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Lebanese Army Moves South
Today's Headlines
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 Besoeker [1] 
3 00:00 tu3031 [3] 
35 00:00 Mullah Richard [2] 
10 00:00 anonymous2u [1] 
19 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [2] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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1 00:00 Captain America [5]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
'Hybrid Mutant' Found Dead in Maine
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/17/2006 03:21 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No doubt a chupacabra!
Posted by: SteveS || 08/17/2006 4:12 Comments || Top||

#2  A second Hildebeast?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/17/2006 6:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Ima thinkin' movie deal: Chupacabra vs. Hildebeast. Anybody got an unused pyramid?
Posted by: ed || 08/17/2006 7:18 Comments || Top||

#4  GM
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/17/2006 7:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Most likely a case of Wolf/wild dog that ended up looking U-G-L-Y.
Posted by: Charles || 08/17/2006 7:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Reminds me of something I saw about 2 years ago in BC, Canada. While biking on a road in Roberts Creek that cots through woods on both sides, something ran across the road in front of me, about 5 yards distance. Imagine a slightly overgrown weasel, charcoal grey, but with a neck and head of a horse (scaled down) and three pairs of short legs (not pulling your leg). I braked and stopped, utterly flabbergasted. The critter disappeared into undergrowth bushes. To this day, I have no idea what I saw, and I have pretty good idea about the known fauna in the area.
Posted by: twobyfour || 08/17/2006 7:42 Comments || Top||

#7  cots = cuts
Posted by: twobyfour || 08/17/2006 7:43 Comments || Top||

#8  It's Manbearpig! Quick, alert Al Gore!!
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 08/17/2006 8:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Starving Wild boar.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/17/2006 8:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Global warming.
Posted by: newc || 08/17/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#11  Ozone hole and El Nino and the combined increase in Solar Rays and the fluctuating magnetic field with shifting poles are destroying EVERYTHING!!!!

IT is Bush's FAULT! Can I have a pony now?

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 08/17/2006 9:08 Comments || Top||

#12  No, you watched Men it Black FLASH its just FLASH one of their FLASH aliens FLASH!
Nothing here go away.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/17/2006 9:26 Comments || Top||

#13  It's the result of a SECRET Halliburton contract with Stephen King to produce a new killing robot werepossum thingy.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 || 08/17/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#14  Manolo, ponny's not available, but for trying, you can have a ponnytail. ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour || 08/17/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#15  Wildlife officials and animal control officers declined to go to Turner to examine the remains.
Your tax dollars at work.
Posted by: wxjames || 08/17/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#16  The dreaded WereBeagle.
Posted by: mojo || 08/17/2006 10:24 Comments || Top||

#17  A "hybrid mutant" in Maine?
Oh, it's an animal...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/17/2006 10:27 Comments || Top||

#18  Too many Mentos with diet coke.
Wait... those were in Buckfield, the next town over. This is in Turner.

Never mind.
Posted by: oddfellow || 08/17/2006 10:37 Comments || Top||

#19  An unshorn lumberjack?
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands || 08/17/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||

#20  As a state contractor, I had occasion to visit almost each one of the 502 lovely cities and towns of the good state of Maine. North of "Banga", I met at least one hybrid mutant every day.
Posted by: GORT || 08/17/2006 10:59 Comments || Top||

#21  Wolf - Chow mix.
Posted by: ed || 08/17/2006 11:14 Comments || Top||

#22  Has anyone seen Stephen King lately?
Posted by: Xbalanke || 08/17/2006 12:03 Comments || Top||

#23 
All it wanted was to be loved. Yes, yes, we are the monsters.
Posted by: Master of Obvious || 08/17/2006 12:17 Comments || Top||

#24  http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/mainepix/

Update
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/mainebeast2/

Not very fortean (some kind of feral dog, not a wolf-dog hybrid), but a cyptide nonetheless.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/17/2006 13:14 Comments || Top||

#25  Not very fortean (some kind of feral dog, not a wolf-dog hybrid), but a cyptide nonetheless.

