Monkeys will pay for a glimpse of power and beauty, scientists have found, much as people pay for magazines offering a peek at Donald Trump's wedding or Jennifer Lopez's Oscar gown.
We had this a while back...
Posted by: tipper ||
02/13/2005 1:29:40 AM ||
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#1
Make that some "people pay for magazines...."
The rest of us have slightly higher brains than monkeys do.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/13/2005 2:14 Comments ||
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#2
Gives us a good idea of the brain power of those who adore Hollywood and other celebs.
Saudi Arabia's morality police are on the scent of illicit red roses as part of a clampdown on would-be St Valentine's lovers in the strict Muslim kingdom.
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Saudi Arabia's powerful religious vigilantes, have banned shops from selling any red flowers in the run-up to February 14.
Florists say the move is part of an annual campaign by the committee -- whose members are known as "mutawwaeen" or volunteers -- to prevent Saudis marking a festival they believe flouts their austere doctrine of "Wahhabi" Islam.
"They pass by two or three times a day to check we don't have any red flowers," said a Pakistani florist in Riyadh's smart Sulaimaniya district. "Look, no red. I've taken them all out," he said pointing to a dazzling floral collection covering every color of the rainbow except one.
Saudi Arabia's purist version of Islam recognizes only two religious occasions a year -- the Muslim feasts after the fasting month of Ramadan and the Haj pilgrimage.
Celebration of the Islamic New Year or the Prophet Mohammad's birthday, common in other Muslim countries, is frowned upon in Saudi Arabia.
Valentine's Day, or the "Feast of Love" in Arabic, is beyond the pale in a country where women must cover themselves from head to toe in public and be accompanied by a male guardian.
"For the last week, we've had no red in the shop," said Ahmed, a flower shop manager. "You can't even have red cards."
Despite the prohibition, demand for the banned roses has been strong and unofficial business was booming, Ahmed said.
"Wait 10 minutes," he told one customer as an assistant slipped into the shadows to collect a bouquet of crimson flowers. At 10 riyals ($2.70) each they were double the usual price. "They would put us in prison for this," he smiled.
Another customer asked if he could deliver 30 red roses to Riyadh's diplomatic quarter, a potentially tricky mission which meant crossing a tight police security cordon. "No problem," Ahmed said. "That's the regular police, not the mutawwaeen."
The government-funded mutawwaeen patrol the streets of Saudi Arabia, particularly Riyadh in the Wahhabi heartland, ensuring women are covered and five daily Muslim prayers are observed.
Shopkeepers who fail to shut down for half an hour during each prayer risk a night in jail if they are discovered.
Despite government calls for them to show greater leniency, and some recent efforts to improve their own image, the bearded volunteers are not universally popular.
"The mutawwaeen are just backward," Ahmed complained. "It's the Saudi women who want these roses anyway."
#3
And Israel is the racist state in the middle east, eh? These tyrants are so frikkin' paranoid even a HINT of other cultures sends them into a tailspin.
Victorious candidates in Saudi Arabia's first round landmark municipal polls in the capital dismissed accusations that they were Islamists, insisting yesterday that they represented mainstream Muslim society.
Dr. Ibrahim ibn Hamad Al-Quayid, a prominent academic who is among seven winners in Thursday's elections in Riyadh, dismissed charges that certain candidates used religion and formed coalitions violating electoral laws to win. "Even, Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh was dismayed to hear such accusations and told me that no religious authority backed any candidate or approved any list of candidates", Al-Quayid said.
They didn't have to. In Soddiland, these things are understood.
Refuting charges that candidates backed by religious sheikhs had emerged victorious, he said "the whole election process was democratic and transparent. All candidates, who won are top professionals and moderates with Islamic orientation."
From the right families, go to the right mosques, only beat their wives twice a year...
He pointed out that out of seven winners five have doctorates and four of them are Western-educated. "They are, of course, Muslims and they represent the mainstream Muslim society not any extremist ideology," he added. Abdul Aziz Al-Omari, another winner, also refused to be so labeled, saying the "whole Saudi society is Muslim." "Many of the candidates who lost are more Islamists than myself, or any of the winners," said the lecturer of history and real estate developer. "The (political) system in Saudi Arabia is based on Islam. Anyone who claims not to want to implement the Shariah would be breaching order," he added, stressing the Islamic character of Saudi society. The comment brought a protest from another elected candidate, Suleiman Al-Rashudi, who said there is "nothing called Islamist and non-Islamist in Saudi Arabia."
"The whole society is Islamist ... We are all Muslims," he said. "We are all against extremism and terrorism," he added. Forty-four-year-old Rashudi, who chairs a local company, refused to be termed a Wahabist.
"It is an insult for me to be called Wahabist. We are Muslims.. We are forbidden to adopt other names (except Muslims)," he said.
Winner Tareq Al-Kassabi said he too refused to be linked to any Islamist trend. "There are no Islamist trends in Saudi Arabia," he said, insisting that as an engineer he had an election platform related only to "the jurisdiction of city councils."
Asked about the complaints that a list of seven Islamists was circulated via cell phones and the Internet a day before the poll, Al-Quayid told Arab News: "I personally received some six different lists on my mobile and luckily my name figured in all these lists. But who composed these messages, what is the motive behind it, nobody knows."
"It does not mean that some religious scholars have approved the names. Anybody can write the names and circulate through SMS," he said.
"In fact, the game plan was to garner support with religious blessing," said Al-Quayid, but the plan failed miserably. "Interestingly, if one makes a perusal of the whole campaign carefully, it is evident that those candidates who, in fact, invited clergymen to address the voters, lost the elections," said the academic who preferred not to name those candidates. Al-Quayid is probably the only candidate who won substantial votes at 70 polling stations out of 73 in the capital city. He also won the highest number of votes in the sixth electoral precinct, where he lives with his family.
Asked whether he even unknowingly used religion in his campaign, Al-Quayid, a former assistant secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) said: "I did not use any religious slogan in my campaign and no Islamic scholars were invited by me to address the audience during the campaign period".
"Losing candidates are crying foul. Such misleading arguments cannot be justified. These allegations are part of the Western propaganda to belittle the Saudi government's maiden effort of reform, which succeeded in the form of municipal elections", said Al-Quayid, who is also a member of the executive committee of the National Society for Human Rights.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/13/2005 1:10:50 AM ||
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No one's trying to stir up trouble. This is important.
