a breach of individual rights. Martin Scheinin, the UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights, said that while countering extremism scanners were both an ineffective means of prevention and an excessive intrusion into individual privacy. Martin has a diplomatic passport so he doesn't get scanned, or searched, or have his baggage searched. Nice that he's thinking occasionally about the 'little people'. "The use of a full body scanner which reveals graphic details of the human body, including the most private parts of it, very easily is a violation of human rights," Scheinin told journalists. "It would be a violation of human rights in respect to everyone, but there are particular sensitivities in respect of women, certain religions, certain cultural backgrounds," he added. Thus channeling his masters in Riyadh ... Scheinin, who was appointed to monitor the impact of anti-terror measures on individual freedoms five years ago, told the UN Human Rights Council that better detection technology could be better for human rights. But the "hasty decision" by several countries to use full body scans following a failed Christmas Day bid by a passenger to explode hidden chemicals on a flight to the United States owed more to "a political response to be seen to 'do something'", he argued. That might be true ... "Full body scanners are a disproportionate intrusion into privacy when measures are not taken to minimise the negative impact on privacy," said Scheinin. The UN rights expert said other handheld devices were available to detect explosives through clothing or a solid wall without the need to harm privacy. If those devices were used as a first stage to detect explosives, more intrusive measures would then be legitimate to examine suspects, Scheinin suggested. Better yet, question every person and hand-search every item of luggage.

#1: "The use of a full body scanner which reveals graphic details of the human body, including the most private parts of it, very easily is a violation of human rights," As opposed to a strip search?

Posted by: crosspatch|| 2010-03-10 00:09 ||Comments

#2: Mass murder of course isn't.... Do you really think some guy who gets to look at full body scans for hours is going to get excited? After the first day - the playmate of the month would probably only get a passing glance....

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 00:24 ||Comments

#3: Same mentality as the idiot who stated that he wouldnt allow his son through scanners as an invasion of privacy and violation of rights , yet would allow him on to an unchecked plane with unchecked passengers The mind truely boggles at HR mentaility As for the two muslim women who refused , one on medical grounds .. The medical grounds were probably that they were in fact a man .

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 06:53 ||Comments

#4: Note to anyone who objects to body scanners: Don't fly on airlines.

Posted by: Parabellum||http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/|| 2010-03-10 07:21 ||Comments

#5: Speaking as a woman, I get offended by people who think they have the right to treat me as property that cannot be let out of the house without a male escort, and think if I do, that I have no reason to object to being raped and/or killed. Can you get to work on that immediately, Herr Scheinin?

Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie|| 2010-03-10 07:50 ||Comments

#6: If I have to be scanned by these devices, I only hope I am standing tall and at attention!

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 09:27 ||Comments

#7: Blondie just won "comment of the month" ...

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 09:37 ||Comments

#8: I suggest that full-body scanners may not be necessary. Simply present each passenger with a page of Mohammad cartoons and do a full-body search on any who squeal like a pig.

Posted by: Swanimote|| 2010-03-10 10:43 ||Comments

#9:

Posted by: Hotspur666 [TROLL] || 2010-03-10 12:42 ||Comments

#10: I'm sure the U.N. would carefully explain to you Cornsilk Blonde that you should respect different cultures which are, after all, equal to our own in all respects - and the fact that Islam is a religion of Peace and this is they way they honor you.... And you should simply consent to be treated like cattle, raped, and stoned... Which is why the U.N. is an evil organization.

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 15:43 ||Comments

#11: Twice in one day, Marty? Was Banman bitching about seeing you generating some paperwork?

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:27 ||Comments

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport -- the departure site for the Detroit underwear bomber -- tightened security Tuesday after journalists orchestrated a sting operation that smuggled bottles of liquids onto planes bound for London and Washington. Security at Schiphol has been under scrutiny since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian student, flew from the airport to Detroit on Christmas Day with explosives in his underwear. Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate the explosives over the United States before being grabbed by passengers and crew. In an undercover operation broadcast on television Sunday night, reporters refilled bottles bought at a duty free store, resealed them and smuggled them back into the store. They then went through the check-out counter again with the same bottles, where they were put into sealed plastic bags that were not checked by security staff. The Netherlands National Anti-terror Coordinator says extra security staff will immediately begin patrolling duty-free stores at the airport and there will be more stringent checks on bottles bought there. Some stores will stop selling liquids altogether. The stunt was possible because handbag security at Schiphol is conducted at boarding gates rather than before entering the departure lounge where the duty-free shops are located. Schiphol spokeswoman Mirjam Snoerwang said Schiphol is the only major European airport that has security checks at the boarding gate for intercontinental flights and trips to Britain, Ireland and countries that are not part of the so-called Schengen borderless zone of 25 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Snoerwang said the airport knew about the possible weak link in its security before it was exposed on national television. "We considered it -- together with our minister of justice -- an acceptable level of risk," she said. But after the television show "automatically the risk is not acceptable any more so that is why we have taken some extra measures." The reporter who led the sting, Alberto Stegeman, said he was surprised that Schiphol knew about the risk and had not acted earlier. "If I can think of this, then so can anybody," he said in a telephone interview. "It is easy to think up and easier to carry out."