thatr clears it up! ;-)
Posted by: RD || 08/17/2006 13:33 Comments || Top||

#26  Werewolf puppy.
Posted by: Thoth || 08/17/2006 13:41 Comments || Top||

#27  When I saw the original link's picture, I immediately thought of some kind of hyper-chow. I do see resemblance to Akitas too. Not very "mutantish". Now, that cross-breeding offspring of mucky/Joe M., that would be something to fear (in postings at least).
Posted by: BA || 08/17/2006 14:25 Comments || Top||

#28  Sea Monkeys?
Posted by: Scott R || 08/17/2006 15:06 Comments || Top||

#29  'Twas beauty that killed the mutant.
Posted by: Mike || 08/17/2006 15:08 Comments || Top||

#30  Looked anything like the creatures from the movie THE DESCENT?
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 08/17/2006 17:23 Comments || Top||

#31  You weren't smoking any of that 'BC Bud" were you, two by four?
Posted by: Sgt. D.T. || 08/17/2006 18:12 Comments || Top||

#32  Sgt. D.T., nope, no dope, evah. (Smokes and coffee, I hope, don't count, beer/wine in rather moderate amounts, but no at the event time).
Posted by: twobyfour || 08/17/2006 18:52 Comments || Top||

#33  It was charcoal gray, weighed between 40 and 50 pounds and had a bushy tail, a short snout, short ears and curled fangs hanging over its lips, he said.

The infamous crashing boar.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/17/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||

#34  It's a hodag!
Posted by: mom || 08/17/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||

#35  Thanks Mom! You must be a cheesehead or a yooper!

HODAG SITE
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/17/2006 20:42 Comments || Top||


Tort Reform Reminder: Spilled Decaf Costs Starbucks A Lot Of Beans
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK A Manhattan lawyer won $310,000 from Starbucks because of a cup of hot decaf spilled on her foot. The jury's verdict was handed down in April and upheld yesterday by State Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman. The 42-year-old attorney, Alice Grifffin, says she bought a large decaf on February 10, 2004 from a Starbucks on Seventh Avenue. She says the clerk did not put an insulating sleeve on the cup, and slid the coffee on the counter so it fell on her foot.
A total innocent, of course. In explicably attacked by an e-vil Starbucks barista.
Griffin testified the hot coffee scalded her toes leaving her with nerve damage to her foot.
Ah, brain damage.
Starbucks says it regrets her pain, but it says the company will appeal the jury verdict if a better settlement can't be reached.
How pathetic that this insane judgement stands. Let's elect Edwards so we can all get in on the scams. There's plenty of room (and moola) for everybody, right? Fucking scum corporations. A settlement in every pot account, baby.
Replace Lieberman with Lamont and the trial lawyer take-over of the Dhimmicratic Party will be about complete.
Posted by: Flavinter Phung9488 || 08/17/2006 02:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wonder how much she will donate to the Democratic party? My distaste for lawyers is partially based on the fact they are huge financial supporters of the Democratic party. I wonder how many jobs this lady just killed? That is another reason to hate lawyers the legal profession are job and business killers.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/17/2006 8:40 Comments || Top||

#2  It was not too hot to drink but too hot for her foot? Too bad lie detectors are not standard court equipment.
Posted by: ed || 08/17/2006 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  No sympathy here for either party. Yes, they do make it too hot* and yes as a grown adult you are responsible for the proper handling of the material you know full well is not benign.

* if you need it that hot, you’ve already burned off your taste buds and its just a status issue for you. Come on, if it can inflict 2nd and 3rd degree burns on open flesh, what do you think it's done to your oral cavity. Heh.
Posted by: Glurt Flavitch2274 || 08/17/2006 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Decaf. Why bother?
Posted by: Flaigum Whelet4630 || 08/17/2006 9:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Considering how many moonbats I see at my local Starbucks, I'm just not sure who to root for here.


