ROCK legend Bruce Springsteen has brushed off critics who label him unpatriotic, countering that the United States has itself engaged in "anti-American" activity since President George W. Bush took power.
And I'm supposed to care in the least about his opinion precisely why?
"I think we've seen things happen over the past six years that I don't think anybody ever thought they'd ever see in the United States," Springsteen told CBS television in an interview due to be broadcast on Monday.
Things like airliners crashing into skyscrapers and the deaths of thousands?
He notably criticised CIA interrogation techniques, Mr Bush's domestic surveillance program and the detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without referring to them explicitly. "When people think of the Unites States' identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping... They don't think of no habeas corpus," he said, referring to suspects being held without charge. "Those are things that are anti-American," he said.
Back up your claims, Bruce. Precisely who was tortured, where, and under what circumstances? What illegal wiretapping took place? Who's being held without habeas corpus that's due habeas corpus? Making the charges isn't the same as the charges being true or, more to the point here, accurate.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Springsteen brushes off 'unpatriotic' label
Former fan brushes off any notion of ever buying another Springsteen album.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/05/2007 6:18 Comments ||
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I think that this "controversy" is just bulldada by Springsteen's agent. I noted that even some of the media were adding that this "criticism" was from person or persons unknown.
And then, *immediately* afterwards, I see a promo that Springsteen is going to be on "60 Minutes". Uh-huh. How coincidental. Somebody that nobody has heard from in 20 years makes a reappearance twice in a week.
Why do I suspect that he is also about to launch a "comeback tour?" Since most people under 30 have never heard of him, and the over-30 crowd are a lot harder to stimulate into concert going...
#4
Another former celebrity expresses his opinion like it is important and more meaningful than anyone elses opinion. Join the legions of other liberal clowns Bruce. Just remember you are in the company of Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Dixie Chicks, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Martin Sheen, Tim Robbins, Rosie O'Donnel, etc. ad nauseum. Please spare the rest of us this blathering, slobbering, driveling bull$hit that stands for nothing.
#5
I met him once. Early 90s, I worked at Tower Books and he came in. He looked homeless and kept stacking coffee table books on the counter and then disappearing into the store again. He certainly didn't look like he could afford them. A couple of Tower Records employees were keeping an eye on him, and not in the shoplifter kind of way, more in the fanboy kind of way, so when he called the pregnent redhead Patty I figured it out. And lo and behold his platinum card said Bruce Springsteen.
Anyway, as a wise person once said: "Shut up and sing."
#6
I still like Alice Cooper's take on musicians spouting politics: "Why care what a rock star thinks about politics? We're rock stars because we're idiots and can't do anything else."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/05/2007 14:22 Comments ||
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"Those are things that are anti-American," he said.
And, I may add, only applied to anti-Americans, Bruce-y. At what point do we give up on *educating* people that our laws do NOT apply to non-Americans?
Posted by: BA ||
10/05/2007 14:43 Comments ||
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Whoops, forgot to close the italics after "applied".
Posted by: BA ||
10/05/2007 14:43 Comments ||
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And I'm suppose to give a flying f*ck about Bruce Springsteen's opinion because _____________?
The mysteries of the Order of the Knights Templar could soon be laid bare after the Vatican announced the release of a crucial document which has not been seen for almost 700 years.
A new book, Processus contra Templarios, will be published by the Vatican's Secret Archive on Oct 25, and promises to restore the reputation of the Templars, whose leaders were burned as heretics when the order was dissolved in 1314.
The Knights Templar were a powerful and secretive group of warrior monks during the Middle Ages. Their secrecy has given birth to endless legends, including one that they guard the Holy Grail.
Recently, they have been featured in films including The Da Vinci Code and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The Order was founded by Hugues de Payns, a French knight, after the First Crusade of 1099 to protect pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. Its headquarters was the captured Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, which lent the Templars their name.
But when Jerusalem fell to Muslim rule in 1244, rumours surfaced that the knights were heretics who worshipped idols in a secret initiation ceremony.
In 1307, King Philip IV "the Fair" of France, in desperate need of funds, ordered the arrest and torture of all Templars. After confessing various sins their leader, Jacques de Molay, was burnt at the stake.
Pope Clement V then dissolved the order and issued arrest warrants for all remaining members. Ever since, the Templars have been thought of as heretics.
The new book is based on a scrap of parchment discovered in the Vatican's secret archives in 2001 by Professor Barbara Frale. The long-lost document is a record of the trial of the Templars before Pope Clement, and ends with a papal absolution from all heresies.
Prof Frale said: "I could not believe it when I found it. The paper was put in the wrong archive in the 17th century."
The document, known as the Chinon parchment, reveals that the Templars had an initiation ceremony which involved "spitting on the cross", "denying Jesus" and kissing the lower back, navel and mouth of the man proposing them.
The Templars explained to Pope Clement that the initiation mimicked the humiliation that knights could suffer if they fell into the hands of the Saracens, while the kissing ceremony was a sign of their total obedience.
The Pope concluded that the entrance ritual was not truly blasphemous, as alleged by King Philip when he had the knights arrested. However, he was forced to dissolve the Order to keep peace with France and prevent a schism in the church.
"This is proof that the Templars were not heretics," said Prof Frale. "The Pope was obliged to ask pardon from the knights.
"For 700 years we have believed that the Templars died as cursed men, and this absolves them."
#1
Another point to remember is that King Philip IV "the Fair" of France went took out the Templars in 1307 and the Popes moved to France in 1309 until 1377.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy
I'm not really sure the connection but sixty years is a long time to write and rewrite and colorfully illustrate the history books.
#2
Prof Frale said: "I could not believe it when I found it. The paper was put in the wrong archive in the 17th century."
Shades of the last scene of the original Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Wonder what other stuff is 'misfiled'? Boy. won't someone be embarrassed if they 'discover' Henry VIII's application for divorced approved?
