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Feds escort Moussaoui to new supermax home
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Africa Subsaharan
'Koranic' tuna inspires Kenyans
Mombasa - A tuna fish, caught in the Indian Ocean this week, has Kenyan Muslims flocking to Mombasa by the hundreds to see a Koranic verse apparently embedded in its scales.

Dubbed the "wonder fish" by locals, the 2.5kg tuna has attracted so much attention it has been placed in the custody of the national fisheries department for safekeeping.

The otherwise ordinary fish caught the attention of fishmonger Omar Mohammed Awadh, who pulled it out of a catch when he noticed what seemed to be Arabic writing among the scales near its tail.

Arabic scholars examined the fish and determined the writing was a Koranic verse meaning "God is the greatest of all providers", said Hassan Mohamed Hassan, an education officer with the National Museums of Kenya in Mombasa.

The secretary-general of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, Sheikh Mombasa Dor, said: "This has been confirmed as a verse from the Holy Koran.

"We believe that God brings these kinds of messages in many forms from time to time and that we should not only read the holy book, but practice what it says."

Mombasa district commissioner Mohamed Maalim agreed: "It is so clearly spelt. That is why we believe that Allah is sending a message to mankind."

Hundreds of Muslims - and those slightly curious - flocked to Awadh's Takaungu fresh fish shop to see the tuna on Friday.

Kenyan officials said the attention had prompted concerns for the fish's safety, and it has been removal to a refrigerated locker at the fisheries department.

In March, Muslims flocked to see a pair of fish, found in a pet shop in the British city of Liverpool, which appeared to bear the words "Allah" and "Mohammed" on their scales.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2006 03:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  jeez , just eat it you morons ..
Posted by: MacNails || 05/14/2006 7:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Bah, a lowly fish is nothing compared to the divine egyptian calf that says "no God but Allan".

If that not enough to make a believer out of you, then I don't know what will be, kufr!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/14/2006 7:46 Comments || Top||

#3  What, no picture of Mohammed? In 3 days the message will be "Allah stinks."
Posted by: ed || 05/14/2006 7:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I recall that ed or RD has a picture of a very special pig.
Posted by: 6 || 05/14/2006 8:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't, though I would like to photoshop the turban-bomb on the smiling piggie.
Posted by: ed || 05/14/2006 9:23 Comments || Top||

#6  ...Well, it is written that though one cannot tune a Muslim, one can tune a fish....(ducks for cover)

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/14/2006 9:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Oooh dear Mike
Stop fishing for jokes , and dont be coi about it ..
seriously though , perhaps they could COD it tom Mecca or send it by first bass mail
:)
Posted by: MacNails || 05/14/2006 10:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Kenyan officials said the attention had prompted concerns for the fish's safety

It's DEAD. What "safety" are you providing exactly? The mind quivers at the possibilities - much like Charlie the Tuna methinks.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 05/14/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

#9  First story of the year mentioning a fishmonger! Charlie the tuna fools the fools again.
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 05/14/2006 11:09 Comments || Top||

#10  'Koranic' Oink



Posted by: RD || 05/14/2006 13:53 Comments || Top||

#11  'Koranic' Oink

Posted by: RD || 05/14/2006 13:55 Comments || Top||

#12  IT'S THE 12TH IMAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Omenter Grinetch9712 || 05/14/2006 17:15 Comments || Top||

#13  sounds fishy to me.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/14/2006 19:16 Comments || Top||


Ghana plans to offer lifetime visas to slave descendants
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ghana is one of those places you don't hear much about, becuase there no 'crisis' there. They seem to be doing sensible things. Good luck to them.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/14/2006 5:30 Comments || Top||

#2  They've inflicted Koffee on the rest of us.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/14/2006 5:53 Comments || Top||

#3  inflicted Koffee

more like dumped him. That's why they don't have a crisis.
Posted by: 2b || 05/14/2006 6:14 Comments || Top||

#4  wonder how many calling for reparations now will take this offer up though?
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 05/14/2006 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Can you take back all those who haven't worked a day since their ancestors were freed? Not much in the way of investment money, but the hip-hop's good and they scratch a good record.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 05/14/2006 11:21 Comments || Top||

#6 
"Can you take back all those who haven't worked a day since their ancestors were freed?"

Oh my God! I worked at a FEMA Disaster Assistance Center in Shreveport after Katrina. I have literally had sitting across my table FOUR generations of Blacks that had NEVER worked a day in their lives.

All they had ever known was welfare, and the first question they always asked was: "Where's my check"!

Judging from the ages and spacing of the generations, it seems they started popping out their first child around 12 to 13 years of age.

Truly amazing!

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 05/14/2006 18:42 Comments || Top||


Oxfam says rich states neglect Congo crisis
Rich countries are not giving enough money to help fight a humanitarian crisis in Congo, where more than 1,000 people die daily from violence, hunger and disease, an international charity said on Saturday.
I'm underwhelmed.
Oxfam International said donors had committed only $94 million of the $682 million needed for a Humanitarian Action Plan for Democratic Republic of Congo launched by the United Nations, the Red Thingy Cross and aid agencies in February. But donors had invested more than $459 million in support of presidential and parliamentary elections set for July 30. The first multi-party polls in the Congo in 40 years are aimed at drawing a line under years of dictatorship, war and chaos. Oxfam's Democratic Republic of Congo country manager, Juliette Prodhan, said while the international community was right to back the polls "voting alone won't cure the problems."
Having a stable government is the key to curing the problem, lady.
Rich country governments have a moral obligation to act when 1,200 people are dying every day from conflict-related causes, Prodhan said in an Oxfam statement sent to Reuters.
I feel no such moral obligation and Oxfam and its ilk are pretty damned arrogant defining such obligations for us. The DRC decided they wanted to have a dictatorship, and various factions within it decided that they were big on Armed Struggle™. The U.S. didn't, Europe didn't, they did. Anything we contribute toward cleaning up the mess they made is charity, not an obligation. The proper response is "Thank you for what you've given," not "Give us more, damn you."
"To their shame Italy, Germany and France have committed nothing or almost nothing to the appeal, whilst the contributions of countries like the U.S. and Japan remain minuscule compared with the size of their economies," she added. Oxfam said even the response of consistently faithful donors like Finland, Sweden and Canada had been disappointing.
Perhaps they're tired of flushing currency down the toilet?
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Congo you say? Better hit up France and Belgium. Not the UK and US
Posted by: SPoD || 05/14/2006 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Doesn't the head of Oxfam pull in 7 figures a year?
Posted by: anonymous2u || 05/14/2006 2:49 Comments || Top||

#3  throw money at the problem and surely it will go away.
Posted by: 2b || 05/14/2006 6:47 Comments || Top||

#4  If it happens nearly every year, it is not a crisis. It is normal.
Posted by: Elmemble Hupamp7763 || 05/14/2006 10:37 Comments || Top||

#5  The Congo was simply not ready for independence.

Granted the Belgians did a terrible job and needed to be gone from there years before. Some sort of trusteeship under the UK may have worked, with independence granted after a generation of leaders were nurtured.

At independence, there were no native officers in the army. There were only thirty native people with a university education, this in a country the size of western europe.

Contrast that with British colonies...