A plague on both their houses.(Although I'm a firm believer in tort reform)
Posted by: charger || 08/17/2006 9:54 Comments || Top||

#6  If I ran Starbucks, I'd double the prices in Manhattan until the 310000 is repaid, with posters of the woman and her lawyer in every store saying why the prices are higher.
Posted by: Oldcat || 08/17/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm always suprised at how easy it is to pick a jury of 12 retards to give judgements like this. Not a promising testament to mankind. Couple this with the scores of comparatively miniscule settlements that working class people recieve every day for horrible,
permanent injuries at work or in their cars.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/17/2006 11:28 Comments || Top||

#8  “large decaf”? I recently had to drop someone off at Oakland Airport and stopped by Starbucks in Berkley on my way home. The young man working at Starbucks took great pleasure in explaining a “Large” was actually called a “Venti” in Starbucks lingo. Based on that, they should throw this stupid case out AND EXECUTE THE LAWYER(s).
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 08/17/2006 12:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Oldcat, you might also institute a 2 minute cooling off period so people have to wait for their coffee to be properly cool so they can handle it safely. PUt the ladies face on the little wrap-around insulating sleeves with an explaination of new policies.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/17/2006 12:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Starbucks should pay her, but part of the deal should be she never enter another Starbucks again or drink any of their products.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 08/17/2006 13:45 Comments || Top||


Exploding Tree
A lightning strike in the Florida city of Cape Coral caused a dead tree to explode in a massive blast that sent debris flying over a two-block radius and damaged 17 houses, the local fire department said Wednesday. "In 18 years with the fire department, I've never seen anything like that," Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Mikell told AFP.

He said the 12-meter (40-foot) pine tree was hit by lightning during a thunderstorm on Monday and exploded "almost like a bomb." The tree had already been struck by lightning last year, apparently during a hurricane, causing decay that may have produced pockets of gases, said Mikell.

One person was lightly injured and treated on the spot, and 17 houses were damaged, "two to the point of being uninhabitable," said Mikell. "Sections of the tree were found as far as 500 feet (150 meters) away. ... There was damage within two blocks of the location," he said.

Lightning kills more people in Florida than any other US state, with 85 deaths recorded in the 1995-2004 period. "We see a lot of lightning damage. That's not unusual," said Mikell. "But I've never seen a blast effect like this."
Posted by: 3dc || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Someone has to say it" "Trees...why do they hate us?"
Posted by: twobyfour || 08/17/2006 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Global warming
Posted by: newc || 08/17/2006 1:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Exploding Tree = Pinaceae SplodyDopa
Posted by: RD || 08/17/2006 2:20 Comments || Top||

#4  I believe the tree is of the family Paleosus Pinus.
Posted by: flyover || 08/17/2006 2:23 Comments || Top||

#5  It's because the tree was Oppressed and couldn't bear the Humiliation anymore, so it fought back with The Only Weapon Of The Weak. None of this would have happened if the USA had a more balanced middle-east foreign policy.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/17/2006 3:24 Comments || Top||

#6  I blame the bush.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/17/2006 4:14 Comments || Top||

#7  LOL, SteveS.
Posted by: flyover || 08/17/2006 7:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't you mean Shrub?
Posted by: ed || 08/17/2006 7:09 Comments || Top||

#9  "Trees...why do they hate us?"

Those who walk about on 2 legs, chopping and burning ... The Valar willing, we Ents will revenge every tree whose life you have cut short!
Posted by: Fangorn || 08/17/2006 11:00 Comments || Top||

#10  We need to look at root causes.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 08/17/2006 12:29 Comments || Top||

#11  I'm surprised the explosion branched out that far.
Posted by: BA || 08/17/2006 14:14 Comments || Top||

#12  BA, Xbalanke - you both need to leaf.
Posted by: GORT || 08/17/2006 15:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Nut before you, GORT.
Posted by: BA || 08/17/2006 15:30 Comments || Top||

#14  Was there a JOOOOOOOOOO hiding behind it?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/17/2006 15:35 Comments || Top||

#15  Islamic Pine?
Did it scream, "Allah Akhbar!", before it exploded...
Posted by: BigEd || 08/17/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||

#16  After being hit by lightning only a sap would expect the tree to just pitch over.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/17/2006 19:36 Comments || Top||

#17  You're not Punny.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/17/2006 19:49 Comments || Top||

#18  Seriously, that was a Steam Explosion, I happened to see the same thing once many years ago.

