LINDENWOLD, N.J. — Police made a surprising discovery when they busted the alleged madam of a prostitution ring called "August Playmates": the woman running the show was an 80-year-old grandmother. Authorities arrested Vera Tursi at her apartment during a sting operation last month to crack down on illegal prostitution rings posing as legal escort services. Police said Tursi could be the oldest person arrested for such a crime in New Jersey.
Undercover police said they first began to wonder about the age of their suspect when they called the escort service as part of their sting operation. Some things that tipped them off were the way she seemed to have difficulty breathing, and the old-fashioned manner of her speech. "You get a feel for how old someone is when you talk to them," State Police Detective Sgt. Thomas Cornely told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark. "She sounded like an 80-year-old woman."
How right he was. Police say Tursi ran the business from her two-bedroom apartment, and took $60 of every $160 she charged clients for one hour with a call girl. Tursi uses a walker to get around and frequently needs an inhaler to help her breathe. Although police arrested her when they came to her apartment May 2, they decided not to bring her to the state police barracks because of her poor health. Law enforcement officials say Tursi was very upfront about her business, telling them she took it over a few years ago from her daughter who died. According to police, Tursi said she needed money to subsidize her Social Security checks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 13:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh, Lindenwold.... that explains it
Posted by: Jersey Lil ||
06/05/2005 18:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
If properly done, like in Amsterdam, prostitution actually works rather well. However, even they aren't properly set up: they assume that prostitution needs a mattress, as it were; which is true only for half of prostitution. The other half (oral), is so much faster that it could almost be run like a drive through toll booth. There could just be a bypass from a well traveled business route, with licensed prostitutes holding up ID numbered cards. Their client could go to a cashier for an electronic key and condom, pay, then request a certain number ID. If acceptable, they both go to a small booth with a closed door. They both then exit the booth at the same time, in full view. In this way, the prostitute is safer, less coerced--can refuse, is paid, pays taxes; the customer is not ripped off, and is back in his car quickly. Very efficient, relatively sanitary. The prostitutes could even be required to submit urinalysis for drugs, periodic disease checks, and could lose their license for criminal violations.
German police, alerted to a potential kidnapping, "freed" a man from a car trunk only to discover the would-be victim was actually a willing sex slave, authorities said Thursday. Police stopped the car after a concerned caller told them he had seen a woman locking someone in the boot. However, on opening it, they were greeted by the sight of the 39-year-old man wearing nothing but a leather thong and a collar. "It turned out they were a couple from the S&M scene. The 'mistress' was driving, with the slave in the boot," said a police spokesman in the southern town of Bayreuth.
Deciding the rear of the car was not safe for the man, officers told him to sit inside the car and sent the pair on their way.
"Nope. Nope. Can't ride in the trunk. It ain't safe. Where's the seatbelts?"
"How about if I chain him in securely, officer?"
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/05/2005 11:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Zed's dead. Looks like ZipperBoy found a new home.
The trial began on Saturday of a Bahraini women's rights activist accused of defaming Sharia (Islamic) law and insulting an Islamic judge. Ghada Jamshir heads a women's committee lobbying for a personal status law that would shift jurisdiction over family and women's affairs to civil courts. She appeared in court flanked by a dozen women activists. Judge Abdulrahman al-Sayyed read out three charges, including public defaming of the Islamic judiciary through distributed pamphlets, insulting a judge during a telephone conversation and defaming him. Jamshir pleaded not guilty. "The charge of insulting a Sharia judge during a phone call is fabricated," she said.
"You can't charge me for calling him a pinhead! He IS a pinhead!"
"All these charges against me have been compiled since 2001 because of a vigil we (committee) organised two months ago, in which we demanded the resignation of the general prosecutor," she said, instigating a round of applause from the female audience in the courtroom. The Women's Petition Committee, headed by Jamshir, had collected 1,700 signatures in April 2003 on a petition demanding legislative and judicial reforms to family courts. "I do not care if I go to prison, because we already live in a big prison ... I will never stop, nor go silent nor give up my position," she told AFP.
Public show of support from Amnesty International and the National Organization for Women in 5 ... 5 ... 5 ...
Lawyer Abdullah Hashem said the defence team challenged the charges against Jamshir, which are "minor offences" that should be dealt with in a lower court. The trial was ajourned until July 2. A statement issued by the Women's Petition Committee said that taking Jamshir to court empitomises "an official policy to silence people ... and a pressure to stop (Jamshir's) courageous work in the field of (human) rights." The committee also reiterated its demand to "ban Sharia (Islamic) judges from dealing with marriage contracts." There are no written personal status laws in the two separate family courts, which are based on Sharia (Islamic law) available for both Sunni and Shia Muslims in Bahrain, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday, as it called on the government to drop charges immediately.
So HRW stepped up. Good.
"The uncodified nature of these laws gives judges the authority to render judgments according to their own reading of Islamic jurisprudence," it said.
