Would you care to begin with a bumper sticker? Actually, a pair of them?
An Impromptus reader saw a car along the highway in Indiana. On the left of the rear bumper was F*** Bush. And on the right was Hatred Is a Learned Behavior.
Our reader comments, A liberal without a sense of irony, that one!
Posted by: Mike ||
01/03/2007 09:11 ||
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I once followed a car on an interstate with it's left turn signal on for 50 miles.
#12
Forgot to say that, atleast here on Guam, have seen a few "F*** Bush/Dubya" stickers, BUT NO "VOTE KERRY/HILLARY/AL GORE", etc YET. IOW, STICKERS > HATING BUSH DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN TO VOTE DEMOCRAT.
The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, is ill, said a spokesperson for the king's family on Tuesday. Reports quoting the spokesman, Fazl Ahmad Popal, said that the king is unable to hold any meetings as he is stable "under the care of doctors in bed." The former monarch, who lives in Kabul, holds no power but was given the honorary title of "Father of the Nation" when he returned to his home country in 2002 after the hardline Taliban regime was ousted. Zahir Shah, 92, had spent decades of exile in Italy.
The king's family spokesman, Popal, said the Zahir Shah had recently travelled to a Gulf country for a medical check-up. Zahir Shah became king in 1933 after his father was assassinated by a deranged student. He was overthrow in a bloodless leftist coup led by a cousin in 1973.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Among other things, Zahir Shah is the last surviving head of state from the World War 2 era, though Afghanistan was neutral in that conflict.
The last surviving head of state of a WW2 combatant, and simultaneously the last to serve, was none other than Hirohito of Japan, who remained on the throne until his death in 1989.
(SomaliNet) Fighting between rival cult groups on Sunday night at Rumuakini in the Obio-Akpor local government area of Rivers State in Nigeria left at least12 people shot dead and 20 others seriously wounded.
According to reports, the clash between Delwell and Delgbam groups occurred about 11.00pm, New Year eve when members of one group attacked the rival cult which was performing its rituals in the forests. Though the immediate reason for the bloody clash could not be immediately ascertained, it was reported that the duel may not be unconnected with a struggle for supremacy.
Meanwhile, members of the groups were said to have taken the fight to the community thus forcing residents to flee to neighbouring communities for safety. Those who sustained injuries were rushed to both private clinics and the General Hospital in the area according to eye witnesses who pleaded anonymity. In a swift reaction, the Rivers State police command yesterday deployed mobile policemen to the community to keep the peace.-Daily Champion.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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This story comes from a flight attendant from the website:
http://www.totr.com/story/
..
Totally off the record... Anyone in the third world end of flying probably at one time or another has had to fly the Hajjis into Saudi Arabia so they can attend the pilgrimage to Mecca, that is the one thing a devout Muslim must perform before he dies.
Flight crews are subject to the most interesting of sights when they are sub-contracted to move literally millions in and out of the Arabian penninsula in just a few short weeks.
They would pick them up in east African locations and fly them into Saudi Arabia in large planes that were stripped down to the bare minimum. The passengers would actually be schooled before the flight on how to sit in the seat, use the lav. etc....
Unfortunately these were the masses that had no idea about any of this and while in flight would do the following....stand up on their seat and then proceed to squat and go on their seat, cook their meals over sterno on the floor and bring every manner of vermin on board with them.
By the time the flights were going the crews were forced to wear flea collars around their ankles to keep the bugs from eating them alive.
Keeping the airplanes stripped down to the bare neccessities ensured that the T.V. screens in the newer planes would remain on board at all times. In other words the passengers would start to remove the screens and wiring in each seat as they assumed it was theirs to take and it would work off the plane.
The flight attendents would be spit on, punched or kicked by the female passengers as they were women working. Oh the good old days of aviation...lol
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/03/2007 12:36 Comments ||
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While I would agree that some people in the world are quite backward I doubt anybody would take a dump where they are sitting without having a medical condition. But hey maybe I am wrong and there is a Muslim sect in a 3rd world that thinks its ok to sit in one own fecal matter? FYI the prophet Mohamed taught hygiene among other things in the Koran. I can attest to livestock sometimes accompanying passengers on airplanes, boats, trains, and buses because I have actually seen all of that in Greece (1983-1985). Oh and nobody took a dump in their seat as far as I could tell. Also if they are picking up 3rd worlders then most likely they are farmers and poorer people whom probably have lots of vermin attached due to their living conditions and probably not by choice.
