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Mosul kaboom kills 15, wounds 132
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
5 00:00 rjschwarz [12] 
1 00:00 doc [11] 
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [10] 
5 00:00 DMFD [8] 
2 00:00 JosephMendiola [8] 
7 00:00 Eric Jablow [6] 
8 00:00 trailing wife [14] 
10 00:00 JosephMendiola [7] 
3 00:00 JosephMendiola [11] 
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [10] 
20 00:00 Steve White [13] 
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4 00:00 ed [6] 
7 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [8] 
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9 00:00 ed [8] 
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4 00:00 JosephMendiola [11] 
2 00:00 Woozle Elmeter 2907 [12] 
4 00:00 tu3031 [7] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
7 00:00 lotp [9]
12 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
1 00:00 Old Patriot [6]
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20 00:00 xbalanke [8]
8 00:00 Crusader [6]
3 00:00 Abu do you love [15]
2 00:00 Dopey Flotle8127 [9]
1 00:00 Sock Puppet of Doom [11]
6 00:00 Frank G [9]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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6 00:00 Ebbomolet Trotsky1353 [7]
5 00:00 Frank G [5]
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3 00:00 Frank G [9]
6 00:00 trailing wife [7]
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6 00:00 MarkZ [8]
3 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [4]
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2 00:00 Spot [8]
3 00:00 DMFD [4]
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2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [8]
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7 00:00 USN,Ret. [4]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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3 00:00 swksvolFF [10]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
New candidate enters the race!!
Scroll down for her platform. She just might draw a lot of Rantburg votes.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 14:54 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Based on the candidate field we have left, I'd vote for the dog, except I don't like her position on illegals. If another dog continually comes to your tray and empties it, you probably are going to rip that dog a new asshole so that he leaves your tray alone permanently. Otherwise, a very intelligent dog.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/24/2008 15:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Ray Smuckles jumped in the other day. Things are hotting up.
Posted by: Grunter || 01/24/2008 17:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I like the new candidate. She offers integrity and doesn't mind admitting to being a bitch.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2008 17:33 Comments || Top||

#4  The problem with a dog as a candidate is that dogs aren't very good speech-makers:

Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 18:27 Comments || Top||

#5  And the winner is:
Posted by: DMFD || 01/24/2008 21:11 Comments || Top||


Britney is a great mother says Hilton
Paris Hilton Is Rooting For Britney Spears.

"I wish the best for her and I just wish everyone would leave her alone so she could live her life," the 26-year-old hotel heiress-actress told E! News.

"She's a great mother and a great girl and I really care about her. She's a very sweet girl and I love her to death."
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 00:16 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Paris has spoken. Now I'll have to rethink everything.
Posted by: gorb || 01/24/2008 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  If Britney is a great mather in Paris opinion it says loooots about Paris own mother.
Posted by: JFM || 01/24/2008 4:53 Comments || Top||

#3  ...the 26-year-old hotel heiress-actress told E! News.

Paris is to acting as I am to professional cycling...
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2008 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  She also has a music album and a nack for interior decorating...
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2008 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  "Everybody persecutes us because we love our Lord Satan."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 12:54 Comments || Top||

#6  So...is this the final word, or do we have to wait for Oprah to chime in?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 13:39 Comments || Top||

#7  another article on pop-tards - way to go monitors.
Posted by: Captain Spalet9314 || 01/24/2008 14:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Aw Captain Spaulding cut 'em a little slack.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/24/2008 14:33 Comments || Top||

#9  What, "Captain," you don't like a little comic relief?

THEN DON'T READ THE POST.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 14:36 Comments || Top||

#10  The point, Barbara, is that I regularly submit articles about WOT that never get posted but this drivel does.
Posted by: Capt etc, || 01/24/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

#11  Speaking as a moderator:

the only WOT articles that are submitted and not forwarded are, in my case at least, duplicates of stories we've already posted, either from that very URL or with substantially the same content from elsewhere.

We do occasionally get articles that are listed as WOT for which the connection is, in the eyes of the mods, tenuous. But most of the time, if you submitted something and it wasn't posted, it's because it's already there (or got into the queue ahead of you waiting to be posted).

Feel free to drop a note in the Club if you have a question about some specific article.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 15:03 Comments || Top||

#12  Some headlines mock themselves.
Posted by: Ebbomolet Trotsky1353 || 01/24/2008 17:36 Comments || Top||

#13  another article on pop-tards - way to go monitors.

It was a 'monitor' that put it in. Me.

Please notice that the post is in the Non-War-on-Terror section. That should be a clear indication to the Permanently-Serious that postings in that section aren't going to be terror-related. Feel free to skip Non-WoT.

If you've been here for any length of time (and judging by the multiple nyms, you have) you'll note that Rantburg also does comic-irony, stupid criminal, and animal pieces. It's a side effect.

The point, Barbara, is that I regularly submit articles about WOT that never get posted but this drivel does.

Speaking as a moderator, I'll echo lotp. Perhaps the post was a duplicate, maybe it was a tenuous topic. We have a lot of well-read Rantburgers who are very good at finding stories. We also have many who specialise in certain areas, like India. So the chances of someone else finding your 'prize' are great. On average, I end up trashing 3-5 of my own posts because they're duplicates.

Getting a post in early helps. The new-day for Rantburg is midnight EST. That might be a bit hard from Hawaii, but there's no free lunch. As always, feel free to email if there are any questions.

Speaking for myself, it'd be real nice, for the amount of times you've posted here, to pick a permanent nym and stick with it.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 17:40 Comments || Top||

#14  Well said, Pappy & lotp.

Y'all are nicer than I would be to someone bitching about the free ice cream....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 18:26 Comments || Top||

#15  I imagine Pappy was one of those really, really effective NCOs back before he became an officer. That was exceedingly thorough, and exquisitely polite.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 19:46 Comments || Top||

#16  Pappy__ I've been trying to post articles from an excellent MilBlog in Iraq for the past week and none have shown up.

http://kaboomwarjournal.blogspot.com/ for your information.

I see no reason this should be ashcanned while some of the other stuff goes thru.

