Gangs armed with machetes and bows and arrows burned and hacked to death members of a rival tribe in western Kenya Sunday, as the number of dead from the latest explosion of violence over disputed presidential elections rose to 69.
Houses were blazing in the tourist gateway town of Naivasha, torched by members of President Mwai Kibaki's tribe exacting revenge on their Luo rivals. Police, apparently overwhelmed, did not intervene. Some 55 bodies were counted Sunday at the morgue in Nakuru, the provincial capital where ethnic clashes erupted Thursday night and continued until Saturday. Bodies continued arriving Sunday, said a morgue attendant who spoke on condition of anonmyity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The latest deaths raise the toll to nearly 800 killed in ethnic violence and clashes with police since Kibaki was declared winner of Dec. 27 balloting that international and local observers say had a rigged tally. Some 255,000 people have been forced from their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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MSM, let's see now, how to spin this so Bush is to blame, Fredrick, hold the story for "Followup" as soon as we invent some then print it.
Disgusted.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:04 Comments ||
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Could as well be on page 2.
By SIMON McGEE and GLEN OWEN
Gordon Brown's campaign to promote British values has been exposed as a sham after it was revealed he personally approved a decision to remove Britannia from the 50p coin.
The patriotic symbol - based on a Roman goddess - will no longer be on any British coin for the first time in more than 300 years, as part of a redesign by the Royal Mint.
An overhaul of all coinage in April, being billed as the most significant change to the currency since decimalisation, will see it replaced with a representation of modern Britain.
The disclosure makes a nonsense of Mr Brown's repeated declarations of his patriotism in the run-up to taking over from Tony Blair.
When The Mail on Sunday first contacted the Government yesterday to confirm the reform, surprised officials doubted it could have been approved at the top levels of the Treasury.
But after extensive behind-the-scenes consultations, they confirmed that it had indeed been sanctioned - by Gordon Brown as Chancellor, shortly before he entered Downing Street last June.
The Queen then rubber-stamped the idea later in the year. But Buckingham Palace would not comment last night on the Monarch's personal opinion of the change.
The move is a personal embarrassment to Mr Brown, because at the time he made the decision, he was emphasising his sense of "Britishness" as part of efforts to appear a fitting occupant of Downing Street.
He praised the British values of responsibility, liberty and fairness - and even threw his weight behind the campaign to stop BBC Radio 4 from dropping its UK Theme, which included a rousing performance of Rule Britannia.
Soon after he took power, Mr Brown appointed Michael Wills, one of his most trusted allies, as Minister for Patriotism, with orders to promote "Britishness" across the country.
Last night, the Treasury attempted to gloss over the reform by insisting the Britannia symbol would return for future Mint runs.
But critics said it was "depressing" that it would not be the default design on the tails side of a British circulation coin for the first time since 1672.
The revamp is the culmination of a process that started in 2005, when the Royal Mint launched a competition to find designs for the UK's coins.
It is keeping the winning entries under wraps, but the artists - who each claimed £5,000 if they were successful - were told to "consider themes to represent Britain, such as flora or fauna, geographic features, social, political or cultural achievements or British institutions", or to interpret heraldry "in an imaginative and creative way".
More than 4,000 designs, submitted by 526 artists, have been whittled down to seven by the Royal Mint's Advisory Committee on Coin Design.
It means that the traditional heraldic designs on a total of seven coins, including the crowned lion and chained portcullis, will all vanish.
Advisory Committee member John Porteous, who sat on the committee in 1969 with poet John Betjeman and art historian Lord Clark when Britannia was moved from the penny to the 50p coin, refused to comment on the new designs.
But he said: "My thought was that it was a great idea to keep Britannia at that particular point in time.
"However, I don't think anyone cares for her much longer.
"Britannia was a Bank of England badge and she really belongs to them."
But Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "Britannia has been an enduring symbol of British pride and history.
"It is all too typical of a Government with an inadequate sense of British pride and an ignorance of history to want to do away with such a symbol."
Historian Andrew Roberts, author of Eminent Churchillians and A History Of The English-Speaking People Since 1900, called for an urgent rethink.
"We constantly see Gordon Brown wrapping himself up in the Union Jack, yet here we find a blatant attempt to erase our history, to allow important symbols to be abolished after 300 years," he said.
"Britannia is a classic symbol of modern Britain and people care very much about what is on their coins.
"People fight for symbols, for flags, because they represent in a small way the big things that matter to us.
"What does this rather sinister term 'modernisation' mean? Does it mean sticking that awful Jade Goody on the 50p instead?"
Richard Bishop, chief numismatist at London coin-dealer Spink and Son, said: "Poor old Britannia - even she has a sell-by date.
