Prince Talal, president of Arab Gulf Program for UN Development Organizations (AGFUND) and the Arab Open University, has called upon the Qatari government to revise its decision revoking citizenship of some 5,000 Qataris belonging to the Al-Murrah tribe. "I request you to review the decision sympathetically considering the difficult situation of these thousands of Qataris, who found themselves suddenly in the desert after they were asked to leave the country," he said in an appeal to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad.
Prince Talal urged the Qatari ruler to address the issue with "a democratic spirit" considering the suffering of the people who lost their citizenship as a result of a decree issued by the government last April. "I believe that the Qatari leadership has the wisdom to do justice to this group of people who remain without any shelter," Al-Riyadh Arabic daily quoted Prince Talal as saying. The AGFUND chief made this comment while speaking to reporters in Manama.
A total of 5,266 people from the Al-Ghafran branch of the Al-Murrah tribe were affected by the decree. The men, women and children on the list are to lose their rights to state-provided employment, housing, education and health care. Informed sources said the move was "a belated response to a failed coup attempt," a reference to the 1996 attempt to unseat Sheikh Hamad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So the Prince sez to the Emir, he sez, "address the issue with âa democratic spiritâ" That's what he sez: democratic spirit!
Hat tip to A. M. Mora y Leon at Publius Pundit, who also has his own comments. To back up what Mr. Mora Y Leon said, when do we get around to calling this sort of thing, or what Kim il Bob has done in Zimbabwe, terrorism?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/11/2005 15:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A court in the city of Vladimir found a Syrian student guilty of promoting Islamic extremism in Russia and ordered him to pay a fine of 10,000 rubles ($355), Itar-Tass reported Friday. After returning from his homeland in March 2004 Abdolkhalek Samir Mejed, who studies at Vladimir University, brought a disk with a recording in Arabic dedicated to rebel military activities in Chechnya and containing calls for extremist actions in Russia, the Prosecutor's Office told Itar-Tass. He passed the film on to his fellow students, nationals of Syria, Sudan and Morocco.
An expert committee found that the film contained calls to "change Russia's constitutional system by force, to violate its territorial integrity and disrupt its security, to form and support illegal armed units, incite ethnic and religious hatred," Itar-Tass reports. The court found Abdolkhalek Samir Mejed guilty and ordered him to pay a fine of 10,000 rubles. The student could have faced up to three years in prison for his actions.
What a dumbass. Shoulda sent him to Siberia. I understand Khabarovsk is nice this time of year...
I thought Khabarovsk was nice any time of year? That's what my brochure sez...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, that should just about put an end to that.
#4
Well, TGA, they probably figured out by now they weren't really making that much money off of the work camps then, but if they leave this guy free to roam around they can fine him at regular intervals... "This week's fine is for complaining about last week's fine..."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/11/2005 13:28 Comments ||
Top||
The Washington summit early today between Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush heralded new pressure on North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks and surrender its nuclear weapons ambitions.
Roh arrived in Washington yesterday and quickly launched into his packed schedule, meeting Bush in the White House Oval Office. The hour-long meeting, followed by a luncheon, was their fourth summit in the past two years. Without drawing up a joint-statement, Roh and Bush also arranged a short news briefing.
The vital summit of the two key allies came as North Korea showed hints of yielding from its stubborn refusal to return to the six-party talks but has yet to fix a date. By reconfirming their will to peacefully and diplomatically solve the nuclear problem, the two leaders were sending a stern message to North Korea to make a progressive move toward ending the standoff, a high-ranking South Korean government official said.
The two leaders also agree Pyongyang must not possess any kind of nuclear weapons, putting more strong pressure on North Korea as it has been stepping up its claims to have developed nuclear weapons and arms.
The summit, arranged ahead of their scheduled meeting in Korea this November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, also focused on cementing cracks that emerged recently due to South Korea's new ambition to become Northeast Asia's balancer, a role that would reflect Korea's increasing diplomatic independency. Roh and Bush, however, refrained from highlighting any alternative measures against North Korea should it continue to refuse to come back to the negotiating table with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
Roh and Bush also agreed active inter-Korean relations would be a highly useful tool to bring North Korea back to the six-party talks and solve the nuclear problem.
More likely, Bush agreed not to criticize it publicly as a waste of time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2005 01:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Right, right. And we'll put even more pressure by withdrawing another Brigade ahead of the previous schedule! [Quicker, quicker] Oh, and we'll send Alec Baldwin to talk to them too!
Nice to have known you! Have a nice day!
Terrorism is a crime to be pursued through international cooperation rather than a movement to be targeted in a war waged by individual nations, a veteran Spanish anti-terrorist investigator said on Thursday in an apparent slap at the United States. "Terrorism is a crime, it's not a movement ... In a war, we have to defend ourselves, and this is today distorting the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism," said Baltasar Garzon, an investigating judge for Spain's National Court. "The only way to combat terrorism in any of its manifestations is with the strength of law and reason and not the reason of force," he said. Without mentioning Washington by name, Garzon said Spain had recently received no response when it sought to extradite three Spaniards charged with crimes in Spain and being held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Dear Judge Garzon:
I still think you are a stone cold stud, but haven't you talked to enough of these lying nutbags yet? We're over there breaking stuff so we can break the hold these arrogant thugs have over the people of good will. Since you're the only judge in the world to recognize the danger, I'll cut you some slack, but your job and our job go hand-in-hand. You keep the boyz behind bars, we make it harder for the boys to hide and prey on decent folk.