Which is the whole point.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, first you divide the 1,700 signatures by 4...
Tony Blair has given up on Europe as an issue worth fighting for, senior allies of the Prime Minister have told The Sunday Telegraph. A leading Blairite cabinet minister made the admission last night as the European Union descended into deeper turmoil, with doubts surfacing over the future of the single currency.
Mr Blair, who will seek to shift the focus of his administration on to poverty in the Third World this week during talks with President Bush, has told his closest allies: "Africa is worth fighting for. Europe, in its present form, is not."
Once again, Tony nails the essence. Now if we can just get him to see the real problem in Africa ...
The signal is an astonishing U-turn for a leader who said three years ago that the euro was "our destiny" and who announced a British referendum by proclaiming: "Let the battle be joined." But one of his closest allies said that Mr Blair no longer believed that putting Britain at the heart of Europe could be his legacy: "Europe is back to the drawing board. Africa will become more important."
Mr Blair flies to Washington tomorrow to try to secure support for proposals to tackle poverty ahead of next month's G8 summit in Gleneagles. But the Prime Minister is unlikely to be able to divert attention completely from the chaos over Europe's future.
The crisis widened beyond the document alone, with a media offensive being mounted to bolster the euro after German officials and an Italian minister openly discussed its possible demise. In the first rumblings of a call for the franc to be reinstated, Nicolas Dupont-Aignant, a member of Mr Chirac's ruling UMP party, said: "France, Italy and Germany would be in a better state without the euro. However, I don't believe we should ditch it now.
"But either it is reformed, and the central European Bank kick-starts growth by lowering interest rates and pursuing a more American-style monetary policy, or the euro will explode in mid-air."
"American style"? There's the kiss of death ...
The governor of France's central bank, however, rushed to the euro's defence. Christian Noyer said that the currency was "in no way under threat" following its fall in value since the No votes of the past seven days. He dismissed as "absurd" the idea of a temporary withdrawal from the euro by individual states. "The euro is a solid currency which brings us a lasting guarantee of stable prices and thus the maintenance of purchasing power for our wages and savings," he told Le Parisien newspaper.
Who said anything about 'temporary'?
The markets have been slowly adjusting to the possibility of the break-up of the euro, with the spread between government bonds in different countries widening. Last night, John Redwood, the leading eurosceptic Tory MP, said: "You can't have a single currency without a single government. They are in a mess because they have only done half of it and they are now discovering in a painful way what that means."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
When boiled down to it's very essence, the whole EU movement is now and always has been about one thing: Hatred and Jealousy of the US.
This can only carry you so far, as Chirac has undoubtedly realized. Even in Europe, you have to give people a more convincing argument than beating those damn Americans before they give up their sovereignty.
#3
that Mr Blair no longer believed that putting Britain at the heart of Europe could be his legacy:
I find it amusing how each one of these leaders thought himself to be the "heart" of Europe. Each humored the others thinking ultimately they would be The One.
France, Germany and England - each one of these leaders saw a personal opportunity to wear The Really Big Crown.
All their delusions of glory shattered in one week. such a pity.
#5
Well, Tony Blair saw the handwriting on the wall about the demise of the EU dream, soooooooo.....on to Africa. He better look toward an overhaul of his own country first, before it is lost.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/05/2005 11:35 Comments ||
Top||
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - As many as 25 people were killed in police raids on Friday and Saturday in the slums of Haiti's capital after the government said it would get tougher on gangs, morgue workers and witnesses said. Clerks at the morgue in the General Hospital said they had taken in 17 bodies on Saturday and three bodies on Friday after the raids in Bel-Air and other Port-au-Prince slums, centers of support for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Residents said the dead were shot by police and accused police of setting slum homes on fire. Police officials had no immediate comment on the death toll and it was not clear whether all the victims were killed in the raids, or if some were shot as gang members returned fire.
Haiti's interim government, backed by a 7,400-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, has sought to stabilize the impoverished Caribbean country since Aristide fled into exile as armed rebels closed in on the capital in February 2004. Human rights groups have accused the Haitian police of summary executions and abuses against supporters of Aristide — allegations denied by the government.
Meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses.
Justice Minister Bernard Gousse and other officials said on Friday authorities planned tougher action against armed gangs in pro-Aristide slums, where victims of a recent wave of hundreds of kidnappings are often said to be held. "The police arrived, they started shooting. There were other people shooting too, but they managed to flee," said Ronald Macillon, a Bel-Air resident. "The police killed a lot of people and set several homes on fire," Macillon said. Several other witnesses gave similar accounts.
A spokesman for UN troops in Bel-Air, Col. Carlos Barcelos, told Reuters the Brazilian contingent based in that slum did not take part directly in the raids, but put up checkpoints and secured the outside perimeter. The Central Director for the Administrative Police, Renan Etienne, told Reuters he could not say how many people were killed or comment on allegations police set homes on fire, as he had not yet received police reports.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Taiwan has successfully test fired its first cruise missile, which would allow the island to hit major military targets in southeast China, a newspaper here reports.