BOSASSO, Somalia - Gunmen in Somalias northeastern Puntland province hijacked a cargo plane carrying khat, a narcotic leaf, on Thursday after a business deal turned sour, a local official said. The attackers seized the plane, which had come from Ethiopia, in Puntlands port of Bosasso. They then flew 150 km (90 miles) west to another coastal town, Las Qorey, the chairman of the area, Muse Gelle Farole, told Reuters. It was not known how many people were on board the plane.
There was a conflict between the businesspeople that brought the khat to Bosasso, so one group of them hijacked the plane and made it land at Las Qorey, he said.
Known for its relative stability in a country mired in chaos since the 1991 ousting of a dictator, semi-autonomous Puntland has nevertheless suffered a spate of pirate attacks off its coast in recent months.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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At least five people were killed Thursday when a cargo plane crashed into a crowded market in a residential neighborhood near the airport in Congo's capital, police said. Airport officer Appo Ilunga said the Antonov 26 crashed into a market area of the Kingasani neighborhood of Kinshasa around 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT). He said he did not yet know how many people were aboard the plane.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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The Antonov 26 is frequently referred to as the "flying coffin." If your plans call for air travel, you may wish to avoid the AN-26.
Republic of Congo's army said overnight it had killed at least 35 fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda during a gun battle in the central African country's lawless, mineral-rich east. "They left behind 35 bodies on the battlefield and took away others," Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, commander of operations for Congo's army in North Kivu province, said.
He said the clash happened just north of the town of Ngungu, some 25km west of the provincial capital Goma. An informal UN-brokered ceasefire last month had helped to end heavy fighting in North Kivu, although intermittent skirmishes have continued between Nkunda's fighters, government forces, local militia and rebels from neighbouring Rwanda.
Nkunda's top military commander, self-declared General Bwambale Kakolele, denied the army's version of events. "We were attacked again today, but we pushed them back. We'll continue to push them back tomorrow, very, very far," he said. "I'm on the ground and the (army) claims are lies. It's war over the air waves."
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) confirmed there had been fighting around Ngungu and nearby Karuba overnight but there was no immediate independent confirmation of the casualties. "It was an exchange of fire between the 14th integrated brigade and Nkunda's people that lasted five hours," said Claude Cirille, acting MONUC spokesman in North Kivu. He said the situation had calmed down by the middle of the day.
Nkunda, who first led a revolt in 2004 but signed a short-lived peace deal in January, said he is fighting to protect the Tutsi minority in eastern Congo against attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels, who he said are backed by Congo's President Joseph Kabila.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Four Chadian rebel groups initialed a preliminary agreement with the Chad government in Libyan capital of Tripoli to end the fighting that has riven the impoverished African nation, the official Libyan JANA news agency reported Thursday.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi described it as the "peace of the brave" and urged them to commit themselves to the agreement, which they all signed Wednesday and not return to fighting, the agency added. "We have been working for three months to reach this agreement which the Chadian people have been waiting for with impatience," the Chadian Minister of State for Infrastructure Adam Younsmi, who signed the agreement, was quoted as saying by the agency. "We have to work together for the development of our nation and to fight poverty and disease," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Bangladeshs Supreme Court reversed on Thursday a lower court decision to free former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia on bail, upholding an appeal by the army-backed interim government.
The government will proceed with Khaledas prosecution on corruption charges, a lawyer at the prosecutors office said, following the top courts order. Her party said it was disappointed with the court ruling, but hoped justice would be done. Security forces arrested Khaleda and her son Arafat Rahman early last month to face graft charges in the award of a cargo-handling contract to a firm in 2003 that her son allegedly favoured, overruling a state committees recommendation.
But a High Court on Sunday ordered Khaleda to be freed on bail and halted her further prosecution on grounds she couldnt be tried under special emergency laws for an offence committed before the imposition of emergency in January this year. The army-backed interim government, which has vowed to complete a campaign against corrupt politicians and officials before elections next year, filed an appeal on Tuesday against the order.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Australian and New Zealand leaders led tributes Thursday to the 10,000 soldiers from their nations who died 90 years ago this month in one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. They also laid to rest the remains of five recently found soldiers.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Australia Gov. General Michael Jeffery led the commemorations, laying wreaths and honoring those who fell as part of the regiments that fought at the Battle of Passchendaele. Clark said the battle was the single most deadly that New Zealand soldiers have ever fought. "For New Zealand, Oct. 12, 1917, at Passchendaele ranks as our worst-ever military disaster in terms of lives lost on a single day," she said. "It is those brave men we remember and honor today."
Jeffery said the soldiers faced some of the most gruesome conditions armies have ever seen. "It's hard to even imagine the horror and devastation of fighting on the Western Front — shell, gas, machine guns and barbed wire," he said.
As part of the ceremonies, the bodies of five Australian soldiers that were found near the village of Passchendaele last year were reburied at Buttes Military Cemetery, one of many Commonwealth gravesites that dot Flanders Fields. The remains were discovered during a dig for a gas pipeline near to what was believed to have been a temporary World War I gravesite. Using DNA samples and historical research, two of the five sets of remains were identified as those of Pvt. John Hunter and Sgt. George Calder. Officials could not identify the other three. A contingent from Australia's 51st Battalion formed an honor guard at the reburial.
Clark and Jeffery led commemorations at Tyne Cot military cemetery — the largest Commonwealth military burial site in the world, located just outside Passchendaele. There are 12,000 graves and 35,000 names of missing persons engraved on memorial walls at Tyne Cot which is situated on a ridge captured by Australian forces during the battle in 1917. It overlooks the nearby city of Leper that was better known to the soldiers of 1914-18 by its French name, Ypres.
