MANAMA: Bahraini women were yesterday promised a new deal, with stronger legal rights, better financial prospects and a bigger political say. The pledge came from Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty King Hamad and chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women.
Lose the "Her Highness" and "His Highness" crap and we might believe you.
Bahraini women have earned their place through educational achievement, hard work and a dedication to the nation, she said. Shaikha Sabeeka was speaking at Al Rawdha Palace as she unveiled the highlights of a new national strategy to empower women, describing it as a "monumental step forward". The announcement coincides with Arab Women's Day, which falls today. Bahrain has also taken the chair for the next two years of the Arab Women's Council, Shaikha Sabeeka revealed. A women's summit, bringing together the Arab world's First Ladies, is also planned, she announced at a Press conference, which was also attended by supreme council members.
I'm sure that will be as decisive as any Arab Men's Council.
Shaikha Sabeeka said Bahrain had acknowledged women's important role by appointing two women ministers, Health Minister Dr Nada Haffadh and Social Affairs Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi. She said it was now up to men and women to compete in municipal and parliamentary elections next year, to become part of the decision-making process. But Shaikha Sabeeka ruled out an electoral quota system for women, saying it would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2005 12:27:47 AM ||
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Dang. And here I was thinkin' it was like, spooky beams outta their eyes or something like that. You know. Wierd.
Labour yesterday withdrew two election posters depicting Michael Howard as a "Fagin" figure and a flying pig after MPs and Jewish groups said they left the party open to charges of anti-Semitism. A spokesman said the posters would not be used and conceded that lessons would be learned. But the party refused to issue a formal apology and insisted that the posters were not anti-Semitic. It was clear, however, that the leadership realised it had blundered. The poster that caused most offence showed Mr Howard swinging a pocket watch on a chain and saying: "I can spend the same money twice." Critics said it had echoes of Dickens's Jewish pickpocket, Fagin, or Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. Another poster depicted Mr Howard and Mr Letwin, both of whom are of Jewish descent, as flying pigs with the same message about Tory sums not adding up. Jews regard pigs as unclean.
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, who is Jewish and a vice-chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, said the poster showing Mr Howard looking like a Shylock or Fagin figure was unacceptable. "I think it is very insensitive," she said. "I do not think it is deliberately anti-Semitic but we should not have such posters." Harry Cohen, another Jewish Labour MP, said he did not believe there was any intended anti-Semitism but that those responsible had not thought hard enough that they might cause offence. Fraser Kemp, Labour's deputy campaign co-ordinator, said Mr Howard was a link with economic failures of the past and that Labour had a right to highlight his record. Denying charges of anti-Semitism, he said the use of the fob watch was intended to show that the Tories would hypnotise people into thinking they would create a better economy, when the reverse would be the case.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005 6:10:27 AM ||
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Not deliberate antisemitism That seems to need saying entirely too often to make me comfortable.
#2
Another case for the PC busybods.. a definite gaffe, but done on purpose? I doubt it, knowing the sensitivities of the big gay touchy-feely Labour Party.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/01/2005 9:27 Comments ||
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" . . . done on purpose? I doubt it, knowing the sensitivities of the big gay touchy-feely Labour Party"
Absolutely Wrong. The Left is where anti-semitism resides, these days.
I think they knew exactly what they were doing. Read this link from the Times of London: Fagin, Shylock and Blair
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deprived of their flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, pizza deliveries and long visits from lovers, inmates at Mexico's top security prison complained on Monday they are being treated "like dogs."
A government crackdown in prisons, aimed especially at drug lords and other violent criminals, has the prisoners of La Palma jail close to Mexico City up in arms at the "subhuman" conditions they face.
On Monday, they paid for a full-page advertisement in Mexico's top daily Reforma and called on President Vicente Fox to respect their human rights. They also want the right to buy the soft drinks of their choice from the jail's small store.
Over the past month, Fox has sent troops into prisons across Mexico, including La Palma. In cell-by-cell searches, soldiers have stripped inmates of their illegal luxuries. Conjugal visits have been halted too.
High-profile jailed drug lords have been switched to other prisons to break up their in-jail rackets and to make it more difficult to run their cartels from behind bars.
It was not clear who paid for the advertisement that was signed simply "La Palma inmates." Powerful prisoners in Mexican jails have long enjoyed privileges, whereas rank and file criminals are often abused by jailers.