Respectfully,
Emily alias Abu Seafarious
USA
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Love the tie. Was it St. Patrick's Day when the pic was taken?
#11
A little perspective may be needed here in that Garzon has done a really good job within the confines of Spanish law as far as going after both ETA and al-Qaeda. He has been able to persuade French authorities to abandon the previous blind eye to the ETA in the wake of 9/11 and probably figures that you can do the same with some of nastier countries in the Middle East. There is also the point to be made that Spain is not exactly a major military power, so law enforcement is about the only weapon they have at their disposal.
Keep in mind that Garzon was locking up terrorists long before 9/11 and so he still has a lot of that pre-9/11 mindset as far as how he sees the situation and views the US as Johnny-Come-Latelies to the table.
Finally, he is a Socialist though from a far more moderate region of the party than Zapatero and as such a lot of the cheap anti-Americanism that normally surrounds him has probably influenced his thinking to a certain respect.
I'm not defending the guy, just trying to explain how he came to the understanding that he did.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/11/2005 11:56 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Sorry, the soap box is full and is taking no more wacko critics. Just try the case, judge, and leave the heavy lifting to your superiors.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/11/2005 12:03 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Abu Seafarious should just admit that it's the tie.
#14
He's a socialist Spanish judge who wants to attack the US about its anti-terror tactics?
Reduce the sauce-d'ya think his solution to terror might have elements of the redistribution of wealth through bribe-based solutions to terror, and the compromising of the US through pressure to comply with international law (their version, of course)?
Hi, y'all-I'm back. Now writing from moonbat land.
One of the Muslim world's most influentual figures in Europe called Friday for the unconditional release of a French journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad five months ago, as well as a prompt withdrawal of US and other foreign military forces in Iraq.
Sheikh Hussein Halawa, secretary general of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, said he was ready to go to Iraq if necessary to secure the release of Florence Aubenas. Aubenas, a senior correspondent for the French newspaper Liberation, and her interpreter Hussein Hanun al-Saadi went missing after leaving the journalist's hotel in Baghdad on January 5. "I must say that I am very much against the captivity of the French journalist," Halawa, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter, told AFP in Dublin on the 155th day of Aubenas's disappearance. "I would like to state that this is against the Islam that I believe in and I call on them to release her and all the captives they have taken." Halawa felt confident that his appeal would be heard by the kidnappers, five days after a similar plea was sent out from Saudi Arabia by Sheikh Abdullah Ibn Bayya, vice president of the International Organisation of Ulema and a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. "After the call made by Sheikh Ibn Bayya, and after my call today, I think this will touch their hearts (those of the hostage takers) and that they will soon release the captives," he said.
Halawa said the overall situation in Iraq, more than two years after the US and British invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime, remains "very painful," and he urged foreign military forces to leave as soon as possible. "I call on people in Iraq to renounce fanaticism and tribalism and come together and unite," he said. "I also call on the occupying forces to leave Iraq. The day they leave Iraq, then the people of Iraq can unite, I trust the Iraqi people and I think they can look after themselves and manage their own affairs." Referring to the Aubenas case, Halawa said: "I think the kidnapping has a negative impact on those who don't understand the true image of Islam. But there are a lot of people who do understand the true image of Islam and are still taking these kind of actions," he added.
Doesn't miss much, does he?
"I call on those who have kidnapped to take into consideration the fact that this is not in harmony with Islam, and also to think of the Islamic Dawa and the Muslims who have good relations with people of different parts of Europe. Such a behaviour is not good with regard to the Muslim relations with the European people who have opened their lands to Muslims. This is against Islam as a religion. We condemn this and we condemn all kinds of violence all over the world."
Based in Ireland [ ! ], the European Council for Fatwa and Research is a private foundation, created in 1997, that brings together more than 30 Muslim religious leaders, jurists and other prominent figures living in Europe, the Middle East, Mauritania, Pakistan and Sudan.
#2
There's a deeper issue here which the Deep Throat/Felt story illustrates. The FBI became utterly warped under J. Edgar, especially in the latter years. A lot of the people who entered the Bureau under Hoover were still active in the early 90s. That organization has some very deep rot going on still in its culture. Another symptom of this was the faked lab analyses that started coming out of the FBI labs a while back.
I'm no fan of shoot the wounded. But there have been some really serious problems over there and now the word is that they are stonewalling on reforms and on working with the CIA and others effectively.
Cheney is right: we are in a long, bitter fight for our lives and our freedom. These guys have GOT to get on board and that means they have got to realize how much is at stake if they keep playing the games they played before 9/11.
Posted by: too true ||
06/11/2005 8:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
btw - you bayonet the wounded....saves ammo
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 10:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I think that law enforcement should have prevented the death of Nicole Brown Simpson also. With all that evidence available allowing that woman to die so horribly is just shameful incompetence. {{ Cut to video of OJ going through airport security with Frank Gifford both wearing yellow blazers }} See how lax homeland security had an opportunity to arrest the killer.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Fred, this reminds me of something I'd brought up at Wheelus and have been meaning to polish up for further explanation later.