Britain's chief driving examiner has risked the wrath of the country's women motorists by declaring that men are better drivers. Robin Cummins, who oversees the driving tests of 1.5m learners each year as the chief instructor for the Driving Standards Agency, claims men display more natural ability. Not only are they better at control and manoeuvring, they also need less tuition. He says a man learning to drive needs on average 12.2 hours of lessons and has a 46% pass rate. Women need an average of 15.3 hours of tuition and their pass rate is 40%.
While women take an average of 2.12 tests to pass, men need 1.87. "I'm not saying anything that isn't in the figures," says Cummins. "Of course there are plenty of women who are excellent drivers and plenty of men who are terrible, but overall it does seem to be that men can pick up the basic skills more quickly. With young men there seems to be more natural ability. Some females — though not all — take a lot more teaching." For both sexes the pass rate is highest for 17-year-olds (56% for women and 60% for men) and lowest for those 50 and over (29% for both men and women). Reversing is the most common problem for women failing the test.
The Advertising Standards Authority has rejected complaints that a poster claiming women were better drivers than men was untrue after an insurance company presented evidence to back the statement. It accepted women in general had fewer accidents and had made fewer claims. But a study by another insurance firm showed a women was, on average, more likely to have an accident and her claims would be higher.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2005 17:44 Comments ||
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#5
Can one of you fine gents drive up to the store for me? I need some more hair spray, PMS pills, and bonbons. Then could you swing by the dry cleaners'? My frocks are ready to be picked up. Thanks ever so. All those...what are they called, gears? are sooooo confusing...
#8
TGA: I don't like manuals. I can drive a manual on flat ground, but I just don't have hills to practice on around here.
(Oh, and I thought I'd clarify: I usually think a lot of the arguments about "women can't do math" are bunk, for reasons which I'll be glad to discuss at another time. I just keep thinking of that "Evolution of man and woman" cartoon from a while back...)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/13/2005 18:12 Comments ||
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#9
Well, we can conduct a scientific experiment: Rent a car out of Heathrow Airport with a manual transmission. Get some men and women for the study group who drive with steering wheels on the left side of the car. Let them drive out of Heathrow during rush hour and have them go through a roundabout. Set up a methodology and scoring system. Take pictures inside the car and outside on the roundabout. Gather data. Do some Stat 101 on the experiment. Summarize results in a study. See what happens.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/13/2005 19:42 Comments ||
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Posted by: Rafael ||
02/13/2005 19:56 Comments ||
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#12
They also have round-a-bouts in Boston. I was stuck on one for three days back in '91. I learned to drive a manual transmission on a farm in South Alabama, otherwise known as LA (Lower Alabama).
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/13/2005 19:58 Comments ||
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I did the Heathrow thing in July of 82. Made it through the roundabout with everyone honking at me. My first experience driving on the left. Then drove through Wales dodging sheep. Got to be a regular trooper in Ireland. We kept a jug of Paddy Whiskey under the seat for conversation lube when we talked to farmers. Got REAL good at driving down one lane roads with stone fences and a big assed lorry barreling down on us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/13/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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#14
Starting a manual car on a hill is a mandatory part of the UK driving test. I first learned to drive in the midlle of the Fens, where it is flat as a billiard table as far as the eye can see. The only place where you could practice a hill start was in places where a road ascended the side of a embankment along side the drainage canals that cross the region. Basically you had about 25 feet of roadway before you landed in the canal. I'll never forget the instructor always took off his seatbelt and put one hand on the emergency brake before every attempt. I asked if he had ever gone into the canal. His reply was "More than once."
#15
When I learned to drive a manual on a grade, Thomas, the guy I was working for, took my watch and put it behind the rear wheel. I didn't roll backward.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/13/2005 20:15 Comments ||
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My defensive driving instructor stood a cigarette on its butt on the dash and said: "OK, handle the stick like it's your girlfriend's knee. Now drive. And don't tip my fag over."
#17
Been there, done that, TGA. Scotland. Hadn't driven a stick-shift in 20 years. As soon as I got into traffic driving on the left side of the road, the stick-shift was the least of my concerns. When I got to a traffic circle, praying set in.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 20:43 Comments ||
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#18
In Germany driver lessons are usually given on manual cars so few people ever have an issue.
And face it: Would you really want to drive a Porsche at 150mph on the autobahn with automatic gear???
#19
I learned to drive on a manual, Mama's Volkswagen Beetle. Then Daddy had me test using his automatic whatever-it-was, because it would be easier for me (I gave Mama her first grey hairs that year). Failed the bloody test 5 times because there was no stick shift or clutch. I didn't drive an automatic again until I was 25, and am still not happy without something for my right hand and left foot to do...
But I must shamefacedly admit to being almost stereotypically bad behind the wheel. And my ability to get lost is becoming legendary. Trailing Daughter has taken to volunteering to take over if I appear to be tired. She is very much looking forward to getting her temps in 18 months, just to replace me. We'll all be happier, I think, although I solemnly promise you all that it will be Mr. Wife who teaches her, not me.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has branded the United States a "terrorist state" while rejecting Washington's criticism of Caracas for its arms purchase from Russia. Chavez, a fierce critic of US President George Bush and the US-led war in Iraq, on Saturday brushed aside US opposition to the agreement to buy 100,000 automatic rifles and about 40 military helicopters from Moscow. "One has to ask whether there was transparency in the invasion of Iraq. The world knows President Bush lied openly about Iraq having chemical weapons," Chavez said. "They keep on bombing cities, killing children, they have become a terrorist state," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/13/2005 12:06:31 AM ||
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#1
Is it just me or does Hugo look like a chubby, brunette Reinhard Heidrich?
#4
The propagandist's favorite logical method today is the preemptive charge and it seems to be the traditional first act of despotic liars. The Dhimmicrats used it extensively in 2004. Now where else have we heard this "the US are the terrorists" crap? Heh.
#13
Ahh, have pity on the poor troll, people! He hates ISZRA so much, he's under God' curse, and obviously is suffering from it. I mean, every time he's reminded that "BUSH WON, KERRY LOST", he writhes in sheer agony.
