Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2004 10:55 ||
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President Bush may be making a mistake with suggesting a national sales consumption tax. Not because it is a regressive tax, but because it is an involuntary tax. Instead, if he proposed a national lottery, say, with a ONE BILLION DOLLAR top prize, suckers would Darwinistically lay down endless amounts of money, regressively. The government would make far more money, and pay out very little. First of all, the $1B would be halved by those who don't want a 30-year annuity, as with most big lotteries. Then the $500M would be halved again, through federal, State and local taxes. So the great national prize would be worth all of $250M. And with odds that are ridiculous, the government would rake in four or five billion profit every week. It wouldn't cause inflation, and would be entirely voluntary.
#8
You are right! For every dumb female there is a male ditto! Stay SMART AND SINGLE.
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea ||
12/05/2004 14:04 Comments ||
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#9
The National Lottery - aka the Idiot Tax.
Posted by: Donald ||
12/05/2004 14:36 Comments ||
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#10
I will ask Congress to enact, as rapidly as possible, the NIT bill (National Idiot Tax).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2004 16:43 Comments ||
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#11
OTOH, this guy was a parking lot attendent and ran up $40,000 of debt. If I were his wife I would have been desperate and very very angry about that. Now that he's solvent, getting out makes sense 'cause it's not likely he's got better sense now than he did a few months ago .....
EFL and nuggets.
HOBART, Ind. - A woman's effort to assuage her 6-year-old son's fears of his grandfather's ghost by selling it on eBay has drawn more than 34 bids with a top offer of $78. WTF?
Mary Anderson said she placed her father's ``ghost'' on the online auction site after her son, Collin, said he was afraid the ghost would return someday. Anderson said Collin has avoided going anywhere in the house alone since his grandfather died last year. In a description titled ``This isn't a joke,'' Anderson told Collin's story on eBay: ``I always thought it was just normal kid fears until a few months ago he told me why he was so scared. He told me 'Grandpa died here, and he was mean. His ghost is still around here!''' Lest the boy's fears scare off potential bidders, Anderson added, ``My dad was the sweetest most caring man you'd ever meet"
Couldn't resist posting this - too wierd
My Grampaw thinks so, too...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/05/2004 10:51:37 AM ||
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Weird, indeed. Somewhere along the line, at some unremarkable moment, someone fed this poor kid some bullshit. Soaked up every drop. This is one of those examples of where it's irresponsible and dangerous (blowback is a bitch!) to feed inane ideas, your opinions, biases, fears, the usual half-baked BS we all carry around at times, etc. into the sponges that are our children. Give them the tools to think clearly and critically for themselves and then STFU, heh, is the best path.
#4
The grampaw made the grandkid tidy up his room. Bad, meanie grampaw! How insensitive! What if his ghosts returns and made the kid to tidy up the room again???!!!
#5
Beware what you tell your grandchildren. I told my 5 year old grandson that Cheerios were donut seeds and the next week he was outside planting the whole box. My daughter was mad at me for a month and made me tell him the truth.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/05/2004 19:19 Comments ||
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A day of horror and outrage was witnessed on Monday, 28 November when Abdurrahman Mohammad Al-Sawka was killed and Hussein Mohammad Karout wounded when a policeman opened fire to disperse a crowd of people gathering in front of the Sira Court in Aden. The court was crowded with people during a hearing concerning the alleged murder of Awadh Khamis Al-Hinki and Hussein Ali Masaod. An officer from the Intelligence Department was convicted of the murder of the two victims on 19 October 2004. The judge of the court adjourned the hearing for the third time and this aroused tension among relatives of the two victims who were present at the court. A source at the court security said the people assembled held a sit-in blocking the traffic in the street leading to the court. Security measures were intensified in the vicinity of the court to enable the suspect to be taken out peacefully since the protestors attempted to snatch him from among the police recruits.
On the other hand, an eyewitness said a policeman belonging to the central security got out of a police vehicle and fired randomly in the air and to the ground in an apparent attempt to disperse the crowd. As a result, passerby Hussein Karout was wounded in his foot and Abdurrahman Al-Sawka was killed while he was standing near the court carrying his child. An eyewitness described the murder scene by saying that despite being fatally shot, the victim tried to keep himself balanced and not fall in order not to harm his child before he was prevented from falling by some of the horror-stricken people, who were present at the moment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 9:10:05 PM ||
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Saudi Arabia has criticised its Gulf neighbours for forging separate economic and security agreements with foreign powers, accusing them of weakening Gulf solidarity. "It is alarming to see some members of the GCC enter into separate bilateral agreements with international powers in both the security and economic spheres, taking precedence over the need to act collectively," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a conference on security in the Gulf on Sunday.
A bit unhappy over a mild deflation in Soddy hegemony over your neighbors?