The Hsiung Feng cruise missile, developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, has a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) and could be used to attack military bases in southeast China, the China Times said.
"Once deployed, it would mark the first time that Taiwan is able to put 'strategic weapons' into use. Its political and military impact would be far-reaching," the paper said.
The defense ministry declined to comment on the report.
The newspaper said Defense Minister Lee Jye witnessed the test firing of the missile from Chiupeng military base in the southern Pingtung county. The missile flew over 500 kilometers (300 miles) before hitting its target.
The report did not specify when the test took place but speculated that it could have been in March.
The missile is expected to go into pilot production later this year or next year.
Taiwan is striving to build up its missile defense capabilities to counter the military threat from China, which officials say has targeted the island with at least 700 ballistic missiles.
Taiwan's cabinet last month approved a revised arms deal with the United States worth almost 15.5 billion dollars after the previous proposal was rejected by parliament.
The arms package over a 15-year period from 2005, pending final approval by parliament, includes eight conventional submarines, a modified version of the Patriot anti-missile system and a fleet of anti-submarine aircraft.
The massive budget proposal has stirred heated debate on the island as critics said the spending could further provoke China and heighten cross-strait tensions.
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification since they split at the end of the civil war in 1949, and has repeatedly threatened to invade if the island moves towards formal independence.
#2
...Sound of PRC seething in 3, 2, 1...cue the seething!
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/05/2005 11:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
As you sow, so you shall reap. But I guess that's not from Chairman Mao's little red book.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/05/2005 11:25 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Primary use for this is to wipe out all those PRC airfields that can be used against Taiwan. That and wreak havoc on the port facilities that would be involved in any amphib efforts.
And don't forget the original use of these types of weapons: anti-ship missles. These would send amphib transports to the bottom in a hurry.
The Federal Opposition says Australia's trade relationship with China should not be a barrier to the granting of a protection visa to a Sydney-based Chinese diplomat. Chen Yunglin was the political affairs attache for the China Consulate General for four years. Mr Chen says he fears he will be jailed if he is sent back to China.
Opposition immigration spokesman Laurie Ferguson says China will be unhappy about the claims, but he does not believe Mr Chen's case will affect Australian trade negotiations. "The Chinese Government is aware that we're party to international conventions," he said. "We've got a regime for processing people; if people have valid claims they're accepted."
The Foreign Affairs Department has confirmed that a Chinese consular official has applied for a protection visa, but would not comment further. Greens leader Bob Brown says the Federal Government must offer protection to Mr Chen. A spokesman for the Immigration Minister says Mr Chen's application will be undergo regular procedures, but Senator Brown says the Government should give Mr Chen special treatment. "Giving him ordinary processing here is simply inadequate," he said. "This is a diplomat who has spoken up in Australia and is alleging crimes against Australia. He must be given special assistance, special protection and special treatment."
Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten says he is sceptical of the Government's reasons for not fast-tracking Mr Chen's application. "If Labor was in government and they were moving as slowly as the Federal Government's reported to be, that would be because obviously the Labor Party's run by secret Communists," he said. "The real issue here is that it's capitalism which is intruding upon the treatment of Mr Chen. The obvious question here is if he has some information, why on earth don't we want to hear it?"
#1
My gosh ... if he's legit, the opposition that tried to tumble Howard actually gets it!
(Well, on a surface reading -- do they?)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/05/2005 0:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Its more Labour is trying to manufacture an issue. A regular feature of Oz news is the illegal immigrants who deserve special treatment - sick kid, old grandmother, son who plays footie, daughter who plays violin, etc. etc. The Howard governments position has been 'we have a set of rules and they apply to everyone' so I understand their reluctance to intervene after the bureuacrats have rejected the mans claim for asylum. I would be astonished if the Howard government didn't grant the protection visa (after the politicians do intervene).
If they were smart, they'd adopt this tomorrow. But unfortunately they're not. Hat tip: Instapundit
Proposed by The Daily Telegraph (UK):
WHEREAS the Peoples of France and the Netherlands have voted "No" to further European integration; WHEREAS their Governments argued, throughout the referendum campaigns, that a "No" vote would amount to a rejection of the entire European project; and WHEREAS said Governments are determined to abide by their own logic; we, the 25 Member States of the EU, HAVE DECIDED to cancel the proposed Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe and, in doing so, to annul the Treaties establishing the EEC, the ECSC and Euratom, the Treaty on European Union and all consequent accords. Woo-hoo! Go for it. Adopt this and you might save yourselves yet.
In their place, we hereby ESTABLISH a European Commonwealth, to be based on the following principles.
I The European Commonwealth shall be an association of parliamentary democracies that collaborate one with another for mutual benefit. What - with no overlords in Brussels? Non, non - we can't have that.