In the advertisement, La Palma's prisoners claim hooded guards are now torturing them. They say they are only being served one cold meal a day, at 1 a.m.
"People dressed in black, blue and gray, covering their faces with ski masks, constantly come into our cells and hit us and kick us, telling us that for real social rehabilitation, we have to obey orders and we are only going to understand that through violence," the prisoners said.
"This is degrading us, treating us like dogs, like animals, like we are worthless, telling us that we are in this place to be severely punished because we are the scum of society," they said.
"We only ask to be treated like the humans we are ... The fact that we have been deprived of our freedom in no way means that our most basic rights have stopped as Mexican citizens. Therefore we ask for clemency so that justice be done and our human rights respected," they said.
#3
Maybe they can start up an exchange program with the Bangladeshi cops. They can show the Mexicans the old "moonlit ride in the middle of the night" trick.
#6
make sure the flammables are in the cells, not the hallways
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 19:10 Comments ||
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---This is degrading us, treating us like dogs, like animals, like we are worthless, telling us that we are in this place to be severely punished because we are the scum of society," they said.--
This clown represents a clear and present danger to this country. Oil futures traders in London and New York have come up with a catchy term to describe an additional source of uncertainty when it comes to judging potential volatility in supplies: the Chävez premium. There is as yet no established formula that serves to precisely calculate how many dollars should be added to the price of a barrel of oil because of Venezuela's President Hugo Chävez, from whom the term derives. However, one thing is clear: political uncertainty stemming from Mr Chävez and his policies is becoming not only a factor in the oil markets, but it also has implications for Venezuela's sovereign bond holders and for oil multinationals.
As the world's fifth largest oil exporter, for decades Venezuela had been seen as a secure source of oil, particularly to the US. Tens of billions of dollars have been invested to extract oil from the South American country. However, Mr Chävez is uncomfortable with Washington, which he sees as the centre of an imperialist "empire" bent on dominating the rest of the world, and intent on overthrowing him and his self-styled "revolution" for the poor.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: TMH ||
02/01/2005 8:03:21 AM ||
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Too bad the CIA is figment of its own imagination and a legend in only the mind of numbing TV writers. We could use a very efficient politically astute operation right about now.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:51 Comments ||
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Chavez is such a retard. If the US wanted him out or dead he would be. Any thought that the US would not act to protect it's interests in Central America is mooted by the Invasion of Panama. He clearly needs to get his head out of his socialist ass.
Posted by: SPOD ||
02/01/2005 11:09 Comments ||
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The article also said that China might be re-selling Venezuelan crude. Is China not North Korea main oil supplier?
China is not only interested in oil exploration. They are also looking into telecommunications, farming, construction and "other things".
[LatelineNews: 2005-1-29] CARACAS, Venezuela - China signed energy accords with Venezuela on Saturday that aim to make the Asian economic giant a major player in the oil and gas industry of the world's No. 5 crude exporter.
The 19 cooperation agreements signed in Caracas during a visit by Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong included plans for multimillion-dollar Chinese investments in Venezuelan oil and gas fields. They also foresaw Chinese financing and technical support for telecommunications, mining and farming.
Venezuela ships more than half its daily oil output to the United States in a decades-old energy relationship.
But left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington, has made clear he wants to diversify his country's overseas energy ties to reduce its economic dependence on the American market.
"China is a world power. ... She doesn't come here with imperialist airs, she comes here like a sister. God bless China," he told Zeng at the signing ceremony.
Despite Chavez's anti-U.S. rhetoric, many experts say the United States remains Venezuela's most natural energy market because of its proximity and its refineries geared to process Venezuelan crude.
Accumulated American investment in Venezuela's energy sector is in the billions of dollars.
MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES
Saturday's agreements, which cemented projects announced by Chavez during a December visit to China, opened up major oil and gas development opportunities in Venezuela for the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
One foresees a joint venture with local state oil firm PDVSA in Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt to convert extra-heavy crude into upgraded, lighter oil for export. The CNPC would join major U.S. and European oil companies that already have similar operations.
Under another accord, the Chinese company will exploit more than a dozen oil and gas wells at Zumano in eastern Venezuela, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.
He told Reuters the Zumano field had estimated reserves of 400 million barrels of oil that could reach 1 billion barrels with further exploration.
CNPC already operates two Venezuelan oil fields and will now be able to extract natural gas from them as well.