"These separate arrangements are not compatible with the spirit of the charter of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]). They diminish the collective bargaining power and weaken not only the solidarity of the GCC as a whole but also each of its members in both the intermediate and long terms," he said. "In the economic sphere, the agreements entered into are in clear violation of the GCC's economic accords and decisions." Prince Saud added: "What is more important, these agreements impede the progressive steps needed to achieve full Gulf economic integration ... . They will ultimately negatively impact the economic sectors in all GCC countries, which in turn will have dire consequences and adversely affect the GCC business community."
"How're we gonna make all of Arabia Soddy if you go doin' what you feel like doin'?"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 2:13:19 PM ||
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I'm waiting for the headline that says Neighbours Rap Saudis
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/05/2004 16:11 Comments ||
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It was 102 years old, boring, unpopular, and basically, as economist Marta Lagos puts it, "a middle-of-the-road piece of nothing." Now, it's a phenomenon. Las Ultimas Noticias (LUN) - The Latest News - is Chile's most widely read newspaper today, setting tongues wagging, talk-show hosts chatting, celebrities and politicians denying, serious folks wailing, and advertisers calling.
No, it's not a tabloid, insist the employees at the slightly shabby downtown newsroom. Rather, they say, it's a revolution in journalism, a reader-driven product that reflects the changing values and interests of a postdictatorship public that grew up on a diet of establishment news and now wants more. Or, as some say - because of the often low-brow content - less. This revolution has occurred, says the paper's publisher Augustine Edwards, thanks to his decision to listen to "the people." Three years ago, under Mr. Edwards's guidance, LUN installed a system whereby all clicks onto its website (www.lun.com) were recorded for all in the newsroom to see. Those clicks - and the changing tastes and desires they represent - drive the entire print content of LUN. If a certain story gets a lot of clicks, for example, that is a signal to Edwards and his team that the story should be followed up, and similar ones should be sought for the next day. If a story gets only a few clicks, it is killed. The system offers a direct barometer of public opinion, much like the TV rating system - but unique to print media.
What news, then, did readers choose in a week when a dozen world leaders gathered in Santiago for an important trade meeting? Among the top stories: Where Secretary of State Colin Powell went to dinner and what he ate (shrimp with couscous). Also, a rundown - with a photo of scantily clad waitresses - of which delegations gave the best tips (Japan). "This is very experimental, and it seems to be working," says Axel Pricket, a senior editor at LUN. "But," he hesitates, "how are you going to get a journalist to cover an important visit, say, of the Chinese trade minister when you know in the evening everyone will click on the story of the scantily clad girls?" No editor, he points out, is going to be able to say: "Let's showcase an issue which is totally uninteresting to the public."
"And why in the world would they want to?" roars Edwards, dismissing arguments that it is a newspaper's role to educate and inform the public, and rolling his eyes at the charge that the media is causing a "dumbing down" of society.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 8:07:12 PM ||
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The two presidential candidates in the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapsh and Raul Khajimba, reached an understanding on holding, they told reporters in Sukhumi Sunday evening. "As a result of compromise we agreed that I would run with Khajimba in one team," Bagapsh said. He added that in the new elections he would be running as president and Khajimba as vice president. "But we will have almost equal powers," he said. Asked whether the question of forming a new Cabinet had been discussed Bagapsh said the matter would be negotiated later. He added that if the tentative understanding were reaffirmed during further talks Sunday night his inauguration expected on Monday, December 6 would be put off. The talks between Khajimba and Bagapsh were mediated by Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov and State Duma vice speaker Sergei Baburin. Abkhazia (Sukhumi) is de jure a province of Georgia, which gained independence in the 1990s. On October 3 Abkhazia held presidential elections. The Central Elections Commission declared Bagapsh the winner, however, the supporters of his rival disagreed with the election results provoking a political crisis
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 9:51:10 PM ||
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If you look up "cult of personality" in the dictionary, you might find a picture of Turkmenistan's president, Saparmurat Niazov. And wherever you look inside Turkmenistan, you'll see the same image. It is not a simple matter of the ubiquitous public murals of your average dictator: Niazov has a golden statue of himself in the capital, Ashgabat, that moves with the sun. On state television, Niazov's portrait revolves continuously on the corner of the screen. His nationalistic, quasi-spiritual tome, the Ruhnama, not only forms the basis for much TV programming but also dominates Turkmenistan's education curriculum. He's renamed the months of the year, with the month of January now replaced by his self-adopted name, "Turkmenbashi" or "father of all Turkmen."
With no checks on his power, Niazov makes bizarre decisions that essentially become law without any public debate or legislative procedure. In August, he decreed that those seeking a driver's license must first pass a 16-hour course on the Ruhnama. In the same month, he personally banned nas, a popular form of chewing tobacco, and earlier in the year, he declared gold teeth not only unsightly but also forbidden. His building projects, perhaps the most megalomaniacal aspect of his rule, now include a multimillion-dollar contract to build an ice palace in the desert. All of this would be simply comical if it were not so deadly tragic. The apparent lunacy of a dictator is no joke to those who suffer under him.