The July to November 1917 battle, described by historians as one of the bloodiest trench warfare fights during the war, pitted British-led forces from across its empire, including soldiers from Canada and other former colonies, against Germany. After the fighting ended, 500,000 soldiers were either dead, wounded or missing. The battle was called to a halt after Canadian reinforcements replaced devastated British, Australian and New Zealand units near Passchendaele and captured the ruined village on Nov. 10, 1917.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Brian Faughnan, Weekly Standard Boldface emphasis added.
When Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution wrote in the New York TImes that the surge was working, they were widely criticized by the antiwar left, which went to great lengths to undercut their findings. The two scholars could do nothing to convince their liberal critics that things in Iraq have gotten better. But they may have convinced at least one Democrat, and she happens to be the party's prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination.
Hillary Clinton, you'll remember, has staked out a nuanced position on the surge. In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in late August, Clinton declared of the surge, "It's working." And now, O'Hanlon has been named as a foreign policy adviser to the Clinton campaign.
Clinton, of course, is no friend of the antiwar left, and at least one lefty blogger is calling on the Senator to "renounce O'Hanlon's support." She just named him an advisor. I don't think so.
But, despite her grandstanding during the Petraeus hearings, it isn't at all clear that the senator's position on the war is all that different from the president's. By putting O'Hanlon on her team, she's let the netroots know that she doesn't need their support, and more to the point, she doesn't want their support. How can she afford to be so dismissive of this powerful constituency? Maybe because they aren't as powerful as we'd thought. More important, they aren't as powerful as they think they are.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/05/2007 14:33 ||
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they aren't as powerful as they think they are.
That was clearly demonstrated by Lieberman's reelection in Connecticut. Just as AQ hasn't been able to take and hold ground in Iraq, neither has their fellow travelers in the nutroots in been able to here. Both can make noise and inflict casualties, but do not have the depth to impose themselves on the greater masses, which if you believe in real democracy, vice that of Peoples' Democratic Republics, is a good thing.
Hillary is shifting early in the primary season to try to run to the center. However, such actions in the end are never as effective as a library of her sound bites showing her colors for years. She, like little o'Britney, have too much baggage to hide. It's up to the Trunks to play power politics. However, their history shows too many instances of showing up to a gun fight with a knife.
#4
This should make the republicans so happy that their ears start clapping. The ruthless pursuit of power has obliged Clinton to jettison yet another fraction of her lunatic fringe electoral constituency. Expect to see further incidents of this as Hillary becomes increasingly centrist in her dogged attempt to claim more fence-sitting voters. The republicans had damn well better start publicizing these gymnastics in order to expose her all-too-flexible agenda. How can anyone not expect her to just as easily reverse herslf on any given position once she gains the Oval Office? This had better serve as fair warning to America of what awaits her election.
An excerpt from an article in the September Atlantic Monthly (subscription required) by Jonathan Rauch about the Clinton foundation:
Clinton says he has been concerned about climate change for years, but that a hostile Congress and cheap oil prevented him from doing much about it when he was in office. Out of office, one day he decided to replace every lightbulb in his house with a compact fluorescent. But when he went to his local hardware store in Chappaqua, New York, he couldnt find bulbs in a lot of the shapes and sizes he needed. So I literally picked up the phone and called Jeff Immeltthe CEO of General Electricand I said, Im trying to be a good customer. Im trying to buy American, support GE. I like your eco-initiatives. But I cant fill half these sockets. What am I going to do? And he said, Well, make me a bigger market, and Ill make whatever bulbs you want.
Its a charming story, if somewhat tarnished by the fact that, through a spokesman, Immelt said he had no recollection of the conversation.
#7
I would think that the Clintons would believe in the Marxist slogan: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." No lightbulbs for Slick Willie.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Like the Donks are paragons of virtue with Rep. Studds and Franks. The Trunks still have a sense of shame which of course the Donks use routinely to hammer them with. So what? You can have your judgment and the Donks can have the power. No one said life is fair. This is an issue between Craig and the electors of his state. Principle never held back the voters of Massachusetts of saddling us with the moral paragon of the likes of Teddy.
With the 2008 elections on the horizon, the Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether an Indiana law that requires voters to have a government-issued photo ID is a security necessity in the post-9/11 world or some sort of partisan plan to suppress voter turnout.
"The Supreme Court will now have the opportunity to right a wrong perpetrated by the GOP as a broader effort to make it harder for some Americans to vote," Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee Voting Rights Institute, said.
"The Supreme Court will now have the opportunity to right a wrong perpetrated by the GOP as a broader effort to make it harder for some Americans to vote," Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee Voting Rights Institute, said in a news release. "The Indiana voter ID law should be overturned and found unconstitutional," Brazile added. "A strong ruling will discourage other states from trying to apply what can only be described as a modern-day poll tax, which disenfranchises legally eligible voters."
But Kevin Martin, a spokesman for the black conservative group Project 21, replied in a statement of his own that "likening the requirement of a credible ID to a poll tax or other Jim Crow-era roadblocks is nothing more than empty rhetoric parroted by partisan hacks operatives. Photo IDs of the sort necessary to vote in states such as Indiana are a growing everyday requirement in the post-9/11 world for security reasons, as well as for business transactions."
At the center of the controversy is Indiana Public Law 109-2005, which states that before casting a ballot, a voter must show an identification card that displays a photo of the person and his or her name (which must conform with registration records), contains an expiration date, and was issued by the state of Indiana or the U.S. government. Anyone who does not have a driver's license or passport can obtain a free ID card from the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles after producing a birth certificate or another form of acceptable identification.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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The press presents the populace with crap and the public eats it. DAMN right a photo ID is needed. Poverty? there is not poverty enough to maintain this idiot position. You can buy beer, smokes, drive a car, get a housing loan, but too poor to show your face in an election?
In my world, you must be a land owner to vote and you must show your face to vote. But that is only me. Funny how I believe you have to invest in the country you plan to live in to determine it's direction. This poverty crap has been run out for me. I am not buying it anymore. I live better than anyone in the third world in "poverty".