"One day, people will probably wonder, 'Who's this old woman holding a fork?' But if they've decided she should go, what about other things, like the British lion? Is that for the scrapheap?"
The current standard designs for 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p pieces were rolled out in the run-up to decimalisation in 1971 and were joined by the 20p piece in 1982 and the £1 in 1983. They have been minted in batches every year since then.
The £2 coin will be unaffected by the changes and limited-edition non-circulation coins are still expected to carry Britannia.
A Royal Mint spokeswoman last night refused to discuss the abolition of Britannia.
She would only say: "We will be launching some new coins in the spring.
"It's a really important project for us and it's very important that people understand what's changing and why it's happening."
A Treasury spokesman said: "As people will see when the new Mint run is issued, the chosen designs represent the best traditions of British coinage and are totally in line with the Government's desire to celebrate our British heritage, including our historic national and heraldic emblems.
"The traditional Britannia design and other traditional designs will return in future mint runs.
The figure of Britannia first appeared almost 2,000 years ago when the Romans created her as a personification of the British Isles, which they called Britanniae.
She made her first appearance on a Roman coin during the rule of Emperor Hadrian.
Her first appearance on a British coin came during the reign of Charles II, on the copper farthing in 1672 and the copper halfpenny in 1673.
She was conjured up as a symbol of Britain's political and naval might during the time of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and by the Victorian era she had grown to become a more forceful, trident-holding representation of the British Empire.
Between 1797 and 1970, she was on the penny coin and now features on an estimated 769million 50p pieces in circulation.
#3
An overhaul of all coinage in April, being billed as the most significant change to the currency since decimalisation, will see it replaced with a representation of modern Britain.
If I had known about the contest my mosque design would have won hands down. Or possibly an image of sailors of the Royal Navy cashing in after having allowed themselves to be taken hostage. Or the words "Behead those who insult Islam".
#4
First thing about bringing a population to heel, is to take away their symbols. That is the first thing the Romans, Persians and every other successful empire building nation has done.
The English have met their new masters, and they are now their slaves.
#2
ION, RIAN/REGNUM.RU > RUSSIA PRESENTS ITS VIEW ON SECURITY IN THE PERSIAN GULF, during Manama Bahrain confab. The long term goal could be to establish a COLLECTIVE SECURITY AND REGIONAL COOPERATION-DEV ORGANIZ in the Persian Gulf.
#1
Don't steel.
Don't murder.
Honor your mother and father...
Now where did the above rules come from. OOPS! The ten commandments. But those are off limits, that's Christian stuff that 'Multi-Culturalism' has replaced.
#2
An action plan to be announced soon by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, would set out "an overall strategy including public floggings and hangings for hooligans and drooping jean wearers.
#5
Murders of children by other children have tripled in three years, as more of the nation's youth get drawn into a deadly world of guns and knives.
Hey, just wait a New York minute, I thought guns were illegal in the British Isles. Banning guns is not the answer in the USA or it is not the answer in Great Britain. Gun grabbers better look for some other reason to explain murders. Oh, I guess that would be too difficult.
(Xinhua) -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez suggested creating a joint military force for the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) member nations to see off any possible United States military aggression. Speaking during his Sunday show "Alo Presidente" alongside special guest Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, he said "we are going to commission a working paper. We need a joint ALBA defense strategy."
Ortega backed the idea, adding that the United States was working via Colombia to threaten "not only Venezuela but also the whole of Latin America." "If they mess with one of us, then they will be dealing with all of us," Ortega said. "Touching Venezuela would mean setting the region alight. Messing with Venezuela is messing with all of Latin America."
Chavez added that Brazil's President Luiz Inacio da Silva had recently agreed with the idea of creating a South American defense council, and that using the same logic not only a defense council but dedicated armed forces could be created.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
and what would their strategy be too defend themselves against US agression? Send all your poor up here too either run drugs or hunt jobs . Oh wait you all are already doing that
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:22 Comments ||
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#6
TOPIX > KCNA - ABROGATION OF [US-SOKOR]"ALLIANCE" FOR AGGRESSION CALLED FOR IN SOUTH KOREA. SOKOR Lefties-Radicalists call for new nationwide, intensified struggle agz an alleged "tightening" of the US-SK alliance on the Koreas, to include the overthrow of those in suppor of said alliance + new/expansion of US bases + also in suppor of contin US presence on the peninsula.
READ - REVOLUTION-INSURGENCY IN SOUTH KOREA???
Russias election authorities on Sunday barred former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a sharp critic of the Kremlin, from running in a March presidential election against President Vladimir Putins chosen candidate.