More at the link...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 8:27:34 PM ||
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UKRAINE's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko says he is determined to find out the facts behind a suspected poisoning attempt in the lead-up to the country's election.
Two faces ... Mr Yushchenko this weekend, left, and earlier this year.
His face remains disfigured as a result of a mystery illness that struck during the bitterly-fought campaign. "Soon the world will know what happened," he said from his office in Kiev yesterday. "I will reveal all the details of what they gave me to look like this." The Opposition leader said he fell ill after attending a dinner hosted by the Ukraine's secret police in the weeks leading up to the election. Doctors who treated Mr Yushchenko in Vienna found it difficult to find the cause of the condition - which was severe.
Mr Yushchenko's family has now gone into hiding in fear of their safety. "Even today, my family cannot live in Kiev," he said to London's Sunday Telegraph. "My children can't go to school. I believe the worst is behind us, but still it is not safe for my family. It will not be safe before we have completed the political transformation of this country." Mr Yushchenko has both US and Ukrainian citizenship. He and his wife have three children, and appeared together on stage at a demonstration on Friday in Kiev. New elections are scheduled in the country for December 26 following weeks of protests over alleged fraud in the November 21 poll. Details of the new poll were agreed upon last week in a bid to end the stalemate which has existed since the last election result was announced.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 9:21:43 PM ||
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Hummm... interesting.. this is the first time I've read or heard, "Mr Yushchenko has both US and Ukrainian citizenship."
Stand near the runway at Frankfurt airport any evening and you can be in no doubt about the strength of German exporters' trading relationship with China.
Lufthansa, the national carrier, says passenger numbers on its China routes in the first 10 months were up almost 60 per cent on last year, and almost 20 per cent compared with 2002 (which was not affected by Sars and the Iraq war). The fastest growth has been in first and business class. But places on one flight to China this weekend were especially coveted. Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor, arrives on Monday with 35 business leaders on a trip largely dedicated to drumming up business leaving many disappointed colleagues behind. Friedolin Strack, Asia-Pacific co-ordinator for Germany's main business associations, says: "More than 150 companies applied to go." The enthusiasm is unsurprising. To the extent that the German economy has enjoyed a recovery this year, it has been export-led. Overall exports are up 10 per cent but exports to China, although accounting for 3 per cent of the total, increased 27 per cent in the first half of 2004. Only exports to Belgium showed stronger growth.
VDMA, the German engineering association, says China overtook France in August to become its members' second biggest export market after the US.
Such trends may be changing, however, making this trip more important. The brakes have been applied to China's expansion, and the euro's rise against the dollar is making German goods more expensive: the renminbi is pegged to the dollar. German exports worldwide in the third quarter were down 1 per cent compared with the previous three months.
Dirk Schumacher at Goldman Sachs says: "German exports to China have grown to a level where a slowdown there would certainly be felt. Of course a recession in France would have a bigger effect, but it would be like when Germany has economic troubles and the effects are really felt in Belgium and the Netherlands."
An aide to Mr Schröder admits that, as with the chancellor's five previous trips to China since May 1999, improving business ties will take centre stage this week, overshadowing talks with political leaders.
Mr Schröder is to open a Volkswagen factory and preside over ceremonies marking expansion of the China operations of DaimlerChrysler and the GeorgsmarienhÃŒtte steel company. A deal worth up to â¬1bn on the sale of 23 Airbus aircraft to Air China is also expected to be unveiled.
Mr Schröder's trip has not been universally welcomed. Critics in his centre-left coalition say too little emphasis is being placed on democracy and human rights. The Greens, the junior coalition partner, say the chancellor's proposal to lift the European Union's weapons embargo on China would "send the wrong signal to Beijing". Common sense among the Green's? My surprise meter pegged on that one.
But to the businessmen accompanying him, the chancellor is doing his best to serve his country's interests. They applaud his emergence as a champion of German industry.
Diether Klingelnberg, whose family runs a specialist engineering company and has secured a place on Mr Schröder's aircraft, says: "He has tried to help the German economy at home, but has not succeeded because of the opposition parties and some in his own side, so he helps in whatever way he can." But this time there are additional challenges. Joachim Schmid, managing director of the German construction equipment association, says credit restrictions in China are affecting his members, while the euro's strength is "adding difficulties".
But, Mr Schmid argues, the medium-term potential for German exporters is considerable: large excavators and pumps are big sellers. Last month's German-organised Bauma construction equipment trade fair in Shanghai attracted 50 per cent more visitors and 60 per cent more exhibitors than its first show in 2002.
So far the love affair with China seems to be continuing: Lufthansa says it has "not detected any notable slowdown" in China traffic in recent months. Germany also hopes to benefit from trade flows in the other direction: several Chinese-German travel agents this year launched package holidays to Germany for middle-class Chinese tourists.
Chinese managers are being invited to join self-drive motoring holidays in Bavaria, giving businessmen familiar with the quality of Germany's excavators a chance to test the quality of its cars as well.