I still find a way to carry a photo ID. Especially if I want beer which I love.
Posted by: Jan ||
10/05/2007 4:38 Comments ||
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""The Supreme Court will now have the opportunity to right a wrong perpetrated by the Democrats GOP as a broader effort to make it harder for some Americans' to vote to count"
There fixed it for you. Remember Chicago - "Vote early, Vote often."
#4
I'd love to see a voter id law with teeth, but it wouldn't matter. Places like Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and California would just declare that they won't enforce it...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/05/2007 10:16 Comments ||
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Look at King County in Washington state. Fraud there by the Dems won them the Gov's office.
Plenty of fraud, and this is a needed step in restoring the "one person, one vote" rule of law.
Note that the IDs are FREE. No reasonable person can call that a "poll tax" - it doesnt cost anything! Call it a "voter registration card", and issue it as part of your registering to vote, and require that it be shown.
#6
The death penalty to anyone attempting to vote a second time, posted in large print at the poll entrance in English. Then photograph every voter as they leave the booth.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/05/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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I used to have a really nice three letter agency ID that I'd use for that if we were going to move out of an area soon. Was fun to see the eyes widen.
#9
Everyone knows what's going on here. Even the dems know. They want to continue to commit massive voter fraud unchecked, and they don't feel the least bit guilty about it. No conscience, no sense of law and order, no patriotism. The only thought in their hateful minds is, "we gotta beat those evil Republicans". Lie, heat, steal, vandalize, whatever it takes.
All this is about is preventing voter FRAUD perpetrated every election by democrats. Nothing more and nothing less. Has nothing to do with the poor, or voting rights, or any of the bullshit Donna Brazile is shoveling.
#11
why worry? isn't there action in a lot of (democratic) areas to issue id cards to illegals 'to obtain services?'
sounds like much ado about nothing, but i predict the id requirement will be tossed by the Court.
#12
This type law was passed in GA, and has survived numerous lawsuits (thusfar). Guess who was the first to sue, though?
Yep, our former Democratic Governor. He was the representing attorney for the "poor, disenfranchised" voters (GA also was allowing for a "free" ID card, if you didn't have a Driver's License). Funny thing was, the Defense (State) asked if he had "standing" (right to bring the lawsuit) and was given a certain amount of time (more than enough) to go find one (JUST ONE) person who'd be truly effected by this law. He couldn't produce ANYONE (even out of all the local "hoods" in Atlanta), and thus, lost his case. I'd suspect he's heading to Federal Court, though, soon.
Posted by: BA ||
10/05/2007 14:36 Comments ||
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The death penalty to anyone attempting to vote a second time, posted in large print at the poll entrance in English. Then photograph every voter as they leave the booth.
Multiple voters are not the biggest problem. Illegal aliens influencing our elections is a much more serious issue. The democrats must be blocked from using their runious welfare policies as a reward for illegal voters.
Balasore: A short-range variant of India's Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, the Agni-1, was successfully test-fired by the country's Strategic Forces Command at Chandipur-at-Sea near Balasore in Orissa at 10.35 this morning.
According to a government statement, "the performance parameters of the 700 km range missile were as expected and the desired objectives have been met."
Basically a users trial for the Indian Army, the test was conducted from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch complex, defence sources said. The sources also said that there were "considerable improvements" in the missile's re-entry technology and manoeuvrability as compared to the initial versions of the missile.
This is the fourth test firing of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile, which is capable of striking targets up to a distance of 700 km.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/05/2007 15:30 ||
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The user trial of Agni Missile A-I was conducted successfully by Strategic Forces Command at Chandipur at Sea near Balasore in Orissa on October 05, 2007.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/05/2007 15:33 Comments ||
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The black tip isn't a missile nose cone. It is the actual carbon-composite RV. It contains about 350kg of fuel for performing terminal atmospheric evasive and error correction maneuvers.
Up to 200 kiloton warhead. Pakistan specific.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/05/2007 15:41 Comments ||
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The Agni uses a modified first stage of the Indian SLV, their first generation space launcher.
Werner Von Braun on a visit to India met with APJ Abdul Kalam and looked over the design of the SLV.
The two men talked about the problems Kalam was experiencing.
It would be interesting if there was a little bit of Von Braun's "advice" in this thing.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/05/2007 15:56 Comments ||
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WAFF.com > CDI.org claims that Israel's JERICHO IRBMS is a related variant of India's AGNI Missle and is mostly UNRELIABLE + INACCURATE??? OTHER NET SITES, HIOWEVER, DISPUTE CDI's article.
President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday reiterated his commitment to doff his uniform between October 6 and November 15 this year, and said it was the right time for transition towards complete democracy, Dawn News reported.
Musharraf said he had given in writing that November 15 was the last date for removing his uniform, adding that before that it is my option. He said that remaining in uniform beyond 2004 was necessitated by the domestic and regional environment at that time. He said the biggest dictate for leaving the post of army chief was the legal and constitutional obligations.
He said the challenges faced by Pakistan in the last few years such as the October 2005 earthquake, recent floods in Sindh and at the Sukkur barrage, proved the value of a president in uniform. Regarding opinion polls showing his popularity going down, he said, If anyone says that I am unpopular I do not agree with it.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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FORMER Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf reached agreement on a national reconciliation accord that paves the way for a power-sharing deal, officials said overnight. "They have agreed on the draft and it will be issued by the president tomorrow. Benazir Bhutto has given her assent," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, a close confidant of the president, said.
The reconciliation agreement gives an amnesty for politicians who served in Pakistan between 1988 and 1999, effectively clearing Ms Bhutto of the corruption charges that forced her into exile after her two terms in office. "The agreement says that there will be an across-the-board indemnity for public office holders between 1988 and 1999," a senior government official who has seen the draft said on condition of anonymity.