And THAT'S just the beginning.
Take my advice, NI: either change your tune regarding Israel and God's chosen people, or suffer the consequences.
OR, you can choose to govern your own fate and follow these instructions to shorten your misery if you can't handle admitting that you and your ilk have always been wrong, and will continue to be wrong, about almost everything in the world:
1. Pull head out of ass.
2. Insert hand grenade up ass.
3. Reinsert head up ass.
4. Pull pin of hand grenade with teeth.
5. Pull head out of ass.
6. Kiss ass goodbye.
#15
What's really galling for the poor twit (NUKE IZRA, not Chavez) is that his computer probably has Israeli-made components all over its motherboard.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/13/2005 8:48 Comments ||
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#16
The troll could be a South American Muslim. In South America, we receive a healthy dose of anti-Americanism throughout our lives. If the troll is indeed born in South American, that is double the hatred. We do share a common philosophy with the animals. It is never our fault. It is always the Oligarchs (anybody who owns a house or a car) under the US patronage that is to blame for our poverty and lack of education.
On the subject of education...it always amazes me that a lot of us consider an education to be able to write and read.
#25
What I meant to say by "I am lurker nowâ was that I used to post more when I was living in Saudi. The regulars know me by the name Anon 4617I. I am a living here, in the US, now but my entire family is in Venezuela. We keep in touch weekly and the news/events from there are not encouraging.
#29
I thought they have lower-case letters in San Jose. Apparently not.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 16:10 Comments ||
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#30
Many fonts suffered major losses in trading with the Utes and in snowstorms while crossing the rockies. Thisn why folks on the left coast are known as California Cases.
#38
Maybe we ought to slip 10K rifles and ammo across the border to peopel opposed to Chaves. Give him a tase of his own domestic terrorism. Wanna bet we could find a Venezuelan "McVeigh" and give him a rental truck filled with 2 tons of ANFO, and the address to where Chavez's family is living?
#40
Maybe we ought to slip 10K rifles and ammo across the border to peopel opposed to Chaves. Give him a tase of his own domestic terrorism. Wanna bet we could find a Venezuelan "McVeigh" and give him a rental truck filled with 2 tons of ANFO, and the address to where Chavez's family is living?
#41
HEY STUPID BASTARDS , SO YOU DO NOT LIKE TO BE CRITCIZED... YES YOUR FUCK UP COUNTRY IS A TERRORIST ARSEHOLE AND YOUR COUNTRY WILL BE NUKED AND YOUR STUPID INEDUCATED MASSES DEPORTED TO SOUTH AMERICA AS CHIP LABOR .... 20 YEARS FROM NOW CINA GONNA NUKE YOUR TOILET AND SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN GONNA HAVE A SWEET REVENGE!!!!
#43
Maybe we ought to slip 10K rifles and ammo across the border to peopel opposed to Chaves. Give him a tase of his own domestic terrorism. Wanna bet we could find a Venezuelan "McVeigh" and give him a rental truck filled with 2 tons of ANFO, and the address to where Chavez's family is living?
Cuban President Fidel Castro warned the United States on Saturday against plotting to kill his most important ally, Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez. "I say to world public opinion: if they assassinate Chavez, the responsibility will fall squarely on the president of the United States, George W Bush," Castro said.
The Cuban leader, who was the target of CIA assassination plots after his 1959 revolution steered Cuba toward Soviet Communism, gave no evidence that Chavez's life was in danger. But he said the United States would be responsible for killing Chavez even if the Venezuelan military was to carry out the assassination. He added: "If they can eliminate him, they will." Populist Chavez has led oil-rich Venezuela into a close alliance with Cuba, raising fears in Washington of Cuban-style communism taking hold in the South American country, a major supplier of oil to the United States. Castro, 78, boasted that he had survived at least 100 attempts on his life. CIA plots against him included such capers as poisoned cigars, an exploding conch shell and toxin to make his beard fall out. "This comes from a survivor. I have survived," he said in a nearly six-hour speech that lasted into the early hours of Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
So Fidel is pissed at Hugo over something, and about to whack him?
#2
Please let Castro die soon. Hugo can rant and rave all he wants. If he starts trying to cut off our oil then he needs to worry about getting wacked. He might also want to cool his support for rebels in Columbia. Columbia might very well might just wack him.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/13/2005 10:29 Comments ||
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#6
Did anyone else see the footage of him in the news? They pushed him out in a wheel chair and helped him up for some kind of event. I was unaware that his health was getting bad.
#9
Has anyone ever suggested to Castro that if would take the time to organize his thoughts, he could shorten those 6 hour speeches to maybe 3 hours and increase the productivity of his country? Castro is the only man in the world who makes Bill Clinton look laconic.
HT to Polipundit. Is there NOTHING Kim can't do? Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- Foreigners have expressed their strong admiration for leader Kim Jong Il who has provided wise and dynamic leadership to the field of cinematic art when they visited the revolutionary museum at the DPRK Ministry of Culture. Head of the group of Chinese technicians working for the construction of the Taean Friendship Glass Factory Cui Baoyu, said that the Korean feature film "The Flower Girl", scripted from immortal classics "The Flower Girl", is a flawlessly perfect masterpiece. flawlessly perfect? redundant and repeating
It is entirely thanks to the on-site guidance and instructions given by Kim Jong Il to the field of cinematic art on many occasions for the past several decades that the Korean cinematic art has reached such a high level as we have seen today, he said, adding: We hope that the Juche-based cinematic art of Korea would further develop and effloresce under his guidance. Viktor Yeliseev, head of the State Academy Ensemble of the Ministry of Interior of Russia, said that the museum clearly bears witness to the greatness of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the glorious course covered by the Korean cinematic art, which has made great progress under their wise guidance. Our visit to the museum convinced us that Kim Jong Il is a genius of art, he added. Swedish delegate Agneta Gustavsson, head of the Austrian delegation Brigiter Waych and other participants of the 9th Pyongyang Film Festival said after visiting the museum that they are firmly convinced that the cinematic art of Korea will make greater progress in the future as it is guided by Kim Jong Il, its great master. He WAS awesome in Team America. Wonder if they showed it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2005 7:27:38 PM ||
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Team America: Fuck, yeah! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/13/2005 19:32 Comments ||
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Yes, but can he leap tall buildings in a single bound?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/13/2005 19:35 Comments ||
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Doubtful, DB, but I'll bet he thinks he can leap short buildings in a double bound. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/13/2005 19:38 Comments ||
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..SNL did a hilarious mock news conference with Kimmie last night, where it was also revealed that he is the third highest all-time NBA rebounder.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/13/2005 20:19 Comments ||
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#7
"Third Highest"? This blasphemy would have you sent to the mines in NKor in no time.
