#5
Although his voice in the later years was nowhere near as clear and powerul as it was in the 60's, Luciano accomplished an astonish feat in that he brought Opera back to the masses. This kind of talent isn't seen more than once every century. Rest in Peace, Maestro. Ben cotto!
Although his voice in the later years was nowhere near as clear and powerul as it was in the 60's
Don't be snotty. His 60s sound was impressive and fresh, but a bit soft and undeveloped compared to the glory of the early 70s. He was mind-bogglingly great into the early/mid 80s, when the rest of his body began to give out. But he had good years even into the 90s, and one could hear flashes of his greatness almost to the end.
#10
I actually saw him once. For free. Hatch Shell in Boston, same place they have the fireworks. The Big Scene in one of the worst movies of all time, "Yes, Giorgio". Early 80's I think.
I love this U2 song, Ms. Sarajevo, that Pavarotti did a guest vocal for. It was originally performed in Sarajevo, at one of the most electric concerts I've ever seen.
Plus, that city in Bosnia is one of my favorite European cities.
Anyway, this is what I think about when I hear his voice.
I love this U2 song, Ms. Sarajevo, that Pavarotti did a guest vocal for. It was originally performed in that city, at one of the most electric concerts I've ever seen on video. A paean to the women of war-torn countries.
Plus, that city in Bosnia is one of my favorite European cities.
Anyway, this is what I think about when I hear his voice.
Rep. Paul Gillmor, an Ohio Republican who served in the House of Representatives for nearly 20 years, was found dead in his apartment, lawmakers and police said on Wednesday.
Gillmor's body was found lying on the floor in his nearby Arlington, Virginia, apartment by members of his staff who went there to investigate Wednesday morning after the 68-year-old lawmaker failed to show up for work, Arlington police spokesman John Lisle said. The body was taken to the medical examiner for an autopsy, but Lisle said there were no signs of anything suspicious or foul play.
Gillmor served on the House Financial Services Committee and was well liked by his fellow lawmakers. "Paul Gillmor was a man of genuine humility and deep conviction, a great public servant and a good friend," House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said in a statement. "As a deputy whip of the House, he established himself as a respected leader on issues vital to his district and our country."
Gillmor is survived by his wife Karen, and five children.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/06/2007 17:09 Comments ||
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#6
Don't forget those Blue Dog Democrats who understand what's at stake, Redneck Jim... not to mention the incompetence of the party leadership in goal accomplishment, as opposed to bloviation.
#7
Yes, Paul was from the Red side of the divide. I lived in his district for a number of years and had the privilege of voting for him. He held an annual Lincoln Day banquet at the local university, which was a fixture for the State's Office holders. He brought great speakers in as well. After their speeches the audience would have a chance to meet the speakers. It was in this way that I met Bob Dole, Christy Todd Whitman, Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney among others. His wife too is very accomplished. My prayers go out to her and their family.
He foretells the shortages finally affecting the Army and the Civil Service, with total lawlessness to folow, in short, unless Ambulances are sent in, it is too late to save the country at all.
But, hey, let's look on the bright side, if there's no country to govern, there's no need for a Government. ;)
#9
Dig up all the killed Farmers and Voodoo them back to life, restore their farms and pay reparation to them, (Not in Zimbob's waste-paper money, say in hard gold) well it's a better choice than reality (Starvation, riots followed by hangings.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/06/2007 17:05 Comments ||
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#10
link no work, copy and paste if you have a valid interest in the subject.
#11
President Mugabe forced businesses to slash prices of all goods and services in the belief that he could crush inflation, which he says is a plot by the Zimbabwean private sector, in collusion with Western governments, to overthrow him.
It is astounding that he has not been overthrown yet. With this combination of economic ignorance and paranoid delusion, the only thing Mugabe is fit for is to run the DailyKos website.
The party of Bangladeshs jailed former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia is on the verge of spliting after partymen said her decision to sack two top aides was unacceptable, officials said.
Khaleda, the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested on Monday for alleged corruption along with her businessmen son, as part of a campaign launched by countrys army-backed interim administration to root out graft. Hours before her arrest, Khaleda sacked long-time party secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and his deputy Ashraf Hossain, saying the two men had acted against the partys interests.
The charges referred to the two officials attempts in recent months to reform the BNP which had been tightly controlled by Khaleda, the countrys most recent prime minister. The reformers, backed by a large number of partymen, had sought to drastically reduce Khaledas powers. We will take our own stand and make the party fully democratic and its leadership accountable, Hossain told reporters.
Khaleda, who ended a five-year second term last October, is facing various charges of corruption and abuse of power, that is also blamed for the meteoric rise of her son and likely heir Tareque Rahman. Tareque is also in jail, awaiting trial by a special court.
President to stay: President Iajuddin Ahmed, whose five-year term expires on Wednesday, will continue as the countrys ceremonial head of state until an elected government replaces the present army-backed interim administration, a senior government official said. This is quite in line with the constitution which says only an elected parliament can appoint a president, Mainul Husein, law and information adviser to the caretaker government, told reporters late on Tuesday.