I was standing inside a friend's garage when lightning hit a huge old oak across the street, (100 feet or so away, kitty-corner) I happened to be looking exactly that way when it hit, it blew wood, dirt and bark all over the intersection, me and my friend too (Maybe 200 feet area) and eventualy killed the tree.

After it quit raining I went over to check it out.

It seems that how a tree grows a single root feeds a single branch, while it looked at first that the lightning had circled the trunk, really the tree was twisted as it grew.And the lightning followed the same path to ground.

Where the bark was blasted off was a straight line from the struck branch to the root. (Even though it 3/4 circled the tree trunk)
Bark missing and wood smoking all the way from branch tip to root, blew a good hunk of soil out of the ground (About two good shovel's worth) at the root's end as well.

The tree died, but it was a long time before it was completely dead, the exposed path was dead instantly, but the rest of the tree succumbed to rot starting from the blasted and dead strip.

The city finaly cut it down, (City Property) half rotted and half alive, but dangerous, dropping huge branches in the street from time to time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/17/2006 20:17 Comments || Top||

#19  And I thought I'd seen some spectacular damage from lightning strikes....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/17/2006 20:22 Comments || Top||


Arabia
20 arrested at Saudi gay wedding
Saudi authorities arrested 20 young men after raiding a suspected gay wedding in the southern town of Jizan, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The detainees, who were among some 400 men attending "the wedding party of two men" on Tuesday, had been "emulating women," the Al-Watan paper said. In all, some 250 people were detained in the police raid on the party but the rest were later released.

Police had "arrested the wanted people and released those who have nothing to do with the matter," the paper quoted a police commander as saying. Some guests were also seen chewing qat, an illegal narcotic widely used in neighbouring Yemen, on a hill above the square where the party was being held, Al-Watan said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Watch how many wind up to be suicide bombers.
Posted by: Penguin || 08/17/2006 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps they could be turned against the bad guys. Kill enough of the bad guys and their lives start getting easier as the extremism diminishes.
Posted by: gorb || 08/17/2006 2:16 Comments || Top||

#3  "I'm just the caterer!"
Posted by: Frank G || 08/17/2006 9:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Married in Jizan? Who said irony is dead?
Posted by: Raj || 08/17/2006 9:15 Comments || Top||

#5  I've read where Andrew Sullivan thinks the recently busted plot to blow up the US bound airplanes from GB is a hoax. I wonder if Andrew thinks this raid on the gay wedding is a hoax. You'd think gays would be on the side of civilization in the war on jihad. sadly, if you thought so you'd be wrong.
Posted by: Mark Z || 08/17/2006 9:48 Comments || Top||

#6  That's my questioning of the LLL moonbats. Do they really think that their lives (be it gays, abortionists, anti-religion whackos, anti-war nuts, etc.) would be better under a new caliphate, a'la the Taliban? They'd be the first to be strung up, or would have to go underground to hide from the virtue and vice police.
Posted by: BA || 08/17/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia pays tribute to Vietnam Veterans
The governor-general has paid tribute to veterans of Australia's bloodiest battle in the Vietnam war.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan in which 108 Australian soldiers fought a Viet Cong force that outnumbered them 10 to one.

The battle, in torrential rain in a rubber plantation south east of Saigon, left 18 Australians dead and 24 wounded.

August 18 is now Australia's annual Vietnam Veterans Day.

Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery, himself a veteran of the war, has told a service at the Australian War Memorial that Long Tan displayed the best characteristics of Australian soldiers.

"This epic struggle reinforced traits for which Australian soldiers have become world-renowned - courage and determination, mateship and teamwork, leadership and tenacity, compassion and humour," he said.

"It further reinforced our international reputation as a skilled exponent of the profession of arms."

In parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister John Howard said Australia had "collectively failed" to give adequate recognition to the 50,000 Australians who fought in the unpopular war.

Major General Jeffery added his voice, saying it was "to our country's shame" that it did not recognise its Vietnam veterans until the national welcome home parade in 1987.

"We honour those who did not return and those who returned hurt in body or mind," he said.

"None should ever be forgotten. None will be forgotten, nor indeed will the families and loved ones who supported us."

