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Israeli aircraft strike suspected rockets factory
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Strange Situation Reported At Nuclear Plant
Two workers looking for tools set off a security situation at a Beaver County nuclear power plant that drew a response from police and federal investigators, WTAE Channel 4's Paul Van Osdol reported.

State police said the men drove up to the Beaver Valley Power Station in a tractor-trailer on Tuesday night to pick up two large containers of tools for a contractor for whom they worked.

Security guards stopped the men for a routine inspection, but they drove away, police said. The guards became suspicious and called police, who pulled the truck over about a mile from the plant.

A state trooper got a warrant to search the vehicle and found a duffel bag, which he said contained $504,230 in mostly small bills.

The driver denied knowing anything about the money or who gave it to him, so the trooper seized it, police said.

A spokesman for the FBI confirmed that the Joint Terrorism Task Force responded to the situation in conjunction with state police, but he said they don't think terrorism is involved. He would not give any other details.

The men, who are from Houston, said they picked up the bag in Chicago and had no knowledge of its contents, according to police.

Investigators think the cash may have a drug connection. A police dog picked up the scent of drugs in the sleeper cab of the truck where the bag was found, police said.

Both men were detained and later released. No charges have been filed.
Posted by: lotp || 04/19/2006 16:27 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A high precentage of suicide jihads use drugs. Look at the photos of shooting equipment the Marines came across in Fallujha. More like junkie jihad.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/19/2006 21:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Released without the money I am sure heheheh.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/19/2006 22:30 Comments || Top||


Max Headroom creator made Roswell alien
THE creator of Max Headroom, a 1980s television cyber-presenter, has claimed he was one of the hoaxers behind the Roswell film, the grainy black and white footage supposedly showing a dead alien being dissected by American government scientists after a UFO crash. Alien Autopsy, a movie about the footage, is currently on release across Britain. It stars real-life television presenters Ant and Dec. John Humphreys, a sculptor and consultant on Alien Autopsy who has also worked on special effects for Doctor Who, said it was he who made the models for the alien dissected in the original fake footage.

His confession, 11 years after the Roswell footage was first shown, will raise questions about the role of Channel 4, which unleashed Max Headroom on the world in the 1980s and bought the UK rights to screen the Roswell footage in Britain. The footage was first exposed as a fake by The Sunday Times, but an estimated billion people still watched it around the world. Rather than being shot in 1947 near Roswell in the New Mexico desert as previously claimed, the film was actually made at a flat in Camden, north London, in 1995.

Philip Mantle, a UFO researcher and author who has been investigating the Roswell hoax for 10 years, said Humphreys had been a prime suspect but had never before admitted involvement. Mantle, who next month will deliver a lecture at Glasgow University on the Roswell story, said: “I didn’t think it would take so long, but I am delighted this hoax has finally been exposed and the mystery has been solved.” Humphreys, who is based in Manchester, says he also appeared in the Roswell film as the chief surgeon. The bug-eyed alien models were filled with sheep brains, chicken entrails and knuckle joints bought from Smithfield meat market. After filming, the dummies were cut up and dumped in bins across London.

For a few short weeks the world held its breath after the 91-minute silent film was unveiled by Ray Santilli, a London-based video distributor. He claimed to have bought the footage, shot on 14 reels, from a retired American military cameramen. Humphreys said the Roswell film was shot by himself, Santilli and three others. He said he spent four weeks fashioning the models from latex using clay sculptures.

Humphreys, a graduate of the Royal Academy who has also created special effects for the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp, says he only told his wife about the hoax when he was hired to work on Alien Autopsy. “It was a very, very strange feeling to know that I had played a key part in it,” he said.

Santilli, who is played by Declan Donnelly in Alien Autopsy, insists he was trying to “re-create” a real Roswell incident. He claims he bought genuine footage that was badly damaged when it was exposed to the air after 48 years in a can. “John was given very precise images to work with and what he did was sheer genius,” he said.
Another "Fake, but Accurate" production
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 04/19/2006 05:11 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good post A5089.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/19/2006 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Max Headroom. I was just thinking about him the other day. I have no idea why...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/19/2006 13:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I watched a few episodes, I thought it was cutting edge trash.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/19/2006 20:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mauritania: Ousted leader may return
Mauritania's military head of state has opened the door for Maaouiya Ould Taya, the deposed former president in exile in Qatar, to return home but not to take part in forthcoming elections. Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall said on Al-Arabiya on Tuesday that his predecessor had "the right to live in his country as a free citizen and to benefit from the advantages which the law grants to former heads of state".