Kasyanovs supporters said the March 2 poll would now be a farce and the move showed the Kremlin feared any real challenge to Dmitry Medvedev, the man Putin has backed to succeed him. The Election Commission voted unanimously to refuse to register Kasyanov because of technical errors, including forgery, which it said were found in some of the 2 million signatures needed to register him as a candidate. This means the elections will be a farce, Kasyanovs spokeswoman, Yelena Dikun, said by telephone.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
now thats democracy at work. wonder if WE could do the same with Obama
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/28/2008 8:07 Comments ||
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#2
He (Gordon Brown) will join President George W. Bush, and other world leaders who are refusing to go along with boycott campaigns...
C'mon, you guys, give the Prince a little credit on this one at least. The Chicoms are not our friends. In fact they are murdering thugs, serial proliferators, and aggressive assholes bent on expanding their empire. Charles at least appears to understand this much unlike Brown and Bush who will go a whoring after corporate profits to Beijing this summer.
#5
After the entire sordid history of Europe in the 20th century, dictators, muderous mass-cults and bloody wars and revolutions, you have the nerve to even think about lecturing us about the leader we elect?
#6
But we do want criticism of a particular President to be confused with criticism of America itself
Typo or freudian slip?
What a complete load of pompous, back-handed, self-serving drivel. FOAD.
#7
....we hope you will challenge your own politicians to show how America can rebuild its standing in the world and relationships with friends.
America's standing indeed! After saving your tribal, warring, Euro asses in two bloody world wars and backing the Russians down for 60+ years......here's a big GO PHUECH YOURSELF fabians! I hope you're all wearing man-dresses and burkas this time next year! It's what you bloody deserve!
#8
I am becoming more contemptuous of Europe and Europeans by the minute. Gutless cowards, the lot of them, who wouldn't dream of actually standing up against someone or something that might take away their nice comfy welfare states.
They've got a serious butt-kicking coming and it doesn't take rocket scientist genius to realize it's not too far down the road from them.
#12
...we hope you will challenge your own politicians to show how America can rebuild its standing in the world and relationships with friends.
You weenies. We are still waiting for Europe to get a brain, heart, and courage. Re-build yourself before it's too late. You will not have a culture if you are not careful. Your countries will be taken over from within if you are not careful. Go fix yourselves before writing this dinky, dorky, spineless moonbat letter.
#13
What a charming attempt at sweet reason! They remember that last time, when they told us who to vote for to make them happy, we voted the other way. They've had time to figure out that what those stupid, ignorant Americans choose impacts their world, demonstrating they are capable of some limited level of learnt behaviour. Last time around they really only wanted someone more comfortable to have at their tea parties.
But, like Baby crying for the moon, the darlings still want a vote in our elections without doing the work: move here, pay taxes, and become a citizen. Perhaps they'll have learnt something new before the 2012 election.
#15
this isn't a letter from Europe, it is a letter written by a few members of the Fabian society who, through the magic of the Internet, got other sotted, disgruntled wannabes to sign it.
#16
So what's the Paul Anka Society have to say? The Ed "Kooky" Burns Society? The Frankie Avalon Society?
I think the concenus is that Fabian sucked...
#17
"It is not for outsiders to tell you how you should vote."
You're right. Enuff from the weenie section. Clean the shit out of your stall, before your horse can't get back in.
Posted by: Kelly ||
01/28/2008 14:38 Comments ||
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#21
"The years after the tragedy of 11 September 2001 saw global unity and international cooperation give way..."
Were we in "global unity and international cooperation" with Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, etc. on 10 September 2001? If so, I think I missed it.
#22
States itself as within our own societies in Europe. And as Europeans, we owe America a great debt. We honour the America that fought fascism, founded the United Nations and helped to rebuild Europe through the Marshall Fund.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2008 17:28 Comments ||
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#29
I am becoming more contemptuous of Europe and Europeans by the minute. Gutless cowards, the lot of them, who wouldn't dream of actually standing up against someone or something that might take away their nice comfy welfare states.
They've got a serious butt-kicking coming and it doesn't take rocket scientist genius to realize it's not too far down the road from them.
Spot on Bluetooth, the main eason is that the European's bright young movers and shakers came HERE to the USA, so no brains were left to educate the next generations, failure was plain and predictable after that.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:18 Comments ||
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#30
Dear Europe,
Thank you for your letter.
Please note that many of us remember your so-called remonstrances of support after 9/11. We also remember how quickly that support evaporated when America didn't come to you teary-eyed and on bended knee, saying that it was 'our fault' and pledging our troops and money to the international order.
We remembered the look of horror and disgust when we shook your proffered hand and said "Thanks for the kind words, but we have work to do. We could really use your help, though".
In the run up to the removal of Saddam, we remember that the French planted intelligence. We remember that the Spaniards pulled out. We remember how passive the Dutch were, and are, when Islamic fascism rears its head.