Posted by: john || 05/14/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Anyone old enough to remember the African freedom movements from Jomo Kenyatta and his Mau Maus on should not be surprised. During the height of the liberation movements, a breathless BBC reporter asked a "freedom fighter" what Uhuru (Freedom) meant to him. He said, it means we take the white man's houses, his land, his factories, and his women. The subsequent free African government suffered from unrealistic expectations, no understanding of economics, and most importantly, no respect for the law. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Pricks that make up organizations like Oxfam are almost self-parodies. They are by and large useless people dedicated to proving their moral superiority by trying to shame productive people into giving them money so they can take up the white man's burden.
Posted by: RWV || 05/14/2006 12:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Ask the Arabs - they've got plenty of our money.

We're busy.

And sick of throwing our money down a rat hole.

Here's an idea, Oxfam - give them your personal money and possessions. I'm sure they'd be suitably grateful.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/14/2006 17:34 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Town Celebrates After Man Pardons Son’s Killer
A 22 -year-old man has been spared the executioner’s sword following a pardon from his victim’s father in the town of Bareq in the southern province of Asir.

It was a memorable day for the people of the town. A large dinner with music and dance was arranged to celebrate the event in the town, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday.

Aamir ibn Awad Al-Shahari killed his cousin Mahayel ibn Mahayya Al-Shahari, 22, following a dispute in the mountainous district of Mujareda in 2003. Police arrested Aamir and eventually a Shariah court judge sentenced him to death.

His family has been hoping for a pardon from the parents of the killed all these years, Al-Watan said.

Mahayya Al-Shahari, the victim’s father, announced his decision to pardon the killer on Wednesday and signed the document of waiver at the court in Khamis Mushayt immediately. He made it clear that he did not demand any material benefit or token of gratitude from the killer, as his only motive was to earn God’s grace.

“My brothers, sisters, wife, sons and myself are unanimous about the pardon and what we seek is only the mercy of Allah. Nobody has exerted any pressure on us or tempted us with a huge sum of blood money,” Mahayya said.

On hearing about the pardon, mother of the youth on the death row said, “May Allah reward Mahayya and his relatives and forgive all their sins.”

Meanwhile, a man in the Northern Border Province is biding time with the hope of some philanthropists coming up with SR 3million to save his head. Awad Khaled Al-Anazi,23 , stabbed an Arab expatriate to death while quarreling on a silly matter, Al-Yaum newspaper quoted Awad’s brother as saying.

The relatives of the victim initially demanded SR4 million as blood money but they later agreed to reduce the amount to SR 3million. While in jail the culprit has reformed to such a level that he learned the entire text of the Holy Qur’an and leads group prayers in the jail, his brother said.

With the death of his father who had plans to meet leading charity organizations in the country to raise the money for his release, the future of Awad looks dismal.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2006 03:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While in jail the culprit has reformed to such a level that he learned the entire text of the Holy Qur’an and leads group prayers in the jail, his brother said.
So he's become a jihadist. What's it cost to have somebody in the prison shiv him? Cheaper than killing him in Afghanistan or Iraq?
Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2006 12:49 Comments || Top||

#2  He who kills and gets away, lives to kill another day, I guess.

Is that a muslim proverb or what.
Posted by: Slolump Whugum3142 || 05/14/2006 23:37 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
2 killed while making bombs in Satkhira
Two people were killed and at least four others injured in a blast while making bombs at a house in Kaliganj upazila yesterday. Of the dead, Amirul Islam, 35, hailed from Bahera village of Debhata upazila while identity of the other one could not be known. The injured are Hasan, Zia and two others from Bahera village, said police.
It gets to be a little boring, I suppose, reading about stooopid people who can't tell the difference between a red wire and a greeen wire ...
The explosion occurred in the afternoon while some local gangsters were making bombs to launch a fresh attack on the people they had already evicted from Bairagirchak. Earlier on April 22, the gang led by Ashraf Mir occupied 150-acre khas land, forcing 250 landless families to leave the area, police quoted the locals as saying.

A police team led by Sub-Inspector Akkas Ali of Kaliganj Police Station visited the scene soon after the blast.
But not too soon.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
British parliament blocks assisted suicide law
The upper house of Britain's parliament blocked a controversial law on Friday to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives. The assisted dying bill, modelled on a law on the books in the US state of Oregon, would let doctors prescribe lethal drugs to patients who are suffering unbearably and have less than six months to live. The patients themselves would have to administer the drugs. After an emotional seven-hour debate, members of the unelected House of Lords voted to postpone action on the measure, effectively rejecting it. The law was proposed by an individual lawmaker, human rights lawyer Lord Joel Joffe, and not by the British government, which says it is neutral on the issue.

"We cannot sit back and complacently accept that terminally ill patients who are suffering unbearably should just continue to suffer for the good of society as a whole," Joffe said. Supporters say terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering, while opponents, including religious leaders, say life is sacrosanct and the law could be abused. Lord Alexander Carlile, a member of the opposition Liberal Democrats, called the measure "morally indefensible" and an "ethical nightmare".
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Brazil, with criminal gangs attacking police stations and riots in prisons.
At least 52 people have died in two nights of violence in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, with criminal gangs attacking police stations and riots in prisons.

State officials say the unrest is being organised by the First Command of the Capital (PCC) criminal faction.

There have been revolts in more than 70 state jails and more than 250 people are being held hostage.

Chavez involved?
Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2006 21:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Projecting U.S. Air Power in the Pacific
The U.S. Air Force is surging ahead with plans to revitalize its bases on Guam from which to project power into the skies over the western Pacific and the islands and continent of Asia.

Bombers are already stationed regularly at Andersen Air Force Base on rotation from the United States, as are aerial tankers essential to long range operations. A wing of 48 fighters is on the way. Perhaps most critical will be unmanned surveillance and intelligence aircraft known as Global Hawk that can remain on station for 24 hours at a range of 1200 miles from base.

Reconstruction of runways from which bombing runs were flown over Vietnam 35 years ago has started. A new hanger has been built and more are on the drawing board; they will be typhoon-proof so that aircraft need not be flown out to escape the storms to which Guam is prone.

Housing for air and base crews and support facilities must be built. Altogether, says General Paul Hester, who commands the Pacific Air Forces from its headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, executing Air Force plans alone will cost "well over $2-billion."

The Marine Corps, under a new U.S.-Japan agreement, will move 8000 Marines including the III Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters and a brigade of combat troops from Okinawa to Guam. The Navy has based three attack submarines at Guam and is planning to send two more but the repair and maintenance facilities must be refurbished.

To support this military buildup, Guam's electrical grid, its roads, and water and sewage systems need to be refurbished after years of neglect. Schools must be expanded. The bill for these plans will probably come close to $10 billion over ten years.

Guam has become a focus for U.S. military planners for three reasons:

* American control: Guam is U.S. territory so the forces don't need permission from a foreign government to go into action. Nationalistic pressures drove U.S. forces from the Philippines in 1992. South Korea says it would restrict U.S. forces seeking to deploy from there. Even Japan, considered a solid ally, must take into account local political pressures that may affect U.S. deployments.

* What planners call "backfilling." As ground troops from South Korea, Japan, Alaska, and Hawaii and aircraft carriers, surface warships, and submarines have deployed to Iraq, other forces, particularly warplanes, have been realigned in the Pacific to maintain deterrence against North Korea and China.