Taya was ousted from power in a bloodless coup in August 2005 by the now ruling Military Council for Justice and Democracy (CMJD) while he was visiting Saudi Arabia. He now lives in Qatar.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Trouble in Paradise Uzulwini Valley
EZULWINI VALLEY, Swaziland - King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa's last ruling royal, drives between his various palaces in a $500,000 Maybach 62 luxury sedan complete with DVD player, refrigerator and bar. His 13 wives and fiancees have luxury homes and cars of their own, and his 33 children go to the best schools and enjoy top private medical care and vacations abroad. Outside the royal compound, however, life isn't quite as good for the subjects.

Two-thirds of Swazis live below the United Nations poverty line, and 20 percent receive international food aid. Forty percent are unemployed, and the elderly struggle to survive on welfare checks of $13 a month. One in three adults carries the virus that causes AIDS - the highest infection rate in the world - and the sick spend their days waiting fruitlessly for help in long lines snaking out of the country's overwhelmed public clinics.

This sleepy mountain kingdom is famous for revering tradition. But these days, hard times are chipping away at support for the royals and their opulent lifestyle and leading to increasingly strident demands for greater democracy and accountability.
Balance at the link.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 08:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seens a self-curing problem, I remember hearing that no AIDS patient lived longer than 8 years (May be different now, but not in a backwards Nation)

So wait 4 years and the financial base will be cut in third, another 4 years and the infected now will all be dead.

No nation can stand a reduction of 1/3 to 1/2 of it's population without collapse, plus the third now infected will surely infect another third or so.

They're doomed, stay away if you want to live.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/19/2006 21:04 Comments || Top||


Bad Bob warns opposition
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe used his Independence Day speech to promise tough action against his opponents. He also reiterated plans for greater state control over the mining industry.
Since state control of the farming industry's worked out so well...
... it's about the only thing left that generates foreign currency, and well, you know Bob and foreign currency ...
Of course! do you have any idea how expensive those medals and ribbons are???
Zimbabwe on Tuesday marked 26 years since independence from Britain, amid a deepening economic crisis with inflation at 900% per annum.
They are coming right along now aren't they. So good to see the nasty ole crown gone.
Mr Mugabe called on Zimbabweans to stand together and blamed the current problems on a persistent droughts and "evil" sanctions by Western nations. In an apparent death threat warning to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has called for mass action against the government, Mr Mugabe said those who plotted against him were playing with fire.
(flaming tire around the neck possibly?)
Bob has already given Mr. Tsvangirai a taste of what lies ahead ...
"Anyone... who dares lead any group of persons to embark on a campaign of violence or terrorist or democratic activities will be inviting the full wrath of the law to descend mercilessly on him or on those who follow him," he said.

Mr Mugabe said the government would press ahead with plans to extend greater state control over the mining industry. "Non-renewable resources are ours in the first place, Mugabe said. "You, the investor, will get a reward, yes, but that reward will be balanced by what we keep for ourselves."
"One for me, none for you. Two for me, none for you. Three for me ..."
In South Africa, a few dozen of the many thousand Zimbabwean exiles who live in the country demonstrated near the African parliament, in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, calling on Mr Mugabe to resign so they could return home.
Zimbabeweans in exile might as well forget it.
Might as well come to America ...
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any farmers come back to rent their own land?
Didn't think so.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/19/2006 8:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Independence Day you say?
Posted by: Captain America || 04/19/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#3  He can blame the drought on GOD... but for the rest, send in the goats, and Locusts.
Posted by: newc || 04/19/2006 15:25 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Oklahoma City Bombing: 11 Years Ago Today
And Waco was 13 years ago today.
Posted by: Spetle Angalet9916 || 04/19/2006 11:51 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


A crime wave from outstanding potential citizen U.S. deportees
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 10:01 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Evil Americans are at it again. Obviously these young men should not have been deported to such impovrished nations without the means to fight them. Plus, they need to rob ten times more victims there to maintain their standard of living. They should have been left in America which can afford them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/19/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, reading the article (and based on what I've read elsewhere of the police elsewhere not being as advanced) I have to say that that second sentence of yours seems right, Glenmore, without sarcasm.
Posted by: Edward Yee || 04/19/2006 12:22 Comments || Top||

#3  The International Herald Tribune* is behind the times on this. Why, even National Public Radio reported months ago on those poor gangster lads languishing back home after being deported from the US for being just too horrid for words. My goodness, the majority don't even speak Spanish, y'know, and the poor dears haven't a clue where to get a decent hamburger... They had to form the MS-13(or whatever the number is) because they're so homesick for the barrios of Los Angeles!