II The jurisdiction of common European institutions shall be confined to cross-border matters: that is, fields of policy where the actions of one Member State impact directly upon the internal affairs of another. These include: commerce between Member States (but not trade with Third Countries); cross-border environmental pollution; and the maintenance of a free market in goods, services, people and capital.
III For the avoidance of doubt, and as a defence against creative interpretation by European judges, a list of national Reserve Powers shall be drawn up in the Member States' constitutions (or by parliamentary statute in the United Kingdom). Such a list shall include: foreign affairs, defence, asylum and immigration, transport, energy, the powers of regional and local government, agriculture, fisheries, industry, social and employment policy, taxation, health, education, justice and home affairs. In these areas, the supremacy of national parliamentary and legal systems shall be guaranteed. That ain't gonna fly with the Euroweenies, either. The people might somehow get involved!
Common European policies shall come into effect only following a specific implementing decision by the national authorities. That loud scream you just heard - at the mere mention of "national authorities" - was the Brussels overlords.
IV Member States shall be free, if they wish, to adopt common policies in these areas. Such initiatives may happen bilaterally or multilaterally, without prejudice to the non-participating members. Did I just hear Brussels implode (explode)? They will if this is adopted. :-D
V In order to give effect to these principles, the institutions of the old EU shall be reformed as follows:
1. The European Commission shall lose the right to initiate legislation. Such a right is incompatible with the principle of accountable democracy. YES! Somebody finally said it. At least The Telegraph gets it.
The Commission shall instead fulfil the role of a neutral civil service, answerable to the elected governments of the Member States.
2. The European Parliament shall be replaced Replaced? Whatever will all those professional elites do if they can't suck at the public teat? They have no idea how to actually work for a living.
by an Assembly comprised of national deputies and senators, seconded from their home legislatures for a period of not more than four days a month. The Assembly shall not pretend to the role of a legislature. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!
Its function, rather, shall be to oversee the Commission.
3. The European Court of Justice shall be comprised of judges, required as a condition of their appointment to have had experience on the bench in their home countries. It shall adjudicate disputes between the Member States as well as questions arising from the interpretation of this Treaty, but shall have no right to demarcate the border between national and European jurisdictions. Tranzis won't like that one, either.
Any dispute over the location of power shall be referred to a European Tribunal, comprising the heads of national legal systems: the Master of the Rolls from the United Kingdom, the President of the Conseil d'Etat from France, the head of the Bundesverfassungsgericht from Germany and so on. These eminent jurists, retaining their national perspectives, shall adjudicate all questions touching on sovereignty.
4. The Council of Ministers shall be the supreme authority of the European Commonwealth. It shall propose common initiatives, open to such member states as choose to participate. Such initiatives should also be open to states from outside Europe.
5. The European Central Bank shall be abolished Best thing that could happen. (And get rid of the goddam Euro too.) So it won't. Too bad.
and member states shall be free to set their own interest rates or to combine their monetary policies bilaterally or multilaterally.
VI The European Commonwealth shall work towards international co-operation and the breaking down of global trade barriers. Phrance would fight that one tooth and nail. They might actually have to compete in the real world. And we all know how Anglo-Saxon demeaning that is.
VII The European Commonwealth shall encourage the progressive reduction of tariffs against produce from Third Countries, including in the fields of agriculture, textiles and raw materials.
VIII Any uncertainty arising from ambiguities in this Treaty shall be resolved in favour of the individual citizen rather than the state, We can't have that! Why, it sounds positively American! Oh, the horror!
and of national governments rather than European institutions.
IX Changes to this treaty shall take effect only following ratification by referendum in all signatory states.
Done at London on the Fifth Day of June in the year Two Thousand and Five.
[Here follow the signatures]
It's a pretty good constitution when the main objection to it is the misuse of "comprise." But that can be fixed.
Adopt this, Europe, and you might have a chance at survival. Or continue on down your present road to Sharia. Your choice.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/05/2005 14:44 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
If they really meant it they'd say "In the year of our Lord 2005."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/05/2005 19:17 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'll take what I can get, Mrs. Davis.
At least this looks like an actual Constitution - not the Code of Federal Regulations.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/05/2005 20:40 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I'd give it an A-. It's stilted in Article III due to a logic flaw.
The enumeration of powers is from the POV of the Commonwealth, not the member countries. Bzzzzzt! The member countries are granting the powers to the Commonwealth, not the reverse. Thus, it should enumerate the few powers being granted the Commonwealth - and state unequivocally that all unenumerated powers remain with the member countries.
This is a fundamental logic flaw which GreasyBoy could never grasp, either. Sadly, though this version is, otherwise, obviously superior - the flaw remains - it must be an Old World cognition defect.
But, all things considered, it is a vast improvement -- far more worthy of public debate and discourse (that thought alone would, indeed, make heads explode in Brussels, lol!) -- than the phone book currently going down in flames.