About a week or two back I listened to a long interview with writer Peter Lance on the late-night-conspiracy-radio show Coast to Coast, performed by George Noury. And, no, although I found a lot of the individual facts interesting, I didn't agree with the vast framework they were putting together, where they mentioned all the "missed opportunities" along with other stuff involving Ramsi Yousef while George Noury tried to drag the interview into the direction of "these attacks were allowed to happen in order to expand the power of the federal government, enrich all the oil companies, etc.... you know, all the stuff the left is saying is happening, but really _isn't_ (I mean, think back to comparisons with WW2: if this were WW2, most of the people at Guantanamo would have been sentenced to death by a military tribunal by now, if they weren't shot to death by the frontline troops on the spot. And the "big oil companies" are really just resellers for OPEC these days. OPEC's made a lot of money off of the price instability caused by the war, but I don't think Shell or Valero have. And FDR would have found a way to drill in ANWR with or without Congress's approval in Oct. 2001. But I digress...)
In case you're wondering, I listen to the conspiracy junk that's going around here because it's going to move on from here and spread to the propaganda outlets run by the US's enemies elsewhere. A lot of the insinuations run by Al Jazeera and Pravda have their start in the loony left (although some days we should perhaps call it the loony center) _here_.
Anyway, getting back to the radio interview, a really strange and interesting and wonderful thing happened: someone called in and asked about the anthrax attacks.
Mr. Noury changed the subject SO FAST it would make your head spin. He just mumbled something about how they were sure it was someone domestic, it had nothing to do with international terrorism, nothing to see here, these aren't the droids we're looking for...
BUT without offering any references for anything like that.
The anthrax attacks don't fit into the conspiracy theorists' theories, or more importantly, their _agenda_. They _can't_ explain them, so they have to explain them away.
Their agenda, such as it is, is based on a double standard: If the FBI could have done 'X' (never mind that the evidence that 'X' needed to be done was lacking) the crimes would have been stopped or postponed, and since they weren't, the FBI obviously must have wanted them to happen.
(As Super Hose points out, this can be stretched to show that every murder that's happened in the US is something the FBI wanted to happen.)
One thing sticks out in the Daily Times article:
The head of the San Diego FBI office responded that the report greatly exaggerates the possibility that local agents could have prevented the attacks.
The two Saudis rented a room in the home of a longtime FBI terrorism informant, and also befriended a fellow Saudi who had drawn FBI scrutiny in the past.
The informant identified the two men to his FBI handler only by their first names, and the report criticizes the FBI handler as ânot particularly thorough or aggressiveâ in following up.
The two men also befriended Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi who had established himself in the area. The FBI briefly investigated him in 1998 when the manager of his apartment complex reported that al-Bayoumi had received a suspicious package, had strange wires in his bathroom and hosted frequent weekend gatherings of Middle Eastern men.
It occurs to me that if we did start arresting people for "being from the Middle East," attending meetings with others from SA or the ME, receiving suspicious packages, or similar things, there'd be the biggest outcry from the ACLU, CAIR, Amnesty International, etc., than you even have today because we've incarcerated at Guantanamo people who would in a proper rule of law be hung by the neck until they are dead.
BUT... that's precicely the sort of legal treatment Christians and Hindus (and depending on time and place, even the wrong sects of Moslems) get in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. They want to feed the thesis that 9/11 was "allowed to happen," so they postulate an FBI with the combined powers of the Vice Police in SA and Bangladesh's RAB.
Well, back to doing the dishes...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/11/2005 12:27 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Phil, my main point is that 2nd guessers work the problem back with the answer already in hand. Watching this blame dance is asinine. I picture a MSNBC anchor interviewing an "expert" explaining how Newton was actually incompetent for not theorizing E=MC2 because the equation is so simple, only having three terms and all. That is the level that the intelligence critics have reached. It is truly sad that our logically challenged society accepts such sophistry at face.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#7
My point was that they're more than just second-guessing: they're operating from a background that they assume we have as well as they do (i.e. foreigners not having any rights period) but that they'd use against us if we adopted (can you imagine their reaction if we started arresting people for "learning to fly while Arab?").
That, and they have a direction they're going in and want to insinuate. And the proponents here will cut off callers who bring up points that don't quite match the theory... they're not quite the anti-authoritarians they pretend to be.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/11/2005 14:49 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Phil, I have a conspiracy theorist that works for me. He demonstrates an incredible imagination that is willing to accept almost any possibility ... that is consistent with what he wants to believe. We often while away the day concocting ideas to torment him with. Some of my latest include:
1. The WTC was hit by an LA class Sub .... launched from the world's largest slingshot.
2. GM is cutting 25K jobs so that GMAC can forclose on their mortages so that their will be housing available for the UN troops imported to enforce the edicts of the global government. Prescott Bush formulated ...
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 20:49 Comments ||
Top||
#9
'Hose, that's mean. And funny as hell.
I mourned on 9/11...for my innocence. My understanding of the world changed forever that week, and I was MAD. I wanted to go back to my happy safe place, but knew I could not. The things that happened that day still seem to be the stuff of a very bad dream. Before that day, I doubt I would have approved of 'random' arrests of Arab men. I might even have believed they were being persecuted unfairly. But that's 20/20 hindsight for you...
#10
They missed alot. Courage is in not circling the wagons or defending budget over `effectiveness' incorrecly identified.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 22:36 Comments ||
Top||
#11
"My understanding of the world changed forever that week, and I was MAD. I wanted to go back to my happy safe place, but knew I could not..."