On a sadder note, the international film industry (Hollywood, Japanese and European) is doing a brisk trade with NK when it comes to comic movies. A lot of the stuff is drawn by North Koreans. I don't think they make enough in a month to buy a movie ticket.
He feels so bad, he's got a worried mind;
The glass factory's so lonesome all the time
Since Kimmie left on-site guidance behind at Cui Baoyu;
Watching "The Flower Girl", killing time,
Working for Kimmie till the sun don't shine,
Looking forward to happier times than Cui Baoyu.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 20:35 Comments ||
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*holds up card* 8.2.
Good style, but points off for failure to work in Army First policy.
The Kyoto Protocol takes effect this week with fanfare but Japan, where the landmark environment treaty was sealed, is not fully prepared itself, with industry scared that a push to cut pollution will set back economic recovery.
Signed in 1997 in Japan's old capital, the ambitious treaty aimed at curbing global warming obliges the world's second-largest economy to cut greenhouse gas emissions six percent by 2008-2012 from the 1990 level.
However, 11 of Japan's 30 industry sectors including steel and power risk failing to meet their self-imposed targets in cutting carbon dioxide emissions, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said this month.
The study found that Japan's emissions were going up as the economy expands from a decade-old slump.
The survey has led the powerful trade ministry to reopen talk of imposing government, rather than voluntary, targets on emissions with taxes to coax violators -- an idea steadfastly opposed by big business.
Forms of a "carbon tax" have been introduced in parts of the European Union. The United States, the world's biggest CO2 polluter, is boycotting Kyoto, with President George W. Bush saying it would unfairly burden US industry.
A tax on Japanese polluters was originally proposed by the environment ministry and was intensely debated by specialists and politicians last year.
The ruling coalition parties ultimately decided to forgo a tax, the size of which has not been set.
Japan's most influential industry body, the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, firmly rejects a pollution tax, saying it is unnecessary and could harm the economy and Japanese companies' competitiveness.
"The environment ministry's CO2-emission tax is a simple tax increase to business, which will in turn result in a hollowing out of plants abroad," said Meguri Aoyama, the chief economist of Keidanren.
"We had set targets ourselves in 1996, before the government decided their policies (for the Kyoto Protocol) in 1998. Although we have a track record on the C02-emission issue, bureaucrats are looking for another place to squeeze" taxes from, Aoyama said.
Indeed, Japanese industries have a greener record than most other countries, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Setting fuel efficiency of Japanese steelmakers as a base of 100, with lower figures showing more a eco-friendly policy, the EU average stands at 110, the United States is at 120, Russia is at 125 and China is at 150, according to the ministry.
If Japan fails to achieve its six-percent emission reduction target under Kyoto, it would be forced to cut by another 30 percent as a penalty in addition to the original six percent under the second stage of the treaty from 2013.
A poll of the general public in December by the Asahi newspaper found that 37 percent favored a carbon tax and 50 percent were opposed, although surveys showed a majority of Japanese also felt anxiety about global warming.
One option under Kyoto is a system of credits. A country which cannot meet its own goals can make up for it by buying credits from nations which have exceeded their targets or by setting up clean-energy projects in the developing world, which is largely exempt from Kyoto.
However, "this will be very expensive to Japan," said Takamitsu Sawa, professor at the Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University.
The swaps are "a system favorable to sellers of credits. Countries such as Russia and Ukraine may set extraordinarily high prices on credits, in which case Japan, which doesn't have a choice but to accept the offered price, will incur financial burdens," Sawa said.
Industry is also skeptical of the credit system, known formally as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which will be coordinated through the United Nations.
"It is hard to get permission from a partner country and the United Nations CDM Executive Board, as most of them are on the side of developing countries, which need not cut gas emission" under Kyoto, said Aoyama of the business lobby.
Press reports have said Japan is considering using foreign aid to green projects overseas to claim credits, a plan that could draw international criticism.
Sawa, the professor, believed a carbon tax would be helpful in reducing emissions as it could prompt corporate efforts to create new technologies -- both in production and the end product -- that eat up less energy.
He cited the example of Japan's largest company, Toyota Motor, which has created the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, the Prius, which emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide than a regular car and has proven a hit with US consumers.
However, Sawa noted that Toyota began work on the hybrid car well before the Kyoto Protocol -- and not in response to a tax.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/13/2005 1:07:09 AM ||
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#2
A nice example of how Kyoto results in increased CO2 emissions as energy intensive industries like steel migrate from developed energy efficient countries to less energy efficient countries that don't have to reduce CO2 emissions under Kyoto.
#3
The 1990 numbers are largely sloppy self-inflicted estimates. But now the fools that signed on are going to be increasingly bound by those very-real numbers and increasingly by very-real measurements.
"this will be very expensive to Japan,"
Indeed. Please pass the popcorn.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 13:44 Comments ||
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Whatn I find funny is the U.S. CO2 emisions are about 30% lees than 20 years ago.
Sixty years ago Sunday, Allied bombers attacked Dresden and the thousands of residents and refugees who lived there. Traces of the militarily dubious decision to bomb the city remain visible today.
On the evening of Feb. 13, 1945, nine Mosquito fighter planes and 244 Lancaster bombers from the Royal Air Force's 5th fleet took off from their base in the south of England. Dresden's air raid sirens started to wail at 9:39 p.m. Around 20 minutes later the first target-marking bombs fell on the stadium just outside of the city center. The first air raid lasted about 30 minutes and was so dense that the entire inner city was engulfed by a firestorm.
"There, between exploded trams, I saw the first scorched dead, charred, shrunken, some of them just brushed by the flames but still asphyxiated," a soldier recounted. "Women, children, men -- the horrible death had taken them all." Rest at the link.