Another agreement sees China participating in the building of a $250 million telecommunications network in Venezuela, Venezuelan Infrastructure Minister Ramon Carrizales said.
China would also provide credits for housing and for machinery and technical support for Venezuelan farms.
A Venezuelan proposal to build and launch a $200 million telecommunications satellite in China was also being studied.
"Relations between China and Venezuela now stretch from the sub-soil, where we have our oil and gas, to the stratosphere, where we are going to place our satellite," Chavez said.
Since he was first elected in 1998, the Venezuelan leader has made a point of increasing political and trade ties with China and has increased his verbal attacks against the United States, which he accuses of trying to topple him. Reuters http://latelinenews.com/ll/english/1347004.shtml
#6
Just like the tyrants in the Middle East, Chavez cooperation with terrorists and any country that seeks to destroy this one will not stop.
It would not make any difference to him if the US does not but his oil. This is about ideologies and victimhood.
This moron has a program Alo President (Hello President) which is broadcasted every Sunday. I remember him saying in one of them that the reason that communism, as tried in Russia, Cuba, & N Korea, did not succeed was because of the US. If the US could be brought down, the perfect system that is communism will make the world a better place.
He needs to be taken out!
#7
TMH oh I am sure he will.
His mouth is usually well ahead of his ass.
He has and is writing checks he can't cash with his mouth. One missle from one aircraft could end his regime.
May God rest your soul.
Gilbert Bennion, one of Australia's last links with World War I, has been buried at a ceremony in northern New South Wales. Mr Bennion, who was affectionately known as Gillie, died last week aged 106. He was born in north Queensland in 1898 and enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1918, but the war finished before he was able to serve overseas.
Mr Bennion worked with Queensland Railways for 51 years and was the last station master at Coolangatta. About 100 people gathered at South Tweed for the service, in which Mr Bennion was buried with his station master's cap. Family friend Rod Bates, who delivered the eulogy, told the gathering that Mr Bennion was the quintessential good bloke. "Gillie loved his life and approached it in a humorous and inquisitive way, all 106 years of it," he said. Mr Bennion is survived by his daughter Shirley, son Neville and extended family.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005 3:49:14 PM ||
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World Net Daily--a shameless promo for one of its subscription services--link via Instapundit. EFL'd.
Don't know if this is true, but I hope it is.
Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of a unique intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives," shares how a gift of vodka and a little ingenuity helped Ukraine's Orange Revolution succeed, bringing the former Russian satellite onto President Bush's list of new democracies. . . . "Order now and you'll also get this Ginsu knife, a Garden Weasel, and a year's supply of Oxy Clean, blah blah blah blah, yadda yadda, operators are standing by!"
"Eastern Ukraine is heavily ethnic Russian. The main industry is coal. The miners are rough, tough, and hate Yushchenko for wanting to take Ukraine away from Russia and toward the West," writes Wheeler. "It was arranged for more than a thousand of them to be taken from Donetsk, the capital of the coal-mining region, by bus and train to Kiev, where, armed with clubs and blunt tools, they would physically beat up the Orange Revolutionaries. Such mass violence was not only to disperse the demonstrators but serve as an excuse for the government to declare martial law, suspending the Ukrainian Parliament (the Rada) and elections indefinitely." "Comrades! We are burly ethinc Russian coal miners! Let us go to Kiev and smash puny little orange people with our hammers!"
Now comes the secret weapon: vodka. "When the miners got on their buses and trains, they found to their joy case after case of vodka — just for them. "Comrades! While on way to Kiev to smash puny little orange people with our hammers, let us open bottles of manly socialist vodka and get hammered ourselves!"
When they arrived in Kiev, trucks awaited them filled with more cases of vodka — all free provided by 'friends' of the Donetsk coal miners. "Is workers' paradise here in Kiev! Free vodka!"
Completely soused, they never made it to Independence Square. Too hammered blind to cause any violence at all, they had a merry time, passed out and were shipped back to Donetsk." "Comrade, is that orange elephant I am seeink?"
"Nyet, Pavel, is only vodka-induced hallucination. Get out from under table."
Available only to subscribers of To the Point, "Call the number on your screen!"
Wheeler's column goes on to explain who provided the liquor: teams of Porter Goss' CIA working with their counterparts in British MI6 intelligence. "Well, Bond, you've done it again."
