pretty obviously the exams were oral *rimshot* (so to speak...)
Okay gents, I'm sticking up for the girlies in this case. Monica was a messed-up Beverly Hills spoiled brat whose central tragedy prior to her internship was not getting invited to Tori Spelling's birthday party and whose flirtation with the President should have ended long before the first thong flash. Clinton had no business fooling around with her and the whole mess still makes me angry. I still remember Bill wagging his finger at the cameras as he denied her by name to the whole world. Coward. (That being said, Bill shoulda been king back in the day, when the chief of every village would send his favorite daughter in tribute.) I'm also mad at all the alleged feminists (I'm looking at you, Hillary) who gave His Goatness a pass on his boys-will-be-boys indiscretions and gleefully threw Monica and Linda whatsername under the bus.
I'm glad Monica has been able to move on and chart a new course for herself.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I had a girlfriend who graduated from the LSE. Is it still more Marxist than Moscow University?
#2
A famous alumnus (though not graduate) of the LSE is Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death for murdering Daniel Pearl. Just before Daniel's abduction, the LSE awarded its 2002 10,000£ Lakatos prize to Danny's father Judea.
And we get the punchline, the fundy diff that sets apart Thugocracies, right up front.
Zimbabwe's President Says He Will Not Tolerate Dissent Under 'Guise' of Freedom of Expression
And the rest is just filler.
HARARE, Zimbabwe Dec 20, 2006 (AP) President Robert Mugabe said Wednesday his government will not tolerate dissent created "under the guise of freedom of expression."
Mugabe, in his annual state of the nation address to parliament, said law enforcement agencies will continue to crush dissent in the troubled southern African nation. He said government opponents were bent on creating anarchy and pushing what he has described as a British attempt to topple his government.
In September, police thwarted a march by the main labor federation in Harare protesting deepening poverty. At least 16 labor leaders were assaulted by police, several of them suffering bone fractures and other injuries, according to independent doctors and human rights organizations.
Continued on Page 49
#8
Tourism to Zimbabwe from Asia increased this year, showing the nation was a safe and attractive destination "despite the hostile media" in the West, he said.
Wonder how many of the PLA guards were counted as tourists.
#10
Dissent? Dissent got nuthin to do with me bitchin about ain't no whiteys fa my plantin, do it?
Be cool, Bob. I just askin. Doan be crushin ma ass..
Posted by: Farmin B. Hard ||
12/21/2006 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with herbicides.
Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to get a load of this shit, man! give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia.
"These plants have been genetically improved," he told a handful of journalists allowed to accompany soldiers on a daylong raid of some 70 marijuana fields. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots." What did they mix it with? Crabgrass? Kudzu?
The new plants, known as "Colombians," mature in about two months and can be planted at any time of year, meaning authorities will no longer be able to time raids to coincide with twice-yearly harvests. Crap...they'll have to pretend to work all year?
The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.
Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing.
"For each 100 (marijuana plots) that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.
The raids were part of President Felipe Calderon's new offensive to restore order in his home state of Michoacan and fight drug violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.
In Michoacan, officials say the Valencia and Gulf cartels have been battling over lucrative marijuana plantations and smuggling routes for cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States. I guess the ice cream business isn't as lucrative as it once was...
In one incident, gunmen stormed into a bar and dumped five human heads on the dance floor.
The president, who took office Dec. 1, sent 7,000 soldiers and federal officers to Michoacan last week. Officials have arrested 45 people, including several suspected leaders of the feuding cartels. They also seized three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos. More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and numerous foreign and national boats.
"We are determined to shut down delinquency and stop crime in Mexico because it is endangering the lives of all Mexicans, of our families," Calderon said, calling the operation a "success" so far. "Hey, look, we're cleaning up the riff-raff.....send more money, pinche gringos....."
In the past week, soldiers and federal police have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres in Michoacan, security officials said.
Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels up to $626 million, counting the value of plants that have been destroyed and drugs that could have been produced with seized opium poppies and marijuana seeds.
On Sunday, federal authorities announced the capture of suspected drug lord Elias Valencia, the most significant arrest since the operation began.
Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, started out with enthusiastic U.S. applause for his own fight against drug trafficking. U.S. officials called the arrest of drug bosses early in his six-year term unprecedented, while Fox boasted that his administration had destroyed 43,900 acres of marijuana and poppy plantations in its first six months and more than tripled drug seizures.
Yet drug violence has spiked across the country in recent years, with gangs fighting over control of routes following the arrest of drug lords, authorities say.
Mexico has also continued to struggle with corruption among its law enforcement ranks. Garcia said authorities did not tell soldiers where they were being sent on raids and banned the use of cell phones and radios.
#1
OK, there is no such thing as a plant which can't be killed by herbicides. Probably what this means is that somebody came up with a Roundup Ready marijuana variety, since glyphosates are the most likely class of off-the-shelf plantkiller they'd be using. Try atrazine or metolachlor, they're dirtier but it'll get the job done.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/21/2006 8:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
what this means is that somebody came up with a Roundup Ready marijuana variety,
Possibly the action of renegade botanists, but more likely just "natural" selection in action. Lots of marijuana gets grown and sprayed. Any plants with herbicide resistance will tend to survive and pass on their genes. It is the same process that creates antibiotic resistant bacteria.
#6
Officials estimate the raids could cost the cartels up to $626 million, counting the value of plants that have been destroyed and drugs that could have been produced with seized opium poppies and marijuana seeds.
My personal fav though would be to simply dust the fields with plutonium. Forget radioactivity, it's so toxic chemically that it would be quite effective. Of course, it's not to kill the plants but the farmers.
#9
Don't give terrorists any ideas. The perfect plot against the Great Satan: radioactive or toxic marijuana and cocaine stealthily kills Americans, from the inner city to suburban housewives, DC to Hollywood. Few families would be untouched by a tragedy of this magnitude. Better to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana and free up law enforcement for the really dangerous crime. Take the black out of the market.
#12
I, for one, welcome our new Triffid overlords.
Posted by: Kent Brockman ||
12/21/2006 13:41 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Okay, #9, a question : where is the downside to your scenario? If you kill off a few hundred thousand dopers, America will fall? What the hell planet are you from, CheechandChongia? If the terrorists start poisoning the dope, the cartels will take care of the terrorist problem for us : nobody protects market share like the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. And the cartels will get ALL of the useful intel from any prisoners - they have NO restraints or restrictions on getting information. And what would they do with that intel? Trade it to governments for early parole/offense forgiveness for members of their particular cartel.
He'll be missed...well only for his comic relief value. I think we'll work up a proper RB Viking funeral tonight for the man who named one of the days of the week after his Mom.
Turkmenistan's President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov died on Thursday after 21 years of iron rule in which he crushed all dissent and made his Central Asian state one of the world's most isolated countries. He was 66. State television and government sources said Niyazov, who basked in a unique and bizarre personality cult while ruling a country with the world's fifth-biggest natural gas reserves, died overnight of cardiac arrest.
His funeral was set for December 24 and the government fixed December 26 for the desert state's highest representative body to meet to decide on a successor. Until then, Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov will be acting head of state. But Niyazov, who held all the top posts, left no designated heir and his sudden death raised concerns about the transfer of power in the ex-Soviet nation of 5 million, where foreign oil and gas companies are keen to invest in vast energy reserves.
Flags flew at half-mast from public buildings in the capital Ashgabat, a Soviet city grandly reconstructed to showcase Niyazov's power. Originally a Soviet apparatchik, Niyazov took the title of "Turkmenbashi (Head of the Turkmen) the Great" and had thousands of portraits and statues of him set up throughout the country. They include a revolving statue in gold leaf that rotates to face the sun in Ashgabat. He renamed the month of January after himself and his name was also given to a sea port, farms, military units and even a meteorite.
On Thursday, workers removed all New Year decorations from the streets, and television ran still images of a national flag in a black-bordered frame as an orchestra played solemn tunes. In an early statement eulogising Niyazov's achievements, the government suggested his tough and isolationist policies would be maintained. "The internal and external policies proclaimed earlier will be continued further," said the statement read on state television. "The nation must stay united and unshaken," it said.
Niyazov tolerated no dissent and was regularly criticised by Western human rights groups for flouting basic freedoms. Most civil society campaigners and critical journalists have been driven into exile or jailed, and rights groups have accused him of using torture against his opponents.