Posted by: True German Ally ||
02/13/2005 14:48 ||
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Sorry, something went wrong with the link.
It was about now when the sirens started howling... and the fire we had sent out returned to us.
Come, come, TGA: is this the modern spirit? No, Europe must heal its wounds. What you should say is, "Weren't we all equally victims of American bombs?" That is how Europe brings itself together in these times.
#5
Dresden is a symbol of the horrors of total war. To me, who to blame means nothing in a situation like this. Total war is something that those of us who have not expierenced can not fathom. The bombing of Dresden was and is a tragedy. The bombing of London was a tragedy. Much as we don't like it and wish to avoid it there were, and may be in the future, times when total war is the only acceptable alternative to cultural annihilation.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/13/2005 16:29 Comments ||
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#6
I know what you are alluding at, Angie, but I'm not in the mood for sarcasm.
The attitude to which I'm alluding (which I admit I have only seen sporadically) is shocking and appalling, and makes me uneasy for the future. But perhaps my wit was ill-timed. I certainly didn't mean to snark at you.
#9
It is on these days when I get so wary of classical media coverage. Yesterday, in Munich, maybe 1000 or 2000 people took to the street protesting the Security Conference. A weird assortment of "peace activists" they were, waving Che Guevara (how peaceful was he?) and even Soviet (!) flags. The media cameras zoom in and you get a totally wrong impression of what was going on in Munich on that day. Zoom out to wide angle and you see regular street life, people shopping and not even stopping for a second to look at the demonstrators, some just shrugging or shaking their heads in annoyment or disbelief.
Yet this is a scene you won't see.
Google "Dresden" on Google News today and most entries make a big story of the assortment of Neo-Nazis parading through the city. Again, what you don't see is the overwhelming majority of Dresdeners wearing white roses as a symbol of peace, reconciliation and protest against Nazis (The "White Rose" was a student resistance movement against the Nazis in 1943). In the Kreuzkirche, pastors of Coventry and Rotterdam read the sermons together with a German pastor and a Jewish rabbi.
#10
Dresden and the Tokyo fire bombings and Hiroshima and Nagasaki are all examples of what happens when one culture finds it necessary to eliminate another culture. And just as the Nazis and the Japanese Empire got their due, the Islamic world will get the same if it cannot get its evil tendencies under control. Islamic fundamentalists with missiles and atomic bombs are no different than Nazis with missiles and atomic bombs. And while I feel for the innocents, my family members who had to fight in WWII and the workers in the World Trade Center were innocents too.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 18:07 Comments ||
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#11
This may offend some people.
I am not sorry but I feel no remorse for Dresden. I don't think I ever will. The people who freely elected and supported Hitler were and are guilty. Who started WW2? When it came back to Germany are we are supposed to feel sorry? Sorry? According to my late father I lost an uncle in the Battle of the Bulge just prior to this bombing of Dresden. Tell it to my dead Uncle I never knew OK.
Before the war to liberate Iraq, Germany once again made a decision to be on the opposite side of the US. Germany chose to actively oppose the US. Germany's freely elected government campaigned on an active anti US platform for re-election. Germany now wishes to sell military hardware to a nation that at some point will become a active foes of my country. Tell me again how Germany is our friend?
Most of you are totally unaware of the constant anti-American propaganda that is passed off as news in Germany. I think that this site David's Medienkitik might open your eyes. Particularly you can see how some Germans react when confronted with the truth of the anti-American media in their country. You will have to read the comments to some past postings. Yes we have a few friends in Germany but we do not have a nation called Germany that we should consider our friend. The German government and media are controlled by â1968ersâ who completely hate the the US and it's people and everything we stand for.
No we and the UK do not need to be sorry for Dresden. Only the Tranzis buy into that as it furthers their agenda. Yes war is horrible Germany. Maybe one day you will learn what causes them. A look at your media shows you don't?
#12
I will never be offended by some honest commentary.
Dresden was not an "innocent" city, nothing set it apart from Hamburg or Munich, which suffered similar losses of people. Only the children are innocent wherever they are.
I for one am truly sorry for Coventry, Rotterdam or Warsaw.
SPOD, don't underestimate the collective trauma of total annihilation. As for Medienkritik... if you stick to the Independent, the Guardian. the Mirror and the BBC you might get a similar impression about "constant anti-American propaganda that is passed off as news" in the UK. Things are a bit more sophisticated though.
Lots of people wore friendship pins with US and German flags yesterday in Munich.
As for the "1968ers", they'll face their moment of truth in 2006 and may be eligible for premature retirement.
#13
OK, let's try to settle this right here: Heisenberg...did he or didn't he purposefully delay the German atom bomb project??? (during WW2 of course)
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/13/2005 18:49 Comments ||
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#14
War is worse than hell. Hell is for evil people who do evil things and deserve to be there. War gets everyone, children, old , mentally incompetant. No descrimination.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/13/2005 18:49 Comments ||
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#15
"The more precisely the POSITION is determined,
the less precisely the MOMENTUM is known"
#16
it's an uncertainty, Raphael, at least to me....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/13/2005 19:10 Comments ||
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#17
I hate physics sometimes.
Posted by: Schroedingers Kat ||
02/13/2005 20:01 Comments ||
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#18
Not to interfere, but I saw a comment by Mr. Kat's ghost on another thread and it was also time-stamped 2005-02-13 8:01:03 PM.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/13/2005 20:14 Comments ||
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#19
Um... I guess they shouldn't have anexxed the sudetenland afterall....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/13/2005 20:46 Comments ||
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#20
You know, the neo-Nazis strutting around could have been very useful. People could have pointed to them and said "The city was bombed because we let people like that run the country. Don't ever do it again."
#21
It's kind of like the Golden Rule in reverse. If you don't wish no ass-kicking to fall upon you, don't go starting it with someone else.
"Until halfway through the war more women and children in Britain had been killed than soldiers."
http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/Theblitz4.html
No offense to you personally TGA, but I have no pity for those in Dresden. Just because the Brits did something better than the Deutschers doesn't mean it was "more" or "less" wrong for them to do it at all.
A New York Post survey of readers sampling nearly 20,000 people ranks Bill Clinton second to Adolf Hitler as the most evil person of the millennium.
Not who you thought, is it?