We watch as a once vibrant Europe becomes aging and sclerotic; enamored with a faceless and all-powerful bureaucracy, content to live as welfare states under the American shield while disparaging it. It's nice that you bring up "the America that fought fascism, founded the United Nations and helped to rebuild Europe through the Marshall Fund", considering that those acts seem to be forgotten at all other times.
We have indeed challenged you "to show that co-operation between nations can deliver more than even the most powerful nation standing on its own". But that cooperation, when it has been given, has been grudging and temporary.
Isolationism is a long-standing American fantasy. Most of us realize that it's a fantasy. But you, Europe, make it awfully tempting.
We will elect a President. But we will elect one on our terms.
#31
Many of Europe's hardest working and brightest have been moving to the U.S, Canada, and Australia in increasing numbers post 9/11, and they are becoming some of our staunchest citizens. Sadly, Europe is hollowing out in more than one way, although again to our benefit.
The New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women attacked Ted Kennedy for his endorsement today with some real heat. "Real heat" hell. Try blowtorch on steroids.
Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedys endorsement of Hillary Clintons opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, the Family Leave and Medical Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings. This woman hasn't. But then I never thought it particularly feminist to wait on somebody else (male or otherwise) to do things for me instead of getting off my dead ass and doing them myself.
And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! We use lots of teenage gurl exclamation points just like the adult women we are!!!!!
Hes picked the new guy over us. He's hurt our feeeeewings! Waaaahhhhhh!
Hes joined the list of damned near everybody progressive white men who cant or wont handle the prospect of a woman president or even a dogcatcher who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say anybody with half a brain they support a communist woman president, just not this one). They are Howard Dean Howard who?
and Jim Dean (Yup! Thats Howards brother) Howard who?
who run DFA DFA? What does that stand for - Da' Fookin' A**holes?
(thats the group and list from the Dean campaign that we women helped start and grow). Serves ya' right, then. Start with a bunch of idiots....
They are Alternet, Progressive Democrats of America, democrats.com, Kucinich lovers and all the other groups that take womens money, say theyll do feminist and womens rights issues one of these days, and conveniently forget to mention women and children when they talk about poverty or human needs or Americas future or whatever. Whatever. Ya' want some extra cheese with that whinnnne?
This latest move by Kennedy, is so telling about the status of and respect for womens rights, He explained his respect for women's rights just off a little New England bridge decades ago, idiot. I got the message right then; little slow on the uptake, ain'tcha?
womens voices, womens superiority equality, womens authority and our ability indeed, our DEMAND, DAMMIT obligation - to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a President that is the first woman after centuries of men who know whats best for us. "Instead, we demand you appoint a lunitic, whiny, demanding WOMAN who repeatedly tells us to shut up because she "knows what's best for us."
Reads like something from The Onion or Scrappleface, but the guy as Politico swears he checked it out and it's real. After reading this, I believe him.
Wotta buncha maroons.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/28/2008 18:23 ||
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#1
Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, . . .
Read between the lines: "We covered for you after Chappaquidick, we let the whole William Kennedy Smith thing slide by, and so on and so on. You owe us."
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2008 19:11 Comments ||
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#2
The New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women attacked Ted Kennedy for his endorsement today with some real heat.
there's a menopausal hot flash you want to take cover from.
The National Organization for Women has enormous respect and admiration for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.). For decades Sen. Kennedy has been a friend of NOW, and a leader and fighter for women's civil and reproductive rights, and his record shows that.
Though the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee has proudly endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, we respect Sen. Kennedy's endorsement. We continue to encourage women everywhere to express their opinions and exercise their right to vote.
President Bush's last State of the Union speech to Congress Monday night, will be "split about 50/50" on domestic policy and foreign policy, with Bush calling on Congress to pass the $150 billion stimulus package and talking about improved security in Iraq.
In one new announcement, Bush will try to reduce the use of earmarks, a common Capitol Hill practice of slipping pet projects into spending bills. He will pledge to veto any spending bill that does not cut earmarks in half from levels spelled out in the current budget. Bush also plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday directing agencies to ignore any future earmarks that are not actually written into law, but rather tucked into obscure "report" language.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 13:44 ||
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#1
Bush has really caused problems for the Republicans. First the war, and now it's getting better people focus on his overspending and lack of any plan to secure the border, his failure at Social Security reform, the list goes on.
He should go veto happy this year. Anything with an earmark is gone.
#2
Yeah, I actually got my /. karma moved back a notch due to this topic today after I started an argument with some kook relating to the Romney dog-on-top-of-car issue. Who knew there were so many people with /. mod points that believe a friggin dog is just as important as a human family member?
#3
My dogs mean a lot to me, but as a (very low volume) show/performance dog breeder I cut pet owners some slack. Most just don't know a great deal about dog care, how to read dog behavior correctly etc. Why should they, unless they've been educated about it? Especially true a quarter of a century ago when that Romney trip happened.