Turkmenistan-watchers were monitoring for any signs of trouble in the country, which borders Iran, that could affect its gas deliveries, much of which go to Ukraine via the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. "If Niyazov's death results in political instability and social unrest, this may lead to the gas supply from Turkmenistan to RosUkrEnergo (Russian-Ukraine energy joint venture) and Ukraine being disrupted," said a research note from Deutsche UFG Bank in Moscow.
Berdymukhamedov, the new acting president, is said by the opposition to be related to Niyazov. He was earlier named to head a commission handling the funeral. In Soviet times, the person appointed to that task usually became the successor, but it was not clear if this precedent would be followed in Turkmenistan.
In an early reaction, exiled Turkmen opposition activists said they intended to immediately try to return home. "Our first task is to return to Turkmenistan within hours. We are discussing now how to do it. In Turkmenistan there is no opposition, they all sit in prisons or under home arrest. But outside the country opposition exists and it is coming back," one activist, Parakhad Yklymov, told Reuters by telephone from Sweden.
Russia said it hoped Turkmenistan would stick to Niyazov's course. "We count on the new Turkmenistan leaders continuing their course and further developing bilateral ties," top Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass news agency.
#1
Turkmenistan's President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov died on Thursday after 21 years of iron rule...
Huh? I thought Turkmenistan was a former Soviet Republic. That date puts the beginning of his rule to 1985, which means he was running the place BEFORE the collapse of the USSR.
What am I getting wrong?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/21/2006 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
He was one wild and wacky dude. Among his other weirdnesses was to order his poetry inscribed along with Koranic verse on the walls of mosques, and to have an ice palace built in the middle of the hot desert lowlands.
Definitely touched with a bit of the Ludwig III virus.
The U.S. envoy to six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program said Friday that there were no signs of a breakthrough in the talks and blamed the North for not being serious about the negotiations. Asked if there were any indications of a breakthrough ahead of the last day of talks, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said, "No, I am not aware of any."
After four days of negotiations in the wake of North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear fizzle test, the North has refused to get into substantive discussions on its atomic weapons, envoys said. Instead, the North has complained about the U.S. blacklisting a Maccaca Macau bank, where the regime allegedly laundered money to help fund its weapons programs.
Note that PETA doen't take on the Aussie Eid-sheep-for-sacrifice-supplying industry...
Pop singer Pink has set her sights on the Australian wool makers calling for a boycott because of perceived sheep cruelty, and The Daily Telegraph reports that Treasurer Peter Costello has slammed her right back over her campaign against the wool industry.
Animal rights activists are calling for consumers worldwide to boycott products made with Australian wool because of their controversial "mulesing" technique
The Daily Telegraph reports that Costello claims Pink "knew nothing about mulesing, let alone Australian farmers." "I don't know if Pink is an expert on the sheep industry,'' Said Costello to reporters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/21/2006 10:57 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Pink also calls for the banning of sheep exports to other countries, especially exports of sheep to the Middle East. The graphic video shows footage of sheep being beaten, having their throats slit and worse."
Whoaaa for second there I thought she was talking about how they treat their wives and boys without chin whiskers.
#1
Don't worry Joe, I think Cheney himself may be there and he's bringing a bird gun along in case he spots a "pheasant" in the court room. You'll be just fine.
#3
he said his testimony would not be relevant. If that's the case WTF was he yelling about for a few years and ruining the image of the the country and the nation? What at total turd!
#4
Seeing as how this sad yellowcake affair has become Mr. Wilson's own personal retirement fund, what with the book deal, the civil suit $$$, and the celebrity status, I wonder why he's fighting the subpoena? You'd think he'd be attending the trial as a spectator; to see and be seen; to give bombastic sound bites on the courthouse steps each evening. I mean, it's not like he has a job or anything. What could they possibly ask him on the stand?
#5
The best part is that on the stand, half the time he will plead the fifth amendment, and the other half of the time he will refuse to answer because he says it will compromise "national security".
#6
the other half of the time he will refuse to answer because he says it will compromise "national security".