Yes I have posted a lot and commented a lot - when I had an article or information I thought would be useful to the crew. Not that my nym's should be of any concern to you, but I like to see what pops out of Freds pic-a-nic so I don't usually change the default. Also I can't type worth a damn so why waste the effort when Fred has so generously let me avoid that. If you think I'm violating some unwritten Rantburger code by not using one official pseudonym, drop the feature. Otherwise, don't complain about what really isn't in your brief.

This is intended as a constructive criticm of what I see as a failure to adhere to R'Burg's stated standards.

Mercutio (there. happy, Pappy?)
Posted by: George Chomotle9007 || 01/24/2008 21:07 Comments || Top||

#17  That blog was already featured on Rantburg on Monday. Link here. I personally have deleted at least two submissions from you of that site after Monday.

And -- please do stick to one 'nym when commenting and posting.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 21:38 Comments || Top||

#18  So let me expand a bit on the 'nym issue.

While Fred does not demand you use a single 'nym, doing so allows regulars to recognize and respond to your comments. Many readers scan the right side of the page and jump to read comments by people they know and respect.

There are other reasons as well, among them that it makes it easier for the moderators to sort out trolls who might be posting from the same ISP server as you.

The moderators work hard to make this site available and attractive. Constructive comments are welcome. Pissy comments that denigrate the work and suggestions of moderators - of whom Pappy is one - are not.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2008 21:44 Comments || Top||

#19  My apologies about the unposted items. I obviously missed monday's link - though the item I tried to post today was a totally different article that the one in the link and well worth reading.

As far as nym's go, that is personal preference. I don't care much about who knows who I am, and my reasons as stated for using the pic-a-nic stand.

As far as "pissy" goes. Nothing I said should be or would be construed in that fashion by a reasonable reader. I merely object to being told that using a feature of R'burg is politically incorrect. This has been a very good site. I sincerely hope that "in-crowdism" doesn't rear it's head and diminish it.

Mercutio
Posted by: Jinter Poodle5552 || 01/24/2008 22:07 Comments || Top||

#20  One more to Mercutio: we mods post the 'pop-tard' items to demonstrate what the MSM is focusing on, rather than the WoT. That's also the point of the 'Shattered Nation' cartoon we use from time to time.

1) Nym: pick one, stick with it. Otherwise I won't know who you are, and if I slag you I won't feel near as guilty about it.

2) Posts from non-mods are at the discretion of the mods. Regulars (y'know, with one nym whom we know) get more discretion. Duplicates get deleted, as do way-OT posts. We get 80 to 100 posts a day, only half from the mods.

AoS
Posted by: Steve White || 01/24/2008 22:23 Comments || Top||


After Cocaine Video Surfaces, Winehouse Goes to Rehab
As details emerge about the death of Hollywood actor Heath Ledger, concerns are growing over British singer Amy Winehouse. Tuesday, a photo of her apparently smoking a crack pipe was splashed across the front page of the U.K. tabloid The Sun. The photo, taken from a 19-minute video whose source The Sun has not revealed, was accompanied by reports that the Grammy-nominated singer had allegedly engaged in a drug binge of cocaine, ecstasy, Valium and crack.

Winehouse, 24, is perhaps best known for her 2006 hit "Rehab," in which she wrote about her refusal to visit a rehab facility. Hours after the video was released, however, the singer turned up at the privately run Capio Nightingale Hospital, accompanied by her father, Mitch, and a bodyguard, according to The Times of London. The mental health clinic in central London is famous for treating celebrities with addiction problems.
Compare this picture with the one of Dorothy Lamour in the bloid today.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
I told ya, I was trouble
You know that I'm no good

Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Other then world renowned crackhead, I have no idea who this broad is and why she is "famous".
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 8:59 Comments || Top||

#3  My daughter gave me her CD. It wasn't all that great.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/24/2008 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey Amy...that's a bitchin' "Tramp-Stamp" ya got there.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/24/2008 12:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Who?

And why exactly am I supposed to care?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 12:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Rehab - the celebrity's Get Out of Jail Free card.
Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Mah o mah! She looks like two miles o' rough road!

/Foghorn Leghorn
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/24/2008 18:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Please don't ask me how I know this, but the "tramp stamp" is slang for a tat on the base of a woman's spine, just above her buttocks.
Or it was, when I last checked with my informant.
And I do not know who this Winehouse person is, and have never heard any of her music.
For which I am, at this particular point, profoundly grateful. I do wonder how her audiences restrain themselves from making whinnying noises and 'clop-clop-clop' audio effects, whenever she appears.

Hey, I can spell again! Maybe I should start drinking earlier!!!
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 01/24/2008 18:54 Comments || Top||

#9  I take it she is the British Lindsey Lohan.
Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 18:58 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Global Warming Alert: Temperature Drops To -31 In Minnesota
CHICAGO (CBS) ¯ Bitter, dangerous cold has descended on the Upper Midwest for the second time in less than a week, with the air temperatures falling to 27 below zero in some parts of Wisconsin.

In Chicago early Wednesday morning, the temperature fell to -4 at O'Hare International Airport. It was slightly warmer downtown at 2 degrees, but in west suburban Aurora, temperatures bottomed out at -11. But to make matters worse and more dangerous, a northwest wind of 13 mph sent wind chill factors plunging to -22 at O'Hare.
Global Warming Climate change 'significantly worse' than feared: Al Gore
An elderly Chicago woman was the latest victim to succumb to the wicked weather. She died from hypothermia after being found outside wearing a coat and shoes just steps from her back stairs on the city's northwest side. She was the eighth person to die from the cold so far this season in Chicago.

Anyone heading out this morning should be advised that frost bite can set in after only about 30 minutes on exposed areas, according to the National Weather Service. Facts On Frostbite And Hypothermia

Temperatures sunk even further into the minus zone throughout Wisconsin.