Hitler received 8.67 percent, or 1,664 votes, and Clinton received 8.47 percent, or 1,625, placing him well above mass-murdering Soviet leader Josef Stalin, who got 6.69 percent, or 1,284 votes.
What makes the president's appearance on the survey more astonishing is respondents had to write his name in, while Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Dr. Josef Mengele and others were listed on the survey. First lady Hillary Clinton came in sixth on the survey, with 3.99 percent and 765 votes -- all write-ins.
Hee hee hee. Some NY Post readers don't think too kindly of Bubba and the Hildabeest, do they?
Others on the list included Saddam Hussein, Charles Manson, Idi Amin, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Benito Mussolini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Ivan the Terrible, Fidel Castro, Vlad the Impaler, Timothy McVeigh and Marquis de Sade.
I wouldn't put the Clintoons in the company of these clowns. Bubba and Hildy aren't that talented.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/13/2005 7:31:32 PM ||
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#1
Their sample must be awfully screwed up to get Bubba in ahead of Stalin and Pol Pot, et al.
I didn't like Bill Clinton, but I dont for a moment believe he was "evil". "Amoral" comes closest in that when it came to decision making, he really didnt consider morality nor ideology, just what was in it for him. He was just in it for the fame, power and, ahem, all the "cigars" he could get. I'd bet that his only idealogical bends came from Hildabeeste's nagging.
#3
A second rate president - sure. Narcissistic - you bet. Evil - no. Clinton's policies were misguided. Clinton allowed evil to take root and gain a foothold in the Middle East and Asia. But no rational person could call him 'evil'.
#4
My top three most evil pople of the millenium would be Hitler, Mao, and Stalin. And that would be based on the number of people murdered on their orders. Pol Pot, Genghis Khan, Kim Sung Il, Napolean, Saddam Hussein for dishonorable mention. The rest of the list is just no account thugs.
Could you see a similar immediate and out of hand dismissal for charges of being "evil" against Reagan or Bush on DU or other liberal boards?
Just goes to show you, who is thinking and being truthful (The Burg), and who lets their ideaology and hatred overrule truth and common sense (DU and Koz, et al).
#8
Well, AJackson, perhaps Mao, Stalin, and Hitler killed more because they had access to more power. Pol Pot had a much smaller, weaker state to work with, but he killed a greater percentage of the people under his power.
Personally, I think Lenin was more evil than Stalin. He killed more people per year, but was fortunately crippled early on. Stalin was willing to let the children of "traitors" live. Lenin gave written orders to kill them, too.
Of course, this is like asking whether Baal or Satan is more evil.
At first, I was going to ask where George Bush was, but them I remembered that Bush = Hitler, so his total would be lumped in there.
#9
Oh, come on. The New York Post and its readers must know better. As New York Post reporters Jack Newfield and Pete Hamill agreed, the list of the most evil people of the century or the millenium should be:
Adolf Hitler
Josef Stalin
Walter O'Malley
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/13/2005 22:17 Comments ||
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#10
Look at the ultimate source. This is a photoshop job, not reality.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/13/2005 22:21 Comments ||
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#11
Their sample must be awfully screwed up to get Bubba in ahead of Stalin and Pol Pot, et al.
I didn't like Bill Clinton, but I dont for a moment believe he was "evil". "Amoral" comes closest in that when it came to decision making, he really didnt consider morality nor ideology, just what was in it for him. He was just in it for the fame, power and, ahem, all the "cigars" he could get. I'd bet that his only idealogical bends came from Hildabeeste's nagging.
Could you see a similar immediate and out of hand dismissal for charges of being "evil" against Reagan or Bush on DU or other liberal boards?
Just goes to show you, who is thinking and being truthful (The Burg), and who lets their ideaology and hatred overrule truth and common sense (DU and Koz, et al).
#13
Their sample must be awfully screwed up to get Bubba in ahead of Stalin and Pol Pot, et al.
I didn't like Bill Clinton, but I dont for a moment believe he was "evil". "Amoral" comes closest in that when it came to decision making, he really didnt consider morality nor ideology, just what was in it for him. He was just in it for the fame, power and, ahem, all the "cigars" he could get. I'd bet that his only idealogical bends came from Hildabeeste's nagging.
Could you see a similar immediate and out of hand dismissal for charges of being "evil" against Reagan or Bush on DU or other liberal boards?
Just goes to show you, who is thinking and being truthful (The Burg), and who lets their ideaology and hatred overrule truth and common sense (DU and Koz, et al).
#1
There's a lot to chew on here. Much of it rings true on the first pass as it delves into the twisted miasma that is "New New Left" liberal politics. The roots in the War on Poverty and the devolution into a political whore "promoting no more than its own self-interest" is so accurate that I had to read the passage twice to be sure the author wasn't pulling the punch somewhere. Nope. Nailed it.
#3
Here is Oz we had a strikingly similar result at the last election Labor won every inner urban electorate and the Liberals (Howard) won almost all of the suburban and rural electorates. However the analysis indicated the reason was Labor was the party of the urban singles and the Liberals the party of the married suburbanites. Their relative perspectives could be summarized as the singles are idealists but don't have to deal with real issues, while the marrieds are concerned with bread and butter pratical problems - schools, jobs, mortgages, etc. Not that I think the article's analysis is wrong but I think there is more to it.
#4
It's 3:AM and I STILL can't sleep, but I've poured myself a very stiff one, which is beginning to kick in, and I've been looking out the window and pondering this article.
And...(remember, the drink is kicking in) what I'm left with is the thought of a "company dinner". The kind where the group goes out. Someone from the group, chooses one of the better restaurants, (proving their own sophistication and taste) and it begins.
Now, mind you, if you went out to dinner with just yourself and your spouse at this same restaurant, the total bill might be $70.00. But get your HELOC checks out, cause you are going to need them.
There are certain people in this world, who given this situation, will think to themselves, "I know we are going to spit this bill in an even fashion, so I'm going to order the steak and lobster with the creme brule". But what these people never seem to realize is that, ultimately their own purchase will be in the final total that they must split. So as they order more wine and more hors d' oeuveres, it never, ever, seems to occur to these idiots that, even though they are evenly splitting the total, that the "split" will ultimately cost them at least another $30-40 bucks. In their mind, it's just going to cost them less than it would if they ordered all of these same items on their own. But it doesn't cross their mind that are still paying to have their cake and eat it too.