The Governor-General told the hundreds of veterans who attended the war memorial they should be proud of their service.

"Be proud of what you achieved and hold your heads high in the knowledge that you were the equal of the very best that ever went away to serve our nation, from the Boer War to the present day, and that you did indeed make a difference," Major General Jeffery said.

"Let us never forget."

The main Vietnam Veterans Day commemorative service will be held at the Vietnam War Memorial in Canberra from 10am (AEST) and will be attended by Mr Howard.
Posted by: Oztralian || 08/17/2006 19:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thank you always brave Diggers!

"Shoot straight you bastards!"
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/17/2006 20:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Two charged with honour killing in Italy
Italian police were searching yesterday for a man suspected of involvement in the killing of a Pakistani woman after her father and uncle were charged with slitting her throat because she dated an Italian man and refused to conform to an Islamic lifestyle.
It does seem that we read these stories over and again ...
Investigators believe the third suspect helped the father and uncle kill Hina Saleem, 21. The woman's body was found buried in the family's garden in Sarezzo on Saturday. Her father and uncle were taken into custody on Monday. Investigators said they were looking into the theory that the grave was dug before the woman was killed. It is thought a long kitchen knife was used to slit her throat.

The Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that the victim's father had applied for Italian citizenship two months ago. Applicants must convince authorities that they also embrace "fundamental" rights, including the right of a woman "to choose her own life", said the interior minister, Giuliano Amato.
Worked well, didn't it.
News reports said the victim's family had been insisting on an arranged marriage with a cousin in Pakistan.
"Dad, he's ucky! And our children would be deformed! I won't do it!"
"Allan forbid you date an Italian! I'm going to talk with your uncle, and you'll be sorry!"
Posted by: Steve White || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Read my lips: Muslims are working to establish Sharia law as paramount, and only obey our laws where they do not have the numbers to disobey them and get away with it. If a Black Muslim gets on an American jury, the odds that they will not vote for conviction of a potential Black American convert are 100%. This subversionof the rule of law will escalate until our leaders are resolute enough to stop it.
Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 || 08/17/2006 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  The Victim.


Posted by: Manolo || 08/17/2006 10:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Honour Killing?????

Fuck off, it's ritual Islamic Murder.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/17/2006 11:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Suicide bombings & honour killings are two forms of human sacrifice sacred to Islam.
Posted by: Snuns Thromp1484 || 08/17/2006 12:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Honor Killings is murder. Nothing else need be said. Whose honor is it?
Posted by: BigEd || 08/17/2006 18:34 Comments || Top||

#6  We're going to be way ahead in this game when the press no longer uses words like "honour" in association with these murders. Even the least validation of such barbarity is unpardonable. Get over the moral relativism already, especially when dealing with cretins.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/17/2006 19:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Amen to that Zenster.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/17/2006 21:33 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Bush Helps Swann Raise Campaign Cash
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - President Bush, speaking at a fundraiser Wednesday that an official said raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the struggling campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann, devoted about half of his speech to the war in Iraq. ``If we cut and run ... this would be a defeat for the United States on a key battleground in the global war on terror,'' Bush said.

Bush also praised Swann in his speech before about 350 people at the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center, citing the candidate's plans to cut taxes and work to lower medical malpractice insurance rates. ``He's not running for his ego; he's running because he wants to serve the people of this state, and he's got a platform that makes a lot of sense,'' Bush said.

Swann campaign spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said the event raised about $700,000. ``It's a significant step in our campaign,'' Alcivar said.

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell led Swann 54 percent to 34 percent among registered voters in a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, a margin that changed little from a June poll that had the former Philadelphia mayor leading Swann 55 percent to 31 percent.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I haven't been following the gubernatorial race too much, despite working right in Harrisburg. Still, Swann could use some additional recognition (a letter to Rendell which got kicked over to the agency where I work criticized a policy of his and then added, "maybe the guy who's running against you might be interested in this." I had to chuckle; they apparently couldn't recall his name).
Posted by: The Doctor || 08/17/2006 9:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Rendell is a corrupt scumbag, and everybody knows it. However, republican conservatives are still racists and some can't even consider voting for a black man. I know, my best friend is one such jackass.
By the way, the same can be applied to Hillary running for president. Some people just will not vote for a woman. She will loose. Unfortunately, so will Lynn Swann.
Posted by: wxjames || 08/17/2006 10:31 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not unfortunate. Every bit of evidence so far indicates that Rendell is a better politician, candidate and governor than Swann would be. If that's not the case, Swann better start to demonstrate that he's actually alive.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/17/2006 10:44 Comments || Top||