Subzero weather has blanketed the state from Milwaukee to Superior. In the northwest Wisconsin town of Phillips, the air temperature was -27 Thursday morning – without the wind chill.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/24/2008 11:17 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fun Facts to Know and Tell:

The lowest recorded temperature for January in Minnesota was on Jan 24th 1904 (ironically todayÂ’s date) it was a balmy −57 °F (−49 °C).

The highest recorded temperature in Minnesota for Jan 24th was in 1981.
Temps reached 69 °F (21 °C).

Now in 2008, on Jan 24th, temperatures dropped to −31 °F.

I believe in Climate changeÂ…because it changes all the time.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 01/24/2008 11:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Lileks says:

Cold day; got up to about two and a half degrees before it fell down and gave up. I’m used to it. I get up, check the temp – ONE – and shrug. You get used to anything. If it rained flaming hamsters every morning you’d walk to the bus stop with a steel umbrella and a shovel.
Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 12:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Looks like Al Gore saw his ample shadow again?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  I can hear Mike N. maniacal laughter even in TLH.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/24/2008 14:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Dumbass Al is in Davos Switzerland spouting his swill to the other limp wrists. Too bad he isn't visiting Minnesota. Maybe Icerigger could take him out ice fishing. Be a shame if he got too close to the hole and slipped under.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/24/2008 15:55 Comments || Top||

#6  The USG + NASA, etc. has reportedly delayed MOON PLANS in favor of further exploration of MERCURY and prob VENUS. As said or inferred before, MERCURY-VENUS exploration > IMO is PDeniable "cover" for close-up information collection = spot study of the Sun's current + projectable/LT state vv GLOBAL-PLANETARY WARMING. THE USA HAS ALREADY BEEN TO THE MOON - USG-NASA, etc DESIRE "CERTAINTY" ABOUT THE SUN, i.e. STATUS QUO versus SOLAR EXPANSION.

OVERT MISSION - Planetary Study for future human exploration-colonization.
COVERT/TRUE MISSION - the Sun.

As also posted on the Net long ago > KEEANU REEVES + movie THE MATRIX = EVANGELICAL-CHARISM XTIAN "RAPTURE" > AKA WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE EARTH LOSES GRAVITY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 21:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Hell froze over, too, Al Gorilioni.....Hell, Michigan reported 12F this evening. Now what was this bit about global warming?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/24/2008 22:36 Comments || Top||

#8  We've local schools in Cincinnati already announcing a delayed start again tomorrow morning, because of the weather forecast. It's 11F just now.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2008 23:29 Comments || Top||


Bigfoot found -- on Mars!
Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 07:30 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Noone tell my ex-wife it's just a cardboard cutout.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 01/24/2008 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Nah, it is just a lone guy going to his SUV to add more CO2 to the atmosphere to increase global warming since Mars shows the same temperature fluctuation as the Earth. Where the fuck is Greenpeace when you need them?
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/24/2008 9:55 Comments || Top||

#3  So, it seems to be throwing a shadow to the right at a shallow angle. But then, the rocks throw a steep angle shadow towards the viewer.
But I believe it.
Posted by: wxjames || 01/24/2008 9:57 Comments || Top||

#4  How could he be on Mars when he was in my backyard the other night? Maybe they should change his name to "Big Scat".
Posted by: Spot || 01/24/2008 10:22 Comments || Top||

#5  NASA is on the record now as indicating the 'man like form' is only 2' tall, and wind carven into a rock top. Sorry, no life yet people!!
Posted by: smn || 01/24/2008 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  >2"< tall, sorry.
Posted by: smn || 01/24/2008 11:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Some people are moronically stupid, like the idiot whose website that article appears on (check out the article lambasting the space program for an example of what this moron thinks about the space program).

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 01/24/2008 11:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Its osama - with 2 moons he is in constant prayer.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2008 11:53 Comments || Top||

#9  We got a Man in the Moon, why not a face on Mars
Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2008 12:08 Comments || Top||

#10  Yoohoo, MADONNA, you and your siblings tell Mom they finally found her statue from Atlantis!
FIFTH ELEMENT > MMMUUUUUTLIPPAAAASSSSSS. DOIN' WHAT ANY SEXY BOSOMY BEAUTEOUS ALIEN-HUMAN SPACE BABE DOES BEST - SPEND $$$$ AND EAT EVERYTHING IN THE FRIDGE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 20:58 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Annan to meet Kenya leader, opposition scraps demo
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to meet Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday to try to end a post-election crisis after persuading the opposition to call off further street protests.

Following talks with Annan, the opposition said late on Wednesday it would halt planned demonstrations against Kibaki's disputed December 27 poll victory. Previous protests have ended in rioting and bloody clashes with security forces.

Annan had been due to meet Kibaki on Wednesday, but the Kenyan leader instead met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a close ally also trying to mediate who is one of few African leaders to have congratulated Kibaki on his win.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "These things have a tendency to start slowly but now they should start going more quickly," said one diplomat involved in the negotiations, who declined to be named.

I take that to mean that Kofi's expense check has cleared...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 9:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Wow, seeing Koffee back in action certainly brings hope to to table of despair.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/24/2008 11:04 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zim Police release Opposition Leader
Police released Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai hours after taking him away in the middle of the night for questioning about a demonstration planned for later on Wednesday, his lawyer said. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) planned the march to press veteran President Robert Mugabe for a new Constitution to guarantee parliamentary and presidential elections due in March are free and fair. "He has been released without charge. The police wanted to know what he is planning to do today [Wednesday]," lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Reuters by telephone.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told Reuters that Tsvangirai was picked up at 4am from his home in a suburb of Harare by plain-clothes officers. He was released about four hours later. Muchadehama said police also picked up another MDC leader, Dennis Murira, who was also released later.

Tsvangirai was last arrested in March 2007 along with dozens of opposition officials ahead of another planned march. He says police beat him up in custody but they deny this. The police had initially granted permission for Wednesday's march, which the MDC also called to protest against a crumbling economy blamed on government mismanagement as well as to press for a new Constitution. A Harare magistrate's court was expected to hear an application at 8am GMT on Wednesday on overturning the ban, which police say was prompted by fears the demonstration would degenerate into violence and looting.