* a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Times
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2006 14:48 Comments || Top||

#4  By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan The Boston Globe

Well, sorry, honey, but it's their garbage. Let them take it out.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/19/2006 14:48 Comments || Top||


Chavez says US warships threaten Venezuela, Cuba
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez, who accuses Washington of planning to invade Venezuela, said on Tuesday recent deployment of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea threatened his country and its ally Cuba. Four U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier, and 6,500 sailors, are in a two-month deployment in the Caribbean Sea dubbed "Partnership of the Americas" by the U.S. Navy.

"They are doing maneuvers right here," Chavez told a student meeting in the country's west. "This is a threat, not just against us, against Venezuela, against Cuba."
Why, he noticed!
Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to oust him. U.S. officials say the self-styled socialist revolutionary and friend of Cuban President Fidel Castro threatens regional stability.

Chavez, who has created a civilian reserve to resist the assault he says Washington is planning, has threatened to repel U.S. forces with arrows coated with poison.
Yeah, that'll work. Try it yourself, big boy.
The United States, a leading buyer of oil from Venezuela, the world's No. 5 exporter, has dismissed his invasion talk as a ridiculous invention aimed at stirring up his supporters. At least one warship has come as close to Venezuela as the Dutch island of Aruba, about 15 miles off its coast.

The Florida-based U.S. Southern Command has said the operations, which include visits to countries including Venezuela's neighboring U.S. ally Colombia, focus on threats such as "narco-terrorism and human-trafficking."
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somone needs to put a .338 Lapua into that asshat.
Posted by: Oldspook || 04/19/2006 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Unless something l'serieuse occurs, Chavez = Castro, etc. will likely be left to Dubya's successor. Iran, NK, andor Taiwan - methinks Dubya will do his Texas Tex-Mex Staci Crawford-from-Penn State best to either resolve these, or make it easy for his POTUS successor to resolve them.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2006 1:34 Comments || Top||

#3  He looks like Rerun from that old TV show "What's Happening".
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/19/2006 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is going to be really, really angry when he sees that pic.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 8:56 Comments || Top||

#5  So is Hugo fighting crime on the subways or delivering for Pizza Hut?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/19/2006 9:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Speak softly, but carry a big fleet.

You might want to ask Muamar about the advisability of screwing with a carrier battle group, Hugo...
Posted by: mojo || 04/19/2006 10:43 Comments || Top||

#7  When I saw that pic I thought he was dropping rhymes, and giving mad propz to all his homies, and street cred to his babies mammies and ups to his peeps, and.... NICE OUTFIT LOSER!
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/19/2006 11:14 Comments || Top||

#8  Yo Yo Yo Y'all! In the house!
I'm the lead-ah
Of Argentin-ah
Take out my ween-ah
At the cantin-ah
Word out my nizzles. Peace out.
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/19/2006 11:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Chavez . . . has threatened to repel U.S. forces with arrows coated with poison.

They're real effective against CVNs, I hear.
Posted by: Mike || 04/19/2006 12:48 Comments || Top||

#10  "US warships threaten Venezuela, Cuba"

I would certainly hope so.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2006 14:02 Comments || Top||

#11  When the US battle group sails into the harbor in Trinidad, they will be within clear sight of the Venezuelan coast.

Posted by: john || 04/19/2006 19:48 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Hu makes first US visit as president
The Chinese president has arrived in the United States bearing business deals and words intended to allay fears about Beijing's ambitions. The highlight of Hu Jintao's four-day trip will be a summit on Thursday with George Bush, the US president.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK, let's just get this over with: "Hu's on first."
Posted by: xbalanke || 04/19/2006 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess Hu's coming to dinner?
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 1:23 Comments || Top||

#3  "Hu da man?"
Posted by: Steve || 04/19/2006 8:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Hu loves ya, baby?
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 8:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Hu?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/19/2006 8:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Hu's on second ?
Posted by: wxjames || 04/19/2006 9:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Hu are you?
Hu, Hu, Hu, Hu.
I really want to know.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 04/19/2006 12:48 Comments || Top||

#8  No, no. Hee's on second. Hu's on first.
Posted by: Fred || 04/19/2006 13:24 Comments || Top||

#9  NPR reported he's to have a pseudo-State dinner at Bill Gate's house with X-hundred of their closest friends. Apparently this will more impress the rest of the Chinese oligarchy than will the customary dinner at the White House.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2006 14:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Hus' the leader of China nowadays anyway?
Posted by: Mike N. || 04/19/2006 16:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Hu!Hu!Hu!
Let the running dogsout?
Posted by: Matt || 04/19/2006 22:54 Comments || Top||


Europe
French Navy Loses (multi-million-dollar sonar)
so what else is new?