#6
Double-plus ungood. Wrong bordering on crimethink. Writer to be sent to Room 101.
.com:
Article III looks to be a "we really mean it" backup to Article II. Our Bill of Rights should theoretically be unnecessary given the Enumerated Powers, but the theory didn't work. Heck, the BoR has been ignored, too.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/05/2005 21:43 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Jackal - I don't understand your first 3 sentences. At all.
Regards the enumerated powers and Bill of Rights. Two separate issues. The powers refers to the relationship between member states and the federal authority. The Bill of rights is between individuals and all govt authorities, as I see it, since it trumps either state or federal infringement.
Sure, they could certainly use a BoR - absolutely.
Now about those first 3 sentences - care to elaborate?
#1
Kyoto!Kyoto!Kyoto!
As well as cost from trying to meet Kyoto,which involves shutting down coal plants and spending a fortune on wind farms that don't work,the article as usual ignores the damage the EU is doing. Several EU Directives have shut down ingenious recycled-material power plants as well as many recycling projects which now require disposal in power-intensive furnaces.
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/05/2005 18:04 Comments ||
Top||
France's rejection of the EU constitution, after sparking a government shake-up, took a second casualty Saturday as the opposition Socialist Party ousted its No. 2 leader from its ranks for championing the victorious 'no' vote — a break from the party's official line. Socialist Party leaders meeting in Paris approved a new leadership list that excluded former prime minister Laurent Fabius and five associates who had urged "no" votes before the May 29 French referendum on the charter — the result of which sparked a government shake-up last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How socialist - fire the guy who represents what the people overwhemingly want - instead of what "they" thought was good for them.
#2
I hope these folks split the socialists right down the middle, or even take away the majority of their voters. The would make them a de jure party, holding many seats, but with no voters to back them up vs. a de facto socialist party will most of the voters but no seats. This would almost invariably result in the French *right wing* picking up seats.
#3
The only problem, 'moose, is that "right-wing" over there means something very different from over here. Remember last election, Jospin failed to make the run-off, so the voters had the choice between ChIraq and La Pen. Like Looziana some 15 years ago with the contest between Edwards and David Duke: "Vote for the crook. It's important."
French President Jacques Chirac was to make a flying visit to the German capital on Saturday to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and puzzle out how to save the EU constitution.
"Wot are we going to do now, Gerhard?"
Just weeks ago the two men presided over the engine room of the European Union, the Franco-German axis. Now Chirac leads a nation which last weekend turned its back on decades of staunch pro-Europeanism by delivering a resounding "no" to the treaty which is designed to provide a framework for an expanded European Union. Schroeder meanwhile is emerging, by default, as the potential saviour of the European project, shuttling across the continent for talks in a bid to rescue the constitution from the scrapheap. The rejections from voters in France and the Netherlands have left the EU reeling. Leaders said before the two referendums that there was no plan "B' and it appears they were not bluffing.
I think I just heard Richelieu and Bismark laughing hysterically...
Germany has ratified the constitution, although no referendum was used, and so have nine others of the 25 member states, but the damage caused by the "no" votes in France and the Netherlands is severe.
The Big Mo turned into the Big No...
It emerged on Friday that Schroeder intends to call for a "pause for reflection" when EU leaders gather at a summit in Brussels on June 16-17 to plot the way forward. German press reports said the government feared Britain will next week shelve plans for its referendum, and it is determined that the more liberal Europe promoted by Prime Minister Tony Blair does not gain the upper hand.
"Non, non! Can't have any of that!"
"Nein, nein! DÀt wöÃŒld never dö!"
Britain takes over the rotating EU presidency in July.
"Ummm... Jacques? Is Plan B done yet?"
As Chirac and Schroeder form a common, pro-constitution front when they sit down to their working dinner in Berlin, they might also reflect that they share something else—plummeting popularity ratings at home. Schroeder's Social Democrats suffered a devastating defeat in a state election last month, prompting him to call for a general election this September 12 months ahead of schedule. Opinion polls show he will lose to the conservative opposition Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel. Chirac meanwhile suffered the humiliation of seeing his people ignore his appeals for them to ratify the constitution and spent the week looking, to many analysts, like a lame duck president. The "no" vote forced him into a governent reshuffle, promoting former health minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to foreign minister.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why do I have a mental image of the sinking set of "Waterworld?"
Anarchists from around the world are planning to cause chaos at next month's G8 summit in Gleneagles as a row broke out last night between Bob Geldof and DJ Andy Kershaw over the absence of black musicians at events staged to benefit Africans.
Picky, picky, picky. If they're not happy without black musicians, let them turn down the money, if any...
With police fears mounting over Geldof's call for one million people to protest at the summit, Kershaw last night condemned the almost exclusively white line-up for the pop concerts to coincide with the summit. "If we are going to change the West's perception of Africa, events like this are the perfect opportunity to do something for Africa's self-esteem," he said. "But the choice of artists for the Live8 concerts will simply reinforce the global perception of Africa's inferiority."