Witnesses said armed riot police had been deployed on Tuesday night in the volatile townships of Highfield and Budiriro and set up road blocks on streets into the city centre. A Reuters correspondent saw police combing a park where the MDC planned to assemble for the march in central Harare at 9.15am GMT. The police were armed with shotguns, teargas canons and batons and conducted random searches on passers-by. Police also deployed at various strategic venues in central Harare, searching cars for weapons. Zimbabweans have tended to shy away from demonstrations in recent years, mainly from fear of a heavy-handed response by security forces and were on Wednesday busy queuing for cash at banks while many went about their normal business.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/24/2008 00:12 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Congo rebels sign deal to end eastern conflict
Warring rebels and militias in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo signed a ceasefire deal on Wednesday aimed at ending conflict at the heart of one of the world's most deadly humanitarian catastrophes.

The peace pact in the eastern town of Goma was signed by Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, President Joseph Kabila's government, and several militia and armed groups from Congo's North and South Kivu provinces.

While foreign observers welcomed the deal as a chance for lasting peace in Congo, they warned its implementation could be difficult after the collapse of all several previous ceasefires. "We have indeed won a great battle over the skeptics," Kabila told the closing ceremony of a peace conference in the capital of North Kivu, Goma. "We are not, however, at the end of our troubles. A new challenge rises up before us, a greater and more difficult challenge than yesterday's: the challenge of implementation."
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


LRA deputy Otti is dead, Sudanese official says
Vincent Otti, the deputy commander of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, is dead, the vice president of south Sudan said on Wednesday.
I'm going to assume this is accurate and invite the Fat Lady to sing a few verses.
The statement by Riek Machar, who is mediating talks in Juba between the rebels and the Ugandan government, was the first authoritative announcement of Otti's death following unconfirmed reports that he had been killed late last year. "I was officially informed by (LRA leader) Joseph Kony that Vincent Otti is dead," Machar told reporters in Juba, south Sudan's capital.
"What? He's dead? But the last time I saw him he looked so healthy...?"
"Sure did. Right up until I shot him. Now, not so good."
Numerous LRA deserters have said that Kony, whose 20-year rebellion killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 2 million before a ceasefire last year, shot dead his number two last October, after accusing him of spying for the government. Machar did not confirm the cause of Otti's death.
"Hey, Vincent!"
"Yeah, Boss?"
"[BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]"
Otti, regarded as the brains behind the group in contrast to the volatile Kony, was a prime mover behind the LRA joining peace talks that began last year in Juba. LRA spokesman Godfrey Ayoo said he would make a statement shortly. Kony has also dismissed his chief peace negotiator,
"Oh, Martin?"
"Yeah, Boss?"
"[BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]"
accusing him of profiting from talks with the government, an official said, raising fears of a wobble in the peace process. "The chairman of the LRA has with disgrace dismissed Martin Ojul the leader of the LRA peace team ... who he accuses of making money from the peace process and intentionally delaying it," David Matsanga, who replaced Ojul, told Reuters by phone.
"Oh, David!"
"Michelin sandals, don't fail me now!"
Two weeks ago, Uganda's Sunday Monitor published an article saying President Yoweri Museveni had given a $200,000 gift to Kony's negotiators, which reportedly angered the rebel leader. The Uganda government has given Kony until Jan. 31 to sign a deal or risk a returning to war. Machar said he was confident a deal would be reached soon, but did not commit to a time frame.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico Arrests Man in Border Agent Death
Mexican authorities said Wednesday they had arrested a man in northern Mexico in the weekend killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar.

Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, was arrested in the northern state of Sonora on Wednesday, said a spokesman for Mexico's federal Attorney General's office who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. Navarro was transported to the city of Mexicali in Baja California after he told Mexican authorities he ran over Aguilar on Saturday, the spokesman said.

Aguilar was trying to stop a suspected smuggler who had illegally entered the country from Mexico when he was hit by the vehicle, according to Agent Michael Bernacke, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector. The incident happened in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Yuma on Saturday.
Posted by: || 01/24/2008 00:28 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are they gonna do catch & release? :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 22:32 Comments || Top||


Venezuelan troops grab groceries
Venezuela's top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez's campaign to stem shortages.
"Hugo of the Bolivars: Building a Bleaker Tomorrow Today."
The leftist Chavez this week created a state food distributor and loosened some price controls, seeking to end months of shortages for staples like milk and eggs that have caused long lines and upset his supporters in the OPEC nation. The highly publicised campaign has also included government crackdowns on accused smuggling, with the military seizing 1,600 tonnes of food and sending 1,200 troops to the border with Colombia.

Jose Anzola, a director of food company Alimentos Polar, told reporters that troops stopped 27 of its trucks over the last three days and described the seizures as "illegal, arbitrary and irresponsible."

Troops said they halted the transport of 350 tonnes of food to states along the Colombian border on suspicion of smuggling, he said. Another 165 tonnes were impounded in an eastern state on accusations of hoarding, he added. Venezuela's National Guard did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Polar's statements.

Polar, one of the country's largest private employers and best-known brands, produces and distributes grocery products including corn flour, a central element of Venezuelan cooking, and the country's most popular beer. Business leaders say shortages of these products are caused by strict price controls, which have lagged inflation that is Latin America's highest.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the correct answer is....."27 Trucks!"
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2008 3:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Stephen Green ("Vodkapundit") calls Venezuela "Zimbabwe on the Caribbean." It's an apt description.
Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 11:22 Comments || Top||

#3  zimbob aint got oil. Still its ever enlightening to see just how bad Chavez is screwing things up despite the oil income.

Posted by: Dopey Flotle8127 || 01/24/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Venezuela's GDP is listed at $166B. Oil exports are around $50B of that, likely more in 2008. So no matter how much Hugo's Commie policies wreck the non oil economy, he can buy off the lower 50 percentile of the population with oil revenues. The more he wrecks the economy, the less resources the remaining population can muster resources against him.