9/11 didn't change my understanding one iota: it was just one more attack in a long, low-level war Islam has been waging against America for years. My own awareness of this struggle began with the Palestinian airplane hijackings of the 1960s, and my awareness that it was in fact a full-fledged war-- a no-bullshit fight to the finish-- was solidified in November, 1979.
My first thought on learning of the atrocities on 9/11 was "Well, I wonder if we're going to start paying attention now and realize that those homicidal maniacs who've been yelling 'DEATH TO AMERICA!!!' really mean it."
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/11/2005 22:55 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I try to insure that the guy becomes a laughingstock each time he opens his mouth concerning 9-11. I have some unfortunate experience with firefighting and don't think I shall ever recover from watching on television brave men run into that building knowing that it would probably come down. I'm sure that they knew as well. I don't appreciate when my pet kook makes a travesty of their sacrifice with ravings of blue beams and missiles.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 23:14 Comments ||
Top||
The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security plans to investigate allegations that senior Border Patrol managers, including the current head of the organization, looked the other way when a Border Patrol kickback scheme surfaced in Arizona several years ago.
The investigation is the latest development in a case involving whistle-blowers' charges that David Aguilar, the head of the Border Patrol in Washington, and other managers knew of the kickback scheme but did nothing to stop it. Aguilar, who directs the enforcement efforts of 11,000 agents nationwide, has strongly denied the charges.
Robert Bonner, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, requested the inspector general's review in a June 3 memo he sent to Richard Skinner, the acting DHS inspector general. Bonner also rejected charges that his agency, which includes the Border Patrol, had failed to conduct a thorough investigation of the kickback scheme. In a phone conversation with Skinner on June 3, Bonner expressed the "utmost confidence" in Aguilar, according to Kristi Clemens, a Bonner aide. The investigation, says Skinner's spokesperson, Tamara Faulkner, will be conducted "as quickly and thoroughly as possible."
The case involves charges by two former Border Patrol agents, Larry Davenport and Willie Forester. In February 2001, the two men complained to the Justice Department about a kickback scheme involving agents temporarily assigned to the Douglas, Ariz., station. In a subsequent report, the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General confirmed their allegations. Its report said that some agents had accepted cash kickbacks from supervisors who rented rooms to them, or had taken cash and other inducements from hotels and apartments that sought their business. The agents had been detailed to Douglas as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration.
New Mexico now has its own chapter of volunteers who plan to patrol the state's border with Mexico as part of the Minuteman Project. The group announced in a news release Wednesday that Clifford Alford of Organ will serve as the chapter's leader.
The group drew international attention in April when volunteers showed up in Arizona to prove the border could be secured simply by putting more personnel there. Organizers say the group alerted the U.S. Border Patrol to suspicious behavior and helped catch 335 immigrants. New Mexico is the last of four states along the border to organize a Minuteman chapter. No dates for patrols have been set, said James Chase, who helped organize patrols in Arizona and founded what he calls the U.S. Border Patrol Auxiliary.
Critics, including U.S. Border Patrol officials, have said the Minutemen are little more than a nuisance and distraction that attracted attention from the media and from civil rights groups watching for possible rights violations.
The announcement of a New Mexico chapter has created unease among some Las Cruces residents. Chase emphasized that the organization isn't a militia and that racism and violence by any member will not be tolerated. "We're just a neighborhood watch that's on the border," he said.
Good analogy and one that they ought to push. Everyone understands a Neighborhood Watch program. We have one on my block.
Although the organization considers itself an auxiliary of the Border Patrol, agency spokesman Doug Mosier said there's no official connection between the two. "We have said all along that we appreciate the efforts of local citizens in reporting suspicious activities, but securing our borders is a tough job and should be the responsibility of highly trained law enforcement personnel, like the U.S. Border Patrol," he said.
You won't mind if the Neighborhood Watch calls a few things in for you, with video, right?
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said he opposes the formation of a Minuteman chapter in New Mexico. "What we need are an adequate number of highly trained Border Patrol agents securing the border, not untrained volunteers," Bingaman said.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said he isn't sure about the benefits of having the Minutemen on New Mexico's border. "I don't know that a Minutemen organization is the best solution to the rampant illegal immigration problems on our border, but I can clearly understand the mounting frustration in the region," Domenici said.
The senators and Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., sent a letter Wednesday to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner asking that security be increased along New Mexico's border. The letter said New Mexicans have growing concerns about their safety and the security of their property.
I'd be more impressed if the Congresscritter and two Senators put in an authorization bill.
#1
Not a single border Governor has suggested putting some of his State's National Guard on the border. It might even be directly paid for by the federal government, if it is called "training". And the actual numbers of NG wouldn't be terribly much, maybe just a Company out for a two-week rotation, spread thin in the highest density migration corridor. Just give them a few weapons, and issue rations, water and hand-held radios. It would give them a chance to brush up on their radio communications' skills.
#2
At the rate at which Congress is addressing the illegal tide, we will be drowning before long.
We need new ideas to force them into action.
Otherwise it may take something as grotesque as a WMD attack to dislodge the Snot-Ball-Congressâ¢.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/11/2005 12:58 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Youre right, both parties seem to be dragging their feet on this. Despite a seemingly overwhelming majority of people who want it handled, and now. There seems to be a mad dash for our border in the last few years. I still think we need a wall like Israel is building.