* The "tyranny of distance," another military term describing the long distances forces must travel across the Pacific from the U.S. to reach operational targets. Bases in Guam will put air power within striking range of targets in North Korea, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea.

Guam was acquired from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American war. The island was captured by Japan early World War II, then retaken in 1944. In the war in Vietnam, Andersen was a huge base for B-52 bombers attacking North Vietnam in 14 hour flights during which American aviators flew into the fiercest anti-aircraft fire since World War II.

Some of those same B-52's, modernized with advanced sensors and armed with missiles that can be fired many miles from targets, are rotating through Guam, as are B-1 and B-2 bombers. Despite its age, General Hester said in an interview, "the B-52 is a great truck." He said a wing of 48 F-15 fighters and their replacements, F-22 Raptors, would go to Guam on similar rotations.

Three of the Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, which look like small, blind Boeing 747 passenger planes, will be based at Andersen, with three more coming later. The Global Hawk, packed with radar, optical, and infrared sensors, flies at 65,000 feet and can cover 40,000 square miles in 24 hours and relay its findings quickly to operational commanders.

Beyond acquiring intelligence on troop and weapon movements, Hester said, Global Hawks will be able to track terrorists such as those infiltrating Indonesia and Malaysia through island chains after being trained in the southern Philippines.

Further, the reconnaissance aircraft could track ships in a maritime security regime, a U.S. effort to encourage Asian nations to account for merchant ships the way they track nearly every airplane. The objective is to detect illicit drug smugglers, dealers in human trafficking, pirates, and terrorists.

"We must have the ability," Hester said of the ships, "to know who you are, where you are going, and what cargo you're carrying."
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2006 03:02 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a long haul from Guam to most anywhere. A b-52 roundtrip to Vietnam took 13 - 15 hours, tanking twice, once on the way over and again on the way back.
Posted by: RWV || 05/14/2006 12:15 Comments || Top||

#2  It's even further from any place else.
Posted by: 6 || 05/14/2006 17:35 Comments || Top||

#3  As said or inferred before on the Net, since the '90's, China can't achieve her ambitions for East Asian, Chinese- and Communism-centric hegemony without eliminating andor dominating the sovereign proserous Western democracies or WEst-elaning nations. One way or another, Communism/Stalinism/Maoism-happy China still plans to inevitably control the Pacific, INCLUDING BUT LIMITED TO HAWAII AND PARTS OF CONUS-NORAM. Add to China's ambitions both NORTH KOREA's and China's own well-publicized rants about the capabilities, or future capabilities, of their missle systems or OTH force projections.
By any measure, GUAM = OKINAWA = HAWAII = US WEST COAST, etc > all are equal as per the Chicom-NK Missle Threats + Airborne/Commando atack + anti-US Spetzlamist attack - within this context, DISTANCE TO ASIAN HOTSPOTS makes Guam, CNMI and Micronesia-WESTPAC tactically or strategically more vital than Hawaii or West Coast, espec given the Failed Left's [and aligned] own Year 2015-2020, "SOCIALISM-OWG OR ELSE" maxima timeline against America. Yamamoto and others knew this - no matter where FDR or the Navy Dept. relocated the US Pacific Fleet, for both Aggressor or Defender Guam had to be controlled by or taken from America. As per the WOT, the USDOD knows it > IRAN-DESIRED/CENTRIC NUCLEARIZED MIDEAST EMPIRE = LOSS OF ISRAEL = LOSS OF TAIWAN andor LOSS OF SOKOR-JAPAN > DE FACTO GLOBAL LOSS AND DECLINE OF US POWER > AMER'S ENEMIES ATTACKING CONUS DIRECTLY, i.e. "Over Here". Remember. by the Lefty US Ninth's infamous decision where the USA is held to be illegal and unconstitutional nation, the USA has no standing or right to either invade anyone, NOR DEFEND FROM INVASION(S), against the armed forces of legit sovereign nations.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/14/2006 22:15 Comments || Top||


Taiwan may end up with Pyrrhic diplomatic victory
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian may have pulled off a diplomatic victory over China during his just concluded overseas trip, but it also laid bare the new realities of the island's once-warm relationship with Washington.

While Chen played down U.S. refusal to let his plane refuel in New York, ties have frayed since the early days of George W. Bush's presidency when Chen was allowed to transit in the U.S. financial capital in 2001 and 2003 and the U.S. leader pledged to do whatever it takes to help Taiwan defend itself.

"It'll be extremely challenging for relations between Taipei and Washington to improve" during the remaining two years of Chen's presidency, said Lin Chong-Pin, president of the Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies think-tank.

However, the U.S. snub appeared to be a blessing in disguise when Chen made surprise transit stopovers in Libya and Indonesia, which recognize Beijing but not Taipei.

The stops riled China, which claims Taiwan as its own and has tried to push it into isolation, and may help to bolster support for Chen, whose popularity rating hit new lows due to a string of corruption scandals.

It was also a boon for his Democratic Progressive Party, which is trying to find a candidate capable of defeating the popular Nationalist front-runner Ma Ying-jeou in the 2008 presidential elections.

But the victory may be Pyrrhic, analysts said, if relations with Taiwan's main arms supplier and trading partner were strained and Washington stepped up pressure to thwart his independence dreams.

"Taiwan is the loser in terms of relations with the United States. But Taiwan may be able to make up for some of the losses if the breakthroughs with Libya and Indonesia are for real," said Liu Bih-rong, a political scientist at Soochow University.

In an apparent slight, the United States offered to let Chen transit in remote Alaska or Hawaii this month instead of New York while on his way home from Latin America. Chen rejected the offer and was hailed a hero by some for standing up to Washington.

While Chen put on a brave face and tried to assure the public that the row with the United States would not impact bilateral relations, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick appeared to harden parameters for ties.

KEEP HITTING WALL

Zoellick told a U.S. congressional hearing last week that Taiwan will "keep hitting into a wall" if it continues to test the "one China" policy under which Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Zoellick also warned that Taiwan independence meant war with China risking the lives of American soldiers as he defended the administration against criticism by U.S. lawmakers for treating Chen is a "disgraceful" way.

"Washington's displeasure has been mainly targeted at Chen Shui-bian," said Lin, a one-time deputy defense minister and formerly one of Taiwan's top China policy makers.

But Taipei-Washington military and trade ties will remain unchanged due to Taiwan's geopolitical importance, analysts said.

Some saw the candid warning from Zoellick as a pre-emptive attempt to stop Chen from crossing China's red line -- formalizing Taiwan's de facto independence when amending the constitution in the run-up to the 2008 elections.

"The United States is worried Taiwan will move toward independence when it amends its constitution," said Liu, the political scientist.

China has vowed to attack if self-ruled democratic Taiwan, which still styles itself as the Republic of China, formally declared statehood. The two split in 1949 amid a civil war.

Lie speculated that the gaffe-plagued White House appearance of Chinese President Hu Jintao last month may have prompted the United States to deny President Chen a stop in New York to avoid further hurting U.S.-China ties.

Chen's woes began, analysts say, when he ignored U.S. warnings and held a landmark referendum alongside presidential elections in 2004. China's parliament passed the Anti-Secession Law the next year mandating armed conflict in one of Asia's most dangerous flashpoints.