Anyway....that's what this whole "tax eaters" story reminds me of. People who don't grasp that if you order the fine wine and the creme brule, you are going to pay more for it in the end.
#6
oh..and I forgot. These same people...they are the ones who ...when the final staggering bill comes to the table ..think to themselves, "hey, I didn't eat the mushroom canapes nor did I have a final nightcap, so....I shouldn't have to pay the full amount".
So what do they do? They don't put in their full share. So ultimately, the person who really "eats it" is the waitress...who might best be described as "someone other than me".
#8
Heh, sorry - your description elicited a memory which led to that - one of my pet peeves. Right up there with folks who believe they have a right to win the lottery. Very Arab.
#10
Interesting piece and, sadly, all too true. As a frequent visitor to San Francisco I'm always amazed at the blocks and blocks of gleaming palatial state, local, & federal government buildings surrounded primarily by decaying private businesses that cannot afford to exist in anything like the state the government creates for itself and the multitude of ragged people sleeping on the street whom those in the palaces are charged with helping. The same exists, to a lesser degree, in many urban areas in the US but somehow no contrast is quite so stark as that here. If this is allowed to persist it will eventually lead to Marx's predicted final victory for collectivism over capitalism.
Sadly it seems that even the unsightly bulk and ominously creaking weight of federal, state, & local budget deficits isn't awakening the citizenry in anything like the numbers necessary to thwart this behemoth. Random factoids from other sources: in the past 20 years the growth in state and local spending has more than tripled, far outpacing the growth in runaway federal spending; in the previous (2000) presidential election, just over 50% of eligible voters were dependent in some way on federal, state, or local governmental payments for their livelihood or well-being. It appears that that proverbial horse has fled the proverbial barn. *sigh*
In the roughly 20 years since I received my very aptly-named BS I've gone from employee, to contractor, to owner, to employer, to contractee, to outsourcer, to unabashedly setting up outsourcing operations with capital supplied by foreign governments. Sadly the America I loved died before I entered its workforce; it was killed by those mentioned in the article linked above and their ilk.
Years ago I realized, with great sadness, that there would come a day when I would, with assets safely tucked away in foreign jurisdictions, stand on the shores of this once-great nation and bid her a final farewell as she sinks slowly into the swamps of collectivist rule. Iâm heartened that others see the dangers even if they donât explicitly identify the endgame but I fear that the die has been cast and the course of this nation irretrievably set. Ah, what could have been ⦠and once was!
#11
Historically over 90% of workers were farmers and most of the others worked in manufacturing. As farm productivity increased, workers moved into manufacturing or service jobs. (Thus increasing the power of private sector unions.) With increased productivity in manufacturing labor moved into the service industry (including expanded public service).
Private industry is more aggressive at pursuing automation (or at outsourcing labor intensive operations to other countries). Thus over time public service jobs tend to increase as a fraction of the total work force.
The next wave of automation is occurring in service industry jobs. Fewer people are needed to push paper. Labor has moved from farming to manufacturing to service. Where will labor move next? (Personal services, entertainment, defense, knowledge?)
Changing labor patterns should be considered when reading this article.
AzCat: âmultitude of ragged people sleeping on the street whom those in the palaces are charged with helpingâ
I suspect that many of those âragged peopleâ are mentally ill. Their presence on the street is likely due to misguided efforts to get mentally ill patients out of hospitals and into ânormalâ life. Their prominence on the streets of SF is likely due to mild climate, historically generous public services, and a lack of aggressive police. (The public restrooms in my local community are locked at night to discourage the homeless from camping on the local beach. Even so, there are a few obviously insane people wandering about.)
#12
Hark, what's that I hear? Methinks that perhaps itâs the mellow sound of a liberal entirely missing the point? Why yes, I do believe it is precisely that!
For a small fraction of what is spent building, maintaining, and staffing palatial digs for our local royalty public sector, we could, for example, build a shiny new home for each and every homeless person in the Bay Area. Yet somehow there's always money for more state/local employees, newer & more ostentatious public sector office space, more regulators to turn the screws on the private sector (you might remember them, the ones who actually PAY the bills for all of this), yet there never seems to be enough money left at the end of the day to actually help anyone.
That last bit is odd, particularly here in Northern California where even Howard Dean is considered to be more than a bit too conservative. The laudable but severely misguided utopian dream of 60s leftists ends not in a paradise of equality and high quality governmental services for all but in a bureaucratic circle-jerk of Soviet proportions, one that will consume all wealth, then stagnate and die.
But there is, of course, a solution: simply raise taxes! Said tax money will of course be spent building, maintaining, and staffing even more palatial digs for our local public sector and in the end there wonât quite be enough left to actually help anyone so â¦. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Itâs extremely sad that this nation is going to have to actually experience the economic depression and rampant third-world style poverty that this cycle is going to cause before it even begins to come it its collective senses. Oh well, by the time that happens Iâll be on a nice white sandy beach somewhere sipping mai tais while the political left is here wondering why thereâs no one left to tax.
#13
I don't happen to be very community minded either, especially since I choose to live in one of the bluest of the blue.
My main gripe is with the Teacher and Police unions in these parts. In my neck of the woods where property taxes of between $8,000 to $12,000 are common, it is not unusual to have newly tenured 3rd grade teachers making $80,000 and 4th year patrolmen making close to $70,000.
Lone voices in the wilderness like mine who go to town council meetings and complain about this sort of thing during the public portions of the meetings are looked at like you have 3 heads. My parting shot to them every other Wednesday night is - Had I known then what I know now, I too would have choosen to suck at the public teat.
#14
Azcat, Iâve seen this rhetorical tactic used by the LLL. Link an extravagance to a visible problem and then conclude that the first causes the second and the people involved are bad. E.g., Americans spend more money on dog food than on saving starving children in Africa so the US is bad. In your case, it is âpalacesâ and âragged peopleâ. The technique is the same. I donât like it when the LLL does it and I donât like it when I read it on Rantburg.
SF spends a lot of money on government buildings.
SF has a problem with street people.