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie confirmed a report in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, and said an investigation had been launched into how the three-million-euro (3.7-million-dollars) device was mislaid.

"An inquiry is underway to determine whether a technical or a human error is at the origin of this problem," she told reporters.

Le Canard Enchaine reported that the captain of the De Grasse frigate, decided against his lieutenants' advice to try out the 10-tonne sonar in rough seas, during an exercise in the southwestern Gulf of Gascony on March 24.

The top-of-the-range device -- one of the most sophisticated in the world, capable of detecting an enemy submarine at a distance of 150 kilometres (90 miles) -- was part of a 50-million-dollar underwater combat system.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/19/2006 13:22 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "French Navy Loses"

What, still again?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/19/2006 14:03 Comments || Top||

#2  I've always wanted a towed array for my brim boat.
I'll keep an eye open for it.
Posted by: 6 || 04/19/2006 14:21 Comments || Top||

#3  ;>
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 14:25 Comments || Top||

#4  You have a better chance of snagging it using tri-hooks and 40 lb. test line.
Posted by: ed || 04/19/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||

#5  The French have a navy?
Posted by: Infidel Bob || 04/19/2006 14:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Maintaining a tradition of 225 years.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/19/2006 14:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Is that when the bath tub was invented?
Posted by: Infidel Bob || 04/19/2006 14:50 Comments || Top||

#8  That's the Battle of the Chesapeake, key to the victory at Yorktown. I think before that you have to go back to LaRochelle in 1400+-.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/19/2006 16:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Battle of the Capes the United States can thank their lucky stars that the French Navy was in peak form, perhaps not seen before and not seen again until 1914 when they relieved the British from Med duty.
Posted by: 6 || 04/19/2006 17:32 Comments || Top||

#10  I also thank our lucky stars that the British admiral was a moron and the French admiral had some guts.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/19/2006 18:53 Comments || Top||

#11  Mislaid, as in forgotten laptops that show up in terrorists' hands? Iran would love to have this sophisticated sonar and cargo exchanges at sea are even recorded in ancient accounts of merchant traders.
Posted by: Danielle || 04/19/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||

#12  a Toad array you say? Well it is French after all.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/19/2006 22:33 Comments || Top||

#13  The Brit Admiral at Yorktown wasn't a moron, just outmatched in terms of guns and types of ships - his was a Supply/Logistics fleet, the French were a War/Battle/Blockade Fleet.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2006 23:20 Comments || Top||


Franco Farmin B. Hard without SEEDS!
Trebes, France 13th April 2006: Massive police presence as Greenpeace, Jose Bove from Faucheurs Volontaires and Confederation Paysanne occupied Monsanto's seed facility in Trebes, France. Over 75 activists have occupied the facility and are currently holding a citizens inspection in the search for genetically engineered (GE) maize seeds. They have demanded that Monsanto and the French authorities stop import and distribution of GE maize seed into France.

"We are here to demand that the French authorities ban GE seed and in the interim corporate conglomerate Monsanto must stop hiding where these environmentally destructive maize seeds are to be grown. Farmers and consumers have the right to know where GE seeds are entering agriculture and the food-chain, so they can protect themselves against genetic contamination." Said Jose Bove from Faucheurs Volontaires.

The 'GE free citizens inspection unit' consisting of over 100 conventional and organic farmers, members of the public and activists from across Europe were welcomed by over 50 policemen, including some with police dogs. But over 75 activists managed to occupy the facility affectively shutting it down. The protesters aim to stop distribution of GE maize seeds, and to influence the new GE law currently being discussed in the French parliament. The new law, if passed, would allow massive genetic contamination of both organic and conventional maize. (1)

"We are putting Monsanto on notice, along with each and every Biotech firm that is contaminating our fields and our food supply now - or has future plans to introduce GE seeds - this is the beginning, we will not stop until France is declared a GE free zone." Said Olivier Keller, national secretary of the Confederation Paysanne.