ISTANBUL - A Turkish man armed with a gun and suspected of carrying a bomb was shot and wounded by a security guard when he tried to enter the Ukrainian consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, Turkish officials said. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said a bomb squad was investigating a bag containing cables that the man had been carrying, but it was doubtful whether there were explosives inside. ‘We don’t think it is a bomb, but the police are checking it, and will probably blow it up, just in case,’ the governor told NTV news channel. The governor said the 29-year-old man’s wife was living in the Ukraine, and his motive appeared to be personal rather than political. The man tried entering the consulate at around 9 a.m. (0700 GMT), and began firing randomly, before he was shot by a guard. The wounded man was taken to hospital and he was not in a critical condition, the governor said. There were no other casualties. Television images showed police cordoning off the area in the Florya neighbourhood, near the city’s international airport. Police also evacuated nearby buildings.

TEHRAN, Iran — The trial in Iran opened Tuesday for 12 suspects accused of torturing to death three anti-government protesters tortured in prison during the turmoil following the June elections, the official news agency reported. The IRNA report did not identify any of the suspects, saying the judge has banned reporting details of the trial. The opening sessions will hear the complaints and charges against the men. Expect this to be quietly dropped just as soon as a distraction can be arranged ... In January, a parliamentary probe found a former Tehran prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, responsible for the torture death of the three in Kahrizak detention center in the capital. There has been no word of any action to punish Mortazavi so far and he currently heads a government body tasked with fighting smuggling of goods. Anger over the abuse emerged in August, after influential conservative figures in the clerical hierarchy condemned the mistreatment of detainees. The outrage forced Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to order the immediate closure of the Kahrizak. The confirmation by the hard-line judiciary of the prisoner deaths proved one of the most devastating claims against authorities over their treatment of protesters. The opposition says more than 80 protesters have been killed in the postelection crackdown, but the government puts the number of confirmed dead at less than 40. Authorities initially denied the abuse claims, accusing the opposition of running a campaign of lies against the ruling system. The unrest broke out after pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed he was robbed of the presidency through massive fraud in the vote. One of the detainees who died in custody was the son of Abdolhossein Rouhalamini, a top aide to conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. Rouhalamini’s death, two weeks after he was arrested, sparked anger even among government supporters.

DUBAI - Yemen, under international pressure to quiet domestic unrest and focus its sights on al Qaeda, has offered to hold talks with southern separatists and hear their grievances, state media said on Tuesday. The move by President Ali Abdullah Saleh follows an escalation in violence on both sides in south Yemen that has left a trail of dead and wounded in recent weeks even as insurgent violence elsewhere in the country fades. “We say to them: Come talk with your brothers in the authority, and we will talk with you. We extend the hand of dialogue without (you) having to resort to violence or blocking roads or raising the flag of separation,” Saleh said in an address at a military academy. “I am certain the flags of separation will burn in the days and weeks ahead. We have one flag we voted on with our free will. We welcome any political demands. Come to dialogue,” he said, according to the Defence Ministry’s online newspaper. Pressure mounted on Yemen to concentrate its efforts on containing al Qaeda after the Yemen-based regional arm of the militant group claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound passenger plane in December. Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability on multiple fronts in Yemen, where 42 percent of the population lives in poverty, to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond. The offer for talks with separatists was not Saleh’s first. Diplomats say previous such offers have not been followed by concrete action to address southern complaints that Sanaa neglects the southern region and treats southerners unfairly, including in property disputes, jobs and pension rights. Some southerners also complain that Saleh’s ties to Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s biggest donor, have led the president to tolerate inroads by the kingdom’s puritanical Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday and urged action after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem, a statement said. Yeah, get some Arab unity going, that'll stop the Israelis ... “Abbas called by telephone the (secretary general) of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, asking him to urgently make the necessary contacts to discuss the 1,600 homes that Israel decided to build,” the Palestinian presidency said in a statement. “This decision comes after the announcement of the start of construction of 112 homes in Beitar Illit settlement,” in the occupied West Bank, said the statement. “Abbas and Mussa discussed the urgent policy measures appropriate to address the escalating Israeli provocations,” it added. Earlier, Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the plans to build new settler homes would “hinder” US-led indirect peace talks. “This is a dangerous decision and will hinder the negotiations,” he told AFP. “We consider the decision to build in east Jerusalem to be a judgment that the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun,” he added.