#4
There may be a point to the "wall" idea. Since much of the trespassed land is private property, all that would be needed would be owners' permission to erect a difficult to breach wall. It could be a combination of things, a deep trench, maybe filled with sharp cactus, with a wall on the other side. The idea would not be to make it impassable, but to make it so difficult for people on foot as to not be worth the effort. Remember that every square inch of corridor denied to them channels them into smaller and smaller corridors, making them easier to stop. Much of the border is impassable, with no towns on either side in walking distance. Bottom line: All you really need is some earth-moving equipment to dig trenches with.
#5
Didn't one of the latest bills authorize just that? (A wall, that is.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/11/2005 14:57 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Sa Diego section - triple steel fence and teh action overrode Ca Coastal commission prohibition against filling in Smuggler's Cyn and Goat Cyn to make a smoother/more enforceable swath....imagine that, the lefties used the enviro laws to deter border enforcement, and the Patriot Act reigned supreme
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 16:07 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The problem with the current wall ideas are that they are temporaries. If there is just a wall, then once it is breached, it is easy to pass. But a trench filled with blue agave, cholla, and other such cactus is a self-replenishing border impediment. In other circumstances, the US military is even considering a type of nasty tall hedge, that does not burn easily, and is covered in inch-long thorns, instead of fences for some installations. But I doubt such a hedge would grow in the Sonora. Anyway, you put such plants in a deep trench *before* the fence and you create a multiple obstacle. Even if you get through the cactus, you face a high wall of earth with a fence on top of it. Since it doesn't rain very much, it would be years before the trench starts to collapse, even more if you spray the walls with inexpensive, water resistant glue. But the idea is just to make it psychologically difficult, not impassable. You cannot stop *all* the illegal, but you can cut down their numbers to sane levels.
#8
Isn't tumbleweed native to that part of the world? I was under the impression that the reason cowboys wear leather chaps is to protect against its thorns.
#9
Tumbleweed is, interestly enough, Russian Thistle
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 18:03 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Tumbleweed is just voluminous, it is not much of an impediment at all. (N.B.: it has one of the fastest water-to-cellulose conversions in the plant kingdom.) However cholla, "jumping cactus" is an evil monster. With no known practical purpose, its easily-detached balls are covered with extremely sharp, barbed hooks. And no matter what you do to cholla, you make *more* cholla: burning, shotgunning, run it over with your car a bunch, and all you get is MORE cholla. I also highly recommend blue agave, as its long, thick leaves have thick, straight 1-3" long thorns on the end and large, sawtooth thorns on the side that can cut through denim. Ocotillo cactus has tubes covered with long thorns and is even used as fencing, when the tubes are wired together; often the detached tubes will re-root in the soil, giving you an 8' tall fence of cactus.
#11
cholla, "jumping cactus" is an evil monster. With no known practical purpose, its easily-detached balls are covered with extremely sharp, barbed hooks. And no matter what you do to cholla, you make *more* cholla: burning, shotgunning, run it over with your car a bunch, and all you get is MORE cholla. I also highly recommend blue agave, as its long, thick leaves have thick, straight 1-3" long thorns on the end and large, sawtooth thorns on the side that can cut through denim. Ocotillo cactus has tubes covered with long thorns and is even used as fencing, when the tubes are wired together; often the detached tubes will re-root in the soil, giving you an 8' tall fence of cactus.
#13
jumping cholla is nasty shit, and grows all the way to the SD coast....that and others is why cowboys wore chaps...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 19:21 Comments ||
Top||
#14
I am not unique here for really, really detesting cholla (pronounced "choy-a"). As a kid I wondered why boys with buzz haircuts carried combs--to discover that combs are a great tool for getting cholla balls off of you. A friend had to have his kneecap surged because he got some thorns under it, which inspired me to make my own chaps--very thick leather and cammo print--stylish. From experience, I have learned that cholla thorns go right through denim and the canvas of jungle boots, and can even penetrate the tongue of jump boots--to get you between the laces. When dead, the balls break into little pieces and act as tiny caltrops that nail you if you sit or lie down on them. Last but not least, when you pull out the thorns, the tip breaks off inside and stays there until it "pimples" out. Not even the Indians ever came up with something practical to do with the damn things. They make a formidable barrier, especially when intersperced with 'bayonet'-style cactus.
#15
LOL - Moose - you've been there...let me not share a nasty Ocotillo ATV wipe out... damn...bed of thorns would've been a pleasure
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/11/2005 21:31 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Not a single border Governor has suggested putting some of his State's National Guard on the border.
Texas did have US troops monitoring the border in the mid-90s for drug-running. They were withdrawn after a Mexican herder was killed (he was plinking with a .22 and put several rounds near a camo'd observation position).
Two of the states have Democrat governors (AZ- Janet Napolitano, NM - Bill Richardson). CA is governed by a Republican, but the rest of the State government is run by Democrats. They won't dare upset the 'Hispanic bloc'
Texas simply has a different cultural attitude about illegal immigration.
#17
It sounds like we have the beginnings of our Southern Border fence, then.