The onus is on the US to develop domestic oil and alternative production. Low oil prices would take care of 80% of our foreign problems as well as slow the hemorrhaging of our own economy.
Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 13:34 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Poll shows Russia's Medvedev set for crushing win
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Crushing, eh? Works on a couple of levels.....
Posted by: OyVey1 || 01/24/2008 13:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Fingernail pulling suspense I tells ya.
Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 13:46 Comments || Top||

#3  CHINESE MIL FORUM POster thread > RUSSIANS ARE DYING TOO QUICKLY TO SAVE THAT NATION, ala data from CENSUS.GOV.

Also from CMF > DEVELOPMENTANDTRANSITION.com > Russia still suffers from a very large/massive UNDERGROUND ECONOMY = OFF THE BOOKS ECONOMY/BLACK MARKETS. DItto for CHINA, INDIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 23:06 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italian gov't wins confidence vote in Lower House
(Xinhua) -- Italian Premier Romano Prodi won a confidence vote in the Lower House on Wednesday but he is expected to resign after defections in his coalition made it clear he will not have a majority in the Senate. The vote saw 326 MPs voting in favor and 275 against the confidence motion.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Polish air force chiefs feared killed in crash
Several Polish air force commanders were feared killed on Wednesday when their military plane with 19 people aboard crashed on the way back from a conference on aviation safety.

Officials said the Spanish-made CASA 295m transport plane carrying 15 passengers and four crew was approaching a military airport in northern Poland during the evening when the accident occurred. Colonel Cezary Siemion, a senior defense ministry spokesman, said all aboard the plane were assumed to have been killed. Officials said 19 people were aboard, having earlier said there were 18.
I'm no expert, but I bet the footprints lead back to Moscow.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Speaking of RUSSIA, INTERFAX INTERVIEWS > CSTO, NATO CAN AND MUST COOPERATE; + TOPIX > RUSSIA FEARS NATO EXPANSIONS NEAR ITS BORDER + RUSSIA WARNS UKRAINE ON NATO MEMBERSHIP.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  crashed on the way back from a conference on aviation safety.

So, is this literary irony?
Posted by: gromky || 01/24/2008 4:51 Comments || Top||

#3  multiple commanders on the same plane?
Didn't they attend Darwin survival class 101?
Posted by: 3dc || 01/24/2008 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  ...crashed on the way back from a conference on aviation safety

Next time send the mechanics and pilots instead. Sounds like they could use it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Kucinich quits the race
Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot"

Dennis Kucinich has departed the presidential race.

With him not invited to the debates anyway... how many of us will notice?

Actually, as much fun as it would be to pick on him one last time, I'm going to take a moment to salute him. Dennis Kucinich knows what he looks like. He knows he's polling in asterisk territory, and probably never surpassed six percent. He knows that everyone laughs when he speaks, and that his rivals roll their eyes when he calls for a Department of Peace, and that when he's addressing crowds at a candidate forum, everyone takes their bathroom break during his remarks.

He knows Russert is going to ask him the UFO question, if and when he gets to him at all. He knows that Gravel is going to steal his thunder as the angrier, crazier fringe candidate. He knows that if people are playing a drinking game for every time he says, "I'm the only one on this stage who voted to de-fund the war", they'll suffer alcohol poisoning before the debate is half done.

And yet day after day, Dennis Kucinich gets up out of bed and hits the trail and makes his case. And he's not terribly good at it, to judge from the poll numbers, but that relentless, dauntless determination in the face of enormous odds deserves some admiration.

Oh, and also...Mrs. Kucinich has been, far and away, the best campaign eye candy on the Democratic side.

Farewell, Elizabeth Kucinich's husband.

Don't despair, moonbats, you still have Ron Paul.
Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 17:45 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't go away mad - just go away.

(And take your mangy fellow candidates with you!)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 18:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Dennis who?
Posted by: GK || 01/24/2008 20:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Plans to spend several weeks in Stephenville, Texas.
Posted by: DMFD || 01/24/2008 21:07 Comments || Top||

#4  his district also appears to have awakened to the fact that their Rep is an absentee kook, disrepected by all, and is perhaps looking for a less-kooky alternative. Dennis is looking to preserve his gravy train before he loses two job opps
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2008 21:47 Comments || Top||

#5  The media mostly ignored him so he wasn't much fun in the race anyway. Luckily we have the wacky old LIbertarian fellow to add comedy to the campaigns.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/24/2008 22:25 Comments || Top||


US Senate report debunks Gerbal, er Global Warming "Consensus"
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/24/2008 15:47 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
LIES! ALL LIES!
Posted by: doc || 01/24/2008 19:38 Comments || Top||


Straight talk from McCain on hurricane insurance
From a WSJ editorial on Florida insurance issues
The most refreshing message has come from John McCain, who pointed out that we already have FEMA (and, we'd add, at least 26 other federal programs intended to assist people after natural disasters). Mr. McCain is opposing the House bill and has instead proposed reforms to make private insurance less costly. These include creating an optional federal charter to enable insurance companies to easily operate across state lines.

The Senator wobbled a bit on Tuesday with comments about preventing insurance companies from "cherry-picking" low-risk areas. But on Wednesday he reverted to good form and said a federal disaster fund would simply cost American taxpayers too much. Kudos to Mr. McCain for refusing to dance the Panhandle Pander.

There was a reader comment quoted in National Review's "Campaign Spot" the other day: "I can't stand McCain. . . . There is a lot about McCain that is not straight talk. But when he does straight talk — it's the straightiest straight talk you will find." This appears to be one of those times.
Posted by: Mike || 01/24/2008 06:55 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Romney bought Michigan for $20b. Let's see how much he is prepared to pay for Florida.