#5
Sarge, the author means squatting on the toilet seat. Not a pretty sight when combined with turbulence. Most of the world doesn't use sit down toilets but squat over a hole, or for the fortunate ones, a ground level squatter with running water.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2007 13:58 Comments ||
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"stand up on their seat and then proceed to squat and go on their seat" I get the impression that they are going on their seat.
#7
Haven't you seen shoeprints on the toilet seat on international flights?
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2007 16:38 Comments ||
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Umm no, but I will take your word for it. I do stand by my statement that people around simply don't shit where they live, sleep or sit. I have seen the WCs with a simple hole in the ground and I was not confused about how to accomplish my business and I have to believe that ignorant or not most people can master the toliet with much coaching.
Haj pilgrims will head back home from Makkah carrying not just the memory of the ultimate spiritual experience in Islam but also gifts for beloved ones, with prayer beads a hot favourite. From the cheapest versions worth just a few cents to the costly varieties made of gemstones, the easy-to-pack prayer beads come second only to bottles of divine water from the spring of Zamzam in Makkah. I bought them for SR50 ($13) and am taking a few for relatives and other beloved ones, said Yemeni pilgrim Saleh Al Harazi, showing off his newly acquired prayer beads. Its not the price that matters, but where I bought it from, said Harazi, one of nearly 2.4 million faithful.
American University in Cairo lecturer Mustafa Al Burei said the most luxurious prayer beads were those made of gemstones, while those made of ivory or sandalwood were also considered good buys. Prayer beads made of amber or onyx can fetch as much as SR5,000 ($1,300), he said.
Ivory prayer beads would cost around SR300 ($80) apiece, Burei said. Expensive prayer beads known as masbaha in Arabic can sometimes serve as more than a means of prayer, becoming a mark of prestige. Luxurious pieces are sometimes associated with social status, with their owners using them in such a way as to attract attention, Burei said.
Abu Faris, who sells prayer beads, perfumes and incense, agreed, saying many pilgrims also buy expensive gift boxes for the prayer beads. Pricier prayer beads also come encrusted with silver and seashells, he said. Burei said China had begun mass production of prayer beads in recent years, using fake stones and cheap wood or crystal and churning out pieces whose prices range from SR1 to SR30 (26 cents to $8).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Iff MOUD + Radic Iranian State/Mullahs gives official suppor to WND's "Mahdi/Imam in SPring Equinox" report, methinks the numbers on Hajis will be down next year iff the proclaimed
"Mahdi/Imam" does NOT appear. Moud = Iran> gonna be trouble. MOUD = OSAMA + even SADDAM for awhile > will be lucky to only be Media-accused of being a US Agent/Proxy, and not put to death.
Oddly enough I'm on the phone discussing this with a friend of Burham. He thinks Chris is going to be a wee bit pissed at Brainless Ban's replacement for him. It isn't pretty folks.Wednesday, January 03, 2007
By Liza Porteus
NEW YORK New Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday announced his picks for two of the top posts at the United Nations this week and one of those choices is controversial.
Ban, the former foreign minister of South Korea who started his new job Tuesday, named Mexican Alicia Barcena Kofi Annan's former chief of staff to the key post of administration and management, a job previously held by American Christopher Burnham. The administration and management job traditionally has gone to an American.
Before the announcement was made, one U.N. official told FOX News the appointment of a non-American to the post would be a "disaster" for the U.S.-led effort to reform the United Nations.
Burnham, the last person to hold the post, was previously the chief financial officer in the U.S. State Department and had been state treasurer of Connecticut. He was appointed by former Secretary-General Annan in 1995 and spearheaded the institutional reform efforts that were promised by Annan and resisted by a large number of developing countries. Burnham left in December to take a job in the private sector.
Barcena's career has focused not on management expertise but on public policies for sustainable development and the linkages between environment, economy and social issues. According to the United Nations, she focused her work on financing for sustainable development.
Prior to being named chief of staff to Annan, she served as deputy executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) where she promoted the implemented the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Barcena was the founding director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica and served as director-general of the National Institute of Fisheries and the first vice minister of ecology while working for the government of Mexico. She also taught and researched on natural sciences.