It also says that if Pakistan's main graft-busting body wants to lodge a case against a politician it must first go through a special parliamentary committee "to avoid allegations of political motivations", the official said. Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has for its part agreed to withdraw a legal petition filed in the Supreme Court that seeks to have Sunday's presidential election postponed, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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ADNKRONOS > PAKISTAN:WARNS USA ABOUT DNAGERS OF UNILATERAL MILITARY ACTION, inside Pakistan agz AQ. ALso from same, AL-QAEDA: OSAMA IS ALIVE AND WELL. Interesting - Osama's son claims 'twas NOT Osama that appeared in recent videos. Article hints at internal reorganization/rformations including power struggles???
The United Nations agency that manages international treaties on patents, copyrights and trademarks was in turmoil on Thursday after industrialised countries, led by the US and European nations, blocked approval of the 2008-09 budget in an attempt to force the resignation of Kamil Idris, its director-general. European diplomats said the move, which came just before midnight on Wednesday on the last day of the World Intellectual Property Organisations annual meeting, was a vote of no confidence in WIPOs leadership.
Western nations accuse Mr Idris of mismanagement and misconduct. An internal auditors report last year concluded that he had broken UN financial and integrity rules by knowingly falsifying his age on official documents. An administrative review by Ernst & Young in 2005 and a staffing review by PwC this year have raised questions about the way WIPO has been managed by Mr Idris, who took office in 1997. Mr Idris, a Sudanese national who has the support of African and Muslim nations, denies wrongdoing.
He has incensed his critics by trying to suppress the internal auditors report and refusing to defend himself publicly at the annual meeting, as the US and others had demanded. The serious allegations of misconduct against the director-general cannot be swept under the carpet, Nick Thorne, UK ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said on Thursday. Switzerlands foreign affairs ministry said steps to replace Mr Idris were needed to restore WIPOs credibility.
Industrialised countries now plan to call an emergency meeting of WIPOs 184 member states to discuss selection of a new director-general, in an effort to keep up the pressure on Mr Idris to resign. Western diplomats on Thursday acknowledged they did not have the votes to oust him if he refused to go voluntarily, but said the budget vote of 44 against to 64 in favour showed they could muster enough support to block important decisions in the organisation, which require a two-thirds majority.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has mutated to infect people more easily, although it still has not transformed into a pandemic strain, researchers said on Thursday.
The changes are worrying, said Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"We have identified a specific change that could make bird flu grow in the upper respiratory tract of humans," said Kawaoka, who led the study.
"The viruses that are circulating in Africa and Europe are the ones closest to becoming a human virus," Kawaoka said.
Recent samples of virus taken from birds in Africa and Europe all carry the mutation, Kawaoka and colleagues report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens.
"I don't like to scare the public, because they cannot do very much. But at the same time it is important to the scientific community to understand what is happening," Kawaoka said in a telephone interview.
The H5N1 avian flu virus, which mostly infects birds, has since 2003 infected 329 people in 12 countries, killing 201 of them. It very rarely passes from one person to another, but if it acquires the ability to do so easily, it likely will cause a global epidemic.
All flu viruses evolve constantly and scientists have some ideas about what mutations are needed to change a virus from one that infects birds easily to one more comfortable in humans.
Birds usually have a body temperature of 106 degrees F, and humans are 98.6 degrees F usually. The human nose and throat, where flu viruses usually enter, is usually around 91.4 degrees F.
"So usually the bird flu doesn't grow well in the nose or throat of humans," Kawaoka said. This particular mutation allows H5N1 to live well in the cooler temperatures of the human upper respiratory tract.
H5N1 caused its first mass die-off among wild waterfowl in 2005 at Qinghai Lake in central China, where hundreds of thousands of migratory birds congregate.
That strain of the virus was carried across Asia to Africa and Europe by migrating birds. Its descendants carry the mutation, Kawaoka said.
"So the viruses circulating in Europe and Africa, they all have this mutation. So they are the ones that are closer to human-like flu," Kawaoka said.
Luckily, they do not carry other mutations, he said.
"Clearly there are more mutations that are needed. We don't know how many mutations are needed for them to become pandemic strains."
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/05/2007 17:55 Comments ||
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#3
Darrell: just because you haven't seen more stuff on the progress of the Avian flu, doesn't mean it isn't out there:
http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
http://www.fluwikie.com/
https://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewforum.php?f=1
http://newsnow.co.uk/newsfeed/?name=Bird+Flu
The bottom line is that an avian flu pandemic is seen by the worldwide health community as inevitable, and when it finally bursts out, it is going to be a mother.
#4
Ever since my childhood, Guam locals would simply chop off the heads/parts of known or preceived infected chickens, plus surrounding tissue(s) for good measure, then boil, broil, or barbecue the thing in a timely manner. I know of no one here on Guam thats ever gotten sick from Bird Flu per se. IMO > JUST MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR PROCESSED/FACTORY MEAT [read - BIG GOVT + BIG UNIONS? GLOBAL UNIONS?].
#5
"an avian flu pandemic is seen by the worldwide health community as inevitable"
Even this scientist says "We don't know how many mutations are needed for them to become pandemic strains." The mutations required could take 200 more years to develop or maybe even not develop at all. This is Al-Gore-quality doom and gloom.
#6
Darrell: Nope. The max time frame is about 2 years. This is because the animal vectors act much like a giant computer, continually deriving new and better strains, which then compete against each other. Thousands of H2H iterations will occur before even one of them is introduced to a human.
This current mutation may increase the number of human infections by a factor of 10 or 100 in the next year, as breeding in the upper trachea and sinuses is *the* most important mutation needed for easy H2H transmission.
And since the lethality of the disease is far worse than even the Spanish flu, its 2-week-or-so cyclic entry into H2H pandemic is going to be dramatic.
That is an outbreak, during which the disease silently spreads far beyond its boundaries, followed by about a two week hiatus, followed by exponential growth in the next outbreak.