"Indeed, Q, the miners are too shaken and stirred to give us any trouble."
Dear God, I hope our people are that good!
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005 11:05:50 AM ||
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oh please...like there is any amount vodka they could drink to get them that drunk. That would be like handing out water to runners and then saying, they were too hydrated to run.
The county of Los Angeles has finally brought some common sense to the way it handles the problem of illegal immigrants in our jails. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure under which jail officials will work more closely with federal authorities to determine which inmates are illegal immigrants. That way, when the inmates' sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country. Although some immigrant-rights groups have protested the measure -- and Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke voted against it -- this reform will benefit all residents of Los Angeles County, native and foreign-born alike.
Getting convicted criminals out of the country only makes sense as a matter of public safety. Immigrants who come here illegally, then choose to live a life of crime, have no claim on remaining here. And given the limited resources of local law enforcement, it makes no sense to spend time and money arresting and re-trying these very same offenders when they strike again. Considering that it's members of immigrant communities who are most often the victims of such criminals, it would seem that immigrants more than anyone stand to gain from this new policy. And given that only convicted criminals would be affected, the claim that it will keep some immigrants from cooperating with law enforcement seems far-fetched at best. snip
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:58:31 AM ||
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#1
That way, when the inmatesâ sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country.
Any chance some lashes could be administered before the deportation?
#2
That way, when the inmatesâ sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country.
I like that they will have them serve their sentences first - otherwise, they just get avoid punishment for their crimes and will catch the next bus back up to the US. This way, they have to serve their time, and then catch the next bus back. It gives us an extra month or two before they can make their way back.
#4
I like that they will have them serve their sentences first..
I dunno about the wisdom of that. While they're incarcerated in our jails, we'd be responsible for these bastards' health and upkeep. I'd settle for immediate deportation (plus lashes) and a beefing up of border security to make sure they stay out. In addition, reinstituting workplace raids would probably be a good move.
EFL Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday. Annan wants to appoint a special envoy not only to focus on the cleanup and reconstruction but to try to make progress on resolving conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries — Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Eckhard said. Ironically, the report surfaced as The Associated Press obtained a letter by former Sen. Jesse Helms in which he predicts Clinton will try to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
#3
"have y'all seen those pretty brown gals, with leis (heh heh) and umbrella drinks? I could leave the old bat back in New York and get a great tan and sucked like a trailer home in an F4...."
Mexican labourers living in the US sent a record $16.6bn (£8.82bn) home last year. The Bank of Mexico said that remittances grew 24% last year and now represent the country's second-biggest source of income after oil. Better records and greater prosperity of Mexican expatriates in the US are the main reasons behind the increase. About 10 million Mexicans live in the US, where there are 16 million citizens of Mexican origin. Remittances now represent more than 2% of the country's GDP, according to the Bank of Mexico's figures. Last year, there were 50.9 million transactions, with an average value of $327 per remittance, the bank said. According to Standard & Poor's, which has recently upgraded Mexico's sovereign debt rating, the rise in remittances helps protect the Mexican economy against a potential fall in the international oil prices.
This is why the Mexican government won't do anything to stop their citizens from coming north, and why they get so bent out of shape when we try to protect our border.
The growth in remittances has sparked fierce competition between banks. Bank of America announced last week that it planned to eliminate transfer fees for some customers. Remittance charges are estimated to have dropped by between 50 and 60%, reports from the US Treasury and the Inter-American Development Bank have said. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean reached $45bn in 2004.
Not to mention the fact that every gas station and supermarket downm here in Texas has a money transfer capability for people to wire funds back home to Mexico.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 9:42:20 AM ||
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What is not mentioned here but is the real travesty is that the great majority of those remittances come from non-taxed income. Its mostly cash and "black" wages. So, there is at least $10-25bn in possible federal, state and local taxes - to help defray welfare, medical and other costs that illegals run up every year in just about every municipal, county and township in the USA.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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Is Mexico a high birthrate nation with a failed government and economy that generates an unending supply of illegal immigrants?
Or is the Mexican economy improving, partially stabilized by money from the US? Is Mexico growing wealthier as the poorest Mexicans move to the US? Has Mexicoâs birthrate declined? Are most of the potential illegal Mexican immigrants already in the US?