It's one reason I screen prospective pet homes carefully ... the ones I want to place a dog with are the ones who will call and consult on things like how to travel with pets & whether a dog's health symptoms warrant an emergency room visit on the weekend. As a side benefit I've twice had dogs come back to me when the owner ran into life difficulties rather than have the animal dumped in a shelter. One of those is snuggled into the overstuffed chair as I type ....
There may be ads for beer, cars and computers on the Super Bowl, but there wont be any for presidential candidates.
Fox has put an end to speculation that one or more of the presidential candidates might use the highest-rated TV broadcast of the year to air a national campaign spot two days before more than 20 states hold presidential primary and caucus votes. While no candidate has yet requested time, the network has declared it wont sell Super Bowl spots to their campaigns. . . . and there was much rejoicing.
Sources close to the situation said that because ad time in the Super Bowl is essentially sold out, Fox will choose to not sell time to a candidate, citing an FCC ruling that a network can reasonably refuse to sell political time in unique, one-time-only broadcasts where equal ad time cant be offered to all candidates.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2008 12:05 ||
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I am happy for this. Super Bowel sunday is a break from reality (unless your team is getting the shit beat out of it). Thank you Fox.
Of course, the liberals and Paul lovers with seethe...
Antoin "Tony" Rezko was arrested early Monday at his Wilmette home by federal agents on an alleged bond violation, the Tribune has learned.
Investigators had in recent weeks become concerned about the movement of some of his finances, a source said.
Rezko, who is scheduled to stand trial on corruption charges in less than a month, was in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, his trial judge, at 8:35 a.m. He could be seen at a defense table going over papers with his lawyer, Joseph Duffy. A jury is to be selected at Dirksen U.S. Courthouse to hear his case beginning Feb. 25.
Duffy said any activity involving Rezko's finances has been under the supervision of attorneys helping him with his debts.
"I'm confused by this," he said. "We're waiting to hear more."
Tom Simon, an FBI spokesman, said a bond revocation hearing was continued until 12:30 p.m.
"We can confirm that Tony Rezko was arrested without incident this morning at his home in Wilmette," Simon said.
Rezko, a former adviser and top fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was taken into custody at O'Hare International Airport after he was indicted in 2006. He had flown back to Chicago from Syria to face charges he used his relationships with top state officials to extort companies wanting to do business with two state boards.
Rezko had been released on bail after pleading not guilty in the case, and after a group of his friends had put up nine properties worth $1.5 million to secure his release.
Rezko allegedly used the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the state's Teachers Retirement System Board to extort kickbacks. Stuart Levine, a member of both, has pleaded guilty to taking part in the kickback scheme and is expected to be the key government witness against Rezko.
The government in December filed a document in the case, moving the misconduct closer to Blagojevich, described in the document as Public Official A. The document states that Blagojevich had told Levine to stick with him and his contacts and "you will do very well for yourself."
#2
NEWSMAX > TED KENNEDY has labeled BARACK OBAMA A "WORTHY HEIR" to JFK, + RFK.
Iff me, PAULA ABDUL, MADONNA, OLIVER STONE and 1960's TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROIDS, etc. remember correctly, goes back to the reasons why JFK was assassinated back in 1963.
AND YES, VIRGINIA, INTEL-PYWAR DOES KNOW WHERE THE ORIGINAL ZAPRUDER FILM WENT.
#4
They're trying desperately to show that Hildabeast's advisor's arrest is unimportant. (Look everyone's doing it) Yeah sure, a "Possible Violation" versus a fled Convicted Felon who was caught after years on the lam, NOT THE SAME.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:32 Comments ||
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There are few sensations in life so wonderful as that special knowledge that you are not afraid, when so many others are. It's a powerful political emotion. There are your countrymen, cowering from the threats of a nuclear Iran and Al Qaeda. Here you are, unwilling to be manipulated. They're with Bush and Hillary and their politics of fear. You're with Senator Obama and his politics of hope.
His opposition to the "politics of fear" is one of the Illinois junior senator's main selling points in the primary season. In the South Carolina debates, Mr. Obama said Democrats had to counter the warmonger McCain by standing up and saying, "We've got to overcome the politics of fear in this country." The week before, he accused Hillary Clinton of frightening Democrats by raising the specter of terrorists launching an attack to test an unseasoned president.
As it happens, Mrs. Clinton was referring to the attacks launched in the opening days of Prime Minister Brown's government and thwarted this summer at Glasgow and London. But never mind, Mrs. Clinton was trying to scare voters, and that's just something Mr. Obama won't do.