Posted by: too true ||
12/05/2004 9:06:54 PM ||
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Putting Chinese businessmen on the road in Germany!!! Good Lord, that's an invitation to vehicular homicide. They drive like maniacs here, honking the horn the whole way. Obscure concepts like "right-of-way" and "stop on red" are unknown. Some of you might think I'm joking or trying to be funny, but I'm dead serious.
But to stay mostly on-topic, yes, China's economy is growing, and this story is rather humdrum. The English-language news regularly reports on the parade of foreign dignitaries coming to China to drum up business for their countries.
France is resisting moves to reveal more about arms sales to China as the price of lifting the European Union's arms embargo on the country, putting Paris at odds with the rest of the EU.
President Jacques Chirac has championed lifting the ban imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre which the EU believes implies a near-pariah status China no longer deserves.
In spite of opposition from the US, many EU states want to ensure that lifting the embargo is largely symbolic by simultaneously increasing transparency on arms sales to Beijing. But Paris is resisting more openness.
The embargo is expected to be high on the agenda at the EU-China summit on Wednesday. While there is no prospect of it being lifted this week, the EU wants to signal to China that it will be removed soon perhaps in the first half of next year.
"The arms embargo is the EU's problem, not China's" said a European diplomat. "Most countries want tighter controls as a condition of lifting the embargo but France is an obstacle."And in other news, water is wet
China has put the arms embargo at the top of its priorities for its relationship with Europe, even though it says it had no intention of making big arms purchases from the EU. Uh huh.
Beijing has also made clear that relations with EU states including trade could suffer if the ban remains in place. The embargo is primarily a political rather than a legal measure, which has not ended the trade entirely: in 2002, EU countries granted licences for â¬210m ($281m) of arms exports to China. France accounted for half of the total, with licences worth â¬105m.
Because of such loopholes, most EU states want to toughen their code of conduct on arms sales and introduce a transitional regime for China and other countries that have previously been embargoed. But France is reluctant to give more details of the export licences it grants rather than just those it rejects.
The EU also says it wants an improvement in China's human rights such as ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights but is not insisting on formal linkage.
The US fiercely opposes any lifting of the embargo. Washington has been deeply sceptical that the EU could end the embargo without significantly increasing arms sales to China.
But last week a top White House official said the timing and terms of a European decision to lift the embargo were important.
"It's a question of timing, when would it occur?" he said. "And what can be done to ensure it does not result in a situation that is destabilising for the region and implicates our interests?"
The US is concerned about Chinese access to European communications equipment and a reduction in its dependence on Russian arms imports. While Congress is worried that ending the embargo would make Taiwan more vulnerable, the main fear of some US officials is that it would speed China's rise as a regional military rival to the US. Which is France's goal, and Belgium's, and maybe Germany's, and Spain's under Sappy boy.
Posted by: too true ||
12/05/2004 9:00:46 PM ||
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Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko kicked off campaigning for the Dec. 26 presidential election rerun Sunday with a call for quick passage of anti-fraud legislation. Supporters signed up by the thousands to monitor balloting and ensure a fair vote. "We are witnessing a struggle between forces of good and forces of evil," Yushchenko told throngs of chanting supporters gathered at Kiev's main square and waving his campaign's orange flags. "The entire world is applauding our victory. The entire world is proud of Ukraine."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 8:03:22 PM ||
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About 400 inhabitants of three villages in France's eastern region of Marne have been evacuated after a soldier threatened to blow up a site storing explosives. The Marne district says the Sergeant Major has locked himself up at the site, which mainly stores anti-tank mines. He is reported to be angry that he is coming up to retirement age and wants to continue his military career.
Right. That's the way to continue your military career. Expect orders sometime next week for the Ivory Coast...
"Given the risks to people in the surrounding area, the Marne prefect has decided to evacuate the inhabitants of Connantray-Vaurefroy, Lenharree and Normee," the district said in a statement. "This concerns about 400 inhabitants." Police have taken positions around the site. Dominique Dubois, a top official in Marne, says that the Sergeant Major had probably been at the site since Friday.
The old cafard got to him, eh?
No contact has yet been established with him. "The man wants his dossier to be re-examined because he will soon reach the age limit," he said. "He is 47 and on December 17 he will reach the age limit. He would like to pursue his military career." The retirement age for soldiers in France varies according to their job.
I think he might be overdue.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 1:24:13 PM ||
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Two words: James Jordan.
Another two words: But desperate.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
12/05/2004 20:19 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned Friday, warning of a potential global outbreak of the flu and health-related terror attacks. "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," he said.
Thompson, the eighth member of Bush's 15-person Cabinet to resign since the Nov. 2 election, said he tried to leave office a year ago, but stayed through Bush's re-election campaign at the request of the White House.
"It's time for me and my family to move on to the next chapter in our life," he said.
News of his departure came not long after Bush introduced former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik as Tom Ridge's successor to be secretary of homeland security. ...more...