#4
The sad fact is that Mexico *should* be a very wealthy country, with a prosperous populace. They are geographically well situated, with beautiful coastlines on two oceans. There are plenty of natural resources (even some oil), a great climate, a fair amount of arable land, and their only security threats along the southern border. Why can't they make a go of it and stand on their own?
#5
Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service
The Washington Post
08-09-2001
U.S., Mexico Await Migration Drop; Declining Birthrate South of Border
May Slow Tide North
Byline: Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service
Edition: FINAL
Section: A Section
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 8 --
Mexico's falling birthrates may begin to significantly lower illegal immigration
to the United States within 15 years, according to Mexican and U.S. officials
working to craft solutions to their shared problem.
Immigration specialists have long said that the flood of Mexican workers
to the United States would cease only when ...
#7
"Mexico's birth rate drops as planners worry about future
With falling birth rates, babies are a scarcer sight in Mexico
CNN's Harris Whitbeck looks at what the decrease in birth rate means for the country
July 28, 1999
Web posted at: 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT)
By Correspondent Harris Whitbeck
MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- After years of steady increase in the number of babies born, Mexico's birth rate is now dropping.
Although Mexico's population will grow to 130 million over the next 30 years, experts say the population explosion has now stabilized.
For much of the 20th century, the average Mexican woman gave birth to seven children. That number has since decreased to an average of 2.5 children per family, largely due to family planning.
"About 80 percent of the couples we see here agree that family planning is a responsible measure to take," said Dr. Ana Cecilia Montes, who works at a family planning center.
The Mexican government welcomes such news, but worries that the decrease in family sizes could make the elderly more dependent on its services in the years to come.
By 2050, a quarter of Mexico's population will be over 65
By the middle of the next century, one in four Mexicans will be over the age of 65.
The current birth rate decrease does provide a window of opportunity, government officials say.
"If we take advantage now, we will be able to create an infrastructure of necessary services in order to provide for the needs of the elderly," said Rudolfo Tuiran of the National Council on Population.
The government's prescription is more investment in social programs now to prevent problems later. But such a plan depends on the emerging Mexican economy, which recently has shown more instability than long-term growth.
#8
Remember, Mexico is doing its best to keep out a flood of illegal immigrants from their southern border. I assume they can turn that spigot on if necessary later.
Seafarious: Is this a trick question? It's all about political culture. Now if the English had invaded Mexico...
#9
No, not a trick question, not exactly. I'm just pointing out that Mexico has many advantages that other struggling countries do not and by all rights they should be a prosperous nation. And I'm not happy that their biggest export right now is their problem citizens...
#10
Russia has many natural advantages, too. But, between a tradition of authoritarianism and corruption, and wasting their substance empire building, not much is left for the citizenry.
WRT Mexico, which hasn't troubled itself building an empire, the citizens that come north appear to be the most ambitious, not the problems. While the lack of control of our border is a serious security concern, along with the Mob tactics of the coyotes, the workers themselves would be a real benefit if the situation could be regularized. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Bush's guest worker proposal is do-able just yet -- not until we control our southern border.
#11
I wonder how switching from an income to a sales tax would change the situation.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/01/2005 12:41 Comments ||
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Sea, a big reason is the way that the government treats their own citizens. They don't really make any effort to educate them (most of the ones who get an education go to a private school, the state schools, if there are any, are a joke....I can't remember how many illegals I used to run into in my past job who were illiterate in Spanish and couldn't even sign their names).
The wealthy Mexicans would rather invest their pesos overseas instead of in their own country to create jobs. Foreigners are the big investors in Mexico...not rich Chilangos.
If you are born poor, you are really SOL as far as getting ahead....unless you manage to go North and get a job so you can send some money home to improve your family's situation, or you save it up until you can go home and build yourself a nicer house, etc. Also, while you are up North, maybe your kids can get some schooling....even our worst schools are better than what they could hope for back in Mexico.
I can't blame them for coming....hell, if I was one of them, I'd be crossing the border myself. It's just that our government shouldn't make it so damn easy for Mexico to keep their status quo.
You annex them. Make them a Commonwealth. Open the border fully. End the exclusion of foreigners to own property. Promote real investment like in the US, as done by the English, Dutch and Japanese. Send the El Norte federales in to take care of the corrupt officials and their drug lord financers. If we can rebuild a free democratic Iraq, we can build a free democratic Mexico.