#7
What the media aren't telling people is that if it mutates to a form more easily transmitted by humans, it could ALSO mutate into forms that are much less deadly. So while a lot of people might get it, it could mutate in such a fashion as to be no deadlier than typical influenza virii that circulate every year. To jump to the conclusion that it will be as deadly as it is now in its mutated form is simply fantasy. While that *might* be the case, chances are that it won't be the case.
#8
crosspatch: Again, as with so many other things associated with the Avian flu, it might transcend that as well. That is, one of the most lethal effects of the flu is that we have no immunity to it at all. In turn, this means that our immune response is dramatic.
This is called the "cytokine storm" effect, and has been documented with Avian flu. It means that a person's own immune system will destroy their lungs, even if the Avian flu mutates to a much less directly harmful strain. This is because the H5 factor is so totally alien that harmful or harmless, the immune system overreacts to fight it.
But so far, again unlike other flus, the Avian flu has managed to maintain its mortality rate at over 60%. At its height, the Spanish flu never beat 20% mortality. Flus typically never do that.
I once remarked that short of a nuclear bomb, the killer flu is the greatest high probability threat to the United States. And that was based on the idea that it would be no more deadly than the Spanish flu.
US military plans to create a weapon that would put a new twist on the slogan "make love, not war" were among the many off-beat ideas honoured at the 2007 Ig Nobel awards. A study of jet-lagged hamsters, some "bottomless" soup bowls, and an in-depth examination of sword-swallowing also earned prizes.
The tongue-in-cheek awards are organised by the humorous scientific journal the Annals of Improbable Research for research achievements "that make people laugh then think". The ceremony, held at Harvard University, is traditionally attended by several real Nobel laureates, including one who swept paper airplanes from the stage for several years before receiving the Nobel prize in Physics.
The Ig Nobel peace prize went to the US Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Ohio for its 1994 plan to develop a weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexu4lly irresistible to one another, an idea later dubbed the "gay bomb".
Details of the scheme were uncovered in a declassified document (pdf) that suggests a strong 4phrodisi4c would be "completely non-lethal" but could be seriously disruptive "especially if the chemical also caused homosexu4l behaviour."
Other ideas put forward in the document include chemical weapons that would attract angry or aggressive bugs, or that would give enemy troops "severe and lasting halitosis", thus making it hard for them to blend in with civilians.
Perky hamsters
Another substance with a well-known sexual effect was the focus for the Ig Nobel aviation award. Diego Golombek, Patricia Agostino, and Santiago Plano of the National University of Quilmes in Argentina won the Ig Nobel aviation prize for a study showing that a hamster-sized dose of Vi4gr4 can help the rodents recover from jet-lag.
The researchers found that Vi4gr4 shifted the animal's circadian rhythms back to normal after simulated time-zone changes induced with intervals of light and dark in the laboratory (Proceedings National Academy of Sciences, vol 104, p 9834). The dose needed to help people recover from jet lag would be smaller than used for treating erectile dysfunction, which is fortunate as this is probably not a condition many men would want cured during a long airline flight.
The Ig Nobel nutrition prize was awarded for research involving some apparently "bottomless" soup bowls. Brian Wansink, a marketing professor at Cornell University, in New York State, US, wondered if the amount of food on someone's plate might affect their appetite as much as the amount in their stomach.
So he rigged up some "bottomless" soup bowls with tubes hidden beneath the table to keep them topped. He found that volunteers eating from these bottomless bowls consumed 70% more than normal (Obesity Research, vol 13, p 93).
Cutting-edge entertainment
Brian Witcombe, a radiologist at Gloucestershire Royal NHS Trust received the Ig Nobel prize in medicine for his study of sword swallowing and its side effects. His interest was piqued by an X-ray of a sword swallower, which made the sword look further forward in the body than expected, and began investigating searching the medical literature for more information.
The literature yielded only a single report of injury, but Witcombe says he "got sucked into this rather amusing exchange of [e-mail] communications" with Dan Meyer, a Tennessee-based sword swallower, who had created a large database on the subject. This conversation led to the joint paper in the British Medical Journal (vol 333, p 1285).
The most common problem for sword swallowers is "sword throat," a soreness that develops when they are learning the trick. But Witcombe and Meyer could find no documented fatalities caused by swallowing swords excluding internet reports of people who swallowed neon tubes, spear guns, or jackhammers. "The big question is why the hell they do it," Witcombe says.
Other prizes included:
Chemistry Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan received a prize for producing synthetic vanilla from cow dung. Most synthetic vanilla now comes from petrochemicals, but cow dung is also rich in lignin, so Yamamoto thought turning some of it into "vanilla" would cut into Japan's cow dung mountain.
Linguistics This Ig Nobel prize went to Juan Toro, Josep Trobalon, and Núria Sebastián-Gallés of the University of Barcelona for a paper titled "Effects of backward speech and speaker variability in language discrimination by rats". They found that rats could recognize the rhythmic differences between Dutch and Japanese sentences, but not if the words were replayed backwards (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, vol.31, p.95).
Biology Johanna van Bronswijk of the Eindhoven University of Technology earned the Ig Nobel biology prize by vacuuming up insects, mites, spiders, crustaceans, bacteria, and fern spores from Dutch mattresses, to survey all the tiny beasties lurking in the average bed.
#1
On a more practical note, I suspect the whole 'gay bomb' thing was just an extreme of what is a more practical weapon.
That is, if you could subtly attack enemy soldiers with tiny amounts of female hormones, like plant estrogens sprayed by farmers to increase crop yield, it could result in the loss of much of their will to fight. Not by turning them gay, but by altering their personal hormonal balance.
The emotional and psychological effects of hormones can be "drastic", if properly done, and they are not something that would be detected in routine tests looking for chemical agents.
Imagine if thousands of enemy soldiers suddenly lost a lot of their male aggression, became emotionally fragile or even timid. While it would probably not effect all of them, a large number might lose a lot of their battlefield effectiveness.