"GE is harming the environment and is causing genetic contamination of the food-chain and agriculture, thus threatening the right of farmers and consumers to grow and eat GE free food. Recently thousands have taken in to the streets in Vienna, France and other countries around the world to protest against these unjust practices. Governments must now listen to their people and 'cease and desist' on the importation and growing of GE seed." Said Geert Ritsema, Greenpeace International GE campaigner.
"Contamination of the food-chain" is a no no. Notice the lack of comment on GE grapes and spirits. Ironically they happily accept contamination of their entire culture. Thank you for your cywar release Greenstinkers.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 09:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1) GE is harming the environment
How's that?

2) threatening the right of farmers and consumers to grow and eat GE free food
Huh? Are farmers being forced to use GE seeds? Seems to me that "GE free" would make a good marketing slogan (kinda like "organic") that some folks would be happy to pay for.

3) What the f*ck gives these idiots the right to decide what seeds farmers can use? Farmers are smart enough to make the decision themselves to use or not use GE seeds.
Posted by: Spot || 04/19/2006 10:18 Comments || Top||

#2  "José" (sounds more progressive than Joseph, doesn't it?) Bové is a hard leftist masquerading as a farmer unionist/environmentalist, using his "Asterix" image to spout out the usual stuff.

Just to give you an idea, he went to pay a support visit to the Arafish when it was confined to its Ramallah HQ, and when he came back, he said to the media he only remembered the barbwire and watchtowers reminiscent of a concentration camp, to "nazify" the jews... I have no doubt he knew exactly what he was saying, despite him having to backpedal on that, he's very media savvy, if only because he earlier blamed the outburts of antisemite acts and notably synagogues arsons... on the mossad! Yeah, right.

Btw, he's the son of a wealthy scientist, specialized in GE, and he studied in the USA.

He's one of the antiglobo/neo marxist usual suspects and big names.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 04/19/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Genetically engineered crops need less chemical fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide and less water to produce more food.

Your right, it's the beginning of the end!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/19/2006 14:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Monsanto ought to hire about 400 "citizen shit pouinders" to go evict the trespassers since the cops let them in apperently.

TRANZI clowns.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/19/2006 22:38 Comments || Top||

#5  bigjim-ky, that is usually the reason... However, Monsanto is being unhelpful, in their case. With their terminated seeds, and the patent issues, they are quite evil.

Therminated seeds force the farmers buy seeds every year as the seeds produced by the crop won't germinate. It is not only seeds, but the chemicals that are needed for the crop. Monsanto does best they can to tie the two together on genetic level.

So, you'd say "well I won't buy Monsanto's". It's not so simple...

If Monsanto's GM plants cross-polinate with yours, and their specific genetic markers are present in your crop, then your crop belongs to Monsanto and they can do with your crop as they please.

Not all biotech is Monsanto, though.
Posted by: twobyfour || 04/19/2006 23:21 Comments || Top||

#6  GE = DAMIEN/THE RAVEN redux!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2006 23:25 Comments || Top||


Socialists kill 'Neighborhood Watch' programs in Spain
Complete with repurposed manufactured photos of axe handle wielding vigilantes holidayers returning from a festival. Read the story at the link
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 00:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Typical busy body lefty nonsense that goes overboard to fix something that is by no means broken. Damn the Socialists to hell anyway.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/19/2006 1:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm more concerned with the results of the NHW program in Spain than it what you guys think of the Socialists. Really. :P

(Reason -- see the sorta-collapse of the guy's case against the NHW, and the underlying jingoism in the remark about afternoon tea.)
Posted by: Edward Yee || 04/19/2006 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course socialists don't like the program. It clashes with their planned, highly centralized, party-sponsored and expertly-led thought crime prevention: "Neighborhood Snitch" program. Also, criminals are people too and often can be persuaded to see the righteousness of working for the party.
Posted by: twobyfour || 04/19/2006 14:37 Comments || Top||


Bosnia Administrator Calls for Normality
Posted in case Europe still matters.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The international community should end its decade-long control over Bosnia and allow the Balkan nation to assume the responsibilities of a "normal" democracy, the country's international administrator said Tuesday.

Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who became Bosnia's international High Representative in February, said he hopes to close his office in early 2007 and set Bosnia firmly on course toward membership in the European Union and NATO. "The country must take on responsibility for its own political reforms and economic development," he said.