Barcena also is a onetime protégé of Maurice Strong, the former special adviser to Annan who resigned his last U.N. post after it was revealed he had received about $1 million for a family-owned firm that originally came from Saddam Hussein and had ties to the Oil-for-Food scandal. She also has ties to outgoing Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown.
It will be interesting to see what Burham has to say about all this. Needless to say is smacks of lack of reform, of any kind.
#1
I'm getting a major whiff of anti-Americanism, America has too much influence/control at the UN, let's make sure America gets sidelined at the UN since they've been so mean to us lately in all this.
Honestly, a Mexican official who's also a former Koffee aid with essentially zero experience for the job?
I guess Koffee's looking forward to a few extra bucks coming his way other than his $22k/month stipend and whatever he's got stashed in his Swiss retirement fund.
#3
Let's see, we've got a Mexican in charge of administration and a Frenchman in charge of the military stuff. Maybe the UN can complete the numbnut trifecta and put a German in charge of public relations.
#3
TW: I don't know about that; since that would be choice material for Leno or Letterman. Let me give an example:
In 1997, the USS Kennedy was in the Mediterranean and the Shore Patrol from the boat was given a bright shiny new van. The unit was an automatic, but unlike the US cars, there was no'Park' position on the gear selector. The duty SP cam back from a run and 'parked' the van on the quay. Seems it had a bit of a slope and Sir issac's law took over. Next thing you know, the van is slowly settling to the bottom of the Cannes harbor.
Shi's newspaper the next day had a picture of the sinking vehicle with the caption," One thing the Kennedys are known for is sinking cars." The C.O. of the boat was not amused. I was ROFLMAF!!!
#4
The Carrier named after President Ford will also be the first of class. Lexington is my wish, then Ford, then Enterprise (assuming CVN Enterprise is off the roll by then).
#5
Looks like its a go - FOX just announced during the burial ceremony for POTUS Ford that the US Navy WILL name its next nuke carrier the USS GERALD FORD.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- There was concern Wednesday, January 3, about reports that at least nearly a million impoverished men, women and children, most of them Christians, have been "illegally enslaved" on the outskirts of Pakistan's major cities and towns.
Although its constitution forbids slavery in "21st century Pakistan, a deplorable, archaic, and illegal system of bonded labor is alive and well," said Jubilee Campaign USA, an influential advocacy group which investigated the situation of slaves.
The Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) managed to free at least 414 Christian slaves in 2006 and 342 in 2005, but many more remain captives, according to Jubilee Campaign USA.
While most slaves are Christians, Muslim descendent of low caste Hindus are also among those involved in especially "agriculture and the back-breaking work of the brick kilns as well as in mines the carpet industry and domestic service," Jubilee Campaign USA Director Ann Buwalda told BosNewsLife in a statement.
BONDED LABOR
She said slavery is proliferated through an endemic and widespread system of loans which "exploits impoverished and minority groups." Her delegation established that, "the poorest of Pakistans poor" approach a wealthy landlord, or 'zamindar', either directly or through a broker for a small loan, a nominal amount that often means "the difference between life and death for a sick child or a starving family member."
In exchange, the debtor with his wife and children,"are bound to the creditor/employer until the entire debt is paid," Buwalda said. "The unconscionable bonded labor system is designed to ensure that debts are never paid off, as arbitrary (and illegal) interest accumulates at extravagant rates without the understanding or consent of poor illiterate debtors."
Buwalda said debtors and their families "are kept in perpetual bondage to these modern-day slave owners" with an employer paying only "a single despicably low wage to the husband, while the wife and children are not compensated for their work."
WAGE REDUCTION
Typically, 50 percent of the wage is withheld under the pretence that it is applied to the familys debt, investigators said. "In Pakistans brick kilns, families begin their hard labor before dawn and work late into the evening, slaving for over 12 hours each day, seven days a week, for less than 1,800 rupees" about $30 per month, Buwalda explained.