#1: the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun Not that they had any chance anyway. With the big O is office, the Israelis know that they're on their own.

Posted by: spotnpuff@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 08:24 ||Comments

JERUSALEM - Israel announced plans on Tuesday to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it has annexed to Jerusalem, a move likely to draw Palestinian anger during a high-level U.S. visit. The construction blueprint for Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood, published by Israel’s Interior Ministry, could be implemented after a 60-day review period, spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said on the second day of a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The United States welcomed, with reservations, Israel’s decision in November to place a 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank. However, Israel has stressed that the moratorium does not apply to East Jerusalem and adjacent areas of the West Bank which it annexed to create a single municipality of Jerusalem in a move that has not been recognised internationally.

#1: IMHO Israel should annex 1 square mile of land and expel paleos for every month they fire a missile, lob a motar, throw rock, and refuse to sign a true peace agreement. And they can build whatever they want. After a while the probelem (paleos) will simply go away. Also I would be a whole lot happier if the holy lands were in Jewish hands.

Posted by: Cyber Sarge|| 2010-03-10 08:31 ||Comments

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Wednesday her country has no intention of toppling North Korea's regime by force, and remains willing to talk to it directly if the stalled six-party nuclear talks resume. Bambi might even apologize to Kimmie ... The comments by Kathleen Stephens came a day after North Korea said it would continue to bolster its nuclear arms development if the U.S. does not drop what Pyongyang called military threats and provocations. "The United states has no hostile intent towards the people of North Korea nor are we threatening to change the North Korean regime through force," Stephens told a forum in Seoul. "Our aim is to find diplomatic solutions to working with North Korea." Stephens said that despite the goofy bitter criticism in recent days, North Korea has shown "some positive signs" indicating its willingness to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions. "The language has become more positive," she said. "We need to see actions."

#1: Bambi will definitely bow - low enough to fall over. While at the same time snubbing South Korea - after all the're only an ally....

Posted by: CrazyFool|| 2010-03-10 00:33 ||Comments

GENEVA, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's ambassador to Geneva, known as a caretaker of leader Kim Jong-il's secret funds, is expected to leave office after 30 years in Switzerland, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. He's gonna need help with his bags, I think ... Ambassador Ri Chol has been considered one of Kim's closest aides, trustworthy enough for the reclusive leader to send all of his three known sons to Swiss schools. Ri was also reported to have played a key role in helping top North Korean officials get medical treatment from French doctors. "It appears almost certain that Ambassador Ri is leaving," a diplomatic source in Bern said on condition of anonymity. without elaborating where he obtained the information. "But the timing is unclear whether it will be in weeks or take a couple of more months." Talk of Ri's departure is widespread in the diplomatic community in Switzerland, the source said. "I think that the high attention he's drawing here is because Ambassador Ri has stayed in Switzerland for so long and because he drew media attention from time to time with reports that he's taking care of Chairman Kim Jong-il's slush funds," the source said, referring to the North Korean leader's official title, chairman of the country's powerful National Defense Commission. Ri, 75, has been working in Switzerland since 1980 when he was appointed minister at North Korea's mission to Geneva before rising to ambassador in 1987. Since 1998, he has doubled as the North's ambassador to Switzerland. It is unclear why Ri will be replaced. Some say it is because of his advanced age and others say the move might be related to leader Kim's attempt to hand power over to one of his sons.

#1: The real question is why would he go back?

Posted by: spotnpuff@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-10 08:03 ||Comments

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam, who has reportedly been passed over in the succession, can sometimes be found drinking with South Koreans at a bar in Macau. A government official on Tuesday said, "I've heard that some South Koreans were watching Kim Jong-nam at a bar in Macau recently because he looked familiar, and he suggested they have a drink together. So they drank and had a chat." "Yeah, I dunno what's up with Dad these days. Cheez, it's like he's been pithed or something. Hey, barkeep! Another round for me and my new friends here!"