To which the questioning attorney should say - "It's ok Mr. Wilson, we'll only cover those issues you and the New York Times have already declassified."
Hah theres the real fly in Mr. Wilsons soup. They have absolutely no proof of malice for their civil case and their only hope is to stir enough mud in discovery in order to twist a cloudy narrative. His attorneys know damn well that any precedent set in allowable testimony in a criminal case will likely sink their fishing expedition.
#9
Angavirong Unomoth8305 takes the lead for the Rantburg "Understated Snark of the Week" award.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2006 11:14 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The joke is that Wilson will have to testify in his own lawsuit and he will not be able to refuse to respond for Fifth Amendment or national security reasons. I personally believe that he will drop the lawsuit before depositions begin.
Only one MNA of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has so far formally asked the National Assembly Secretariat not to give him his salary and allowances, after JI Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed announced that his partys MNAs would not receive perks and privileges as a mark of protest against the Womens Protection Act. Muhammad Hussain Mehanti has told the officials concerned in writing to stop his salary as MNA, sources in the NA Secretariat told Daily Times on Wednesday. The salary of Qazi Hussain has been going directly to the Al-Khidmat Foundation, a welfare organisation of the JI, since day one, the sources said. The Jamaat has 28 MNAs in the National Assembly. The salaries of all MNAs are deposited in their prescribed accounts. We will continue to deposit salaries in their accounts until told otherwise, the officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Typical Islamist.All talk and no action.
Like Muslims in London they are all about taking ie. Benefits,Welfare etc and give nothing back to the Communiuty by way of Taxes/Community cohesian etc
A prayer room for Muslims will be built in Ben Gurion Airport, as part of a series of steps aimed at strengthening ties with the Arab community of Israel, The Israeli Airport Authority announced on Thursday. IAA CEO Gabi Ofir said the room will have the conditions necessary for keepers of the Muslim faith, such as purity of location, purity of the body and purity of clothes.
The prayer room will be a square shaped space. In the entrance, a purification water trough will be set up, as well as a 35 cm. rest bench. The 20 square meter room will face southeast. The room will be carpeted and have a niche facing Mecca in one of its walls. It will also contain a library with Muslim prayer books.
Apart from setting up the prayer room, the IAA has already begun several steps that will strengthen ties with the Arab community, the most prominent of which was starting the Unit for Relations with Minorities, a unit working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, giving assistance, guidance and help to Arabic speaking travelers in the airport's terminal. Recently, an Arabic language website of the IAA was unveiled, and also guide booklets and comprehensive Arabic language signs throughout the airport have been published.
Ben Gurion Airport serves between 20,000 and 50,000 passengers daily. The ratio of Muslim passengers from within this estimate is unknown, but it is assumed that the prayer room will be sufficient for now for the needs of the Arab passengers wishing to pray while they are in the airport. The prayer room is in its initial planning stage. According to the airport, the plans are tentative and no timetable for building the room has been decided.
#2
20 square meters is about 14.5' x 15', not exactly huge, but I think it is a bad precedent. When Islam accepts that Israel has a right to exist and Jews are allowed to pray in Muslim countries, then this should go forward. Until then, it is just one more sign of weakness and another level in the death spiral of the West. You cannot win the hearts and minds of these people through kindness and consideration.
#7
"A prayer room for Muslims will be built in Ben Gurion Airport"
It is becoming quite common. The new Adelaide airport has such a room, for taxi drivers & others; the Melbourne airport "prayer" room is in the news due to someone smearing a koran with excrement & urinating in the "prayer" room.
#13
Re #11: I think there will be a room available seasonally: when the Christmas trees are out on display they can have that closet. In the meantime, there are several available that have porcelein (SIC)seats/ koran storage devices built in.
#14
Well the Moose-limbs that go through Ben Gurion probably need a quiet place to "recover their thoughts" after the repeated interrogations they have to go through before getting anywhere near an airplane. It is tough on everyone, but if you look like you've even been to the West Bank or Gaza or have distant relatives there, then they really take out the rectal probe.
NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is bringing out a new CD series this spring based on his Maranatha Baptist Church Sunday school classes.
Publishers Weekly said Wednesday the release is titled "Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bible Study with Jimmy Carter."