I think the best way to start would be for the Minutemen to assist private landowners in digging trenches and planting cholla, blue agave and ocotillo cactus therein. Announce it as a plan to increase the native flora in an attempt to increase the biodiversity of the area, and the Greens should cheer mightily, and might even be induced to help (perhaps a grant from the Sierra Club or Audobon Society for the plant materials, or offer the opportunity for their members to do the annual birdcount near the new plantings, to see how much difference it makes -- woo hoo! lots of people with binoculars, and nothing worse than a bunch of Sierra Clubbers angry at the ignorant tramping through their wilderness. Add some milkweed for the migrating Monarch butterflies, and the illegals will be taking their lives in their hands.) And certainly the Border Patrol and Vincente Fox can't complain if private individuals choose to plant cactus gardens on their own property.
#18
Another Zonie here. Agreed, that Jumping Cholla is almost Islamic in its evilness. I know someone who planted some below ever window to deter burglars. And it really does "jump," too. When a segment breaks off and dries up, it become very light, while all the spines give it a huge surface area. The draft from your legs walking past will cause it to take off and smack you in the calf. And it's a real pain to get out of a Samoyed's coat.
The only problem is that is spreads. While not as kudzu-like as Prickly Pear, it's of the same genus (Opuntia) and seems to be able to grow and reproduce no matter what you do. It would probably grow in motor oil...
Octotillo isn't really a cactus, BTW. It's more like a desert rose bush or something. It's not a succulant and has real leaves (right after a rain, then they fall off again). People do cut the stems, then wire them up, then replant them, as a "living fence." You can buy living fence in the nurseries. But it requires good drainage. Depressions or heavy clay soil drown it out. I don't know what the border dirt is like.
Prickly Pear is somewhat down on the nastiness scale, but some species have little fine hairs that break off and cause no end of unpleasantness when brushed against. I use gloves that are going to be thrown away when dealing with these kinds of cacti, since they get infested with spines and hairs and are useless.
The Bush administration ended its opposition yesterday to Mohamed ElBaradei serving a third term as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which will allow the Egyptian lawyer to be reelected next week.
The decision ended a solitary U.S. campaign against ElBaradei, who has widespread international support despite the correct belief of Bush administration officials firmly supported by all available evidence that he has been too soft on Iran over suspicions it is pursuing a nuclear bomb.
We also suspect him of being an incompetent boob, of being in the pay of Muslim governments looking to build the Bomb, and of being an all round hack, but what the hey.
"We expect, when the vote comes up . . . that we will join the consensus," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met ElBaradei in Washington. ElBaradei is now likely to be unanimously approved by the 35 member-nations at an IAEA board meeting that starts Monday.
U.S. officials acknowledged Washington reversed its position because it had been unable to erode support for ElBaradei, who had also clashed with the United States because he did not agree with its assertions over Iraq's programs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2005 01:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No big deal. He and his agency do F**k All anyway and even if you had a Bolteneque type there it would still be a neutered bureacracy in Vienna with great views of the Danube.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/11/2005 10:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Make sure their seat has leather straps for the arms and legs.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hmmm, let's see. How 'bout...."no".
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/11/2005 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#6
âNobody can ignore the Islamic world that represents one fifth of global population and a country must represent the Islamic world in the Security Council,â OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.
Add: Ummah.
Remove: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the PA "observer," Oman, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, UAE, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Malaysia, Libya, and state that bases its law on Sharia (like France, soon).
CHERBOURG (France), June 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will take delivery of its two Scorpene submarines in 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said here... one of the submarines was expected to arrive in the country in the middle of that year and the other at the end.
Najib, who is also Defence Minister, said the construction of the two submarines was proceeding according to schedule, with 35 per cent of work completed. He spoke to Malaysian journalists after a visit to the construction site at the DCN dock here, about 300 km from Paris, yesterday.
The two submarines are being built jointly by DCN International, the French shipbuilder, and Izar, the Spanish shipbuilder.
#2
The temptation to play off the old joke about "why do they call a camel the ship of the desert?" is almost irresistable, but rather than make puns about muslim seamen, I'll try to be serious and ask what the hell does Malaysia need a submarine for?
#4
I hear they are the only subs that can run on palm oil and when at surface the conning tower doubles as a mineret.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/11/2005 10:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Malaysia not Mali.
Right. Predominately muslim nation consisting of a couple peninsulas between Indonesia and Thailand. I could see them buying maritime patrol aircraft or more traditional well-armed cutters/frigates for dealing with pirates, but subs?
#6
Just wait, jihadis. Those subs will be AQ subs some day. Right there in the Straits. The stinkin frogs would sell to the devil if they could get the contracts.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/11/2005 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I think the sub purchases are intended as a warning to the neighborhood powers who seem to be engaged in a naval build-up. A diesel sub purchase decreases the likelihood of a carrier encroachment. Patrol boats would be more practical to combat piracy .... unless you intend to have the pirates disappear.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 14:28 Comments ||
Top||
#8
SteveS :)
I just figure any nation sitting on the most important shipping choke point in the Pacific might want 2 or 3 different ways to to exert control.
The Sri Lankan government's main ally vowed on Friday to quit the ruling coalition unless President Chandrika Kumaratunga ditches plans to share tsunami aid with Tamil Tiger rebels, giving her five days to comply.