Tying the two together creates a false connection. Excessive rhetoric such as calling office buildings âpalacesâ appeals to the readerâs emotions to strengthen the false connection.
From what Iâve read the problem with street people isnât supplying housing to the homeless. The problem is that many of the homeless are mentally ill and are incapable of maintaining an independent household.
I would guess that SF spends so much on buildings because SF fancies itself as a beautiful, distinctive city. (I wouldnât choose to spend my tax dollars that way but then I donât choose to live in SF.)
I would guess that SF spends so much on the homeless that people drift from other communities to live on public handouts in SF. I think it is unlikely that a lack of public funds is keeping people on the street in SF. Thus I believe it is unlikely that money spent on buildings is significantly contributing to people living on the streets.
#15
That's odd, I've seen many LLLs use your tactic as well: utterly ignore the big picture; focus instead on a minute example of a much larger trend/problem; criticize the example; conclude that the trend/problem therefore does not exist (or at least give such impression in oneâs discussion of said example).
If I had time to write a novel on the topic I could cite literally hundreds (and I'll wager with a bit of thought, thousands) of other examples of the stagnation & malaise heaped on our once-fine nation by our overstuffed public bureaucracies.
Sadly I donât have that sort of free time so I chose one example that is stark, striking, and extremely visible. Bash it all you like but that doesnât in the slightest change the fact that government is a staggering burden for our society and the trend is towards a rapidly worsening situation.
Myanmar leader General Than Shwe on Saturday warned his country to be alert against the West after his military junta was slammed for arresting pro-democracy leaders. "The old and new colonialists alike bent on occupying and holding sway over our union have hatched wicked schemes to weaken our national solidarity which is the foundation of our union," Shwe said.
His message was read out at a ceremony to commemorate Union Day, which marks a key pre-independence event. It came after the United States and United Nations slammed the country's military junta for arresting several pro-democracy leaders and prohibiting groups from commemorating the day. Among those held was Hkun Htun Oo, the chairman of the Shan National League for Democracy, which won 1990 elections in a result the junta refused to acknowledge. "The United States is deeply concerned" about the arrest, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Friday. Boucher also expressed concern the military had prohibited the United Nationalities Alliance, Myanmar's leading coalition of pro-democracy ethnic political parties, from commemorating Union Day.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, you wouldn't want to give up your military dictatorship, would you? We're so, uh, um, well-dressed and, er, armed!
#2
Watch 'em join the Mugabe/Mahathir band ranting against colonialism. That alibi is more than 50 yrs old and they haven't been able to come up with any better bogeyman. The USA never colonised Burma ; t'was the Brits, crummy dummy! Would they have wished it was the Frogs instead?
Long story on the X-47 project, and what it means. Hat tip to the Blogs of War.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/13/2005 4:03:21 PM ||
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#1
As seen in the motion picture "Deal of the Century,," starring Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver, and Gregory Hines. Featuring the line, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
I remember watching it with friends, and then saying, "That could never happen."
#6
Roman, you sound like an irredentist democrat. Everett Dirksen was a grand old man of the US senate and had one of the most mellifluous bass voices I ever heard, like the bass note of a cathedral organ. If you want mediocre, look at Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Robert Byrd.
#8
It is due to Everett Dirksen and the Republican Party that the Civil Rights act of 1964 was passed. The Kleagle and his confederate Democrats threatened a fillibuster and it was only Dirksen and the Republicans who passed the cloture allowing the bill to go to the floor. Funny how some folks tactics never change.
His hands were huge. I shook them. One of those guys who could hold a basket ball in one hand.
WASHINGTON — A prominent Egyptian human rights activist has accused President Hosni Mubarak's government of perfecting the art of using scare tactics to repress opposition to his 23-year rule. The soon to be injured and silenced activist, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, writing a guest column in The Washington Post, said those who exercise power in Mubarak's government argue that radicals would win any unfettered election should he choose to allow true democracy in the country.
Ibrahim, who spent more than a year in an Egyptian jail before being exonerated on charges related to his election-monitoring activities, said none of Mubarak's Western listeners ever demand answers to pertinent questions in the face of the president's scare tactics. "What, Mr Mubarak, have you done to preserve the popularity of non-religious forces in the country?" Ibrahim wrote. "What has your regime done with more than $100 billion in foreign aid and remittances from Egyptians working abroad? Why has Egypt's ranking during your rule steadily declined on every development index?"
'fessing up on the American aid would be interesting.
Ibrahim said those failings feed popular discontent and contribute to the religious right's popularity. Meanwhile, scores of supporters of a detained opposition leader demonstrated outside the attorney-general's office in Cairo yesterday, demanding that he be freed immediately. They chanted slogans denouncing the incarceration of Ayman Nur, leader of the recently-established Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party and submitted a memorandum to Attorney-General Maher Abul Wahid calling for Nur to be set free.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/13/2005 12:58:44 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has branded the United States a "terrorist state" while rejecting Washington's criticism of Caracas for its arms purchase from Russia. Chavez, a fierce critic of US President George Bush and the US-led war in Iraq, on Saturday brushed aside US opposition to the agreement to buy 100,000 automatic rifles and about 40 military helicopters from Moscow. "One has to ask whether there was transparency in the invasion of Iraq. The world knows President Bush lied openly about Iraq having chemical weapons," Chavez said. "They keep on bombing cities, killing children, they have become a terrorist state," he said.
Cuban President 
Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) -- Foreigners have expressed their strong admiration for leader Kim Jong Il who has provided wise and dynamic leadership to the field of cinematic art when they visited the revolutionary museum at the DPRK Ministry of Culture. Head of the group of Chinese technicians working for the construction of the Taean Friendship Glass Factory Cui Baoyu, said that the Korean feature film "The Flower Girl", scripted from immortal classics "The Flower Girl", is a flawlessly perfect masterpiece. 
Myanmar leader General Than Shwe on Saturday warned his country to be alert against the West after his military junta was slammed for arresting pro-democracy leaders. "The old and new colonialists alike bent on occupying and holding sway over our union have hatched wicked schemes to weaken our national solidarity which is the foundation of our union," Shwe said.
WASHINGTON — A prominent Egyptian human rights activist has accused President Hosni Mubarak's government of perfecting the art of using scare tactics to repress opposition to his 23-year rule. The 