Did anyone else find this comment, uh, um, well hell, stupid beyond phreakin' belief? Or is it just me? Don't let the door hit ya in the ass there, Tommy. Dipshit.
#2
I have to admit that Thompson's comments were the strangest that I have ever heard from a man that I formerly respected. Maybe he was pushed out. Maybe he is suffering from the early phases of dementia. Maybe he was abducted by aliens and this is a replacement. In any event, he can't leave soon enough now.
#3
I don't know about food, but an attack with a person to person communicable fatal disease (Ebola?) would be devastating - worse than a nuclear attack. All it would take is one person going around smearing the contents of a vial on a handrail once a week.
#4
Thompson's complete quote was not cited in this article. In other articles I read, he was responding to a direct question raised by reporters at the press conference as to what his biggest worries were as he was leaving federal government. He said he had 2 main worries:dangers from a global flu outbreak and a possible terror attack on the nation's food supply. Then he eleborated on those 2 concerns by saying, as it applies to the latter:
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," Thompson said as announced his departure before department employees. "We are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that." He also said that while inspections of food imports have increased dramatically, they remain "a very minute amount" and that better technologies are desperately needed. Food poisoning, Thompson said, is something he worries about "every single night."
Thompson wasn't exactly giving away secretive information to OBL or planting ideas for future acts of terrorism in AQ's minds. I think AQ had figured out a while ago that our food and water supply are nice soft targets.
If anything, I am grateful that Thompson went on public record to remind Congress that there's a caveat to removing trade barriers with Third World countries where sanitary agricultural practices are iffey or worse still, where extremists may lurk, and that Congress can't just be motivated by $; it needs to approve $ to have proper checks inplace on our side of the border re: what's being imported for sale in US supermarkets.
So how do these comments make Thompson beyond his depth or suffering from early phases of dementia?
#5
I think that Thomson ate some of that contaminated food for lunch before the press conference, then during the conference, the toxins kicked in. This is an idiotic statement. It is true that the US food supply is vulnerable, but deal with it in Homeland Security, not the MSM.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2004 16:50 Comments ||
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#6
Perhaps Thompson has dealt with Homeland Secuirty only to find it an issue subject to a turf war. I can easily see the FDA (HHS), HS and even the Dept of Agriculture getting into a turf war over this issue with no progress being made. Some times the press is useful as a means to get such controversies refocused for outside the beltway priorities. If that's the case, it's not dumb. It the probelm is being effectively attacked it is.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/05/2004 17:15 Comments ||
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#7
Glomosing Crong, while there may be considerable truth in what TT says, saying it in a press conference is the equivalent of yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Yes, he isn't telling technologically sophisticated terrorists anything they don't already know, but he is titillating a legion of unstable wannabes looking for their 15 minutes of fame. The last tampering scare, in October 1982, involving cyanide laced Tylenol capsules, spawned imitators throughout the country. Hopefully noone will take TT's words as a way to settle a score and blame it on terrorists.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, has rejected calls for his resignation over allegations about the UN's Iraq oil for food programme. "I think resignation is comparatively easy," he told the Financial Times, responding to calls last week by two US Republican senators for him to leave. "It is much more difficult to stay on and continue to do the job you are elected to do and focus on the important agenda of the organisation and the membership."
Gonna take the Bill Clinton approach and tar the prosecutor, is he?
Mr Annan asserted that his son, Kojo, whose relationship with a Swiss inspection firm implicated in the oil for food investigations has come under scrutiny, had never lobbied him on behalf of anyone. He said he had not been aware of any instances when Kojo might have traded on his name. He had never received any money from him although there had been occasions when Kojo would introduce him to friends. "He knows that I have always been very sensitive about conflict of interests and it is not something that I would appreciate," Mr Annan said.
After speaking to his son in recent days, "he [Kojo] indicated to me that he and his lawyers are co-operating with the Volcker commission [into the multi-billion-dollar oil for food programme]. I encouraged him to do so." Mr Annan appealed for people to allow the UN reform process and investigations into alleged fraud in the oil for food programme to take their course. "I wish we would all hold our horses and not jump to conclusions until the report of the investigative committee is in," he said. "In today's atmosphere, where there is leak after leak and relentless negative articles, one can very easily gain the impression that everything that is alleged is true. You repeat it three or four times and you begin to believe it and expect everybody else to believe it." Mr Annan conceded that there were grounds for criticism of the way the UN was managed. "I would accept there are some constructive criticisms, which we take very seriously," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 8:32:57 PM ||
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More and more sex workers in Pakistan are practising "mutah" — a short marriage contract — to gain a sense of legitimacy and beat the law of the land.
In most red light districts of Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Hyderabad and other cities, every time there's a police raid, sex workers and their patrons seek cover by owing allegiance to any sect that allows mutah.