#17
I have news for you... it's not only illegal Mexican immigrants doing this. Just about every legal immigrant sends some money back home to support the family. Money that could have been saved or spent here. The only difference is, this money has already been taxed.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/01/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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#18
Of course they send money back home. Immigrants have always done that. This allows the others to remain in place, and finances bringing the most ambitious to America to continue the process. The issue isn't the money, because they send back American stuff, too, but the illegal status of so many. Also, a lot of the illegals go back and forth across the border, as the job situation here changes, or family situation requires. Regularize the situation -- guest worker visas, income tax, health insurance, no citizenship for children born here to non-citizens, no purchase of real property for guest workers (to prevent de facto immigration). Oh, and fix the drug smuggling -- a lot of the border violence is from drug gangs fighting over territory... or whatever it is that gangs fight over.
That's a feature, not a bug. That's $16b that won't be used to inflate the US real estate market. That's $16b that won't be used to inflate the US stock market. Better that they build nice big homes for their families back in Mexico, than send for the whole family to come over here.
If we can rebuild a free democratic Iraq, we can build a free democratic Mexico.
It's not like Mexico is some country halfway around the planet. It's right next door, and it seems rather inconceivable that they haven't noticed how we've conducted ourselves and haven't tried a similar formula in an attempt to achieve similar success. No, their solution is to encourage their peasants to break our laws and violate our sovereignty, while at the same time badmouthing us in the process, or not standing by us (witness Mexico's stance on Iraq).
No, at this point the Mexicans themselves need to fix whatever's wrong with their society, and stop being the remora on our undersides. We only get involved in the event of a catastrophic collapse, and even then, no annexation and no Commonwealth.
A year and a half ago, Pfizer Inc. got a disturbing call on its customer hotline. A woman who had been taking its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor complained that a new bottle of tablets tasted bitter. She sent the suspicious pills to the company, which tested them at a lab in Groton, Conn. The white oblong tablets looked just like the real thing -- and even contained some of the active ingredient in Lipitor. But Pfizer soon determined that they were counterfeits. Over the next two months, distributors yanked some 16.5 million tablets from warehouses and pharmacy shelves nationwide... The rest of the article is about recent, large scale counterfeits in general.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/01/2005 9:57:21 AM ||
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Hmm, these counterfeit pills apparently got into the regular & supposedly FDA-approved supply line. Apparently the contamination was on a very wide scale. What about these incredibly dangerous illegally imported Canadian drugs that senior citizens are bringing back in their luggage? This situation indicates a very real possibility of poisons or infectious agents into drugs and having them distributed to millions of people. This should be, but isn't, front page news, both on Rantburg and in the MSM.
A U.S. appeals court has ruled the IRS cannot compel taxpayers to turn over personal and private property without a federal court order and that taxpayers can ignore the agencies summonses until actual enforcement action is taken.
In the case Schulz v. IRS, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled:
...absent an effort to seek enforcement through a federal court, IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers, and no consequence whatever can befall a taxpayer who refuses, ignores, or otherwise does not comply with an IRS summons until that summons is backed by a federal court order. ⊠[A taxpayer] cannot be held in contempt, arrested, detained, or otherwise punished for refusing to comply with the original IRS summons, no matter the taxpayer's reasons, or lack of reasons for so refusing.
Bob Schulz, the plaintiff, is head of We the People, an organization that has taken separate legal action against the federal government for its failure to answer a "petition for redress of grievances" regarding the income tax. Though the court affirmed a lower court decision in favor of the IRS, saying Schulz's motion to quash an IRS summons lacked "subject matter," it used the ruling as a means to clarify the agency's power under 26 U.S.C. Section 7604.
The appeals court decision [.pdf document] of Jan. 25 stated the federal courts protect taxpayers from an "overreaching" IRS and that the agency must go through the federal courts before force can be applied on anyone to turn over personal and private property to the IRS. Absent a federal court order, the IRS summons amounts simply to a "request," the court ruled, which can be ignored.
A statement on the group's website went on to say: "Without declaring provisions of the code unconstitutional on their face, the court, in effect, nullified key enforcement provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, stripping the IRS of much of its power to compel compliance with its administrative demands for personal and private property."
We the People claims the court decision will benefit the organization's class-action lawsuit against the IRS.