Importantly, you would need to include a second agent that would make the hormone less stable, so that it would dissipate in a few days. Since you don't want your troops being exposed to it.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/05/2007 9:46 Comments ||
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#3
Anonymoose, if I were conspiratorial, I'd say that type of hormonal pollution is exactly what was designed and implemented in the developped countries, for that exact reason./paranoia mode.
More seriously, this is what may be happening right now in the said industrial countries, with the chemical & organic (soy)-based endocrinal disrupters released in the environment, and the subsequent loss of sperm count in western males?
#4
This weapon would not be effective against jihadis.
Those who want to cover women up totally and prefer the close company of men are I suspect already gay, and their guilt is being channelled into aggression
#5
Moose said:
"That is, if you could subtly attack enemy soldiers with tiny amounts of female hormones, ... it could result in the loss of much of their will to fight. Not by turning them gay, but by altering their personal hormonal balance."
I would think the effect would come primarily from the changing hormone balance. Once a new equilibrium is reached the individual can learn to handle it (are there many timid female Marines?), but the changeableness of the transition tend to interfere with clear thought and action. Hence the unmistakable warning signals from those who suffer regular PMS.
And anyway, the male system is set up so that a relative deficiency of androgens results in the release of more testosterone until the proper balance is re-achieved.
#8
And the gay bomb was successfully tested in San Francisco as well as a certain airport bathroom.....
vanila from cow crap, now there is an idea i don't even want to think about. but since i did, if white milk comes from white cows and choclate milk comes from brown cows, does it take more work to turn brown cow dung into vanilla????????
#11
More seriously, this is what may be happening right now in the said industrial countries, with the chemical & organic (soy)-based endocrinal disrupters released in the environment, and the subsequent loss of sperm count in western males?
One of the biggest culprits are thalates, a powerful endocrine disruptor that is used as a plasticizer in almost all flexible polymers. Think cling wrap, liners for canned foods, baggies, etc. This is one chemical that needs to be eliminated pronto.
#12
Linguistics - I remember when a friends girlfriend tried to set me up with her best friend. Both of them could speak backwards together at reading rate. Had practiced it since kindergarten. Really was too strange. I never did date her.
A government minister Friday urged Indonesia to drop its claim of ownership over a Malay folk song used in Malaysia's tourism campaign and focus instead on boosting bilateral ties. The Indonesians have accused Malaysia of stealing the song "Rasa Sayang," or "Feeling of Love," from them and are considering suing. Kuala Lumpur has rejected the allegations, which could spark a diplomatic row between the two neighbors. Malaysian Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Rais Yatim warned that Jakarta's plan to sue for copyright was immature and would setback bilateral ties.
The song has its roots in the Malay archipelago which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand and Brunei, and is also sung by people in southern Africa and Sri Lanka, Rais told reporters. "It is a backward move (to sue). Indonesia should have instead encouraged Rasa Sayang to be made the song of harmony for the Malay archipelago," he said. "We want to see what laws will be used by Indonesia to claim copyright. Any legal action will fail because there is no proof (that the song belongs to them)."
Rais said he was prepared to meet Indonesian officials to resolve the issue. "There are many other important bilateral issues that we should focus on," he said. "It is unfortunate for this thing to come up. I hope it would be eased through the diplomatic channel and through a better Ramadan reasoning."
Indonesian Tourism and Cultural Minister Jero Wacik on Wednesday said he was investigating whether Jakarta could claim copyright and had scheduled a meeting with legislators.
Indonesian House of Representatives member Hakam Naja has said Jakarta should consider action against Malaysia for using Rasa Sayang in a tourism campaign to mark the country's 50th anniversary currently running on radio, television and online. Hakam has also accused Malaysia of claiming ownership of traditional Indonesian heritage such as batik art using dye fabrics and the shadow puppet theater, the report added.
Security forces combed through Yangon rounding up activists as Myanmars regime tightened its grip on power Thursday, while a UN envoy prepared a key report on last weeks bloody crackdown on protesters.
Dozens of people were arrested overnight as security forces raided homes near Yangons Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmars holiest Buddhist shrine and a key rallying point for the mass protests, residents said. Soldiers enforced an overnight curfew and swept into homes to make targeted arrests from a blacklist of campaigners following the largest anti-regime demonstrations in almost 20 years, the residents said. They have a curfew in place and every night they arrest people, said Shari Villarosa, US head of mission in the military-ruled country. While a semblance of normality had returned, long-simmering discontent had been heightened by anger by what has been done against the demonstrators, the atrocities that have been committed against the monks, she said.
One resident, asking not to be named, told AFP: Many people were arrested during the night, but it is really hard to say exactly how many. But none of the usual vendors around Shwedagon Pagoda can be found. Some detainees have been released, but the empty streets, where thousands of monks usually collect alms at dawn, are evidence of the scale of the crackdown. Most Yangon monasteries seem empty, leaving neighbours to wonder if the monks have been arrested, injured or worse.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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France's ambassador in Myanmar said Thursday that authorities have arrested thousands of people and raided monasteries, and that the number of killed and injured in last month's pro-democracy uprising has been underestimated.
Jean-Pierre Lafosse, speaking on RTL radio from Myanmar, said police were using a curfew imposed last week to step up arrests, which he said had reached "hundreds, thousands" since the unrest. The protests were led by Buddhist monks and Lafosse described monasteries being "emptied out by entire trucks." He said there were "more wounded and killed than can be acknowledged or announced," but did not give an estimate.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Pulling and dragging people out of their homes. Killing them in the jungle. Torture, manevolent means to maintain power. This country is ass.
BURMA'S ruling military junta has invited the US envoy in Rangoon for talks tomorrow, in what is said to be the first high level bilateral meeting since a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests, the State Department said overnight. "They have requested our charge de affairs to travel to the capital for a briefing with members of the government," department spokesman Sean Mccormack said.