According to a tradition among some sects representing Islam, mutah takes place if both partners agree to enter into a marriage for a short duration, even for a few hours, based on verbal consent. There is no need for any documentation or testimony, apart from a confirmation from the man and the woman. A majority of the clergy in Pakistan is unimpressed by the opportunistic use of the provision.
Mutah is a controversial provision in Islam. According to the majority Sunni sect, mutah has no relevance in the modern world as it was granted during the time of the crusades when "warriors of faith" had to spend months and years away from home. Moreover, sex for money and soliciting are all "haram (prohibited)" under Islamic law.
Mutah, Sunni scholars point out, also envisaged male responsibility in areas like pregnancy, legitimacy of children, maintenance and so on. And more important, it was permitted only with divorcees and widows.
Local Sunni leader Haji Sheikh Ismail said like the triple talaq, mutah is a reprehensible provision that has "no relevance in the modern world".
But mutah finds acceptance among some sections of Muslims. In fact, it is sometimes considered a "gainful and favourable act". According to Sayyid Mujtaba Rukni Musawi Lari, who wrote Western Civilisation through Muslim Eyes, mutah was introduced to wipe out prostitution and other forms of illicit relationships from society.
But in Lahore's notorious Heera Mandi, prostitution could not be stopped even when the government machinery cracked down. Under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the sex industry grew stronger due to liberal policing. During Zia-ul-Haq's regime, mutah provided protection, yet a majority of the sex workers shifted to other areas.
After Zia, they again began operating out of the red light areas and mutah has given them a shield against raids by the police or other law enforcement agencies.
Neelam (name changed on request), who said she has used the mutah provision to "tide over financial difficulties", provided another angle. "It relieves us of a sense of guilt. At the end of the day, we seek solace that we have not committed a sin as grave as adultery," she said.
Mutah marriages are not limited to Pakistan. In India's Hyderabad, such incidents are common when cash-rich Arab sheikhs come searching for young brides. In most cases, the marriages last a night or so and greedy clerics even issue marriage/divorce certificates to provide legal cover. Poverty, ignorance and lust seem to be paving the way for exploitation of women, on both sides of the border.
The UPDF [Uganda Peoples Defense Force] on Saturday, clashed with soldiers suspected to be members of the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), who where crossing to Eastern Congo via Bunagana border post, military sources have said. A senior military officer who preferred anonymity, told The Monitor on Saturday, that UPDF soldiers who were on routine patrol in Kisoro, battled the suspected Rwandan troops on the foothills of Mountain Muhavura for two hours. Military sources said RDF was crossing to Congo at around 11am when UPDF's 17th battalion tried to intercept them from using Uganda territory. "We engaged them for some good hours and they sustained injuries. We managed to capture four SMGs and unspecified amount of ammunition," a UPDF officer said. The Commander of the 17th battalion, Capt. Jingo, could neither deny nor confirm the clash.
The Defence and Military spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, yesterday said it was still too early to confirm whether they were Rwandan forces. "Yes, we battled a roaming force in the district of Kisoro which was moving towards Ugandan territory. But we are still verifying whether they were Rwandan troops or Congolese rebels of the RCD-Goma," Bantariza said by phone yesterday. RCD-Goma is a Rwanda-backed Congolese rebel group. At Bunagana, Uganda, Rwanda and DRC share a common border. Local authorities in Kisoro said the fighting had led to an influx of hundreds of Congolese refugees, who were by last evening, camped at Bunagana primary school. Eyewitnesses at the border sub county of Nyarusiza told The Monitor that hundreds of heavily armed soldiers have been crossing Bunagana border from the Rwanda side into the DRC since last week. A source at Kisoro Police said that the "strange troops" first encountered Ugandan Administrative Police Patrol and "refused to identify themselves." The police informed the UPDF which mounted border patrols, mid last week. Rwanda's Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga, declined to comment on the issue. Rwanda has denied deploying its troops in the Congo as the UN monitor body Monuc claims, mounting evidence of Rwandan troops in Congo.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 9:52:33 PM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 7:32:29 PM ||
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I'm surprised to hear we're giving aid, this quick! Why can't WE wait until the budding democracy takes shape and then reward them (ala Libya)? I don't want a dime of my taxpayer money going to that ****hole country, until it's government and peoples are singing like canaries to us!
Bloody pledge of Mugabe's protege
TREVOR GRUNDY
SHE already has brains, wealth and the ear of the president. Now a little-known former woman guerrilla-leader with the chilling nickname of 'Spillblood' is laying plans to become Zimbabwe's first female head of state. When she was a teenager in 1974, Joyce Mujuru told her mother that she was leaving home to join Robert Mugabe's fight for freedom in the then white-ruled Rhodesia. She said to her startled parent: "I want to be called Spillblood because my ambition is to spill as much white blood as I can."
During the war against Ian Smith's white-officered army and air force she proudly boasted of taking an AK47 from a dying black soldier and shooting a Rhodesian Air Force helicopter out of the sky. "A helicopter saw me," she recalled. "I lay on my back, aimed and fired. Bullets hit the machine and it fell out of the sky. There was black smoke everywhere as it hit the ground. A big bang followed."