The support of the Marxist Peoples Liberation Front (JVP), which has 39 seats in the 225-member Sri Lankan legislature, is essential for the survival of Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance government, which has been in office for only one year. "She has time until midnight on June 15 to do away with the pact and if she fails to do it, we will withdraw from the government on the 16th," Somawansa Amarasinghe, the JVP leader, told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Makes you feel good about forking over cash, doesn't it?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:56 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They didn't get me. Even though Compassion Fatigue is curable, I choose to live with it...
The US Treasury Department announced it was freezing the assets of a Damascus-based company and of two senior Syrian officials, accused of providing military equipment to the regime of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Using falsified documents, SES International Corp provided the Iraqi regime with military goods in contravention of UN sanctions, the Department said in a statement. The company, owned by General Zuhayr Shalish and managed by Asif Shalish, posed as the final recipient of the military equipment, but in reality transshipped it to Iraq as the final destination, the Department said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2005 01:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Power it down, Achmed, the plutonium is here!"
"Right, boss! How shall I keep these fools entertained?"
"Aw, sh*t, I dunno. Sell 'em some more rope."
Posted by: ST ||
06/11/2005 0:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
So the deal to freeze was in November. ANd how many times have they promised to freeze/unfreeze/cool down/heat up the programme? The IAEA, you say? I feel better already!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/11/2005 8:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It's hard to freeze plutonium generation. I think that the radioactivity works the process. Maybe the Iranians just need to research more Carnot.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
They are diplomats. How would they know the difference?
Syrian intelligence agents remain in Lebanon despite assurances they have left and more political murders can be expected, a key opposition figure has said in a claim echoed by a senior US official quoted in The New York Times. "I believe the entire opposition is being targeted," said Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in a television interview late Thursday night, repeating an accusation he has often made since the murder in February of former premier Rafiq Hariri. "The assassinations will continue with or without the knowledge of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Maybe the Columbians will lend some of Los Pepes.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:22 Comments ||
Top||
Syria's ruling Baath party has re-elected President Bashar al-Assad as its secretary general and recommended revising a 42-year-old state of emergency, a minister announced. The Baath party, in power since 1963, on Thursday adopted "the principle of a social market economy" and decided to reform the public sector while supporting the private sector, state television said.
Ummm... Yeah. That'll work, I'm sure...
It said the congress, the first for five years, pledged to press ahead with the country's "economic, social and administrative reforms". Baath delegates also elected a new national leadership including many new faces close to the president while veteran figures got the boot made their exit. The party congress, which ended Thursday, adopted a recommendation to "revise the emergency law and limit its application to crimes that threaten state security," Bussaina Shaaban, Syria's emigrants' minister, told a news conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
US President George W. Bush gave Syria a fresh warning yesterday, calling on Damascus to pull its intelligence services out of Lebanon.
"Now, lookee here, bub!"
Bush said he was "disturbed" by reports of Syrian intelligence personnel in Lebanon.
"Yeah. I'm very disturbed. Who'da ever thunkit?"
"Cheeze, Mr. President, you crack me up!"
"Our message to Syria — and it's not just the message of the United States; the United Nations has said the same thing — is that in order for Lebanon to be free," Syria needs to "not only remove their military, but to remove intelligence officers as well."
Among civilized countries, intelligence officers usually collect intelligence. The guys they're talking about here aren't from civilized countries; they're more along the lines of secret police. It's kind of insulting to term them "intelligence officers."
Earlier, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House was "deeply concerned about Syria's interference and intimidation inside Lebanon. "Syria needs to comply fully with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559. That means getting all their intelligence operatives out of Lebanon," he added. "We are concerned that those intelligence operatives are interfering in Lebanon's internal affairs. We have all called on the United Nations to send the verification teams back to Lebanon," McClellan said, noting that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "looking at this course of action."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The prop guy must've put in some serious overtime on that hat...
KARACHI: A senior moderate separatist leader from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Friday called on militants fighting India's rule in the Indian-held Kashmir to join the political mainstream. "Now the time has come when political and militant wings sit together and formulate a strategy for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute," Mirwaiz Omar Farooq told foreign journalists in Karachi. He pointed to the example of Northern Ireland, where militants had backed a political solution to end decades of Protestant-Catholic violence in the British-ruled province.
"... and look how well that's been working!"
"At this juncture, political leadership should play a leading role with the support and consensus of militant leadership in finding a just solution to the Kashmir problem," Farooq said.
This article starring:
MIRWAIZ OMAR FARUQ
All Parties Hurriyat Conference
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
KARACHI: Police detained 50 Islamic hardliners on Friday who were protesting against the alleged desecration of the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, said police and witnesses. Riot police here moved in to break up over 250 protestors linked to the MMA. "We have detained some 50 people for violating a government ban on rallies," said police officer Mohammad Zahid. However, MMA leader Marajul Huda said that police had beaten up "peaceful" protestors and arrested three MMA legislators.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
LAHORE: A labourer was killed and two others were injured in an explosion at a junkyard in Misri Shah, Geo reported on Friday. The TV channel said the labourers were unloading scrap from a truck when the blast occurred, instantly killing Shrafat and critically injuring Shahzad and Shahbaz. Police sources told Geo that there might have been an explosive shell or grenade in the scrap that went off. Junkyard owner Mian Kabir said he had bought the scrap from Quetta.
"Damn, Mahmoud! This artillery shell's all dented and dirty!"
"Well, just throw it out. We'll get you a new one!"