Not a conservative.
Posted by: Excalibur || 01/24/2008 9:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Got to hand it to McClain. He goes into Florida and tells them they don't need assistance on homeowners insurance. He told Iowans he intends to kill ethanol subsidies. Not too bright, but ballsy, very ballsy. He overlooked the fact that private insurers have sworn not to underwrite any more policies in the areas susceptible to hurricane damage. Ya see, insurance is where you pay in, not where they ever pay out. Certainly makes the campaign more challenging big John.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2907 || 01/24/2008 11:11 Comments || Top||

#3  IOn, ASIA TIMES > GOING BANKRUPT: THE USA'S GREATEST THREAT [to World], + CHINA SEES OPPORTUNITY IN US DOWNTURN/RECESSION.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 23:20 Comments || Top||


2-for-1 campaign: Clintons team up on Obama
  • Hillary Clinton focuses on other states, while husband campaigns in South Carolina
  • Ex-President Clinton has been vocal in attacking Sen. Barack Obama's record
  • Obama has said at times he feels like he is running against both Clintons
  • Clinton and Obama are running a tight race in South Carolina
  • Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  I really think that this King and Queen attack on this lone Knight will back fire amoungst the black vote.
    Posted by: www || 01/24/2008 1:48 Comments || Top||

    #2  Yea www, but will white voters "understand" the black backlash against the Clinton's 'swarming', or fall into the trap of this clever race baiting and gender steering?
    Posted by: smn || 01/24/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

    #3  A former president actively campaigning for a candidate should be election fraud.
    Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2008 12:06 Comments || Top||

    #4  Oh mah Gawd! Its KANE! And he has a chair!
    Posted by: Jim Ross || 01/24/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

    #5  Having Hillary avoid the south and have Bill be her proxy is no doubt the smartest policy for the two. I only wish that more Southerners write in Bill's name than vote for Hillary.
    Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 13:43 Comments || Top||

    #6  The Clintons will do and say anything; I say ANYTHING, to get elected. The Clintons play the race card to drive white voters to the Hildebeast. Please pass the popcorn.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2008 17:23 Comments || Top||

    #7  Extra butter or parmesan, J-QC?
    Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 18:21 Comments || Top||


    O'Bama leads Clinton in South Carolina: poll
    Democrat Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead on rival Hillary Clinton three days before South Carolina's presidential primary, aided by a huge edge among black voters, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

    Obama leads Clinton 43 percent to 25 percent in the rolling tracking poll, with John Edwards a distant third at 15 percent heading into Saturday's contest. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. More than half of the Democratic primary voters in South Carolina are expected to be black. Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, leads among African-Americans by 65 percent to 16 percent.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  TURKISH DAILY NEWS > BARACK OBAMA: IF ELECTED, OBAMA INTENDS TO RECOGNIZE "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"; + POLL: [MUSLIMS] DIVIDE BETWEEN MUSLIMS, WEST DEEPENING.

    TDN OP-ED > EMIGRANTS ARE TRAITORS, IMMIGRANTS ARE POSSIBLE CRIMINALS. Change is bad???

    * TAIPEI TIMES OP-ED > DEMOCRATIC VALUES REMAIN A MYSTERY FOR MANY. Article is on Taiwan's Pol Parties, but premises can easily apply to USA + 2008 elex.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 1:53 Comments || Top||

    #2  Electile Disfunction: The failure to be aroused by any of the available candidates.
    Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2008 7:09 Comments || Top||

    #3  some lady - we think mrs obama - auto called us last night looking for a vote pledge. I swear whenever she said 'barack' it sounded like the noise a chicken makes. She woke up the baby and called during lunch - may be old hat for you all in voting matters states but out my way it just pissed me/us off. Definately lost the wife's vote who, after hillarity's antics, is looking for someone to vote for as am I since Tuesday. Electile Disfunction indeed.
    Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2008 11:49 Comments || Top||

    #4  lunch dinner time 5-6 pm
    needs more coffees
    Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2008 11:50 Comments || Top||

    #5  Limbaugh said the Clinton strategy is to lose SC and clean up on Super Tuesday.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2008 17:31 Comments || Top||

    #6  how could a redneck state like SC back obama as redneck as they are an di iknow the7y are redneck since i live in northeast GA. on the other hand if he gets elected he wat last long until he is assasinated, especially since he want pay respect and pledge allegiance too the us FLAG AND ALOT OF VIET NAM VETS LIVE IN sc AND ALOT OF SOUTHERN STATES
    Posted by: sinse || 01/24/2008 18:15 Comments || Top||

    #7  South Carolina is 30% black. Blacks make up at least 50% of the Democratic party. Blacks support Obama over Clinton 2:1. That's how. Race trumps gender. Ideology also trumps gender.
    Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 18:52 Comments || Top||


    McCain up, Giuliani plummets in California: poll
    Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Can't frickin' believe it. I talk to people who actually think McCain is OK but I still can't frickin' believe it.

    Hunter just threw his support to Huckleberry. I guess that's the best he could do now that Thompson's dropped out.
    Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/24/2008 12:26 Comments || Top||

    #2  Will my dream bumper sticker chance is gone

    HunterThompson '08
    The Reptile Ticket
    Posted by: Thomas Woof || 01/24/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

    #3  :) Hunter Thompson ticket is good. Unfortunately, Thompson is out. Candidates are trying to pick up his votes. Giuliani probably going to be out. Probably going to be McCain against Billary. McCain sounds a lot like a donk at times. Bleak national election year.
    Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2008 17:39 Comments || Top||

    #4  STARS-N-STRIPES OP-ED > MCCLATCHY - A THIRD IN SC MAY PROVE FATAL FOR EDWARDS. Edwards reportedly dislikes Hillary - sees himself + Obama as the real candidates for change = reflective of the base values of the Democratic Party. Sees himself + elex 2008 as a FIGHT FOR THE AMER MIDDLE CLASS.

    Also from STRIPES > DEFINE CANDIDATES BY THEIR ACTIONS, NOT BY THEIR GENDER OR ETHNICITY, + ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN ONLY STIMULATES [Two Party political]AMBITIONS.

    DRUDEREPORT > CLA THOMAS - CLINTONOMICS II/PS WE'RE STILL LYING TO YOU. THOMAS - HILLARY's plan to give qualified Amers US$650.0 universal rebate + forestall home foreclosures by up to 90 days + freeze interest rates for 5 years, etc is INCOME REDISTRIBUTION IS SOCIALISM NO MATTER WHAT PC LABEL YOU PUT ON SAME, and is highly similar to the "guaranteed minimum income" agenda which cost MCGOVERN the Presidency in 1972.