The phrase, "politics of fear," reemerged from the dustbin of anti-anti-communism on far left Web sites like Alternet in late 2002. In the Cold War, it was employed to deride public school air raid drills, the House's un-American Activities Committee, and Ronald Reagan's anti-red campaigns. Since the end of the Cold War, the phrase has been resurrected by politicians and pundits alike to say the electorate ought to fear the people trying to scare us, not these terrorists and tyrants they keep going on about...
Read the whole thing. The senator has no clothes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 11:07 ||
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#1
He's taking a terrible gamble, If he gets the slot and we get hit by terrorists he's gonna look like a real dumbass. If he fails to respond in a very stiff manner he's going to look like he's in cahoots with the islamists, if he retaliates, his base is going to scream bloody murder. He's laying the groundwork for a no win situation if you ask me.
#2
Bigjim, no problem. If a democrat wins in 2008, and on September 11, 2009, the US gets hit by a massive terrorist attack, the president will simply blame it on Bush, and everything will be ok.
#3
Fact is it doesn't matter what he says. If there is a terrorist attack the Dems lose the election and go nuts claiming Cheney planned the attack.
My question is would Al Queda have the brains to lay low and wait until they had a President they could recover and regain ground on or would they attempt to restart their Holy War by attacking before the election. I really don't know because they don't seem to really follow what I consider logical or smart gameplans.
#4
they don't seem to really follow what I consider logical or smart gameplans.
Follow that thought, what's "Rational" for Fanatics is NOT for non-Fanatics, you'd have to be a worshiper to comprehend, then you'd not be able to comprehend anyway, it's a vicious trap, in, but never out, Down, never up, dumber, never smarter.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:46 Comments ||
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#5
Hit Submit too quickly,
The ones who do NOT fall into the trap are NOT Islamic.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:48 Comments ||
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Senator Edward M. Kennedy intends to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama during a rally on Monday in Washington, associates to both men confirmed, a decision that squarely pits one American political dynasty against another.
Caroline's already endorsed him.
Consolidating duplicate entries, here is the commentary that korora provided:
(ScrappleFace 2008-01-27) Demonstrating his broad-based appeal to youthful, as well as seasoned voters, Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama stands poised to receive the endorsement of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
As we veteran Democrats drive to bridge the generation gap, Sen. Kennedy will reportedly say at Mondays news conference, Theres no presidential candidate in recent memory whos made a bigger splash than Barack Obama. His candidacy is just the vehicle our party needs for its overdue return to the White House. Sen. Obama has the experience to dive right in, and rescue this nation from the crimson tide of Republican ideas which George Bush has used to steer us in the wrong direction for eight long years.
Sen. Obama welcomed the imminent endorsement saying, Were grateful that Sen. Kennedy has embraced this maiden voyage to the Oval Office. The idea that a man of his influence can see his way clear to supporting me is well staggering.
At the endorsement news conference, Sen. Kennedy will reportedly hand over the symbolic keys to the Democrat party and say, Obama, take the wheel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder why the old DONKS are waiting so long at jumping on the Obama'Change' express, as it steam rolls thru the US? Too much longer and Teddy would've missed the caboose!
#5
heheh. This is sweeet. The Clintons aren't going to go away willingly no matter what anyone wants. If the Kennedy clan and the media are coming out against the Clintons, this is one mean alley-cat fight that is going to be fun to watch.
#10
Gore and Dean's endorsement might just seal things for the Billary's campaign. Fun to watch. Super Bowl will be over soon. Might as well watch this catfight.
More or less even after small-state contests, including yesterday's South Carolina primary, the battle between Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama shifts to a coast-to-coast landscape. It will be a dizzying nine-day sprint to Super Tuesday, when New York and 21 other states hold primaries or caucuses.
Obama, who found success in the early states by captivating voters at town hall meetings, can no longer rely on up-close-and-personal politicking to deliver his message of hope and change.
Its now essentially a media war, with Obama and Clinton competing in sound bites and 30-second ads. And as spectacular as Super Tuesday will be the biggest multi-state Primary Day in U.S. history it appears mathematically unlikely either will clinch the nomination.
Polls show Clinton leading in the Feb. 5 states with the top prizes, most notably California (370 pledged delegates) and New York (232), which have about 30% of the convention votes needed to secure the nomination. But these delegates are awarded proportionally based on the popular vote, not winner take all, which means neither candidate can count on a windfall...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
It would be a hoot if Hillary Clinton, the world's smartest woman, lost in New York and California.
#2
She's a bit too smug for me, I think the Nomination's a done deal, Now the Election, not so sure, after all she got Senator/ New York, despite the general loathing of New Yorkers.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 22:54 Comments ||
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Hillary Clinton has admitted her husband Bill's hard-charging campaign tactics went overboard, but chalked the ex-president's fiery broadsides up to love and a chronic lack of sleep.