Ignoring U.S. admonitions again, Chen scrapped a dormant but symbolic body and guidelines on eventual unification with China in February in what Lin, the former official, described as "the last straw that broke the camel's back."
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2006 00:44 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Arghh! A double posting! I must be up too late.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/14/2006 0:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Taiwan and the USDOD both know or believe, as I do, that however PC China will NOT stop at taking over countries. The game here is ultimately the subsitution of weaker nations in the place of the stronger or superior, i.e. CHINA IN PLACE OF AMERICA. Taiwan, etal. in reality have little or nothing to lose in LT by publicly proclaiming its independence.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/14/2006 22:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Seven cases of electrical failure on Airbuses
Posted by: anonymous2u || 05/14/2006 19:48 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

on October 22 last year, eight minutes after Flight 870 had taken off from Heathrow, the crew heard a “clunk” as the cockpit lighting failed. Five out of six flight information and navigational display monitors went blank and the captain had to take manual control, peering out of the cockpit window and relying on “the external night horizon”

a Clunk sound is alright no problemo,

but if you hear RIP and Harp, now thatr way bad.

Posted by: RD || 05/14/2006 20:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Spinning uncontrollably is also a bad sign.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/14/2006 21:24 Comments || Top||

#3  No Biggie.
Posted by: Slolump Whugum3142 || 05/14/2006 23:34 Comments || Top||

#4  .. not mentioning flying perpendicular to the surface.
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/15/2006 0:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Plane Carrying Kennedy Hit by Lightning
A plane carrying U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from western Massachusetts to his home on the coast was struck by lightning Saturday and had to be diverted to New Haven, Conn., his spokeswoman said. The eight-seat Cessna Citation 550 plane lost all electrical power, including communications, and the pilot had to fly the plane manually, according to spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner. No one was hurt.

The Democrat had just delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and was on his way to his Cape Cod home when the plane was struck around 4 p.m., she said. The jet landed safely at New Haven at 4:11 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray. A report was filed with the agency, which will look into the incident, she said. Kennedy planned to stay in Connecticut overnight because he was scheduled to return to western Massachusetts on Sunday to deliver a commencement address at Springfield College, Wagoner said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 09:37 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At least he wasn't driving...
Posted by: Raj || 05/14/2006 11:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't Teddy just drive, like the rest of us? No, wait.

Okay, The Kennedys are experts at flying; they can handle any problems. No, wait.

Greyhound, Teddy. It's the only way.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 05/14/2006 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  It looks to me that Ted is God's version of "Whack a Mole".

"Damn, missed. Got Jack."

"Not again! Got Bobby."
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 05/14/2006 11:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Imagine the conspiracy theories that would have popped up had htye crashed instead.


Hey Halliburton, looks liek you got the Lightning Machine targeting system working well, now just up the voltage.
Posted by: Oldspook || 05/14/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Oldspook - Don't you mean HAARP?
AP's plane must have interfered with their aiming.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  "Damn, missed again!"
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/14/2006 14:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Boy, that Mary jo kopechne sure holds a grudge, doesn't she?
Posted by: Mike || 05/14/2006 15:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Good thing he wasn't holding on to his silver plated swizzle stick at the time, he'd have been electroplated.
Posted by: Perfessor || 05/14/2006 15:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Lightning in a bottle?
Posted by: Captain America || 05/14/2006 16:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Lol, Perfessor.

3dc - Are you aware the Norweegies have a copy of HAARP - up and running without a word of protest from anyone in the EU? Yep, say it on Discovery Science. Heating away for no identifiable reason other than spiffy research.

OT - I'm just happy to note that both Mass Senators, true men of the people, putter about the skies in private jets. Nothing less will do for such model egalitarians.
Posted by: Grung Glineger9230 || 05/14/2006 16:36 Comments || Top||

#11  Hit 'em again
Posted by: Buck Tails || 05/14/2006 17:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Good thing there weren't any protective barriers up there to hit.
Posted by: anymouse || 05/14/2006 23:24 Comments || Top||

#13  Teddy needs to be more careful with the phrase "....and if I'm lying, I hope God will strike me dead."
Posted by: GORT || 05/14/2006 23:49 Comments || Top||


55,000 dead or duplicate voters deleted from state database
OLYMPIA — The Secretary of State's Office has deleted about 55,000 registrations from Washington's voter rolls after finding duplicate records and dead voters with the aid of a new statewide database. The database, put in place earlier this year, allowed the state to find 19,579 dead people still on the rolls and 35,445 duplicate voter records. "It's a critical piece to help regain the trust and confidence of the voters of the state of Washington," Secretary of State Sam Reed said Friday. "I think we are slowly but surely rebuilding trust in the system."

Voter confidence was shaken in 2004, when Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire narrowly beat Republican Dino Rossi after two recounts. The tumultuous election was replete with lost ballots, mismatched signatures, and dead people and convicted felons casting ballots. Rossi challenged the election in court and lost.

Several changes were made by the state Legislature to help keep the problems from happening again, including moving the primary back from the third Tuesday in September to the third Tuesday in August, starting in 2007. That move is expected to give election workers more time to get out absentee and overseas ballots to voters for the general election. The scrub of the state database found few cases of potential voter fraud. About 30 cases of possible double voting were forwarded to county officials for investigation, Reed said. The database was paid for with federal money as part of the national 2002 Help America Vote Act. It consolidates individual lists kept by the state's 39 counties into one database. The information can be cross-checked with records at the state Department of Licensing, the Department of Health, the Department of Corrections and the Social Security Administration.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just 30 cases found? Out of 55,000 jacked up records there's just 30 that improperly voted?

For some reason I think that number is much higher.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 05/14/2006 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  That's 55000 less democratic voters! What were you thinking, man!?!?
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/14/2006 3:37 Comments || Top||

#3  30 is all they are going to make examples of. The Dems will keep cheating as long as they can get away with it. It's SOP for them.
Posted by: SPoD || 05/14/2006 3:48 Comments || Top||

#4  That's 55000 less democratic voters!

More likely it is 55000 less republican voters.
Posted by: 2b || 05/14/2006 6:55 Comments || Top||

#5  In Washington state?
Posted by: lotp || 05/14/2006 8:02 Comments || Top||

#6  How about cross checking the names on the ballots found in a Seattle warehouse during the last election, with this list?
Posted by: ed || 05/14/2006 8:12 Comments || Top||

#7  About 30 cases of possible double voting were forwarded to county officials for investigation, Reed said

According to SoundPolitics.com
where Stefan Sharkansky has been keeping the admin's toes close to the fire, he found what he thinks are 180 double voters in King County alone. He also points out that the fewer you investigate the fewer has to be reported to the press.