She said Jubilee Campaign USA had established that, "fathers, mothers, and their children work in the blistering heat of summer and the punishing cold of winter. The lands on which the brick kilns sit are covered in thick soot being constantly expelled from enormous black chimneys. While husbands and sons raise pick axes and haul heavy loads, wives and daughters wash their familys tattered clothing in streams and against soot-covered rocks"
At the end of the night families retire "to square brick shelters furnished with nothing but bare bamboo cots only to begin the cycle again before daybreak," she said, adding that the "grueling cycle also includes the likelihood of assault."
MILLION SLAVES
In February 2006, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reported that international groups found "almost one million bonded laborers", or slaves, in 4,000 brick kilns across the country." Physical and sexual abuse, especially of children, was allegedly common, with women also reporting rape by kiln owners.
Children of the brick kilns are denied "even basic education and are unaware that they are legally free to leave their lives of bondage or avail themselves of training that could help them secure outside employment," Jubilee Campaign USA said.
In early 2006, thousands of "bonded brick kiln workers" reportedly organized strikes and protests demanding better wages, kiln registration, and "an end to the humiliation of women workers and the withdrawal of all false cases registered by the police at the behest of the owners."
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Jubilee Campaign USA has urged the international community to pressure Pakistan's authorities to crackdown on slavery. "The country receives enormous financial support from the United States while its government portrays Pakistan as a nation committed to protecting human rights.
However no nation that turns a blind eye to the enslavement of its most vulnerable can be considered a protector of human rights," Buwalda said.
Pakistan's government has said it will tackle discrimination of religious minorities, including apparently slavery.
UNITED NATIONS - As, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon started his first day on the job on Tuesday, he is being pressured by the United States, Britain, France and others for control of key departments, as were his predecessors.
Sir John Holmes, Britains former ambassador to France, is expected to head the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, formerly run by Jan Egeland, who resigned last month and returned to Norway, UN sources said.
And good riddance to him.
A US citizen may head the political affairs department or perhaps even peacekeeping, although most envoys believe Frenchman Jean-Marie Guehenno will stay on the job, at least for the time being.
So as to allow the sexual exploiters to remain unpunished.
The United States for years held the management and administration department, which is now expected to go to Mexican Alicia Barcena, who served as Annans chief of staff since June, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Bans main message to the staff was that morale has plummeted in recent years when the bureaucracy was the target of harsh and sometimes unfair criticism. Not all the criticisms are justified but some of them warrant our urgent attention and we must take bold steps to dispel them, he said.
"What kind of steps?"
"Bold steps!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Can the US please stop funding the UN parade? Think how much money you'd have to spend on hospitals, schools, infrastructure. Just stop.
It's that simple. Just withdraw from the UN and stop funding them.
They'll dissolve through lack of 5-star hotels within a couple of years.
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon started his first day on the job on Tuesday by departing from the traditional UN opposition to the death penalty, saying nations can make their own decision.
Asked about the weekend execution of Saddam Hussein, Ban, 62, said the former Iraqi leader committed heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against the Iraqi people and we should never forget the victims of these crimes.
But he said, The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide and in conformity with international law. South Korea is among the 68 nations that retain the death penalty although Seoul is considering abolishing it.
He's headed for the re-education camp inside Turtle Bay.
Groups such as Human Rights Watch have criticized the death penalty against Saddam, saying it was imposed after a deeply flawed trial with political interference. Annan and all the other usual correct thinkers leading UN rights officials also have opposed capital punishment, as has the European Union.
The UN special representative in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, released a statement on Sunday saying that the world body remains opposed to capital punishment, even in the case of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Bans new spokeswoman, Michele Montas of Haiti, said, The UN policy still remains that the organization is not for capital punishment. She said Bans comments were nuanced but would not say whether he agreed with Qazi.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Ima liking this guy sofa r.
Posted by: Ware is ever buddy? ||
01/03/2007 0:10 Comments ||
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He's scum exactly like his predecessor. To wit. 'Israel-Palestinian conflict is key'
Ban Ki-Moon, the new secretary-general of the United Nations, said on Monday that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was at the core of solving all the problems in the Middle East.
UNITED NATIONS - New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and said capital punishment should be a decision of individual countries.
The U.N. has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently. The top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, restated it again on Saturday after the former Iraqi dictator was hanged.
Web encyclopaedia Wikipedia temporarily banned anonymous posts to its site from people in Qatar after repeated reports of net vandalism.