The series includes live recordings of Carter's Sunday school classes and will include his interaction with the attendees, as well as newly recorded material from Carter to round out the releases, the report said.
The first CD and download, "Leading a Worthy Life," will be released on March 20. It contains four classes recorded in 1998 and focuses on the theme of reconciliation. The second, "Measuring Our Success," will be released in June and the third, yet untitled, is scheduled for sometime in the fall of 2007.
PW says that Simon & Schuster Audio, Carter's longtime publisher, will produce the series.
#1
See, this is what he should stick with. Simple, insignificant, mindless stuff that few people care about and the people who don't care have to pay absolutely no mind to. He's probably really, really good at it, seeing how it involves pontificating and bloviating and self righteousness and all...
#3
tu3031, you give him too much credit. I certainly wouldn't trust my children with this creep. I'm just wondering if maybe the peanut business is not doing so well. It sure seems like this guy has been in the news a lot lately trying to sell his books and now these CDs.
Sheesh. Call in Dr Carlos Castaneda, stat! I, um, happen to know that a healthy dose of psilocybin relieves one of almost any symptoms, except mebbe the Galluping Giggles. You're just so there, man, y'know? The whole thing, man, is there... and it's all, like, all connected, y'know? And it's purdy cool, man. It's like, groovy, man.
TUCSON, Ariz. - A preliminary study of the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has found it is effective in relieving the symptoms of people suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a University of Arizona psychiatrist reports.
Dr. Francisco A. Moreno led the first FDA-approved clinical study of psilocybin since it was outlawed in 1970. The results of the small-scale study are published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Moreno said the study's intent was only to test the safety of administering psilocybin to patients, and its effectiveness is still in doubt until a larger controlled study can be conducted. But in each of the nine patients in the study, psilocybin completely removed symptoms of the disorder for a period of about four to 24 hours, with some remaining symptom-free for days, Moreno said.
Continued on Page 49
#7
"The nine patients in the study had a range of compulsions, including fear of being contaminated, elaborate cleaning rituals, tapping or touching rituals and mental rituals.
Uh.. Oh! I visit Rantburg everyday.. Pass the mushrooms, please!
#9
TC4484, then you didn't wash them enough. Ya got to get all the cowpoop off.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/21/2006 17:25 Comments ||
Top||
#10
During the Fall, otherwise unemployed never do wells can be seen in urban cattle ranges, poking through clumps of grass in pursuit of Magic Mushrooms. They don't produce a narcotic effect until they are dried out. That's when they become illegal.
#12
Hmmm...ya' know...if you take the common toadstool, boil it in water until you have a sort of brownish scum on the top of the water, scrape off the scum and dry it out, you get a brownish or whitish-grey powder.
This powder is reputedly one of the most poisonous substances on earth.
It's bitter, however, so it's best served with a food or drink where the bitterness won't matter much...
Just one of those little things I learned in a wild and misspent youth studying intersting things like toxic biological and chemical effects...
Allies of hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmmadinejad suffered a stinging defeat in elections for Tehrans city council, losing to moderate conservatives and reformists, results showed Wednesday.
Although final results have still to be published five days after the vote, returns on 80 percent of ballots show that allies of moderate Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf are set to win a clear majority. The Tehran count is the last result due from Fridays nationwide elections for municipal councils and for the clerical Assembly of Experts in the first major test of popularity for Ahmadinejad since he swept to power in 2005.
Allies of Qalibaf, a technocratic moderate conservative, were set to win eight seats on the 15-member body, bolstered by the win of an independent loyal to the mayor. Reformers were set to gain four seats and Ahmadinejad allies two. The candidates running in the top two places were the city councils current head, Mehdi Chamran, and ex-Tehran police chief Morteza Talaie, both allies of Qalibaf.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All right. Let's hear it; Is this a good thing or bad thing?
Although slightly convoluted, this snafu straightens itself out pretty quickly into one of two fairly obvious scenarios:
1.) Too bad Ahmadinejad wasn't dealt a setback in order to weaken his influence and thereby lessen any likelihood of Iran's collision course with the West over nuclear weapons.
2.) Ahmadinejad should remain in power so that Iran is steered directly onto the rocks of pre-emptive strikes needed to neutralize their nascent atomic weapons program.