FYI - Next year King County will go all-mail-order. So votes will be counted in back-allys (possibly by teamster 'volunteers'.....)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/14/2006 8:49 Comments || Top||

#8  I'm for paper ballot, with the classical Iraqi ink fingerprint just for future verification purposes, recalling the Washington state judge's rationale for dismissing the challenge case. The only people who want the count done 'now' is MSM. The rest of us can just wait a week or so for the tallies.
Posted by: Elmemble Hupamp7763 || 05/14/2006 9:20 Comments || Top||

#9  "Would you then disenfranchise the noble dead?" (Congersman Frog in Pogo by Walt Kelly)
Posted by: James || 05/14/2006 17:25 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm for a opti-scan thumbprint on the voucher saying that you voted (not on who you voted for). It would make it easy to keep track and prosecute offenders. I know, I know. I'm dreaming.
Posted by: 2b || 05/14/2006 17:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Heh heh, Mr. Kelly was alway sensitive to the special needs of the Brotherhood of the Layd Out & Stiff
Posted by: 6 || 05/14/2006 17:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Simple- do an optical scan and a thumb or forefinger scan - normalize the data in such a way it accounts for minut chnges in fingerprint but between the 2 it satistically is a secure identification. Record the data in one database, record the voter registration number in another database. Record the cryptographic hash value of the VR info and put it as the index to the bio data, and the cryptographic hash of the bio data and put it as the index of the VR info.

Remember its a function of the one-way function called a hash that given the data you can regenerate the hash, but given the hash you cannot regenerate the data.

This means if they take a fingerprint and retinal scan, they can use it to verify the address you have given. Or give them the voter registration info, they can look up your fingerprint and retinal pattern and check them against what you give them now. Neither can be done without other. , but etiher can be used to retrieve the other for validation. And the combination of the two makes a completely unique (i.e. no dupe voter) entity.

Next, combine together the date, time location/precinct code and the 2 hashes above. Take the cryptographic hash of that - and the becomes the vote record number. This is evidence that the particular person identified by the bio and voter-reg data was at that precinct at that dat and time, and that they voted. Like above, given the data, you can regenerate the hash, but given the hash, you cannot regenerate the data.

Have the voting machine combine those values and the vote itself (the choices a B C D, etc - not the ballot info) - then cryptographically sign that. (All the "hashesh" are printed as barcodes, like the postal ones that are all dots and patterns not neccesarily bars - and the numbers themsleves are printed as well in hexadecimal).

There you have a ballot - all done by computer except for marking the ballot.

The voter gets a paper receipt with his vote choices, date time and location on one part in english and the barcode at the bottom, right then and there. And on the other part is his "Vote Number" (thats they crypto signature) which is just a barcode and a string of digits. Thats your voting recipt.

If he ever has any doubt he can request that they check the "Vote Number" - that it exists, and giving them the other data, they can even check that it wasnt tampered with, and that it was tallied.

Heck with the bar code he should be able to take the records to the courthouse, put them past a sumermarket scanner type thing, scan his eye and finger as identity, veryfiy his addres - and BOOP - up pops the choices he made as they awere tallied for the election.

Given that its a classic cryptographic "one way" function, hashes and normalized data are the way to go - it makes the system COMPLETELY open and transparent yet hides the individual choices from everyone except the individual and the vote tallying computer.
Posted by: Oldspook || 05/14/2006 20:42 Comments || Top||

#13  Just dip the finger in the indelible ink like they do in all the countires we conquer. That will save on little "I voted" stickies, too.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/14/2006 20:58 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Tribals take 500-yr-old hunt to Ranchi streets, snatch pets from residents
Dressed as men and armed with swords and spears, hundreds of tribal women in Jharkhand have taken an ancient hunting ritual to the streets, snatching domestic animals from frightened residents.

Police in Jharkhand have had to step in after the women began hunting down pigs, goats, poultry and even rabbits to mark a historic military victory more than 500 years ago, officials said on Tuesday.

Members of the Oraon tribe in ethnic dress and faced with a ban on hunting wild animals, headed for Ranchi and have been marching through the streets, grabbing animals from backyards.

They have also been combing remote forest areas for domestic and wild prey, police said.

"It's a ritual that happens every 12 years, but this year the tribal women have been threatening to attack people who are refusing to give in to their demands, so we have been asked to give protection to residents," a top police official, PN Ram said.

Known as jani shikar, or hunting by females, the ritual dates back five centuries to a time when much of India was ruled by Mughal emperors.

Faced with drunk husbands and sons, tribal women donned men's clothes, took up arms and successfully defended their land from the Muslim invaders near Rohtasgarh, now in the neighbouring state of Bihar, tribal activist Ratan Tirkey said.

"We have asked people to be careful and keep all livestock inside as part of preventive measures," Ram added.

No arrests have been made so far. Sociologists say the hunting ritual had been restricted to village boundaries, but the women had now started venturing into towns, sometimes stopping vehicles and demanding money, a top police official said.

The event was last held in 1994, but was observed peacefully. "There has been a lot of deviation from history," tribal historian Praveen Singh Munda said.

“In the old days, tribals used to inform villagers about their visit in advance, and the villagers in turn would be ready with domestic animals as gifts, but not anymore,” Munda added.
Posted by: john || 05/14/2006 16:09 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  tribal women donned men's clothes, took up arms and successfully defended their land from the Muslim invaders near Rohtasgarh

Impressive...



Posted by: john || 05/14/2006 16:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Impressive...

Yea, but that was 500 years ago. Now it devolved in a mild version of thuggism. Although, if they went after the 'right' animals--the kind like 500 years ago, maybe I'll be less judgmental. ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Masters: Mughals vs Muslims

A distinction without a difference.
Posted by: Grung Glineger9230 || 05/14/2006 17:32 Comments || Top||


Spurned suitor blows himself up
Lucknow, India - A spurned Indian suitor blew himself up at the wedding of the woman who rejected him, killing himself and injuring the groom and four other people, police said on Saturday. Police said the electrician blew himself up by pressing a switch in his shoe when the bride and groom were taking their vows in the Hindu ceremony. "The lover, identified as Netrapal Singh, tied a bomb to his waist and when the marriage of the girl he loved was under way, he detonated it," police officer Vikramadiyta Sewar said in Hardoi in northern India. "He was killed in the blast," Sewar said.

The bride was unhurt but the groom and four others received minor injuries in the explosion. The wedding ceremony later went ahead. Police said Singh had wanted to marry the woman but that his intentions were not reciprocated.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "If anyone here knows of a reason this couple shouldn't be married, let him speak now or forever hold his .......KABOOM!"
Posted by: Steve || 05/14/2006 14:48 Comments || Top||

#2 
Netrapal Singh = Muslim
Posted by: Manolo || 05/14/2006 16:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Most Singhs are Sikhs.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/14/2006 16:39 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Asia's bid for top UN post may face challenge by US
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Holy cow! Here we go again with the "Let's pick a girl from Asia". All the criteria they are using is location, gender, and who had it last. Not one word of who is best qualified. Mr. Bolten it's time to fix this before we suffer another bad choice.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/14/2006 11:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Ang Sun Sui Ky?
Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2006 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Congratulations ASIA!! You've won the 'control the UN contest'!! Tell them what they've won Mr. Bolton ...

Yes, Asia has won the control the UN contest. They win:

1) The top UN position replacing Kofi Annan including the bribes and kickbacks that go with the position.

2) Additional seats on the Security Council including the one currently occupied by the United States.

3) Complete control of the UN budget, including all fees and payments that had previously been made by the United States.

4) Control over the UN headquarters, which will be immediately relocated to Pyongyang.

CONGRATULATIONS ASIA!!
Posted by: DMFD || 05/14/2006 14:13 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
A nation's interests? Google tells all
Google lifted the veil this week on one of its best-kept secrets: which nations search for what.