The position was established to oversee implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended Europe's most brutal fighting since World War II between Bosnia's Muslims, Serbs and Croats. The high representative has the right to intervene in disputes and fire government officials if necessary to ensure the accord is followed. When Schwarz-Schilling departs, a European Union special representative will establish an office in Bosnia - but without the high representative's powers, Schwarz-Schilling said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
An Interview with James Abourezk
....To put an end to terrorism, one must put an end to illegal occupations. KZ: How do you view your old place of employment, the U.S. Senate, is it responding to the needs of the American people? If not, why not? JA: It is not. There are only three or so U.S. Senators who are really performing the job as Senators – Ted Kennedy, Russell Feingold and Bob Byrd. Occasionally we hear good things coming from Richard Durbin, but beyond those, there is nothing but ditto to whatever the Bush Administration wants.

"Performing the job" ... as in a dog relieving himself.
Entire piece of drivel at the link, let the "ditto" continue.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 09:37 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Sheehan Refuted - Director rebuts 'Peace Mom's' story
H/T to Commenter at Blackfive
By Julie Kay/Staff Writer

A Vacaville funeral home owner took exception to "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan's allegation that his mortuary did not fulfill its duties after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

In her blog last week, Sheehan wrote that the mortuary had refused to pay the cemetery as it was supposed to. Steve Nadeau, the mortuary's owner, said Monday that not only did he properly pay the cemetery, but that he subsidized the process with his own money.

Nadeau read Sheehan's comments in The Reporter Sunday, in a story about Sheehan's defense of her decision not to put a headstone on Casey's grave. Sheehan had described her choice at length in the same blog entry that mentioned Nadeau's Funeral Home.

The Reporter called Nadeau Friday and left a message at his office seeking his comments.

Nadeau returned the call and left a message saying he would be unavailable until Monday.

In an e-mail sent to The Reporter Sunday, Nadeau expressed hurt and disbelief at Sheehan's comments. He said that the amount of money the military gave the mortuary for Casey's funeral service and cemetery arrangements didn't even come close to covering the costs.

"Several kind citizens made donations," said Nadeau. "I absorbed the rest."

This was not the only way in which he went above and beyond his responsibilities following Casey's death, said Nadeau. He also provided a stretch limousine and a driver at his expense, he said, and invited the family to go to the airport with him so that he could accompany them. None of this was required, said Nadeau.

"Having known the Sheehan family for many years through St. Mary's Catholic Church where Ms. Sheehan had previously been the youth director, it was my desire to provide care and dignity to Casey and the family. I did this in every respect."

Nadeau also refuted Sheehan's statement that the mortuary finally paid the cemetery only after the family threatened to bring the story to the media.

"This never happened," said Nadeau. "I would stop by the family home as I do most families' homes and check with them on necessary needs, etc."

Nadeau said the military provided his mortuary $5,736 in funding to pay for the funeral service and cemetery arrangements. The funding came in May 2004, said Nadeau, and he paid the cemetery as soon as the costs had been totaled and the donations received.

In a phone call Monday, Sheehan stood by her allegations. Sheehan also said that Casey's grave site was now being handled by her soon-to-be ex-husband Patrick.

Patrick Sheehan said Monday that the small plaque currently marking Casey's grave is something all graves receive before a headstone is constructed. Casey's headstone is in the works, he said, and is being built by a local monument company.
Posted by: Sherry || 04/19/2006 15:21 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Catalytic One-Two Punch Could Yield Alternative Fuel
Chemists have used a combination of catalysts to produce more useful hydrocarbons from short-chain molecules, potentially opening the door to an alternative-fuel future.

Other fossil resources-- coal and natural gas--are made up of much shorter chains and it has proved difficult to rearrange their carbon and hydrogen atoms to make fuels such as diesel with these new catalysts.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/19/2006 02:11 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That is a neat possibility.

Warning the Enviros and Donks will make it impossible to do.
Posted by: SPoD || 04/19/2006 4:13 Comments || Top||

#2  And then blame it all on bushHitlerCheeney.

Just like they oppose opening the Alaskan oil fields and building refineries then blame them (Bush and Co.) for the gas prices.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/19/2006 8:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Obviously this is why Lee Raymond of Exxon took his $400. million and called it quits. He saw the hand writing on the wall, Exxon is DOOMED!


April 14, 2006— Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining.

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

Last November, when he was still chairman of Exxon, Raymond told Congress that gas prices were high because of global supply and demand.

"We're all in this together, everywhere in the world," he testified.

Raymond, however, was confronted with caustic complaints about his compensation.

"In 2004, Mr. Raymond, your bonus was over $3.6 million," Sen. Barbara Boxer said.

That was before new corporate documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed Raymond's retirement deal and his $51.1 million paycheck in 2005. That's equivalent to $141,000 a day, nearly $6,000 an hour. It's almost more than five times what the CEO of Chevron made.