A day after rival Barack Obama trounced her in the South Carolina primary, the former first lady also mounted a vigorous defence of the two Clinton White House terms, which Senator Obama has said did not spark transformational change.
Senator Clinton was asked on CBS television's "Face the Nation" whether her husband was "out of control" after he took the Illinois Senator, and the media to task, during a foul-tempered week-long campaign. "You know, my husband has such a great commitment to me and to my campaign," the New York Senator said. "He loves me ... you know, husbands and wives get out there and work on each others' behalf."
She blamed the tensions of the tight battle for the party's presidential nomination "Maybe he got a little carried away. You know, that comes with a hard-fought election," she said. "It also comes with sleep deprivation which I think is marking all of us, our families, our supporters," said Senator Clinton, who herself is running low on sleep, as she jets back and forth across the country.
Senator Clinton said her husband would remain a premier member of her campaign team as she heads into 22 critical nominating contests on 'Super Tuesday' - February 5 US time - though it was unclear if the ex-president's campaign style would change.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I have to admit that, whatever else Bill did or said against himself and his legacy, during and after his Presidency, IT APPEARS THE MAN IS INDEED WORKING HARD ON HIS WIFE'S BEHALF.
#17
"You know, my husband has such a great commitment to me and to my campaign," the New York Senator said. "He loves me ... you know, husbands and wives get out there and work on each others' behalf."
"and if you can swallow that... er...bad analogy..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2008 7:47 Comments ||
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#18
As always, Hillary is incapable of keeping Bill zipped up.
Posted by: ed ||
01/28/2008 13:22 Comments ||
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#27
, IT APPEARS THE MAN IS INDEED WORKING HARD ON HIS WIFE'S BEHALF.
Damn Lie, he intends to run her behind the scenes, He intends to be President again, just not hold the title. This is exactly why we have term limits, to prevent this kind of shit.
Anyone voting for Hillary, is voting Bill back in office, regardless of what she says (Lies) about it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/28/2008 16:36 Comments ||
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#28
I don't know "What's Love Got to Do With It?", but the only theme song that ever suited Bill Clinton was "Money For Nothing; Chicks For Free"
President Bush is preparing to deliver his final State of the Union address Monday night but he is unlikely to spark any fireworks as he seeks to extend some key initiatives already in place and endorse the economic stimulus deal approved by House negotiators last week.
The president has no scheduled events on Sunday or Monday as he puts the finishing touches on the speech to be delivered in the House chamber of the Capitol. As usual, the president will be escorted by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle into the packed room for the 9 p.m. ET address. His Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Supreme Court Justices will all get ringside seats. The gallery where first lady Laura Bush sits will be filled in part with guests of the White House. Lawmakers will sit according to party on either side of the chamber.
Despite the emphasis on achievements over the last seven years, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Monday night's address will not be a walk down memory lane. "The speech is focused on the future; it is not a review of the first seven years of his time as president," Perino said Friday. "It will reflect the president's mind set that he is going to sprint to the finish, as you have all heard him say before. His address will advocate his philosophy of trusting Americans, empowering them to make good and wise decisions, especially when it comes to keeping more of their hard-earned money, rather than sending it to Washington." In addition, Perino said, "It will identify potential areas of agreement with a Democratic Congress. And these areas of common ground include new policy proposals with realistic chances of enactment this year."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I have my rose colored glasses at the ready...fire away George!! However, if he even says the word "strong", I have my barf bag at my side also.
Rice University's Jim Tour and his colleagues at two Houston health institutions have found a drug that, when given to mice before radiation exposure, is 5,000 times more effective than the best-available therapy for radiation injuries.
Officials at the Department of Defense, seeking remedies for the radiation sickness that would follow a nuclear strike, were so taken by the research that they recently gave Tour a $540,000 grant and asked him to compress the next phase of testing into an almost unheard-of nine months.
In that time, Tour's research group hopes to improve the drug so it works as well when given after radiation exposure as it does before.
"They originally asked for something in six months, but I told them that was impossible," said Tour, a chemist who directs Rice's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory.
Radiation disrupts cells by freeing molecules from their chemical bonds and allowing them to run amok inside the nucleus.
These so-called free radicals can destroy a cell's DNA, killing the cell or preventing it from dividing. The result can be a slow death of the victim as organs fail.
To address the problem, Tour and his partners at two University of Texas institutions the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Health Science Center have created a drug that's deceptively simple.
They started with two common food preservatives the same stuff, BHA and BHT, that keeps Wonder Bread fresh for weeks as a means to carry away free radicals before they can cause harm.
But for the food preservatives to become effective, the scientists needed a way to get them inside cells.
That's where carbon nanotubes, single layers of carbon atoms curved into tiny cylinders, came in handy. The research team attached the food preservatives to the nanotubes, which, because of their size, provided a perfect vehicle for traversing the body's arteries and entering cells.