Who looks up democracy most avidly? Who seeks out Allah or Christ most faithfully? Who types in "drugs" or "sex" most frequently?

No country's secrets are spared.

Pakistanis look up "Danish cartoons" more avidly than anyone, according to Google. They also lead the rankings for "sex" - with their neighbor and nuclear rival India seldom far behind.

"In Pakistani society, sex is a taboo," said Fatima Idrees, a project manager at the Pakistani affiliate of the Gallup International polling agency, adding that "curiosity and availability of the Internet may cause such behavior."

The site introduced Thursday, Google Trends, measures how often particular phrases are searched for from computers in individual countries and cities. It short-lists the places with the highest absolute number of searches for, say, "cat food." Then it picks the top 10 or so based on which places look up "cat food" much more than they do other things - for instance, "dog food."

The Google Trends site is likely to generate a mix of consternation, embarrassment and laughter around the world. While Google emphasizes that its efforts to protect individuals' privacy, the new site does nothing to protect the collective privacy of nations, if such a thing exists - the right of the British to conceal that they look up "handcuffs" most often, or the right of China's leaders to hide that Mandarin ranks second only to English as the language used to look up "democracy," or the right of other officials to hide that Arabic-speaking users rarely look up "democracy."

"This is a fascinating project, effortlessly offering a glimpse into regional and cultural habits and differences that is otherwise nearly impossible to reproduce," said Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University.

"This sort of feature reminds us that the Internet is global, yet not one undifferentiated mass," he added. "Such measurement may help us understand the origin and movement of ideas as they sweep regions and the world."

The Google rankings also generate a new kind of interest-level rating for politicians - as for countries, brands or anything else people look up. Now, the most vain (and most regularly searched) among us can check how many people are looking us up, where they are from - and, most important, whether they search more for us or for our rivals.

In India, suspicions that Sonia Gandhi is the power behind the throne of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appear to be buttressed by search results. As the leader of India's governing Congress Party, Gandhi gets about 50 percent more searches from Indian users than Singh does.

French users, meanwhile, shed light on France's power struggles. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy draws as many searches on his own as his rivals, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, combined.

For politicians with sagging poll numbers, Google's index might be some consolation: it records how often people look you up, not whether they love you. To bring Machiavelli's famous formulation into the age of Web surfing, it may be better for a prince - or president or prime minister - to be searched than loved, if he cannot be both.

President George W. Bush commands at least seven times as many searches in Russia as its own leader, Vladimir Putin. Among the French, Bush generates about 50 percent more look-ups than Chirac; among Iranians, Bush is searched twice as often as the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Not everything on the site is a surprise. People in Boston and Minneapolis and in Halifax, Nova Scotia, lead the search for "mittens." Dubliners top the list in "Guinness" searches. When it comes to looking up "dowry," surfers in Pakistan and India are clear leaders.

Other findings are quirkier, and at times to difficult to explain.

Even though homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom ranks No. 2 for searches for "gay sex," behind the Philippines.

And consider the list of cities that most frequently look up "amour," the French word for love. Paris, allegedly a romantic haven, is absent from the top 10. The top three berths went to Rabat, Morocco; Algiers and Tunis.

Other findings suggest the stirrings of a trend. Searchers for "Allah" come overwhelmingly from the Islamic world. But, in a sign of shifting social realities, the word is searched from the Dutch-language version of Google more avidly than from the Arabic-language one. Norwegian, French, Danish, Swedish and German sites also featured in the top 10 for "Allah" inquiries.

"Guns" is a word easy to associate with the United States. But the rising incidence of violent kidnappings and murders in Latin America has perhaps driven searchers to the Web for answers. Buenos Aires leads the cities index for "guns" searches, and Argentina as a whole outranks the United States, with Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru also in the top 10.

The Google system can also be queried one country at a time, to determine, for example, how frequently people in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are looking up "democracy." The Bush administration is unlikely to be pleased by Google's reply for each of those countries: "Your terms - democracy - do not have enough search volume to show graphs."
Posted by: john || 05/14/2006 11:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I use google as a quick dictionary lookup when I can't remember how to spell a word. It works better at that then dictionary program --- so I would take search results with a bit of caution.

Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2006 18:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I found the trend on "taqiyya" (google's spelling) interesting. At least somebody is beginning to get it.

Sorry, No Link - I get shunted to Roadside America every time I try to post it as an embedded link in the comment or even as plain text. I guess Fred (or one of the Moderators) doesn't like me.
Posted by: Grung Glineger9230 || 05/14/2006 18:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Definitions of Racism (According to Seattle Public Schools)
The seattle public schools gives us their definition of Racism.
Racism:
The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the agent racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites). The subordination is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, and the institutional structures and practices of society.
Note: Only whitey can be a racist...
Also note that when computing educational scores the Seattle Schools count 'asians' as whites. I guess they get more money that way.
Individual Racism:
The beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism. Individual racism can occur at both an unconscious and conscious level, and can be both active and passive. Examples include telling a racist joke, using a racial epithet, or believing in the inherent superiority of whites.

Active Racism:
Actions which have as their stated or explicit goal the maintenance of the system of racism and the oppression of those in the targeted racial groups. People who participate in active racism advocate the continued subjugation of members of the targeted groups and protection of “the rights” of members of the agent group. These goals are often supported by a belief in the inferiority of people of color and the superiority of white people, culture, and values.

Passive Racism:
Beliefs, attitudes, and actions that contribute to the maintenance of racism, without openly advocating violence or oppression. The conscious or unconscious maintenance of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that support the system of racism, racial prejudice and racial dominance.

Cultural Racism:
Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation,
WTF? thinging of the future and planning ahead is racist? Who knew?
emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology
Translation: Being a conservative as opposed to being a socialist ,
defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers.

Institutional Racism:
The network of institutional structures, policies, and practices that create advantages and benefits for Whites, and discrimination, oppression, and disadvantages for people from targeted racial groups. The advantages created for Whites are often invisible to them, or are considered “rights” available to everyone as opposed to “privileges” awarded to only some individuals and groups.
So, according to this affirmitive action which gives special 'advantages' and 'privileges' to non-whites is racist right? Oh wait... only whites can be racist....
Source: Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 1197 eds. Adams, Bell & Griffin

Race
A pseudobiological category that distinguishes people based on physical characteristics (e.g., skin color, body shape/size, facial features, hair texture). People of one race can vary in terms of ethnicity and culture.

Ethnicity
A group whose members share a common history and origin, as well as commonalities in terms of factors such as nationality, religion, and cultural activities.

Culture
The way of life of a group of people including the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, family roles, social relationships, verbal and nonverbal communication styles, orientation to authority, as well as preferences and expressions (art, music, food). “What everybody knows that everybody else knows.”

The mind boggles...
This article itself is, in my opinion, one of the most racist article I've seen a while...

Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/14/2006 09:15 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The people who concoct, promote and enforce this kind of collectivist, "progressive" bullshit are every bit as much a menace to our survival as the worst Islamists. And in my opinion, they deserve the same fate.

I am no more willing to have my grandchildren grow up in the kind of nanny-state, socialist, collectivist, hyper-egalitarian hellhole these people envision for us, than I am to have them grow up under sharia.

What will it take to stop this nonsense? WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

Posted by: Dave D. || 05/14/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#2  They really want the USA to become like Europe (or rather, more specifically, like the EU), don't they?