A big bang and later lots of fame and money for the ruling party stalwart who joined Mugabe's first Cabinet in April 1980, though she could then hardly speak a word of English. After being anointed one of Mugabe's two vice-presidents at the ruling party's annual congress yesterday, the 49-year-old will be in a strong position to take over as national leader after the death, retirement or downfall of her mentor. "Spillblood is one of our most wonderful women," Zimbabwe's first vice-president, Simon Muzenda, used to tell British journalists in Harare before his death last year. And Spillblood now sees herself as Zimbabwe's first woman head of state. So does her wealthy and influential husband, Solomon Mujuru, who white soldiers tried to capture and kill when he was head of Mugabe's 'terrorist' forces during the Rhodesian War (1972-1979) which cost at least 32,000 African lives.
In those days he was known as Rex Nhongo. Soon after Independence, he told a group of fellow tribesmen at the plush Harare Club: "I didn't fight the liberation war to end up a poor man." Today, he's one of Zimbabwe's wealthiest black farmers after buying up a large percentage of the country's once grain-rich provinces close to the capital city. He and Spillblood have five children, all of them educated in England. Both are on UN/EU/UK sanctions lists. Neither is allowed into Britain, not even for shopping at Harrods.
Comrade Spillblood tells friends in Harare that she is determined to serve her country to the best of her abilities and few doubt her hunger for supreme power. A senior Zimbabwean journalist said that with the vice-presidency secured, it was almost certain she would become Mugabe's number two after next March's elections. The other vice president will be 81-year-old Joseph Msika, who says he also intends to leave politics when Mugabe retires in 2008, clearing Mujuru's route to the presidency.
Mujuru has the backing of an influential lobby. Powerful women's leaders told Mugabe last week that if he wanted their support at the elections he must appoint a woman with a sound guerrilla war background who had become associated with government. Mujuru already enjoys the trappings of power. Comrade Spillblood owns several farms, sits in the back of a chauffeur driven Mercedes-Benz and takes her holidays in Cape Town with her husband, still known to millions of people as "the general". But she also poses as a champion of the poor. "She likes to see herself as Zimbabwe's answer to Winnie Mandela," says Sikota Chiume of the now dwindling opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"My war experience changed my entire life," Mujuru has said. "I became very, very strong and learned to make decisions and not to wait for men to decide everything." She tells male MPs who insist a woman will never lead Zimbabwe, that while they were at home by the fire in Rhodesia she was busy killing white soldiers in the African bush. When Mugabe ordered the occupation of more than 4,000 white-owned farms in 2000, Comrade Spillblood advised Mugabe supporters to go out and return with the blood-soaked T-shirts of not only whites but any blacks who wanted them to stay on the land.
At last week's congress Mugabe, once again, underlined his awesome strength by presenting himself, Msika and Spillblood as the country's three candidates for national leadership. Political observers point out that all three are from the same small ethnic branch of the majority Shona tribe - the Zezurus. Tribalism is known throughout Africa as "the wasting disease". Like HIV and Aids, it is biting hard in Zimbabwe where national leaders from other ethnic groups, including the powerful Karangas and Ndebeles, are being sidelined as Africa's most ambitious octogenarian dictator goes for yet another three years of power.
The row over the England cricket tour, which went ahead last week only after Mugabe allowed in the media organisations he had previously banned in another display of political muscle, was a distraction from the cathartic events that preceded the assembly. While most of the world counted runs, 81-year-old Mugabe stepped up an already advanced campaign to win - by fair meals or foul - next year's general election. He suspended six ruling provincial chairman of the ruling party Zanu (PF) for daring to oppose his approval of Comrade Spillblood as one of the country's two vice-presidents. He also indicated that the man who once seemed almost certain to take over from him when he retires from politics, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of the Parliament, was now out of the race for the presidency.
To further bolster his power, the President approved legislation that will make it a criminal offence, with a possible sentence of 20 years in jail, to "make a falsehood" about Mugabe, the police or the army or to criticise Mugabe in a private letter or e-mail. Ian Coltart, legal adviser to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said: "This is the most fascist legislation we have ever seen - worse than anything done by Ian Smith when he ran Rhodesia."
President Thabo Mbeki arrived to a rousing welcome in the central Ivorian rebel stronghold of Bouake, where a rebel spokesman said the South African statesman was regarded as a "guarantee" to the peace process in the divided west African nation. Mbeki was met as his plane touched down by Guillaume Soro, leader of the New Forces (FN) rebels, who have staged an uprising against Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo since September 2002, effectively splitting the country into a Muslim-dominated rebel north and Christian government-held south.
Just another flash point on Islam's bloody border...
"We have reached a point where the Ivory Coast peace process went off the tracks. We want to reach a point where the process gets back on track," Soro said later.
"Now that the Frenchies are leaving, we need somebody else to take up our cause..."