As per the constitution, he has to continue until the election of his successor. Iajuddin, 76, a former Dhaka University teacher, was appointed president on Sept 5, 2002, by then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year tenure in October last year. Although Bangladeshs presidency is largely a figurehead post, Iajuddin is the constitutional head of the countrys armed forces.
After Khaleda stepped down, Iajuddin briefly took over as head of a caretaker government responsible for holding the next election. But he relinquished the job in favour of incumbent caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former central bank governor and the armys choice. Fakhruddin took charge in January this year. Since then, he has run the country with the armys backing and under a state of emergency.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
that pic never fails to give me the creeps - she looks like an insincere reptile
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/06/2007 8:07 Comments ||
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#2
I always wondered if she was trying to cry or if somebody punched her in the face and she's putting some ice on it...
At 20:31 on August 8, 2007, the online edition of China Daily posted an article titled: "China invites the world to Olympics" on its website. The following sentence appeared: "Security was tight around Tiananmen Square, where troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 with huge loss of life, as crowds gathered for the celebrations."
This came about because someone did a copy-and-paste job from Reuters' Nick Mulvenney (dated 19:54 on the same evening) without checking the content. Within 12 hours, a revised version was posted. Someone over at China Daily is in big trouble for this slip-up, because someone assembled the article and someone else approved its publication. This same story was also carried verbatim at the English-language section of the People's Daily website. Someone else over there is also in trouble. This error was noted in the Hong Kong newspapers Apple Daily, Ming Pao, Sing Tao, etc. In particular, Apple Daily gave a flowchart of the process from Reuters to the China Daily website to the People's Daily website: Click through for screen capture. I run a website in China that creates original content, and I've been ripped off several times. People don't even think before they copy and paste. "But it was on the internet!" is the usual reply. The really ironic thing is that the government was the culprit 3 out of 4 times.
#1
How do you know it wasn't the other way around and the clocks aren't just fast in China? Would it make a difference? And how do you know Reuters doesn't own the China Daily, or vice versa?
Several nations and groups are trying to break into the US militarys computer system, the Pentagon said on Tuesday after reports Chinas military had successfully hacked into the network. The Chinese militarys cyber-attack was carried out in June following months of efforts, the London-based Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
Officials had told the paper the attack was by Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and that it led to the shutdown of a computer system serving the office of Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Patrick Ryder, a US Defence Department spokesman, declined to comment on the reported Chinese attack but said the Pentagon aggressively monitors its networks for intrusions and has appropriate procedures to address them. We know that a number of nations and groups are actively developing these capabilities, he told AFP. We have seen attempts by a variety of state and non-state sponsored organisations to gain unauthorized access to, or otherwise degrade, DoD (Department of Defence) information systems, he said without identifying them.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Clashes between minority Chinese Muslims and the Han majority last month left at least one person dead and 20 injured, a Hong Kong newspaper and human rights group reported yesterday.
The fighting in the eastern province of Shandong broke out Aug. 17 after a Hui man was caught stealing and beaten by several Han in the town of Shimiao, the Ming Pao newspaper and independent Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported. The Hui man, who was not identified by name, returned to the Muslim neighborhood where several thousand Hui gathered sticks, bricks and other improvised weapons and marched on the town's commercial district.
Police tried to separate the groups but were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and four police vehicles were smashed. Only after several hundred members of the paramilitary People's Armed Police were dispatched to the scene did the fighting come under control.
The reports said the clashes had been labeled criminal activity and were currently under investigation, but gave no word of arrests. Numerous violent incidents between Hui and Han have been reported in Shandong and the neighboring province of Henan in recent years, including a Dec. 12, 2000, clash in which police shot dead at least six Hui men.
Posted by: lotp ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Ex, I think I am correct in saying that under Labour, England has been governed by what has been called "The Scottish Mafia". Methinks, there's a touch of Schadenfreud to be had there, letting England get trashed, whilst the Scottish Parliament takes off
Turkeys powerful army leadership stayed away from Abdullah Guls first reception as president on Wednesday in a move widely viewed as a snub to the ex-Islamist whose election the generals had opposed. The office of the president, who is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, played down the no-show, saying the generals had indicated they had other pressing engagements. The information that the chief of the General Staff and the forces commanders will be outside Ankara for previously planned military activities was given to the President on Aug. 30, actually before this invitation was planned, Guls office said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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President Pervez Musharrafs term in office will expire on November 15, Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Qayyum told reporters on Wednesday. He, however, kept mum when the Supreme Court asked him earlier in the day about the expiry of the presidents term. When asked why the government counsels did not inform the court about the matter, he said that he would submit a detailed report to the court on Thursday after consultation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said on Wednesday that he was in contact with Saudi King Shah Abdullah and had conveyed his sentiments on his decision to return to Pakistan to the Saudi administration.