States the group: "The court has expressly recognized that the IRS, as has been asserted in the right-to-petition lawsuit, routinely violates people's due process rights in their day-to-day administrative practices. As such, the findings of the Second Circuit firmly establish for the District Court the substance of the causes of action put forth in our right-to-petition lawsuit."
Schulz's lawsuit stemmed from an IRS summons served on him in relation to an investigation. He claims the summons was a direct infringement on his First Amendment rights.
Activists of the "tax honesty" movement, in which WTP is a leading voice, believe the federal government lacks any legal jurisdiction to enforce the income tax, that there is no law that requires Americans to pay the tax, and that the tax is enforced in a manner that violates the U.S. Constitution.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/01/2005 9:10:20 AM ||
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#1
I'm pleasantly surprised, but I suppose the SCOTUS will overturn this ruling. Nothing, certainly not the Bill of Rights, can interfere with the government revenue. A good way to shut someone like Rangel or Schumer on the PATRIOT act is to say "How about we just give them the powers that the IRS already has?"
I don't agree with the arguments that the income tax is illegal, though.
#2
This is the next big domestic windmill for the rightwing and libertarian political elements in America. Not so much the tax code which will be the lead instrument in the parade but the strong bellowing of rights infrigement in the big brass section!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 11:00 Comments ||
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#3
I expect the Sax Section of Rational Tax Policy to take up the beat at some point.
Researchers in Boston have pinpointed a primary trigger for the most common form of diabetes and have uncovered evidence that simple, inexpensive aspirin-like drugs could keep the disease that affects millions in check. The researchers, from Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, discovered a genetic ''master switch" in the liver that is turned on when people become obese. Obesity has long been linked to diabetes, but the reason, until now, has been unknown. Joslin researchers found that once on, this switch produces low-level inflammation, which disrupts the body's ability to process insulin, causing type 2 diabetes.
But the researchers took the finding one step further. Reasoning that aspirin-like drugs are used to quell inflammation, they successfully used the drugs, called salicylates, to eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in mice. Human tests are already underway in Boston, though no results have been published.
''These drugs, among the safest drugs known, can do a surprisingly good job of toning down this inflammation," said Joslin researcher Dr. Steven E. Shoelson, lead author of the paper. ''These are hopeful ideas for the future." Shoelson warned against rushing out to get salicylates. Their effectiveness has been proved thus far only in mice.
My wife has Type II, so I'll be watching this study. More at the link.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 2:04:43 AM ||
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#1
I have fat mice. They won't take their pills. This looks like a job for mucky.
#2
This is huge! If indeed type II could be controlled by aspirin like drugs it would impact millions of Americans and would decrease health costs by trillions, as diabetes I and II creates many secondary health problems.
Type II and increased risk of heart attack go hand and hand. I wonder if this is the reason why aspirin use decreases the statistical chance for a heart attack.
Next question - why does obesity cause the switch to turn off?
#3
Next question - why does obesity cause the switch to turn off? A possible reason is an evolutionary mechanism to stop people getting too fat. Type II diabetes is most prevalent in populations closest to hunter-gather livestyles, i.e. those least able to control their food supply.
#4
And what will all the diabetes foundations do when their disease is cured?
A woman scientist thought she could solve diabetes using cheap drugs, but no one -- no org would fund it - Iacocca donated $11 million, he wants to see it cured before he dies.
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.
MANAMA: Bahraini women were yesterday promised a new deal, with stronger legal rights, better financial prospects and a bigger political say. The pledge came from Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty King Hamad and chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women. 
Oil futures traders in London and New York have come up with a catchy term to describe an additional source of uncertainty when it comes to judging potential volatility in supplies: the Chävez premium. There is as yet no established formula that serves to precisely calculate how many dollars should be added to the price of a barrel of oil because of Venezuela's President 
The county of Los Angeles has finally brought some common sense to the way it handles the problem of illegal immigrants in our jails. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure under which jail officials will work more closely with federal authorities to determine which inmates are illegal immigrants. That way, when the inmates' sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country. Although some immigrant-rights groups have protested the measure -- and Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke voted against it -- this reform will benefit all residents of Los Angeles County, native and foreign-born alike. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday. Annan wants to appoint a special envoy not only to focus on the cleanup and reconstruction but to try to make progress on resolving conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries — Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Eckhard said. Ironically, the report surfaced as The Associated Press obtained a letter by former Sen. Jesse Helms in which he predicts Clinton will try to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