That's funny... first of all, it came from Europe to the USA as the Frankfurt school marxism, and then it came back to Europe as the new left and the student revolution of the late 60's.... and now, it's returning to the USA as transnational progressism.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/14/2006 10:29 Comments || Top||

#3  ".... and now, it's returning to the USA as transnational progressivism."

I don't think it really left here in the 60's, A5089; it just went into a sort of "stealth mode" during the 70's and 80's, during which the radicals followed Gramsci's advice and quietly insinuated themselves into our country's institutions. Now, having attained positions of power and influence while the rest of America slept or watched TV sitcoms, they are starting in earnest to do the damage they planned from the start. I shudder to think what it will take to stop them, at this point.

Posted by: Dave D. || 05/14/2006 10:52 Comments || Top||

#4  and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers.

Really? That's news to me. This is a huge pile of racist hate literature. Steaming and enormous.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 05/14/2006 10:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Disgusting

it's an attempt to blur the definition of racism

NO

Racism is discrimination against someone for the colour of their skin and can be by anyone of any colour.

It has NOTHING to do with culture, religion, beliefs, behaviour or history.

If person X doesn't like person Y because person Y is a fanatical adherent of a religion that says it's OK to marry 10 girls even if they are under age 14, person X is not a racist. they simply don't like the beliefs and behaviours of person Y and they are fully entitled in a free society to feel and act that way.

I HATE this blurring of a simple fair definition
Posted by: anon1 || 05/14/2006 12:57 Comments || Top||

#6 
"I shudder to think what it will take to stop them, at this point."

It is going to take individual Patriots with cold hearts and remorseless resolve to pull them out by the roots.

That means visits in the night where no one is left alive, ambushes and assassinations.

It's going to take MORE home schooling by parents that embrace a true conservative ideology. And it will take the conservative right retaking the Countries Institutions in the same manner they did. In short, you're looking at a bloody battle
lasting at least two generations.

But that won't happen, or if it does, it will be too little, too late.

Thank God, I will most likely be dead before it gets REALLY bad.

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 05/14/2006 14:28 Comments || Top||

#7  I shudder to think what it will take to stop them, at this point.

I would say but I don't want to get banned and I am not personally up to it myself. But the image at thislink is an indication. You can't cure people who ascribe to the religion of trans-national socialism. They are as frothy and deluded and the snake handlers and islamo-fascists but way more dangerous.
Posted by: SPoD || 05/14/2006 14:33 Comments || Top||

#8 
they've defined racism via racism. i'm guessing they're idols, such as pol pot and lennin were guilty of none of the above.
Posted by: macofromoc || 05/14/2006 15:59 Comments || Top||

#9  And of course, since these definitions of racism include "unconscious" and "invisible" attitudes, no introspection by a whitey like me will ever be adequate to eradicating it. Only the pronouncements of our moral superiors--either members of selected minority groups (sometimes excluding asians) or the "enlightened ones"--can identify those deadly deviations from perfection. Bow before our masters!
It never ceases to amaze me what people will believe. And these are the ones trying to teach our kids, so they're less harmless than the variety who try to hitch a ride on a comet by dying under a purple blanket with pictures of Lincoln in a pocket. Equally crazy, though.
Posted by: James || 05/14/2006 17:18 Comments || Top||


Roe attorney to Clinton: Use abortion to 'eliminate poor'
A letter to Bill Clinton written by the co-counsel who successfully argued the Roe v. Wade decision urged the then-president-elect to "eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country" by liberalizing abortion laws.

Ron Weddington, who with his wife Sarah Weddington represented "Jane Roe," sent the four-page letter to President Clinton's transition team before Clinton took office in January 1993.

The missive turned up in an exhibit put together by the watchdog legal group Judicial Watch, which has been researching the Clinton administration's policy on the abortion drug RU-486, notes James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web.

Weddington told the president-elect: "I don't think you are going to go very far in reforming the country until we have a better educated, healthier, wealthier population."

He said the new leader can "start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country."

Weddington qualified his statement, saying, "No, I'm not advocating some sort of mass extinction of these unfortunate people. Crime, drugs and disease are already doing that. The problem is that their numbers are not only replaced but increased by the birth of millions of babies to people who can't afford to have babies.

"There, I've said it. It's what we all know is true, but we only whisper it, because as liberals who believe in individual rights, we view any program which might treat the disadvantaged differently as discriminatory, mean-spirited and ... well ... so Republican."

Weddington explained he was "not proposing that you send federal agents armed with Depo-Provera dart guns to the ghetto. You should use persuasion rather than coercion."

He points to President Clinton and his soon-to-be first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as the "perfect example."

"Could either of you have gone to law school and achieved anything close to what you have if you had three or four or more children before you were 20?" he asked. "No! You waited until you were established and in your 30's to have one child. That is what sensible people do."

Later, Weddington took a shot at the "religious right."
"Having convinced the poor that they can't get out of poverty when they have all those extra mouths to feed, you will have to provide the means to prevent the extra mouths, because abstinence doesn't work. The religious right has had 12 years to preach its message. It's time to officially recognize that people are going to have sex and what we need to do as a nation is prevent as much disease and as many poor babies as possible."

Weddington then argued that with 30 million abortions up to that point since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, America is a much better place.

"Think of all the poverty, crime and misery ... and then add 30 million unwanted babies to the scenario," he said. "We lost a lot of ground during the Reagan-Bush religious orgy. We don't have a lot of time left."

The lawyer also delved into biblical theology.

"The biblical exhortation to 'be fruitful and multiply' was directed toward a small tribe, surrounded by enemies," he argued. "We are long past that. Our survival depends upon our developing a population where everyone contributes. We don't need more cannon fodder. We don't need more parishioners. We don't need more cheap labor. We don't need more poor babies."

In his postscript, Weddington said: "I was co-counsel in Roe v. Wade, [and] have sired zero children and one fetus, the abortion of which was recently recounted by my ex-wife in her book, "A Question of Choice" (Grosset/Putnam, 1992) I had a vasectomy in 1969 and have never had one moment of regret."

The Weddingtons divorced in 1974.

Their client in the 1973 case, Norma McCorvey, recently attempted to challenge the ruling that struck down all state laws restricting abortion, arguing changes in law and new scientific research make the prior decision "no longer just."

Commenting on a 2004 court ruling dismissing the challenge, Sarah Weddington said those who filed it "got publicity but the publicity actually has been very helpful for those of us who believe the government should not be involved."

After announcement of McCorvey's challenge, Weddington received about two dozen offers to help defend the Roe decision.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Margaret Sanger, the godmother of modern contraception and legal abortion, was a bigtime eugenicist...
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/14/2006 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  I have heard liberals talking "eugenics" recently. Eugenics and the beleif in them was The National Socialist Party's forte.
Posted by: SPoD || 05/14/2006 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't understand why the dems would want to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country. After all, they are a core Democrat constituency.

Can we say "Roe effect" children? Good. Can we say "politicaly irrelevant"? even better.
Posted by: N guard || 05/14/2006 0:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Someone needs to tell Weddington that he won. He won't need to suck up to the Clintons this campaign cycle. He can retire and write his memoirs now. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is below replacement level in the entire industrial world and is heading that way in all but the poorest countries. The "religious orgy" of the Reagan-Bush years apparently wasn't very fertile.