The 12-hour ban hit large numbers of people in the country because all web traffic in Qatar is routed through a single net address. Wikipedia says pages about the US, sex and the birthday of the prophet Muhammad were vandalised. The site is run by its users and anyone is free to alter posts in good faith.
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, wrote: "This IP number was temporarily blocked for less than 12 hours, and a block of an entire nation would go absolutely against Wikipedia policy." In an earlier post on the Wikipedia site, it said: "Anonymous editing from this internet address is currently disabled due to a large volume of spam and vandalism that we have received from this address."
Florence Devouard, chair of the Wikimedia foundation, told BBC News: "None of us is against any country. We come from countries all over the world. Not only the USA, not only Europe. We are aware some of our very good editors are sometimes blocked after a vandalism spree, this happened just a few days ago in Thailand. We unblock the people as soon as possible. We wish to allow the maximum numbers of people, from everywhere. We just have to protect ourselves from vandals from time to time."
Posted by: Jan ||
01/03/2007 00:04 ||
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The entire country of Qatar is routed through a SINGLE net address!?!
#3
Might be a subblock of class A, assigned to the PTT of Qatar. I believe they would prefer to follow the european model, where all telecomm, including being the ISP, is done via a government-run telecomm agency. The sub-address might be from a university or government agency.
#4
They can uses a single IP for the network behind that IP address using NAT. It's pretty common when you want to control what goes in and out of a network. Usually they have more than one IP address but they can do it with one.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's powerful military council on Wednesday declared that New Year's Eve bomb attacks in the capital were staged by politicians and renegade army officers loyal to exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who want to topple the government.
It vowed to severely punish those behind the bombings, which killed three people and wounded nearly 40 others while the city was in the midst of New Year's celebrations.
Meanwhile, the Thai capital was shaken by a series of bomb scares and threats, though no actual explosive devices were found. Among the places affected were a school, a downtown luxury shopping center, an Air Force base and the offices of the English-language newspaper The Nation.
"The evidence and intelligence information proves that the bombs were the dirty work of politicians who lost power and benefit. Some bad soldiers loyal to the bad politicians collaborated with them with the intention to topple this government," said Gen. Saprang Kanlayanamitr, a member of the Council for National Security.
The council was set up after generals toppled Thaksin in a bloodless coup Sept. 19. It later appointed an interim civilian government to run the country until promised elections in October.
Despite the official claims, no evidence has come forth linking anyone to the bombings, and there is still speculation that it could have been the work of Islamic separatists who have been carrying out a bloody insurgency in the country's southernmost provinces for the past three years.
Thaksin, in a handwritten letter faxed Tuesday from China and distributed by his lawyer in Thailand, accused the country's ruling authorities of unfairly implying he was behind the violence.
"I strongly condemn this act (of bombing) and I swear that I never ever think of hurting the people and destroying the country's credibility for my own political gain," Thaksin said in the letter, given to reporters.
He also said he suspected the Islamic separatists may have been responsible for the eight small blasts that shattered Sunday night's celebrations.
"I used to warn high-ranking officials that if we can't stop them ... they will go to Bangkok," Thaksin wrote.
Saprang, however, said that "the bandits and terrorist groups in southern Thailand had no links or connections to the bombs in Bangkok."
No arrests have yet been made but Saprang said that the days of compromise with the former power-brokers were over and "from now on there will be no compromise."
The attacks capped a year of unrest in Thailand, including the coup and the increasingly violent Muslim insurgency in the south, which has claimed almost 2,000 lives since 2004.
#1
Thailand's powerful Islamic military council on Wednesday declared that New Year's Eve bomb attacks in the capital were staged by politicians and renegade army officers loyal to exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who want to topple the government.
KUALA LUMPUR: Two huge Singapore-registered barges have been found, empty and abandoned, after mysteriously beaching on the Malaysian coast, a report said Tuesday. Villagers spotted the barges as they approached off the coast of eastern Pahang state in rough seas on Sunday, the New Straits Times said. I thought they may be mysterious islands which had surfaced unnaturally from the bottom of the sea, said villager Ismail Mat Taib, who had been herding cattle near the beach. When they settled on the sand, the villagers discovered they were barges each the length of two football fields, and three-story high. A police spokesman told the daily that they were trying to trace the owner of the vessels, which had Singapore markings.