"I think it will spark a lot of outrage," said Sarah Anderson, a fellow in the global economy program at the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank. "Clearly much of his high-level pay is due to the high price of gas."

Exxon defends Raymond's compensation, pointing out that during the 12 years he ran the company, Exxon became the largest oil company in the world and that the stock price went up 500 percent.

A company spokesman said the compensation package reflected "a very long and distinguished career."

Some Exxon shareholders are now trying to pass resolutions criticizing the company's executive pay policies. The company is urging other shareholders to vote against those resolutions.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1841989
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/19/2006 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  that's a helluva lot of money. However, gasolene prices are high due to a number of factors. Nigerian supply is down 25%, Iraqi supply is still down and some of the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are still off line. New fuel additive regulations now in place are mandating a higher percentage of ethanol. Oil companies are in the business of making money. Are they making too much at the expense of consumers? I don't know. I do know that the percentage of the spending by Americans on fuel as a part of their total spending has dropped indicating a cut-back in fuel consumption. I know I drive much less than I did 2 years ago. I don't take long road trips any more and only drive my truck once or twice a week.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/19/2006 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Heard the morning news radio host (not talk show host, this guy just reads the news) ask if government should be more involved in regulating fuel costs, since expensive gas (paraphrasing here) is bad for baby bunnies and kittens.

*Sigh*
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 10:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Was it Steven Porntoy on MAL?
Posted by: eLarson || 04/19/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#7  No, it was Richard Day on WTOP.
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 10:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Oil company net profits are pretty much mid-upper in terms of corporate rates. Banks/Finance are still king of that hill. Think of the ATM fees alone - brilliant concept: I keep your money and charge you a feee to get it - basically "Here, I will sell you this $20 for $23 (2 to that ATM owner and one to me your bank)"

Plenty of people are stupid enough to pay over a hundred a year in ATM fees. You want to bust some chops, go after the banks.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/19/2006 11:44 Comments || Top||

#9  OS, I'd put the insurance companies ahead of the banks.
Posted by: Unuting Grereque6424 || 04/19/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Not me. I'd hit the trial lawyers before the insurance companies.
Posted by: Secret Master || 04/19/2006 13:45 Comments || Top||

#11  I put guvmints at the top. They rack in trillions of dollars every year and give very little back to their major income sources (me).
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 04/19/2006 14:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Yea the Govt. gets top spot for me, takes your money and if you didn't plan right you get a refund and the govt. just got a interest free loan for a year but if you owe don't be late one single day or interest and penalities start adding up.
Posted by: djohn66 || 04/19/2006 16:44 Comments || Top||

#13  No, it was Richard Day on WTOP.

WTOP, I can't believe you were able to actually endure it without changing the channel.
Posted by: 2b || 04/19/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran suspends Renault car project
TEHRAN, April 18 (Reuters) - Iran has suspended a joint venture project to produce the L90 or LeHeap Logan car with French automaker Renault in the Islamic republic, a government official said on Tuesday. Analysts said the move would be a further blow to foreign investment in Iran, seen as crucial for creating jobs for the country's young population. It also comes at a time of increasing international tension over Iran's nuclear programme.

A dispute over exports of the no frills car appears to be at the heart of the dispute. "Iran's industry and mines minister has ordered the suspension of the L90 project until Renault company considers this ministry's views regarding the project," said Mohammad Karimi, a spokesman for the ministry.
Translation: the Mullahs want more money.
An official for the L90 project in Iran said that Renault had accepted that 60 percent of the car should be built inside Iran, the car's platform could be used to build other models and that the L90 would not enjoy a monopoly in its class of car in Iran. But he said: "the main problem remains where Iran wants to have a share of this company's (Logan) exports".

Renault said it was working with Iran to find a solution to the dispute. "The (Iranian) government wants to put the emphasis on exports, we are studying together all possible solutions," Renault spokesman Stephane Farhi told Reuters.
An Iranian-made, French-designed car. That's a sure fire Toyota beater.
He said there was no timetable for the discussions.

Renault has said it had set up a joint venture with an Iranian partner to produce the L90 in Iran from 2006. The L90 is a car that Renault already produces in Romania and which forms a key part of its strategy to boost sales in emerging markets.