I dunno. Maybe they'll escape being associated with what looks like it's going to be a riot by dipshits...
Bob Geldof last week called on one million people to descend on Edinburgh on 6 July - a move branded irresponsible by city leaders and local police. Geldof's fellow campaigner, Midge Ure, later claimed the one million figure was "symbolic" and talks between the campaign groups and police appear to have resolved any potential problems for the march.
"What we meant was 'a whole bunch.' Yeah. That's it..."
But The Independent on Sunday can reveal that anarchist groups that have rioted at previous G8 gatherings are planning similar disruptions in Scotland and plan to hijack Geldof's "long march to freedom" on 6 July and the Make Poverty History rally on 2 July. Anarchist groups will encourage protesters to "Make Capitalism History" instead.
Seems like having a job would be a fine antidote to poverty, but I suspect that professional anarchists have found another method of avoiding it...
Several organisations will meet at an undisclosed location in south-east England on Saturday to discuss plans to disrupt the G8 summit. These include a series of blockades and protests, which they hope will bring the event to a standstill. Over the coming weeks teams of security experts are slowly turning the Gleneagles complex and the 850 acres of countryside surrounding it into a technological fortress. In addition to fears that militant anarchists could cause havoc there is also the recognition of just how tempting a target the summit could appear to the forces of terrorism.
... which tend to blend right in with the anarchokiddies...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 12:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
yeah, and a DJ has so much appeal, maybe he should have his own benefit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2005 13:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Mmmm, I wonder how these people got labelled anarchists? They sound like radical Marxists to me.
#4
Anarchists will "take over"? Um, what's the difference? I mean, sheesh, how will you be able to tell? Geldof doesn't represent anything or anyone. He wasn't "elected" - he's "self selected". So's this Kershaw dick. They are indicative of, not representatives of, anarchy.
Treat them and theirs accordingly. Crack heads who break the law. Period.
#1
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine!
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/05/2005 21:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
IOW, the coming future Global Government/OWG and Global Scialist order = the world must Must MUST STILL be poor and regressed like the "former" USSR and Red Bloc. The good news is that as Global Citizens we still end up giving most or all of our personal wealth/assets to local, extra-local, National, Regional, Transregional, and Global ...@ Taxes, the Party, and Government - better have that toga party now cuz a toga is all you and the babes will afford to wear!?
...If we accept this report at face value, the H5N1 strain of influenza has evolved to the point where it can infect a wide range of animals, including mammals not that very different than humans. If this report is true, it buttresses the previous reports that H5N1 has infected and killed humans. In other words, if the bird flu virus is expanding its host range -- from domestic poultry at the beginning of the southeast Asian outbreak, to migratory geese in western China, and pigs in Indonesia, to, now, over a dozen species from disparate families -- it is much, much closer to efficient human-to-human transmission, the last obstacle to a pandemic...
(poorly xlated from the Chinese)
The spot lead goose died 5,412
The brown gull died 641
?? died 1,151
The fishing gull died 1,064
The red mouth dives the duck to die 121
The red foot snipe died 34
The link neck ?? died 23
The tern died 12
?? died 6
?? Phoenix ??? died 11
?? died 2
The wolf died 3
The fox died 2
?? died 6
Wilderness cat died 11
The partial herdsmen infect or ?? the infection and the destruction domestic animal
Cow 153
Sheep 84
Chicken 413
Dog 68
#2
It is highly unlikely a flu strain has jumped to so many species in such a short period. OTOH it looks very much like the Chinese government is trying to cover something up. Recent reports are that 8 of the people who collected and posted this information have been arrested. Perhaps most significant is reports that hospitals in the province are setting up isolation facilities.
Gromky, if I were you I would find out what is happening in the nearest large hospital. If there is unusual activity and signs isolation units are being set up, then get the hell out.
Posted by: Mr. Peepers ||
06/05/2005 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Recent reports are that 8 of the people who collected and posted this information have been arrested. Perhaps most significant is reports that hospitals in the province are setting up isolation facilities.
phil_b - Where did you get that? I'd like to try to follow this. There's a chance I may be travelling to Hong Kong for business this summer.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/05/2005 19:35 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Since the UN set the precedent with ousting Taiwan for the Mainland, I whole heartly nominate France to give up its seat for the Japanese! Make it happen Number One.
In an initial response to plans to overhaul the United Nations, members of the world body favored replacing the discredited human rights commission and adopting a tough anti-terrorism treaty but glossed over proposals for when to use military force. UN members, in a draft document released on Friday, also gave broad agreement to a timetable for rich countries to increase development aid to the poorest of the poor and backed the International Criminal Court, proposals Europeans support but the Bush administration does not.