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
LAHORE: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) protested on Friday to condemn killings of its leaders Aslam Mujahid, Tahir Jamal and Farhan in Karachi and the sacrilege of the Quran in the US and Israeli jails. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed led the main protest in front of the Islamabad Parliament House.
Who else? When it comes to public indignation over something or other, who you gonna get but Qazi? "Indignation for all occasions, only a dollar!"
Addressing the protest rallies, demonstrations and sit-in at Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, and Islamabad, the MMA leaders said that Karachi killings were a part of a conspiracy to target Islamic movements' leaders. In Lahore, Ameerul Azim, Dr Rana Mehmoud and Sheikh Mohammad Amin led a peaceful demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club after the Friday congregation. Protesters, carrying banners and placards with slogans, condemned the killing of the MMA leaders, shouted anti-government slogans and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
They look so... ummm... Islamic, jumping up and down, hollering, rolling their eyes, and vowing dire revenge on whomever...
According to a Jammat-e-Islami (JI) spokesman, more than 50 workers, MPAs and MNAs of the MMA were baton-charged and arrested by the police to stop them from entering the Sindh Assembly, where a budget session was in progress. Syed Munawwar Hassan, MMA secretary general, while delivering a Friday sermon at the Jamia Mansoorah said that despite the provocative action against the MMA leaders, the party's workers would not take up arms to crush violence with violence.
This article starring:
AMIRUL AZIM
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
ASLAM MUJAHID
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
FARHAN
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
RANA MEHMUD
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
SHEIKH MOHAMAD AMIN
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
SYED MUNAWWAR HASAN
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
TAHIR JAMAL
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Jamia Mansoorah
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The mufti of Jerusalem added his voice yesterday to allegations that copies of the Qur'an had been abused in an Israeli prison as hundreds of Palestinians staged protests in the occupied territories. "The occupation authorities have followed the American example in profaning the holy Qur'an," Sheikh Ekremah Sabri told worshippers attending the weekly prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque. "The media have reported the abuse committed by the jailers and the police who tore up copies of the Qur'an in front of the heroic detainees at Meggido prison to provoke and humiliate them, and we have corroborated this information," he added.
All this while the Israelis have been jugging Paleostinians, and they've never thought to desecrate any Korans until now. Must be coincidence that it happens when that's the atrocity du jour...
Palestinian detainees at Meggido in northern Israel accused the authorities earlier this week of deliberately ripping out pages of the Qur'an during a search of their cells, claims which have been rigorously denied by the Israeli prison service.
This article starring:
SHEIKH EKREMAH SABRI
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Can't they drum up some abuse of prayer mat charges to break the monotony?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/11/2005 11:53 Comments ||
Top||
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.
A court in the city of Vladimir found a Syrian student guilty of promoting Islamic extremism in Russia and ordered him to pay a fine of 10,000 rubles ($355), Itar-Tass reported Friday. After returning from his homeland in March 2004 Abdolkhalek Samir Mejed, who studies at Vladimir University, brought a disk with a recording in Arabic dedicated to rebel military activities in Chechnya and containing calls for extremist actions in Russia, the Prosecutor's Office told Itar-Tass. He passed the film on to his fellow students, nationals of Syria, Sudan and Morocco.
Terrorism is a crime to be pursued through international cooperation rather than a movement to be targeted in a war waged by individual nations, a veteran Spanish anti-terrorist investigator said on Thursday in an apparent slap at the United States. "Terrorism is a crime, it's not a movement ... In a war, we have to defend ourselves, and this is today distorting the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism," said 
One of the Muslim world's most influentual figures in Europe called Friday for the unconditional release of a French journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad five months ago, as well as a prompt withdrawal of US and other foreign military forces in Iraq. 
The Sri Lankan government's main ally vowed on Friday to quit the ruling coalition unless President 
The US Treasury Department announced it was freezing the assets of a Damascus-based company and of two senior Syrian officials, accused of providing military equipment to the regime of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Using falsified documents, 
Syrian intelligence agents remain in Lebanon despite assurances they have left and more political murders can be expected, a key opposition figure has said in a claim echoed by a senior US official quoted in The New York Times. "I believe the entire opposition is being targeted," said Druze leader 
Syria's ruling Baath party has re-elected President 
US President George W. Bush gave Syria a fresh warning yesterday, calling on Damascus to pull its intelligence services out of Lebanon.
KARACHI: Police detained 50 Islamic hardliners on Friday who were protesting against the alleged desecration of the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, said police and witnesses. Riot police here moved in to break up over 250 protestors linked to the MMA. "We have detained some 50 people for violating a government ban on rallies," said police officer Mohammad Zahid. However, MMA leader 
LAHORE: A labourer was killed and two others were injured in an explosion at a junkyard in Misri Shah, Geo reported on Friday. The TV channel said the labourers were unloading scrap from a truck when the blast occurred, instantly killing Shrafat and critically injuring Shahzad and Shahbaz. Police sources told Geo that there might have been an explosive shell or grenade in the scrap that went off. Junkyard owner Mian Kabir said he had bought the scrap from Quetta.
LAHORE: 
The mufti of Jerusalem added his voice yesterday to allegations that copies of the Qur'an had been abused in an Israeli prison as hundreds of Palestinians staged protests in the occupied territories. "The occupation authorities have followed the American example in profaning the holy Qur'an," 