Irey in town: Murtha rival sets up shop
It is no accident that Republican congressional candidate Diana Irey has opened a campaign office in U.S. Rep. John Murtha’s backyard. But rather than an attempt to gain a foothold in the powerful Democrat’s hometown, Irey says she simply needed a headquarters for a local campaign movement that has a full head of steam. “We’re signing up more and more volunteers every day,” the Washington County commissioner said Tuesday.

Irey opened an office in a complex off Eisenhower Boulevard, Richland Township. It is her only other office aside from her campaign headquarters in Monongahela, Washington County. And Irey said she intends to have her Richland location, which will serve mainly Cambria and Somerset counties, staffed daily. Supporters packed the small office Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Hopefully, it will be full of people tomorrow and every day after that,” said Bill Weigle, Cambria County Republican Committee executive director.

Irey’s move is not causing much concern in the Murtha camp, said Ed Mitchell, the congressman’s campaign spokesman. “(Murtha) always won this area very significantly, and we feel he’ll do that again,” Mitchell said.

Irey – flanked by Republican lieutenant governor candidate Jim Matthews – used a short speech Tuesday to attack Murtha’s record. Echoing what has become a major theme in this campaign, she criticized Murtha’s calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. “We don’t need to redeploy our troops,” Irey said. “We need to redeploy John Murtha.”
Posted by: Fred || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Putting my (our) donations to good use. Every vote counts... Go Irey, go!
Posted by: flyover || 08/17/2006 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  *** BTW, Fred, I have a ***bug report*** for you... On most articles, today, I do not have a Comments link. This is one of the few exceptions where I do. Anyone else seeing this? Should I take this personally?

LOL.
Posted by: flyover || 08/17/2006 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  If I have to listen to that dik head Murtha for another year, I will probably cancel my subscription to Washington DC
Posted by: newc || 08/17/2006 1:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Being completely honest here, I've never donated to anyone's campaign (but I vote every time). She may very well earn my first political $. Go Diana, go!
Posted by: BA || 08/17/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PPP leader killed in Muzaffargarh
MUZAFFARGARH: Sardar Nasrullah Khan Jatoi, former Punjab minister and a member of the Pakistan People's Party, was shot dead at his quarters following a domestic dispute early on Wednesday, police said.

“Jatoi tried to shoot family-member Zeeshan Jatoi but misfired. Jatoi's brother Sarfraz fired back, injuring him and fleeing the scene...”
Jatoi, who was also the tehsil nazim and the younger brother of Muzaffargarh's district nazim, had tried to shoot family-member Zeeshan Jatoi in a clash but misfired, his relatives said.
"I don't care if you are family, Zeeshan! You're a dead man! Eat lead" 'Click' "Uh oh"
Jatoi's brother Sarfraz fired back, injuring him and fleeing the scene, they said.
"Curly toed slippers, don't fail me now!"
Jatoi was rushed to the DHQ Hospital, where he died while in a coma.
"He's dead, Jim"
Nazim Qayyum Jatoi, the deceased man's brother, said that the dispute was over "a petty issue", and the men should not have resorted to violence.
Posted by: Fred || 08/17/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have no idea whether this is good or not.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/17/2006 11:36 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Mud Flood Cruds Java
Thousands of people on the Indonesian island of Java have been forced from their homes by tonnes of hot mud and gas.

The sludge, which has been spewing out of the ground for more than two months, is the result of a crack in a gas drilling project near Indonesia's second city, Surabaya.

In a sign of growing international concern over the disaster, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the affected area of Sidoarjo last week.

But despite attempts by government officials and the company involved, so far nothing has managed to contain the flow.