The paper, drawn up by Jean Ping, president of the 191-member UN General Assembly, is a summary of discussions of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's effort to reconcile the gap between rich and poor nations. The document will be reviewed by governments, then discussed again in New York before approval at a UN summit of world leaders in September, Ping said. "Much is at stake, and I am confident that when world leaders meet in New York this coming September, they will agree on the most far-ranging and ambitious reforms of the United Nations in its 60-year history," Annan said in a statement. He called the draft document an "important step towards decisive action for halving poverty by 2015, reducing the threat of war, terrorism and proliferation and promoting human dignity in ever corner of the world,"
Left out of the draft is expansion of the 15-member Security Council, which is expected to be put to a vote later this month and which is still a divisive issue. But the report gave some support to several of Annan's proposals for internal reform, asking him to prepare proposals on a one-time buy-out of staff, management accountability, transparency and a more independent UN watchdog. Annan in March produced a report, titled "In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All," an effort to reconcile the gap between developing nations, who want more efforts towards fighting poverty, and Western countries, who often stress action on terrorism and proliferation of unconventional weapons.
With divisions over the US invasion of Iraq still strong, Annan urged that the UN Security Council produce guidelines on when and how force can be used, such as "whether the military option is proportional to the threat at hand and whether there is a reasonable chance of success." The Bush administration, which reserves the right to use force unilaterally, was cool to the proposals. Ping's document said only the Council should consider the proposals.
The draft, however, agreed to abolish the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, which includes nations with major rights violations, and create another body elected by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly. Currently, members are rotated by regions. But the paper ignored Annan's plan that a new body should be smaller than the existing 53-member commission and that those elected "should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards."
On terrorism, the document agreed with Annan on a quick adoption of a resolution calling for a comprehensive anti-terror treaty, including suicide bombers or anyone who deliberately harms civilians. It set a deadline for June 2006 But it still mentioned the need to address factors that may contribute to terrorism, including "foreign occupation," concepts Annan said did not belong in that treaty. Surprisingly, the document backed a controversial proposal on when to use force to save civilians from abuses by their own governments, a concept that first offended nations as an interference in their sovereignty.
Under women's equality, the paper promotes access to "reproductive health," long-established in UN conferences but opposed by the Bush administration as a possible license to abortion.
I'm not too sure how ladies' nether regions came to be a concern of the World Community™. The thought mildly offends me, in fact.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He called the draft document an âimportant step towards decisive action for halving poverty by 2015, reducing the threat of war, terrorism and proliferation and promoting human dignity in ever corner of the world,â
And everyone gets a pony.
This doesn't address the real problem: Do we arrange the deckchairs in a circle, rectangle, star, or just along the wall? Should they face the ocean or the ship?
Happy Valley does not remotely live up to its name. A shabby collection of makeshift homes that is half township, half rubbish dump, its crime-ridden alleys erupted into violence this week as part of a nationwide wave of rioting that threatens to engulf South Africa.
Across Cape Town, township residents have been fighting with riot police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in scenes that echo the anti-apartheid riots of the 1980s. This time, though, the focus of anger is the ruling African National Congress and its failure to push through improvements long promised since the end of white rule.
Happy Valley is a drenched wasteland. In pouring rain, roofs fashioned from planks and plastic sheeting leak like old taps. There is no refuse removal or medical care and there are no lavatories. Residents must relieve themselves in the nearby bush, but not at night: last Thursday night a man was stabbed to death and earlier last week a woman was raped.
"When Nelson Mandela was released 15 years ago, I thought we'd be living with more dignity by now," says Noluthando Valela, who lives with six people in a one-room shack and took to the streets with tens of thousands of fellow protesters last week. "How can they name a place Happy Valley under such conditions? It's absolutely appalling."
President Thabo Mbeki, who won a second term last year after he pledged improvements in the townships, admitted that the riots would destabilise the country. "The riots seek to exploit the class and nationality fault lines we inherited from our past," Mr Mbeki told parliament. "If ever they took root, gaining genuine popular support, they would pose a threat to the stability of democratic South Africa." Snip - Reg required
#2
Happy Valley does not remotely live up to its name.
Damn people you sure have short memories and no gratitude.
Oh! Africa?
Nevermind.
Posted by: Pappa Joe ||
06/05/2005 9:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Joe - we remember alright - just can't get use to the Big Ten having eleven members.
Way OT but there's a WOT reference in here. On the way to State College from the east coast, stop at Esther's Restaurant in Fredericksburg. Fried potatoes, scrapple and ham all slathered in pork fat and pie crusts made with real lard. Man, that's eatin'!
#4
"'When Nelson Mandela was released 15 years ago, I thought we'd be living with more dignity by now,' says Noluthando Valela, who lives with six people in a one-room shack..." [snip] "In the decade of democracy since the first all-inclusive elections in 1994, the government has built 1.6 million houses and given nine million people access to clean water... Across the country there is a backlog of people waiting for 260,000 homes to be built. The residents of the townships are not impressed by the government's record."