#4
I thought they may be mysterious islands which had surfaced unnaturally from the bottom of the sea, said villager Ismail Mat Taib, who had been herding cattle near the beach.
Mr. Taib's take on the event shoud be consdered too.
#5
I thought they may be mysterious islands which had surfaced unnaturally from the bottom of the sea, said villager Ismail Mat Taib, who had been herding cattle near the beach. AND TAKING ACID!!!
#10
These are the same barges that were last observed hovering near O'Hare airport back in November. Nothing to worry about.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/03/2007 12:18 Comments ||
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Mewonders if this was the beginning (and end) of binny and Zawahiri's infamous navy they were scheming up? Or the latest and greatest Russian hardware headin' for the ME?
Posted by: BA ||
01/03/2007 14:22 Comments ||
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#12
I hope they're keeping the barges moist and fending off predators.
(KUNA) -- The Indonesian army denied Tuesday reports regarding discovery of The Adam Air Boeing 737-400 which crashed over Sulawei Island yesterday. The Military also denied news about the discovery of 12 passengers and the death of nine others. Indonesian television channels quoted air commander Eddy Suyanto as saying that no survivors had been found.
He added during a press conference with Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa that all reports regarding the discovery of the airplane were inaccurate and said that information about the whereabouts of the plane and discovery of survivors depended on statements by the locals.
Police officials in Sulawei province and about 745 army and police members went to the crash site in accordance with the information provided by locals but found nothing, said Suyanto who added that the rescue mission would continue on. Earlier, Indonesian media published full reports about the discovery of the air plane and several survivors depending on information provided by the Indonesian news agency Antara.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Lebanon is planning much-needed sweeping economic reforms as part of its bid to attract foreign financial assistance. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora outlined the main points of the program to journalists Tuesday, explaining that his Cabinet will discuss and endorse the plan ahead of submitting it to a meeting of international donors in Paris January 25. "This may be the last chance for Lebanon and a gateway for rescuing the country from total collapse," Saniora said, urging his opponents to support the government's efforts to revive the economy.
The embattled premier was surrounded by several Cabinet ministers as he spoke at his office, which has been surrounded by a security cordon to keep at bay sit-in protesters who have been demanding his resignation since December 1.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Lebanon plans economic reforms to get jizya foreign aid."
Fixed it for ya.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/03/2007 10:39 Comments ||
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Howz bout some POLITICAL reforms as well? It might help with the begging.
Two men stand working in the afternoon sun just metres from the United States-Mexico border. Clad in hard hats and work shirts, tool belts slung around their waists, they have been toiling at this spot in the Arizona desert since early October.
One holds an iron stanchion while the other bolts a horizontal bar to it. But before the joint can be tightened, the whole structure starts to sway. A shout goes up: "Watch out!" The five metre pole lurches toward the dry red earth, bringing its neighbour down with it. The latest weapon in the fight against undocumented migrants looks a little shaky.
The iron and steel fence is the latest project from the Minutemen, the volunteer group of anti-immigration activists that has placed itself at the sharp end of the immigration debate since launching a highly publicised series of border watches in 2005. Now, frustrated at what the group sees as the inaction of government, it has taken matters a step further, building its own border fence at a cost of around $1-million at one of the busiest points on the line, 144km from Tucson.
#3
More slanted news from The Wail. Of course, the Minutemen are portrayed as a group of bumbling anti-immigration xenophobes spoon-fed on Fox News propaganda. Whilst a cheerleader for an open border policy such as Griswold is portrayed as erudite scholar fighting the good fight for the undocumented worker against the restrictionists attempt at failed draconian policies of more walls and barbed wire, entire divisions of troops at the border, the massive deportation of undocumented workers at great economic and human cost. Spit!
#4
Reforming Mexico is the only long term solution. As long as the politicians rob the people blind down there the brave folks will try to go wherever they can to earn cash to get by.
Mexico has been a failed state for a century and it's time we did something about it. Either (a) Invade and clean up the place or (b) isolate it and let it finally fall and hope something better rises from the ashes.
#5
A small amount of fence can make a big difference when it is put in the right spot. 1.6k does not seem like much, but that is a very significant obstacle in the hot months, one third of the year. It is complementary to the rough terrain.