The mud now covers around 20 square kilometres. That's a lot of mud. Climb up a bank of earth at the outskirts of Shiring village and you see it - a lake of mud stretching for kilometre after kilometre.

A white plume of gas marks the spot where it all started; a crack in the earth spewing out steaming sludge.

You can count the rooftops floating in the mud - marking out factories and schools. And you can imagine the things you cannot see - the homes, the rice paddies, the furniture, the toys: whole lives buried; their owners gone, forced to run for higher ground.

A few kilometres away is what one local person described as a "people market". It is a newly-built market place, not yet filled with shops.

Instead, most of the 9,000 people who have been displaced by the mud have ended up here, two families to one shop space. Motorbikes, clothes and plastic buckets mark the entrance to these new homes - a handful of belongings saved from the sludge.

"We were all scared," Suliati said, as she squatted outside one shop entrance, cooking up a dinner of fried eggs.

"The mud came up to our chest, we didn't have time to save anything from the house, we just ran to save our lives. Behind her, her mother nodded agreement.

"Now we have to help each other just to survive," she said. "Some people borrow things from us, we borrow other things from them. We have food, but we've lost everything else - our homes, our jobs. It's a hard time for us."

The gas company running the operation in Sidaorjo, Lapindo Brantas, has been criticised for risking the safety of local people, and allegations of corruption have soured the air.

A criminal investigation has begun into several senior executives from Lapindo and one of their sub-contractors, but the company's lawyer, Masieyh Sutiono, said the company had done nothing wrong.

Instead, he said, the company was acting responsibly towards local people by offering food and compensation to those affected by the mud, while everyone waited for the results of the police investigation.

Lapindo has been trying to stem the flow of mud, but so far nothing has worked. The government, meanwhile, is anxious to keep the sludge away from any other residential areas and is putting its faith into a series of dams meant to contain the growing lake.

Trucks carrying mounds of earth to build these new barriers rumble up and down the main highway every couple of minutes, but the dams have not always proved effective.

Earlier this month, a barrier around the village of Shiring burst, causing a second wave of refugees. Many of those living close to the affected area have now moved out, and many of those that remain are thinking about it.

Mrs Jhoni watches the trucks come and go from the front of her button and bead shop on the main highway. She is reluctant to leave her customers, and her shop - which is raised a little way above the main road - will give her some protection. But she says she is playing a "wait and see" game and is ready to run whenever things take a turn for the worse.

The rainy season is due to begin in two months time, and plans to build a stronger, concrete barrier to cope with it have not convinced many of the experts brought in to find a solution. Heavy rainfall, they say, could break through the barrier in a matter of hours.

Pressure from environmentalists has so far prevented them from using the river to divert tonnes of sludge into the Java Sea.

But with pressure also growing from the local population to find a solution, and with the volume of mud increasing and the rainy season approaching, everyone in Sidoarjo is having to think hard about who will pay the cost of fixing the problem.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/17/2006 17:14 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why does allan hate them?
Posted by: anonymous2u || 08/17/2006 18:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, he just like great coffee...
Posted by: flyover || 08/17/2006 19:23 Comments || Top||

#3  If they need any money, don't bother me...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/17/2006 22:44 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2006-08-17
  Lebanese Army Moves South
Wed 2006-08-16
  Leb contorts, obfuscates over Hezbollah disarmament
Tue 2006-08-15
  Assad: We’ll liberate Golan Heights
Mon 2006-08-14
  Hizbullah distributes Leaflets claiming victory
Sun 2006-08-13
  Lebanese Cabinet Approves Cease-Fire
Sat 2006-08-12
  Israeli troops reach the Litani River
Fri 2006-08-11
  ‘Quake money’ used to finance UK plane bombing plot
Thu 2006-08-10
  "Plot to blow up planes" foiled in UK. We hope.
Wed 2006-08-09
  Israel shakes up Leb front leadership
Tue 2006-08-08
  Lebanese objection delays vote at UN
Mon 2006-08-07
  IAF strikes northeast Lebanon
Sun 2006-08-06
  Beirut dismisses UN draft resolution
Sat 2006-08-05
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  Record number of rockets hit Israeli north


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