Actually, I'm rather impressed by it.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/05/2005 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I doubt those numbers - all anecdotes are that SA is falling apart at the seams
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2005 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Agreed Frank..I work with a bunch of guys who still have family there.
They want out. Preferably to that bastion of Islam mistreating, slave owning, go it alone because no one else in the whole world knows right from f*cking wrong anymore, racist hellhole the USA.
No shit.
#8
"The riots seek to exploit the class and nationality fault lines we inherited from our past,"
Class Warfare, Marxism at it's best - AKA - it's not our fault.
In other news, SA shown to be 12 places below Botswana in terms of corruption. This from Transparency International as reported by the Sunday Times today (no link I'm afraid). Corruption is widespread - last year the SA football (soccer) league could not find enough untainted referees to run the league - this from the country that is supposed to be running the 2010 World Cup...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/05/2005 17:07 Comments ||
Top||
#9
This article goes into the issue in more depth. While the western media tends to portray South Africa as just having white and black people, Cape province has a majority of so called coloureds who are descended predominantly from the pre-African (Non-Negro) population of the area. It seems there is considerable resentment of African (Negro) immigrants and the perceieved preferential treatment they get.
#10
the coloureds provide the A-Q opening....Islam is no stranger in SA
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2005 17:50 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Seems like when I was a kid S.Africa was a powerful nation that had its shit together, since the end of "white rule" the hole place has gone down the toilet. While I don't advocate institutional racism
(not publicaly at least), it seems that whitey was doing a much better job of keeping people alive. In fact can you think of one single African colony that is better off without it's mother country? They had jobs and roads and progress with colonalization, it wasn't up to euro-standards of liberalism though, I guess. Some of these countries just became "Free" in the 70's and 80's and already they have the whole place so f@#ked up they don't know which way is up.
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.
LINDENWOLD, N.J. — Police made a surprising discovery when they busted the alleged madam of a prostitution ring called "August Playmates": the woman running the show was an 80-year-old grandmother. Authorities arrested Vera Tursi at her apartment during a sting operation last month to crack down on illegal prostitution rings posing as legal escort services. Police said Tursi could be the oldest person arrested for such a crime in New Jersey.
German police, alerted to a potential kidnapping, "freed" a man from a car trunk only to discover the would-be victim was actually a willing sex slave, authorities said Thursday. Police stopped the car after a concerned caller told them he had seen a woman locking someone in the boot. However, on opening it, they were greeted by the sight of the 39-year-old man wearing nothing but a leather thong and a collar. "It turned out they were a couple from the S&M scene. The 'mistress' was driving, with the slave in the boot," said a police spokesman in the southern town of Bayreuth.
The trial began on Saturday of a Bahraini women's rights activist accused of defaming Sharia (Islamic) law and insulting an Islamic judge. 
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - As many as 25 people were killed in police raids on Friday and Saturday in the slums of Haiti's capital after the government said it would get tougher on gangs, morgue workers and witnesses said. Clerks at the morgue in the General Hospital said they had taken in 17 bodies on Saturday and three bodies on Friday after the raids in Bel-Air and other Port-au-Prince slums, centers of support for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Residents said the dead were shot by police and accused police of setting slum homes on fire. Police officials had no immediate comment on the death toll and it was not clear whether all the victims were killed in the raids, or if some were shot as gang members returned fire.
France's rejection of the EU constitution, after sparking a government shake-up, took a second casualty Saturday as the opposition Socialist Party ousted its No. 2 leader from its ranks for championing the victorious 'no' vote — a break from the party's official line. Socialist Party leaders meeting in Paris approved a new leadership list that excluded former prime minister 
French President 
Germany has ratified the constitution, although no referendum was used, and so have nine others of the 25 member states, but the damage caused by the "no" votes in France and the Netherlands is severe.
Anarchists from around the world are planning to cause chaos at next month's G8 summit in Gleneagles as a row broke out last night between 
...If we accept this report at face value, the H5N1 strain of influenza has evolved to the point where it can infect a wide range of animals, including mammals not that very different than humans. If this report is true, it buttresses the previous reports that H5N1 has infected and killed humans. In other words, if the bird flu virus is expanding its host range -- from domestic poultry at the beginning of the southeast Asian outbreak, to migratory geese in western China, and pigs in Indonesia, to, now, over a dozen species from disparate families -- it is much, much closer to efficient human-to-human transmission, the last obstacle to a pandemic...
In an initial response to plans to overhaul the United Nations, members of the world body favored replacing the discredited human rights commission and adopting a tough anti-terrorism treaty but glossed over proposals for when to use military force. UN members, in a draft document released on Friday, also gave broad agreement to a timetable for rich countries to increase development aid to the poorest of the poor and backed the 
Happy Valley does not remotely live up to its name. A shabby collection of makeshift homes that is half township, half rubbish dump, its crime-ridden alleys erupted into violence this week as part of a nationwide wave of rioting that threatens to engulf South Africa.