"We have no problem with President Thabo Mbeki being here," FN spokesman Konate Sidiki shortly before Mbeki arrived at around 10:00 am in the city, some 350 kilometres north of the commercial capital Abidjan. "President Thabo Mbeki must take the peace process in his hands. He's the only guarantee," Sidiki told AFP.
"Gosh, I miss the Frenchies!"
Mbeki and Soro -- under a military escort which included South African special forces and two helicopters overhead -- then drove to a hotel in the city centre while tens of thousands of people, many dressed in white traditional costume, lined the streets. Many carried placards in French and English saying "We demand that Gbagbo resign" and "Welcome President Mbeki. Gbagbo must leave power." At the Ran Hotel, some five kilometres from the airport, Mbeki pressed rebels at a public meeting, saying the FN leadership owed it to the people of Bouake, which has an estimated 600,000-strong population, "to reach a decision."
And that decision is...
"The challenge is that later today when we leave Bouake and we tell people 'no decision has been made', we would have let them down," Mbeki said, before meeting Soro behind closed doors.
Yeah. But what's the decision, Thabo?
Adressing Mbeki, Soro added he (Mbeki) was "the only man in the world who can understand the situation in the Ivory Coast. You give hope to all the people in the Ivory Coast."
"Now that the Frenchies are leaving, you're better than nothing..."
One of the issues to be discussed is the disarmament of his soldiers as a prerequisite for the peace process, Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo told AFP on Saturday. In a speech to the Ivorian parliament, Mbeki called for "a return to safety" in the country, warning that a culture of violence should not be entrenched here. Mbeki arrived in the troubled country late Thursday and has been shuttling between talks with with various groups in the country, caught in the grip of a bitter conflict with political and ethnic origins.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2004 1:27:17 PM ||
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That's kind of what is supposed to have happened in Spain during the Inquisition.
Cheap accusation and the accuser gets a cut. That's why the poor folks were, so the story goes, not often victims of the Holy Office's inquiries.
SURRRRprise.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/05/2004 9:22 Comments ||
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AMMAN — Jordan's Queen Noor said yesterday her son will continue to serve Jordan, despite King Abdullah's decision to strip him of the crown as heir to the Hashemite throne.
Til he's found floating face down in the Jordan River.
Noor neither referred to Abdullah nor his decision — an unusual move in Jordan, where the absolute monarch is venerated by his family and subjects alike. The absence of any mention of Abdullah in Noor's written statement underlined her disappointment in the ouster of her son that she had hoped would rule Jordan.
Abdullah had chosen Prince Hamzah, now a 24-year-old American college student, as his heir hours after their father — King Hussein — died of cancer in February 1999. The designation was widely seen out of respect for Hussein, who is known to have favoured Hamzah among his 11 children from four marriages. The late king often described Hamzah publicly as the "delight of my eye."
In a written statement to The Associated Press, Noor said Hamzah "has always been a source of pride and joy for me, his family and his father King Hussein whose indomitable faith lives on in him."
"God willing, he will continue to fulfill King Hussein's wishes for him to serve Jordan," added Noor, who is touring the US.
"My faith in him and in our beloved Jordan is constant and undiminished."
On Sunday, Abdullah — who enjoys absolute powers which include dissolving parliament and ruling by decree — stripped his half brother and heir of his title as crown prince in an abrupt shake-up aimed at redeeming the full power the king inherited from Hussein. The king said he wanted to remove the threat this Nancy-boy posed relieve Hamzah of his duty and give him space to undertake more responsibilities in state affairs.Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2004 1:13:53 AM ||
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Well, if that's the case, why didn't the old man publicly declare him his heir before he kicked the bucket? Did Hussein himself ascend to the throne when he was a kid? It's not like Abdullah has slit his throat (yet......isn't that what the Ottomans used to do? I know they killed their rivals, I just forget how.)
If this isn't an advertisement for writing out a damn will, I don't know what is.
#2
Desert Blondie: It's not like Abdullah has slit his throat (yet......isn't that what the Ottomans used to do? I know they killed their rivals, I just forget how.)
#3
Hamza was a backup in case Abdullah got himself croaked. Now that Abdullah has his own son & heir, he's cut Hamza out of the line of succession. Perfectly understandable. Nothing to see here.
#4
#1,#2
Specificly, the looser in Ottoman politics would "be sent a (the) bowstring". And it just wasn't for family, either-- I know of at least 2 Visiers that got "strung along" after falling from grace. No speakers circuit for you!
It is a good question why Hamzah hasn't died, been arrested, or taken an extended vacation in Europe yet. Awaiting developments...
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/05/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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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.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, has rejected calls for his resignation over allegations about the UN's Iraq oil for food programme. "I think resignation is comparatively easy," he told the Financial Times, responding to calls last week by two US Republican senators for him to leave. "It is much more difficult to stay on and continue to do the job you are elected to do and focus on the important agenda of the organisation and the membership."