#4
This has no effect on Iranian external relations. Iranians still want atomic weapons, hegemony over all Persian gulf peoples and oil, and the destruction of Jews and Christians. They just want less batshit rhetoric, and world attention, while doing it. Rafsanjani is smoother than Ahmmadinejad and Yazdi, but the goals are the same.
Posted by: ed ||
12/21/2006 9:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Midget makes a handy policital cut-out for the Mullahs.
#6
Exactly so, mrp. Very astute observation... explains much regards his behavior. He's their messenger, lightening rod, social buffoon... the regime's public target.
Rafsanjani is, as ed sez, a smoother operator - one tool being reduced in public status in favor of another tool changes nothing. This prolly just indicates a decision to moderate the rhetoric a notch or two, since it played rather badly in the international thingy.
In my humble opinion the Black Hats run the show, completely and utterly, and methinks the elections are merely a part of the performance for the amusement / distraction of the masses.
Nothing has changed. The goal is Muzzy hegemony and the elimination of Israel - the ultimate chip in the Muzzy bragging rights game. No one, not even Mo hissownself, can top that.
Not very good news for those of you living in the big (blue) cities. Look at Oakland for example. Jerry Brown was elected mayor on the campaign promise to bring down the murder rate. It has soared during his tenure. 66 toes up for the first 6 mos. of '06 compared to 37 for '05. And now he's gunna be our Attorney General. Pass me some pink stuff please.
For all of California there were 1373 toes up for the first 6 mos. of '06. Not encouraging for me.
Check out the crime statistics for yourself at the link. It's the FBI's report. Look at table 4 of the report to find the info for your city.
If this stuff was reported everyday like every single Iraq casualty don't you think the left would ask of these big cities, do we have an exit strategy?
The FBI released preliminary crime statistics for the first half of 2006 that show violent crimes rose 3.7 percent and property crimes were down 2.6 percent when compared to the first six months of 2005. The figures highlight the findings of a semiannual accounting by the FBI of crime in the U.S. The report, the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June, 2006, compiles the voluntary submissions of 11,535 law enforcement agencies.
The FBI has administered the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Program since 1930 to help partner law enforcement agencies across the country get a clear perspective on broader crime issues. They, in turn, can adjust their programs accordingly. The UCR is just one of many ways the FBI works to support local, state, and federal partners in combating violent crimes, one of the FBIs top 10 priorities.
Heres a sampling of the preliminary findings:
Violent Crimes:
Robbery offenses increased 9.7 percent.
Murder offenses increased 1.4 percent.
Aggravated assaults increased 1.2 percent. More at link.
#1
A good thing, then, that so many illegal migrants are panicking that they'll be picked up by the ICE, and just walking away from jobs and homes. There'll be other jobs for the unemployed construction workers to do.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with herbicides.
Turkmenistan's President-for-life 
He was 66. State television and government sources said Niyazov, who basked in a unique and bizarre personality cult while ruling a country with the world's fifth-biggest natural gas reserves, died overnight of cardiac arrest.
Originally a Soviet apparatchik, Niyazov took the title of "
Niyazov tolerated no dissent and was regularly criticised by Western human rights groups for flouting basic freedoms. Most civil society campaigners and critical journalists have been driven into exile or jailed, and rights groups have accused him of using torture against his opponents. 
In an early reaction, exiled Turkmen opposition activists said they intended to immediately try to return home. "Our first task is to return to Turkmenistan within hours. We are discussing now how to do it. In Turkmenistan there is no opposition, they all sit in prisons or under home arrest. But outside the country opposition exists and it is coming back," one activist, Parakhad Yklymov, told Reuters by telephone from Sweden.
Pop singer Pink has set her sights on the Australian wool makers calling for a boycott because of perceived sheep cruelty, and The Daily Telegraph reports that Treasurer Peter Costello has slammed her right back over her campaign against the wool industry. 
NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is bringing out a new CD series this spring based on his Maranatha Baptist Church Sunday school classes. 
Allies of hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmmadinejad suffered a stinging defeat in elections for Tehrans city council, losing to moderate conservatives and reformists, results showed Wednesday.