    FOX NEWS > GUILIANI's campaign thus far LACKS FIRE + GENUINE CONSERVATIVE AGENDA. THOMPSON > now that he's out, may be waiting for a VPOTUS = CABINET SLOT in a post GOP Primary MCCAIN OR HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN-ADMIN???

    VARI NETTERS > believe that no matter whom wins in 2008, AMERICA IS SEEING THE ONSET OF "DYNASTIC GOVERNANCE" = "DYNASTIC GOVT/DEMOCRACY" IN THE US, WHICH THESE MOSTLY HOLD/OPINE IS NOT DEMOCRACY AT ALL.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 22:39 Comments || Top||


    Science & Technology
    Avian Flu Outbreak Approaches Calcutta
    The bird flu epidemic in the Indian state of West Bengal has inched closer to the capital, Calcutta, with an outbreak reported close to the city.

    Tests on dead birds from Balagarh, less than a two-hour drive from Calcutta, have tested positive for the disease.

    Nine of the state's 19 districts have been already hit by the flu. Officials say more than 2m birds would be culled. The H5N1 strain of bird flu is regarded as highly pathogenic and can also cause disease and death in humans.

    Health experts have warned that the outbreak could get out of control.

    No cases of human infection have still been reported though a member of the culling team has been admitted to hospital with respiratory disorder and fever. State animal husbandry minister Anisur Rehman said the government had a "long way to go" in culling the targeted two million birds.

    Only a third of the target has been achieved - barely 700,000 birds have been culled in the last 10 days.

    "More culling teams are needed in all the affected districts but these are things that cannot be hurried. The men in the culling teams have to be quarantined first before they can be asked to start the operations," Mr Rehman said.

    In most of the districts , the villagers were resisting culling of their backyard poultry. "Poultry is a major source of income for the poor villagers. It is not unusual for them to resist culling. So we have to persuade them rather than force them," said Manasa Hansda, a senior official of Birbhum, one of the worst-hit districts said.

    The problem is made worse because many poor and illiterate farmers are sometimes misinformed about basic hygiene.

    Dead birds are reported to have been dumped in village wells and ponds by people not aware of the risks from the H5N1 virus.

    Federal officials have warned that if the pace of culling does not pick up fast, the airborne virus may spread to the remaining districts and even hit Calcutta.

    One of the districts most recently affected, Hooghly, is close to Calcutta and contains the state's largest chicken hatchery.

    "If this spreads to Calcutta, there will be panic and chaos," animal disease expert Barun Roy said.

    The municipal authorities in Calcutta are not prepared for such a situation, he said.

    Another district recently hit by the virus, Coochbehar, is close to the border with Bangladesh.

    West Bengal has sealed a stretch of its border with Bangladesh, which has been fighting to contain the spread of bird flu since March last year. Experts in Bangladesh have warned that the outbreak of the virus is far worse than the government is reporting.

    "Bird flu is now everywhere. Every day we have reports of birds dying in farms," leading Bangladeshi poultry expert MM Khan has said.

    "Things are now very serious and public health is [in] danger," he said, alleging that farmers were reluctant to report new cases.
    Ironic that the first effect of Avian flu on humans may be widespread starvation.
    Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 15:27 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  "Dead birds are reported to have been dumped in village wells"
    Anybody THAT stupid should leave the gene pool immediately.
    Posted by: Darrell || 01/24/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

    #2  I have to admit that after a serious Avian Flu epidemic, there are probably going to be a LOT fewer peasants in the world.
    Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 17:01 Comments || Top||

    #3  Dead birds are reported to have been dumped in village wells and ponds by people not aware of the risks from the H5N1 virus.

    Bullshit they're "Not aware", that's bio-war tactics.
    Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/24/2008 20:54 Comments || Top||

    #4  Depends on whether people are dumping the birds in their own village wells, or someone else's village wells, RJ.
    Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 21:16 Comments || Top||


    Virgin's Branson presents new space ship
    British tycoon Richard Branson unveiled Wednesday his newest spaceship and said that test flights for the vessel would begin this year.

    Branson, who has ambitious plans to begin carrying tourists on short flights into space by 2010, revealed models and photographs of the newest version of SpaceShipTwo and also the twin-fuselage WhiteKnightTwo which will ferry SpaceShipTwo into the atmosphere for a midair launch.

    Construction of the two should be completed by this year.
    ...
    The two vessels are being built by Scaled Composites, an aircraft builder in Mojave, California, with plans to provide paying customers flights into suborbital space some 110 kilometers (70 miles) above the earth.

    Branson said more than 200 passengers have confirmed their plans for the flight, which will cost 200,000 dollars each, and that some 85,000 have expressed interest.

    With its numerous round windows providing views on all sides, SpaceShipTwo will carry two crew and six passengers, who will experience five minutes of zero gravity once in space.

    The first flight is expected in 2009.
    A name seems to be missing from the marquee, blotted out by the magnificence that is Richard Branson.
    Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 13:13 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Maybe they can fly up to Mars and bring back Bigfoot...
    Posted by: tu3031 || 01/24/2008 14:01 Comments || Top||

    #2  NO surprise here - in a long ago series of dreams/visions, a future descendant-relation of mine was looking out of a "porthole" at his family members with the Earth far below. This initial design/prototype of theirs is subject to severe stall-shear natural forces. "DREAM FUTURE" > PILOTS WILL DEEPLY FEAR
    "BREAKING/BURNING UP" EVEN DURING LAUNCH.