#1: Hmm. I wonder why South Korean intelligence didn't interrogate the shit out of these people when they got back.

Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-10 05:49 ||Comments

#2: Why would you do that to your employees? They can fill out an after-ops report and attach it to their receipts.

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 09:31 ||Comments

#3: Well, it's more like KJN doesn't have anything worthwhile to say, a waste of a debriefing.

Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-10 13:56 ||Comments

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has reportedly been excluded from his father's birthday celebrations for the second year running. "A family gathering was held to celebrate Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday on Tuesday, with third son Jong-un in attendance," a North Korean source said. "But there are no signs that Jong-nam flew to Pyongyang from Macau or China, where he lives." Just what North Korea needs, a bloody feudal war of succession ... Kim Jong-nam was in Pyongyang between July and September 2008 after his father collapsed with a massive stroke. But he has been living in exile since January 2009, when it appears his younger brother Jong-un was named as the successor to the leadership. A South Korean government source said, "Just like North Korean Ambassador to Poland Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's half brother, who has been unable to return to the North for more than 20 years, there's a sting chance that Kim Jong-nam faces lifelong exile." Kim Jong-nam fell into disgrace after he was caught by Japanese authorities in May 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport but returned to Pyongyang for his father's birthday in February 2008 bearing gifts he purchased in Macau. He was also spotted at a neurosurgery hospital in Paris in October that year, just after the elder Kim suffered the stroke, which led to speculation that he was been chosen to succeed his father.

#1: I seem to recall that this was the modernization kid that spent lots of time in Japan and such. Maybe not a bad chap, but after being raised in a GULAG, it may not be the best way to rear a King. Yet anything beats Kim B Illin. Besides, did they not just give their port to China? .. Just sayin...

Posted by: closedanger@gmail.com|| 2010-03-10 01:02 ||Comments

#2: He's a nobody. At Beijing airport, he gets off the airplane, collects his luggage, and gets into a taxi like everyone else. No minders, nobody to meet him, nothing. A non-player. Now he can have all the coke, whores, and gambling that he wants and nobody will bother him.

Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-10 03:36 ||Comments

#3: If I was him , I'd be glad I faced perpetual exile from N K I guess hes the lazy under achiever in that family and will fade quietly into the night ... (with, as grom points out, a hearty amount of coke , whores and stolen money)

Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-10 05:15 ||Comments

#4: Pyongyang or Macao, it's a tough choice ...

Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-10 12:31 ||Comments

#5: Thanks, dad!!!

Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-10 16:13 ||Comments

#6: He could also party with the Gadhafi kids in Lugano

Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-10 16:18 ||Comments

North Korea is earning much-needed hard currency amid international sanctions by re-exporting imported cigarettes to China and Southeast Asia, the Financial Times said Tuesday. The North in February last year repackaged about 15,000 cases of State Express 555 cigarettes worth about US$6.3 million which it imported from British American Tobacco in Singapore and re-exported them to Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries at slightly higher prices. Chump change but every dollar goes towards the cognac bill ... According to shipping documents, the cigarettes rebounded out of the North Korean port of Nampo to Hai Phong in Vietnam and Manila in the Philippines via Dalian in China and Singapore. But the daily said their ultimate destination was probably China. "While the UN banned luxury goods exports to North Korea, member nations have been allowed to compile their own sanctions lists, which critics say created loopholes," the daily added. The cigarette deal was possible because Singapore, like the EU, banned exports of cigars but not cigarettes, while Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.S. banned exports of cigarettes to the North.

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "JihadJane" has been charged in federal court with using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters to carry out murders and violent attacks overseas. The woman, Colleen R. LaRose, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft, according to the indictment, unsealed Monday. LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators are accused of recruiting men to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe and of recruiting women who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe for similar missions. The accused co-conspirators are located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the United States. "Today's indictment ... underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. In June 2008, LaRose posted a comment on YouTube under the username "JihadJane," stating that she is "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslim people, according to the indictment. She was also know to authorities as "Fatima LaRose." The indictment describes LaRose as in her 40s.

#1: Another misguided, dangerous and evil moron.

Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-10 09:24 ||Comments

#2: with a face made for a veil

Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-10 09:59 ||Comments

#3: Quentin Tarantino needs to make a movie about her.

Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305|| 2010-03-10 11:26 ||Comments

#4: Deposit her in Iran... From 33,000ft.

Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-10 17:38 ||Comments