It also significantly slows down the illegals, and makes their movements much easier to track, channelizing them.
Across the border, there are literally as few as a dozen major but narrow corridors. If you fence across those areas, the degree of difficulty jumps.
This is why, despite congress, a government private piecemeal effort will start paying off.
#6
But there is a flaw in the Minutemen's plan. While the US-Mexico border stretches for 3 188km, from California to Florida, the Minuteman fence when finished will be just 1,6km long.
Ummm, what map is the Mail lookin' at? At last count, I thought the US/Mexico border ranged from Cali to Texas. Of course, I'm not a highly enlightened liberal within the beltway, so whadda I know? And, I usually agree with many things the CATO Institute says/does, but this is NOT one of those issues.
Posted by: BA ||
01/03/2007 13:54 Comments ||
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#7
I think we have a few better options than invading Mexico. I feel that we need to enforce the laws that we already have on the books about needing to be here legally to work, live, and travel within our country.
If you couldn't work being here illegally yes the crime rate would go up, but I think in the long run we would see less. Also if they weren't able to get housing they wouldn't be able to stay here. We need to make it hard for them to live here, and stop giving away the farm with our emergency medicaid for illegals. Our hospital is full of illegals costing taxpayers loads of money. The hospitals have hired folks that all they do is sign these illegal patients up for emergency medicaid and give them temporary social security cards for the new born babies. Please, I see this every day.
The health care and education abuses hopefully would go down as well, without our making it so damn easy to stay here. I feel that's why they come here, for the free health care, education, and all the other percs that we hand over to them on a regular basis.
A fence helps when these laws aren't followed.
I have always liked the idea of a fence. Put it where they're building the freeway that will run from Mexico clear up through to Canada. Stop this freeway idea as well! No one ever asked us about this. We were just informed about this globalization crap happening.
If we don't stop this illegal activity soon, our country will sadly be in ruin. The poor education level of folks coming into our country (some can't even read spanish) and the high level of education of folks being exported = tragedy.
It's always the lowest denominator. In a few more years our country will be in deep shit.
Is there a donation site that we can give to this cause? You go Minutemen!
Posted by: Jan ||
01/03/2007 15:04 Comments ||
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#8
You could always ask Ethiopia to invade Mexico and clear out the problem.
#9
Reforming Mexico is the only long term solution.
So the Mexicans should go home and get to it, instead of coming here to commit the crimes our native-born citizens and legal immigrants won't.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/03/2007 17:41 Comments ||
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#10
After building this mile, build the next and the next.
Posted by: ed ||
01/03/2007 17:44 Comments ||
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#11
Each mile of fence built by private dollars on private land pushes the illegals further out into the deserts and wastelands along the border. In a lot of cases, the only water for miles is the ranch's well/cattle tanks, and those are getting destroyed by the illegals/vandals. So if you put a good fence that is hard to cross or cut on your land, it will force the illegals to go around and cuts down on their survivability. That makes it less likely they will cross in your zone, and acts a small deterrent. A few hundred or so of these fences would actually have a major impact on illegals, since there are large sections of the border that no one in their right mind would try to cross on foot.
Posted by: Jan ||
01/03/2007 20:14 Comments ||
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#13
BTW it sucks that donations aren't tax deductable
Posted by: Jan ||
01/03/2007 20:15 Comments ||
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#14
"They'll just go around this fence in the way they go around others," says Daniel Griswold of the Cato Institute think tank in Washington DC. "All a fence will do is direct people to more remote areas and create the likelihood of more deaths."
Just sipping some tea, wondering about the world inside my Think Tank.
This week brand new tax rules come into effect that can save you money - that is if you are aware of them. President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 on December 20th after Democrats and Republicans put aside their election bitterness and overwhelmingly passed a pot pouri of tax breaks that could save individuals and businesses over $45 billion.
A press release on the White House website describes the rule: "This Act will extend tax relief for millions of American families and small businesses, and add momentum to our growing economy. It will maintain key tax reforms, expand our commitment to renewable energy resources, make it easier for Americans to afford health insurance, and help open markets overseas for our farmers and small businesses."
There are more than 200 tax rule changes and they are so last-minute that even the Internal Revenue Service did not have adequate time to cover it in the 2006 tax forms. However, many of the measures extend tax breaks that have expired at the end of 2006, which means they are "retroactive," applying to both 2006 and 2007.