    OWG-SWO/CWO NOW , D *** NG IT, SPACE PILOTS ARE TOO SCARED OF IMMEDIATE DEATH TO IMPRESS THE SPACE STEWARDESS BABES WID THEIR FLIGHT SKILLS - ONLY OWG CAN SAVE SPACE SEX!
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2008 21:19 Comments || Top||


    Girl switches blood type after liver transplant in first known case
    An Australian girl spontaneously switched blood groups and adopted her donor's immune system following a liver transplant in the first known case of its type, doctors treating her said Thursday.
    I don't know enough about the subject to actually have an opinion, but it sounds like if the girl's adopted the donor's immune system she wouldn't need anti-rejection drugs? Doc Steve, does that make sense? If so, it'd be a damned significant story.
    Demi-Lee Brennan was aged nine and seriously ill with liver failure when she received the transplant, doctors at a top Sydney children's hospital told AFP. Nine months later it was discovered that she had changed blood types and her immune system had switched over to that of the donor after stem cells from the new liver migrated to her bone marrow. She is now a healthy 15-year-old, Michael Stormon, a hepatologist treating her, told AFP.
    If confirmed this is significant.

    Your red blood cells are made by cells in the bone marrow. Stem cells there (these can become anything) become committed to making red cells, or various types of white cells, or platelets, and then through a series of steps mature to whatever they're supposed to be. The details are interesting if you're a hematologist. Point is, you have stem cells in the marrow that serve as a reservoir for new blood cells.

    For example, when we do a bone marrow transplant, we take bone marrow cells from patient A and put them into patient B (or from patient A and back into patient A after some big chemotherapy). After a period time the stem cells repopulate the marrow and churn out new blood cells (you hope).

    Previously it was thought that these stem cells developed during embryogenesis and you had them for life. They were in one spot and they committed themselves to making specific kinds of mature cells. What we're learning, more and more, is that stem cells are very 'plastic': not only can they commit to being whatever they're supposed to be, but they can commit to be cells we didn't think they could commit to being, and they can replace other pools of stem cells that we didn't think they could replace. And furthermore, we're realizing that many organs have their own small pools of stem cells, and they can circulate and go to other organs.

    As one example, the whole idea of stem cell infusion therapy for failing hearts is that you take bone marrow stem cells, clean them up, put them into the coronary circulation, and they'll settle in the heart and commit to being new heart muscle cells. That's in the pilot stage but it looks like it's really going to work. Cool.

    Another example: really cool work done by a colleague of mine looks at how bone marrow stem cells circulate to the lungs and then help to repair damaged airways.

    So what happened here was that a few (and you only need a few) stem cells from the donor liver circulated to the bone marrow. They then committed to being new red blood cells (and perhaps other cell lineages). Now how that happened without provoking a graft-versus-host response is the real story here. [Note: Ed in comments is correct: while the two blood types, donor and recipient, are different, they had to be compatible or else you would have provoked an agglutinin reaction].

    Figuring that out means that we might (for example) take my healthy stem cells and use them to repair your damaged organs, or vice versa. If we can do that without provoking an immune response it opens up huge possibilities.

    And it means we won't ever need embryonic stem cells; we can use adult stem cells to make whatever we need. That's very significant both scientifically and politically.
    Stormon said he had given several presentations on the case around the world and had heard of none like it. "It is extremely unusual -- in fact we don't know of any other instance in which this happened," Stormon told AFP from the Children's Hospital. "In effect she had had a bone marrow transplant. The majority of her immune system had also switched over to that of the donor."

    An article on the case was published in Thursday's edition of the leading US medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine. Doctors who treated Brennan say she is now only under treatment as an outpatient and are interested to know if the case could have other applications in transplant surgery, where rejection of donor organs by the recipient's immune system is a major hurdle.

    Stormon said it appeared that Brennan may have been fortunate because a "sequence of serendipitous events", including a post-transplantation infection, may have given the stem cells from her donor's liver the chance to proliferate. The task now was to establish whether the same sort of outcome could be replicated in other transplant patients, he said.
    Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2008 11:41 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  She had better hope that her donor's immune system didn't have anything to do with his becoming a donor.
    Posted by: Iblis || 01/24/2008 12:40 Comments || Top||

    #2  Hard to think of anything to say but "Wow!"
    Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/24/2008 12:42 Comments || Top||

    #3  Researchers are going to be all over this. The implications for liver, blood and bone marrow, immune, stem cell, transplant and a bunch of other studies just boggle.
    Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/24/2008 12:52 Comments || Top||

    #4  I don't know anything about transplant protocols, but isn't having the same blood type (and several other similarities) as the donee one of them?
    Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/24/2008 12:54 Comments || Top||

    #5  I'm guessing the donor was O- or at least Rh-.
    Posted by: ed || 01/24/2008 12:56 Comments || Top||

    #6  Ed: correct. We do match blood type, and certain other antigens, for transplants. Some of these antigens are really, really important, some less so.
    Posted by: Steve White || 01/24/2008 13:48 Comments || Top||

    #7  Steve, how many of the other blood typing systems are important? I know there are a whole bunch of them, though they don't seem to matter for blood transfusions. But organ transplantation is permanent.
    Posted by: Eric Jablow || 01/24/2008 21:43 Comments || Top||



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    Two weeks of WOT
    Thu 2008-01-24
      Mosul kaboom kills 15, wounds 132
    Wed 2008-01-23
      Gunnies blow Rafah wall, thousands of Paleos flood into Egypt
    Tue 2008-01-22
       Musharraf: Pakistan isn't hunting Osama
    Mon 2008-01-21
      Darkness falls on Gaza
    Sun 2008-01-20
      Spain arrests 14 over possible Barcelona attack
    Sat 2008-01-19
      Nasiriyah mosque raid ends two days of slaughter
    Fri 2008-01-18
      Tennyboomer kills 9 Pakistani Shi'ites
    Thu 2008-01-17
      Army 'flees second Pakistan fort'
    Wed 2008-01-16
      Four arrested after Kabul hotel attack
    Tue 2008-01-15
      PRC, Islamic Jihad to attend Hamas-sponsored conference in Syria
    Mon 2008-01-14
      Attack on luxury Afghan hotel kills guard, militant: ISAF
    Sun 2008-01-13
      Bissau extradites al Qaeda suspects to Mauritania
    Sat 2008-01-12
      Militant threat on Eiffel Tower intercepted
    Fri 2008-01-11
      Lahore suicide kaboom kills at least 20, injures 80
    Thu 2008-01-10
      40,000 pounds of US bombs hit 38 Qaeda 'safe havens'


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