The envoy, Shari Villarosa, does not know the topic of discussions at the meeting scheduled in the junta's administrative capital Naypyidaw, he said. "I don't know what she is going to hear."
But Mr McCormack said the United States would send a "very clear message" to the military generals, that they need to start a "meaningful" dialogue with all democratic opposition groups, stop the violent crackdown on peaceful protests, encourage economic and political reforms and greater freedom and openness.
News of the meeting came as Burma's state media reported today that the junta chief Senior General Than Shwe would be willing to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi if she meets several preconditions, including ending her support for sanctions on the regime. The announcement came as the junta announced that more than 2000 people were arrested during its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests during the last week, acknowledging that some of the detainees were simply bystanders.
Burma's Senior General Than Shwe made the offer to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi during his talks on Wednesday with UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, state television reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This is the second time I have told you that Aung San Suu Kyi is the GOD appointed leader of Burma.
TO the handful of monks remaining at Ngwe Kya Yan monastery - scared and in shock - it must have seemed that everything was over. Soldiers and police made the first swoop in the early hours, cracking skulls, firing rubber bullets and dragging away more than 70 monks to secret detention centres. Those who escaped returned at daybreak to their smashed monastery, the blood of their brothers glistening on the stone of the courtyard.
By late afternoon, soldiers and police returned to finish the job. But then something remarkable happened: thousands of men, women and children emerged from the surrounding houses of South Okkalopa township, converged on the streets leading to the monastery and trapped the soldiers and police inside. For more than six hours, the unarmed crowd prevented security forces from taking the monks away - until they were dispersed in a battle in which police reportedly shot dead two people.
It was a scene repeated at monasteries and pagodas across Rangoon. At nearby Kyaik Ka San, Moe Kaung and Mahar Bawdi, locals defended monks with their lives. Their attempts appear to have been unsuccessful, but the risks they took demonstrate the depth of affection for the monks and loathing for the junta. "People knew that they had no weapons, no strength at all against the armed military," a local said. "But still they can raise their voices to demand the safety of the monks."
Virtually all Burman men spend at least a year in a monastery. Those more devout go back again, sometimes for life. The generals are walking on very thin ice here, because the army is made up of draftees, unless things have changed in the past few years. That means both monks and soldiers come from the same pool, and it's not the same cliquish, hereditary pool that produces the Myanmar officers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/05/2007 00:00 ||
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The US created more jobs last month than expected while revised figures showed the labour market was stronger in August than first thought.
The US Labor Department said the economy added 110,000 new jobs in September, higher than the 100,000 figure predicted by economists. And rather than shedding 4,000 jobs in August as initially estimated, 89,000 new jobs were actually created.
Jobs data is seen as a key indicator of the health of the US economy.
US shares rose on news of the better-than-expected figures but economists pointed out the overall unemployment rate had risen to 4.7% from 4.6%, the highest for a year.
Had August's initial estimate been confirmed it would have suggested a sharp slowdown in the economy since the economy has not shed jobs on a monthly basis for four years.
the government revised upwards non-farm payroll figures for each of the past 2 months
In fact, the government revised upwards non-farm payroll figures for each of the past two months. For July, it now says 93,000 jobs were created as opposed to the 68,000 first estimated.
Concerns about the strength of the labour market was one of the factors behind the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by a half point last month.
The dramatic move followed the turbulence in global financial markets triggered by the slump in the US housing market.
The rise in August's jobs figure was largely due to the previous underestimation of government hiring, particularly of new teachers. While September saw a rise in recruitment in the services sector, there was a net loss in jobs in construction and manufacturing industries.
"On balance, it was quite encouraging," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. "However, looking at it on a sixth-month basis we still have a problem with very, very slow job creation. To me it does not signal any great strength in the economy."
In reality, the US economy has to create about 100,000 jobs a month to replace those lost through retirement and natural attrition.
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.
ROCK legend Bruce Springsteen has brushed off critics who label him unpatriotic, countering that the United States has itself engaged in "anti-American" activity since President George W. Bush took power.
BOSASSO, Somalia - Gunmen in Somalias northeastern Puntland province hijacked a cargo plane carrying khat, a narcotic leaf, on Thursday after a business deal turned sour, a local official said. The attackers seized the plane, which had come from Ethiopia, in Puntlands port of Bosasso. They then flew 150 km (90 miles) west to another coastal town, Las Qorey, the chairman of the area, Muse Gelle Farole, told Reuters. It was not known how many people were on board the plane. 
At least five people were killed Thursday when a cargo plane crashed into a crowded market in a residential neighborhood near the airport in Congo's capital, police said. Airport officer Appo Ilunga said the Antonov 26 crashed into a market area of the Kingasani neighborhood of Kinshasa around 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT). He said he did not yet know how many people were aboard the plane.
Republic of Congo's army said overnight it had killed at least 35 fighters loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda during a gun battle in the central African country's lawless, mineral-rich east. "They left behind 35 bodies on the battlefield and took away others," Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, commander of operations for Congo's army in North Kivu province, said.
Bangladeshs Supreme Court reversed on Thursday a lower court decision to free former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia on bail, upholding an appeal by the army-backed interim government. 
Australian and New Zealand leaders led tributes Thursday to the 10,000 soldiers from their nations who died 90 years ago this month in one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. They also laid to rest the remains of five recently found soldiers.
With the 2008 elections on the horizon, the Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether an Indiana law that requires voters to have a government-issued photo ID is a security necessity in the post-9/11 world or some sort of partisan plan to suppress voter turnout. 
President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday reiterated his commitment to doff his uniform between October 6 and November 15 this year, and said it was the right time for transition towards complete democracy, Dawn News reported.
Jeff Hecht 
France's ambassador in Myanmar said Thursday that authorities have arrested thousands of people and raided monasteries, and that the number of killed and injured in last month's pro-democracy uprising has been underestimated. 