Tour said he began his research with the goal of finding a drug to protect astronauts on long-duration space missions from the radiation to which they are exposed outside Earth's atmosphere.
But the test results in mice, which were given the drug 30 minutes before a blast of radiation, were so impressive that Tour thought the drug might have much broader potential.
Tour who serves on the Department of Defense's Science Board, a technical advisory group for the Pentagon was put in contact with top officials at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which funds proposals that promise high rewards but often have little chance of success.
Results in mice don't always translate into results in humans, or course. And DARPA wants a drug that can be effective even if given 12 hours after exposure to radiation.
Need for such a drug is great, said Robert Emery, a radiation safety expert at the UT Health Science Center.
About half the deaths from a large nuclear blast would result from the initial explosion. Radiation medication, he said, would benefit the remaining victims in a fallout zone and could prove invaluable to first responders.
Such a drug, experts note, could also help cancer patients recover from radiation therapy.
But, as is true with many new technologies, an anti-radiation drug could have a potential offensive use. Foreign forces, for instance, could set off a nuclear detonation, then take the drug to protect themselves before invading.
After World War II, scientists tested thousands of chemicals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for potential use in radiation therapy, said Dr. Luka Milas, an M.D. Anderson professor of experimental radiology who has worked for decades on the problem of curbing radiation sickness. Only one drug WR-2721, or amifostine showed any promise.
Now, Milas, who is working with Tour, has helped discover the drug that is 5,000 times more effective in mice.
"It's incredibly exciting," he said of the latest research. "If we succeed, there is such a huge reward. There are so many potentially positive ramifications of this work."
Milas' group has ideas for taking a drug that worked in mice before radiation exposure and turning it into something that's effective after an event. His lab plans to add other chemicals to the carbon nanotubes that will, in addition to scrubbing up free radicals, speed cellular repair and stimulate the growth of new, healthy cells.
Already the work is showing promise. At the UT Health Science Center, scientist Jay Conyers has tested newer versions of the original drug and has had some success in treating zebra fish 30 minutes after exposure to high doses of radiation.
Still, Tour said, a viable radiation drug for humans remains "very, very far" away.
The research team must find a drug that's effective post-exposure in mammals larger than mice. Typically, such a drug would take 12 to 14 years of development before coming to market at a cost of $1 billion or so.
Tour conceded, however, that there are special circumstances surrounding the radiation drug that could accelerate its development.
"There is no alternative therapy, and the poor soul so exposed has no hope other than petitions to God," Tour said.
"And that's what drives me," he said, "the hope of saving 1 million people."
#1
This isn't that new, or original. I read an article in the late 90's about a group working on a similar project using bucky-balls or Buckminsterfullerene as the encapsulating agent. I don't know what the result of that research was, but these guys seem to have picked up the ball and slam dunked it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/28/2008 13:24 Comments ||
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#3
Carbon nanotubes look to be extremely long lived molecules. I have a bad feeling if they can breech cell membranes. When nanotubes are mass produced and released into the environment, what toxins will they attach to and carry into cells?
Posted by: ed ||
01/28/2008 13:30 Comments ||
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#4
Classify it as a munition and ban its export to Iran.
#10
Oh, dear. I wasn't expecting the fishy conversions, JosephM. On the other hand, potable drinking water is already dangerously scant in the Middle East and near-Saharan Africa, and affecting population shifts. Sudan is as much about water rights as it is about jihadis doing what they've been doing since the seventh century.
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.
(Xinhua) -- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez suggested creating a joint military force for the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) member nations to see off any possible United States military aggression. Speaking during his Sunday show "Alo Presidente" alongside special guest Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, he said "we are going to commission a working paper. We need a joint ALBA defense strategy." 
There are few sensations in life so wonderful as that special knowledge that you are not afraid, when so many others are. It's a powerful political emotion. There are your countrymen, cowering from the threats of a nuclear Iran and Al Qaeda. Here you are, unwilling to be manipulated. They're with Bush and Hillary and their politics of fear. You're with Senator Obama and his politics of hope.
More or less even after small-state contests, including yesterday's South Carolina primary, the battle between Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama shifts to a coast-to-coast landscape. It will be a dizzying nine-day sprint to Super Tuesday, when New York and 21 other states hold primaries or caucuses.
Hillary Clinton has admitted her husband Bill's hard-charging campaign tactics went overboard, but chalked the ex-president's fiery broadsides up to love and a chronic lack of sleep.
President Bush is preparing to deliver his final State of the Union address Monday night but he is unlikely to spark any fireworks as he seeks to extend some key initiatives already in place and endorse the economic stimulus deal approved by House negotiators last week.