Some of the benefits for individuals would be the following: You could chose to deduct state and local sales taxes rather than state and local income taxes. This is a huge bonus for those who live in states where there is no income tax, like Florida and Texas.
Another example is if you were remodeling your home, you could "bunch up" big purchases so they are covered in one year. Installing or adopting energy savings devices are another category included in the tax breaks. Also, parents who have kids in college can deduct up to $4,000 for tuition and fees. This deduction comes in handy to upper-income parents who are not eligible for Hope or Lifetime Learning tax credits.
For people who work in the area of education, a deduction of $250 may be used for classroom supplies that were paid for by personal funds.
Military personnel serving in combat zones may include combat pay to see if they are eligible for earned income tax credit.
#1
The IRS-printed forms will not have these breaks in them, and IRS will not be printing revised forms, AFAIK. Best approach if you qualify would be to use the free IRS-approved tax programs at their website, these should include all valid deductions.
#2
If its like last year the free programs are only available if you earned less than $35,000
The question is... are the PDF's of the laws out there. They are more trustworth than the programs that err in the IRS's favor. (I caught a big one of those last year causing TaxCut to modify their software on the spot. If you filed early and used TaxCut you may have been screwed by the IRS.)
#3
THe IRS Website will list the new forms / schedules, etc. so you can download and print.
and most of the commercial programs will have updates available so you can get the least fleecing for your money......
#4
I'll be looking for my long-distance phone tax refund (that came about to pay off the Spanish American War). Some things take awhile when Washington is involved.
Oil prices slipped in quiet trading Tuesday, turning lower on warmer than usual winter weather in the United States and expectations of an agreement between Russia and Belarus over natural gas prices.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not much to cheer about. Same level as at the beginnning of 2006, 50% higher than at beginning of 2005.
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.
The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, is ill, said a spokesperson for the king's family on Tuesday. Reports quoting the spokesman, Fazl Ahmad Popal, said that the king is unable to hold any meetings as he is 
Haj pilgrims will head back home from Makkah carrying not just the memory of the ultimate spiritual experience in Islam but also gifts for beloved ones, with prayer beads a hot favourite. From the cheapest versions worth just a few cents to the costly varieties made of gemstones, the easy-to-pack prayer beads come second only to bottles of divine water from the spring of Zamzam in Makkah. I bought them for SR50 ($13) and am taking a few for relatives and other beloved ones, said Yemeni pilgrim Saleh Al Harazi, showing off his newly acquired prayer beads. Its not the price that matters, but where I bought it from, said Harazi, one of nearly 2.4 million faithful. 
NEW YORK New Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday announced his picks for two of the top posts at the United Nations this week and one of those choices is controversial.
UNITED NATIONS - As, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon started his first day on the job on Tuesday, he is being pressured by the United States, Britain, France and others for control of key departments, as were his predecessors.
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General 
Web encyclopaedia Wikipedia temporarily banned anonymous posts to its site from people in Qatar after repeated reports of net vandalism. 
(KUNA) -- The Indonesian army denied Tuesday reports regarding discovery of The Adam Air Boeing 737-400 which crashed over Sulawei Island yesterday. The Military also denied news about the discovery of 12 passengers and the death of nine others. Indonesian television channels quoted air commander Eddy Suyanto as saying that no survivors had been found.
Lebanon is planning much-needed sweeping economic reforms as part of its bid to attract foreign financial assistance. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora outlined the main points of the program to journalists Tuesday, explaining that his Cabinet will discuss and endorse the plan ahead of submitting it to a meeting of international donors in Paris January 25. "This may be the last chance for Lebanon and a gateway for rescuing the country from total collapse," Saniora said, urging his opponents to support the government's efforts to revive the economy. 
This week brand new tax rules come into effect that can save you money - that is if you are aware of them. President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 on December 20th after Democrats and Republicans put aside their election bitterness and overwhelmingly passed a pot pouri of tax breaks that could save individuals and businesses over $45 billion.
Oil prices slipped in quiet trading Tuesday, turning lower on warmer than usual winter weather in the United States and expectations of an agreement between Russia and Belarus over natural gas prices.