Circa 1996, the LA Times did an in-depth, two page spread of abortion statistics. The number that sticks in my head was that 68% of abortions were being performed on middle class or wealthier white women in their 20's. In other words, most abortions were being elected by women who could have afforded the kids.

IIRC, the TFR for that demographic is something like 1.6 or 1.7 in the United States.

It's kind of a Gramscian eugenics, isn't it?
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/14/2006 2:20 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't know. I'm conflicted on this. Could there be anything sadder than an unwanted child discarded to a life of poverty and ignorance? It's easy to think of all children as well fed and happy - but the reality is that life can be torment if a child isn't given a proper chance.
Posted by: 2b || 05/14/2006 6:51 Comments || Top||

#6  In his postscript, Weddington said: "I was co-counsel in Roe v. Wade, [and] have sired zero children and one fetus, the abortion of which was recently recounted by my ex-wife in her book, "A Question of Choice" (Grosset/Putnam, 1992) I had a vasectomy in 1969 and have never had one moment of regret."

Kinda summits it all, doesn't it? Merrily breeding themselves out of existence.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/14/2006 7:15 Comments || Top||

#7  "In his postscript, Weddington said: "I was co-counsel in Roe v. Wade, [and] have sired zero children and one fetus, the abortion of which was recently recounted by my ex-wife in her book, "A Question of Choice" (Grosset/Putnam, 1992) I had a vasectomy in 1969 and have never had one moment of regret."

THEN

"The Weddingtons divorced in 1974."

'Nuff said? Loser.
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/14/2006 8:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Sadly, there is a ring of truth to it all, even from a conservative Christian viewpoint. Sex is going to happen, prevention is better than correction, and society could not sustain 30 million unwanted children born often to drug addicted poor young women who cannot make it a single parents. Even young suburban high school and college girls interrupt their education and diminish any opportunities they may have bu an unwanted pregnancey. I think offering free birth control and vasectomies to those who do not want to be parents and cannot accept full responsibility for their choices the truly compassionate thing to do, and eliminating abortion is to eliminate any hope for a segment of society. Weddington isn't advocating genocide, but as someone pointed out on another RB post, we do have a lot of high-functioning idiots running around. The Bible actually advocates responsibility for the care and education of your children as well as discipline, and never ever advocates parenting outside of wedlock.
Posted by: Danielle || 05/14/2006 10:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Puts me in mind of the punk rock classic by the Dead Kennedys.

Kill the Poor

Efficiency and progress is ours once more
Now that we have the Neutron bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
Away with excess enemy
But no less value to property
No sense in war but perfect sense at home…

The sun beams down on a brand new day
No more welfare tax to pay
Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light
Jobless millions whisked away
At last we have more room to play
All systems go to kill the poor tonight

Gonna
Kill kill kill kill Kill the poor…Tonight

Behold the sparkle of champagne
The crime rate's gone
Feel free again
O' life's a dream with you, Miss Lily White
Jane Fonda on the screen today
Convinced the liberals it's okay
So let's get dressed and dance away the night

While they…
Kill kill kill kill Kill the poor…Tonight
Posted by: JDB || 05/14/2006 10:35 Comments || Top||

#10  nothing wrong with abortion in the first trimester. It's a foetus, not a human. Do YOU remember when you were an egg and sperm? Didn't think so. You might remember being a 1-year-old child at the earliest.

Problem is the catholic thinking 'every sperm is sacred every sperm is good, and if a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate'

same with stem cell research: nothing wrong with it! could help a lot of people. Seems completely illogical for people to be worried about it.

I'd be far more worried about the global trade in human organs ripped out of unwilling human beings: like prisoners in China.

Remember that hilarious South Park episode when Eric Cartman's mum wanted an abortion in the 38th trimester?

But that means your child is 8 years old!
Posted by: anon1 || 05/14/2006 13:10 Comments || Top||

#11  With all due respect, Anon1, the problem is that big evils tend to start out as little evils.

The Holocaust was the direct intellectual and political descendent of the eugenic movement. All communist butchery can be traced back to the simple proposition that property rights are invalid.

One can view a fetus as a clump of insensate cells or a growing potential. That potential is miraculous as it grows to love, grow, create, and share.

The journey between denying the beauty and sacredness of such a potential and the gas chamber or killing fields in not a long one. I believe that once that potential has started its growth, it must be protected with all means that do not prevent it from exercising its free will.

Protection and free will sometimes clash. That's what God made wisdom for.
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/14/2006 14:41 Comments || Top||

#12  The (insert disfavored or disadvantaged group here) shouldn't be allowed to breed. That is the intellectual brother of unlimited and unrestrained access to abortion. A goal of the Eugenics movement by a differnet name.

Posted by: SPoD || 05/14/2006 14:47 Comments || Top||

#13  68% of abortions were being performed on middle class or wealthier white women in their 20's.
If that's true, it means that a lot of people who are too dumb or lazy to use proper contraception are using abortion as birth control. As for "eliminat(ing) the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country", who gets to choose? I grew up VERY poor. Today, I'm considered middle-class. My brother and his wife are pulling in $50,000 or more in a home business. The guy who shined my boots and shoes for $2/week in Panama sent eight kids through college, including three that became doctors, two lawyers, one civil engineer, a teacher and a biologist.

No human being should ever consider playing God - they're not smart enough, they have no clue what they're doing, and the unexpected consequences of their actions may be horrendous (Hitler and his ambitions come to mind, along with Mao's "great leap forward, Pol Pot's killing fields, and thousands of examples going back through history).

Mr. Weddington should be exiled to an island somewhere in the South Pacific where there's only a handful of trees and no natives. He can't do much harm from there. Bill and Hill should have the adjacent island, with hungry sharks swimming between them.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/14/2006 15:40 Comments || Top||

#14  The guy who shined my boots and shoes for $2/week in Panama sent eight kids through college, including three that became doctors, two lawyers, one civil engineer, a teacher and a biologist.

That wouldn't happen to be Carlos at Ft. Kobbe, would it OP?
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/14/2006 16:42 Comments || Top||

#15  "68%" - that number is higher is other medias or studies, even amongst minority or mixed-race adult women. The evidencias ultimately demonstrate that there is no need for any form of abortion to be subsidized by Government-Public Sector. LEFY UNIVERSAL EQUALISM > ANTI-ITOPIA UTOPIAN GENDER-BASED SOCIALISM - "Abortion Rights" is just a feel-good, PC/PDeniable label for promoting and miantaining pervasive pregancies amongt knowingly teenage, tweeny, or pre-teen minor females in order to earn Govt-subsidized public assistance, i.e. AGE-BASED GENDER SOCIALISM. Its called the Left B******* about a problem(s) but wilfully never solving it -iff anything, the masses are being MISLED, just like Lefties working to ensure that Russia-China rule the world but NOT their own country is NOT TREASON - ITs NOT SOCIALISM, MARXISM or COMMUNISM but "ANTI-FASCISM" [ anti-Rightism SOCIALISM], ITs NOT RUSSIA-CHINA or COMMUNIST ASIA but "EURASIANISM" or "MACKINDER'S WORLD ISLAND" etc!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/14/2006 22:51 Comments || Top||


Burden of Proof
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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