Commenting on a statement issued by a Saudi government spokesman on Nawazs return to Pakistan the other day, Nawaz told Geo news that he would not elaborate on the Saudi statement because it was a sensitive issue. He, however, vowed that he would return to Pakistan on September 10 because my people and country are calling me.
Nawaz said that he appreciated the Saudi governments hospitality. My relations with Shah Abdullah are very cordial and they will remain the same in future, he added. September 10 is judgment day and the people of Pakistan will decide whether Pakistan belongs to dictators or to them, Nawaz said, adding that the All Pakistan Democratic Movement would continue to struggle for real democracy in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told AFP on Wednesday she wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with President Pervez Musharraf after making progress in talks on a power-sharing deal between them. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairwoman said she would return home from self-exile in London and Dubai in weeks, not months, ahead of upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. There has been progress in some areas and we are working on those areas, she told AFP after negotiations resumed this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Both sides are giving hints at forming a rough coalition, given that the US is unhappy with Mushy's Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid i-Azam) for its alliance with the MMA in Baluchistan. The PPP will almost certainly take Sindh in the next election, while the Punjab majority will consolidate around the PML-Q. The MMA won't get even the 10% they received in the last election, and members face attacks from the MQM in Sindh, which won't bother the Punjabis one bit. As for the North West Frontier Province, the more they detach themselves from the national government, the more will they be the objects of US cross border attacks.
President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz paid tribute to the martyrs and ghazis of September 6, 1965, and said that Defence Day reminded the nation of the courage of the people, as well as the armed forces of Pakistan in thwarting an enemy five times their size.
In their separate messages on the eve of Defence Day, the president and prime minister said that the sacrifices by the soldiers served as a beacon of light and source of strength for the nation and the leaders alike. The day was a defining moment in national history, they said.
President Musharraf said that the nation had come a long way in progress and strength. Today, by the grace of God, we have a strong and robust economy, and our defence - based on strong conventional forces and nuclear and missile capabilities - remains impregnable against external threat, he said.
And the wonder is, he said it with a straight face.
Currently, we are truly at the crossroads of destiny, where on one hand we are poised to take off towards greater socio-economic progress. On other hand, the nation is faced with the internal threats of extremism and militancy, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Your Saudi friends bought you 3 senators for holyday gift?
#5
Y'akknow, with great writers like that, if he were to grow out the 'stach a bit, and change his style of glasses and adapt a cigar for a prop, he might just pass for a modern day Groucho....
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will not take part in the election of President General Pervez Musharraf, Daily Times has learnt.
PPP sources said that the party parliamentarians would boycott the presidential election, adding that senior party leaders had conveyed the decision to the presidents emissaries at a meeting in Abu Dhabi. The decision to boycott the presidential election was taken an hour before PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhuttos meeting with National Security Council Secretary Tariq Aziz and Inter Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ashfaq Kiani, when PPP President Makhdoom Amiin Fahim met the party chief and told her about the reservations of the party leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Iran hanged 21 convicted drug smugglers and other criminals on Wednesday, Iranian media said, the latest of a series of executions that have been criticised by European governments and Western rights groups.
Seventeen drug smugglers were executed in the eastern province of Khorasan Razavi on Wednesday, the website of state broadcaster IRIB said. Irans eastern border areas are notorious for clashes between drug traffickers and security forces. A police spokesman said: They were hanged this morning after all legal procedures were carried out, IRIB said. Four other offenders were put to death in public in the southern city of Shiraz after being convicted of banditry, smuggling and other crimes, the Fars News Agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I see Europe still doesn't get it
the latest of a series of executions that have been criticised by European governments and Western rights groups.
Yup, let them kill each other, Europeons BUTT OUT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/06/2007 17:14 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The party of Bangladeshs jailed former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia is on the verge of spliting after partymen said her decision to sack two top aides was unacceptable, officials said. 
Several nations and groups are trying to break into the US militarys computer system, the Pentagon said on Tuesday after reports Chinas military had successfully hacked into the network. The Chinese militarys cyber-attack was carried out in June following months of efforts, the London-based Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed current and former US officials.
Clashes between minority Chinese Muslims and the Han majority last month left at least one person dead and 20 injured, a Hong Kong newspaper and human rights group reported yesterday.
Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said on Wednesday that he was in contact with Saudi King Shah Abdullah and had conveyed his sentiments on his decision to return to Pakistan to the Saudi administration. 
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told AFP on Wednesday she wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with President Pervez Musharraf after making progress in talks on a power-sharing deal between them. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairwoman said she would return home from self-exile in London and Dubai in weeks, not months, ahead of upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. There has been progress in some areas and we are working on those areas, she told AFP after negotiations resumed this week.
President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz paid tribute to the martyrs and ghazis of September 6, 1965, and said that Defence Day reminded the nation of the courage of the people, as well as the armed forces of Pakistan in thwarting an enemy five times their size.
Iran hanged 21 convicted drug smugglers and other criminals on Wednesday, Iranian media said, the latest of a series of executions that have been criticised by European governments and Western rights groups. 