Saeed Leylaz, an analyst who has close links to people involved in the project, said the decision would send a bad signal to international investors. "It is a very bad sign to the world community. It shows they can't trust us again," Leylaz said, adding that it will also have a major impact on the local car parts industry. "In this case, we are losing our internal reputation because hundreds of suppliers are involved in this project," he said.
So the French get burned trusting the Mad Mullahs™. Where's my femtoviolin?
Posted by: Steve White || 04/19/2006 00:24 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It is a very bad sign to the world community. It shows they can't trust us again still."
Posted by: Fordesque || 04/19/2006 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I read an article that was very favorable to the Logan. They're the cars for the fast rising middle class in India and other developing nations...
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/19/2006 1:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Also, there goes the IRGC's only hope of learning to stop the M1 tank.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/19/2006 1:47 Comments || Top||

#4  oh fantastic photo! Guess there gonna divert funds to the lawn mower powered flying boat thingy, Rofl.
Posted by: ShepUK || 04/19/2006 6:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Having once been involved in the production of Renault's here in the US this strikes as the first intelligent thing the mullahs have done.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 04/19/2006 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  I dunno. Having once owned one, I would think if you want car bombs down the road, Renault's would make nice platforms. You wouldn't even need to add the bombs on most of them.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/19/2006 10:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
U.S. Generals Call for Resignation of Media Leaders
(2006-04-19) — A growing movement of retired and active-duty U.S. military officers, angry at the mismanagement, arrogance and even deception that have hampered U.S. efforts to secure peace and democracy in Iraq, have begun quietly calling for the resignation of top leaders they blame for the difficulties.

“I believe that it’s time for them to step down,” said one unnamed retired three-star general. “The editors of The New York Times and Washington Post and the news producers at CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC should resign effective immediately.”

“They’ve formed a tight cabal that focuses only on news that reinforces their neo-journ ideology,” said another unnamed general. “Despite the urgent need for actual reporting from Iraq, they have failed to put enough boots on the ground in country.”

“As civilians, they make editorial decisions without any understanding of history or military strategy,” said another retired officer, “and they’re trying to run the war coverage from hotels in the cloister of the Green Zone, without consulting with our leaders and troops on the frontlines.”
The generals who all requested anonymity, in the words of one, “so I won’t be bothered by a bunch of calls from reporters writing redundant stories,” said the leading news media gatekeepers should be replaced by “more centrist voices” who will be honest with America, and not blindly devoted “advancing the neo-journ agenda.”

“We’d like to see leaders in there who will cover the Iraq story as Americans, or at least as those who believe in liberty,” said one active-duty general who has worked closely with reporters and editors.

Meanwhile, New York Times Publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. brushed off what he called “the incessant drumbeat of negativity” from opponents of his administration. “You can’t relieve your top commanders while your side is winning,” Mr. Sulzberger said. “Frankly, the Pentagon doesn’t direct enough attention to the car bombings, sectarian strife and rumblings of civil war which show that we’re making progress in Iraq every day.”
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/19/2006 08:29 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't I wish this were true.
We really need to do something about our out-of-control left. Punching them works, but it's a slow process, and after you've punched one out, no others will admit to being lefties, so it's a slow process, he wrote redundantly.
Posted by: wxjames || 04/19/2006 9:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Steadily decreasing sales and advertising revenues have been a useful marker for those paying attention, wxjames. Repeated staff down-sizings at both major and minor traditional news outlets has amusement value as well. At some point either the traditional journalists and their employers will figure it out, or they will all append retired to their job descriptions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/19/2006 14:56 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-04-19
  Israeli aircraft strike suspected rockets factory
Tue 2006-04-18
  Four cross-dressing Afghans arrested for suspected links to Taliban
Mon 2006-04-17
  At least 7 dead in Islamic Jihad boom in Tel Aviv
Sun 2006-04-16
  Aftab Ansari killed in J&K
Sat 2006-04-15
  Chad breaks diplo relations with Sudan
Fri 2006-04-14
  Sami Al-Arian To Be Deported
Thu 2006-04-13
  Chad fights off rebels in capital
Wed 2006-04-12
  29 indicted in connection with 3/11
Tue 2006-04-11
  Sunni Tehrik leadership wiped out in suicide boom
Mon 2006-04-10
  Pakistan brands Baluch rebel group terror outfit
Sun 2006-04-09
  IAEA inspectors in Iran to visit facilities
Sat 2006-04-08
  US 'plans nuclear strikes against Iran'
Fri 2006-04-07
  76 killed in Iraq mosque attack
Thu 2006-04-06
  PM Says New Hamas Government Is Broke
Wed 2006-04-05
  Cleric links ISI and Banglaboomers


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