IN its 183-year history, the august Oxford Union debating society has heard the wisdom of Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Mother Teresa. Now its members are to hear from Ron Jeremy, star of 1700 adult films, including Bang Along With Ron. "Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell," Oxford Union librarian Vladimir Bermant, who organised the event, said. Jeremy, who claims to have slept with more than 4000 women, will address the union tomorrow, joining many British prime ministers, three US presidents and prominent figures from the Dalai Lama to Malcolm X in its archival guest list. Advertisement: Peter Cardwell, spokesman for one of the English-speaking world's most respected debating societies, said US porn star Jenna Jameson also addressed the union a few years ago.
EFL
A study of George VI Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula is the first to show that this currently 'healthy' ice shelf experienced an extensive retreat about 9500 years ago, more than anything seen in recent years. The retreat coincided with a shift in ocean currents that occurred after a long period of warmth. Whilst rising air temperatures are believed to be the primary cause of recent dramatic disintegration of ice shelves like Larsen B, the new study suggests that the ocean may play a more significant role in destroying them than previously thought. More evidence that man-made Global Warming may be less significant than natural and political factors.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 4:03:21 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Xactly. Here ya go. That's what I was always saying. If Etna can spew in a couple of months as much polutants like all humans for 15 years, then the basic precept of the "human-induced upcoming warming doom" enviro-diatribe is utterly flawed.
Part of Rantburg's continuing coverage: The estranged wife of the missing Earl of Shaftesbury has been arrested in Cannes on the French Riviera in connection with his murder, it emerged yesterday. Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 66, has been missing since November 5 last year after travelling to Cannes to visit Jamila Ben M'Barek, 37, his third wife, a former nightclub worker.
Jamila, A saucy wench with dark eyes and a taste for rich, elderly men.
Her brother, Mohammed Ben M'Barek, 40, was seized at his Munich home and is also being questioned.
Mohammed, eh? Perhaps Jamila was a bellydancer?
Police in Nice refused to comment on the case, but last night a source close to the inquiry confirmed the pair were "mise en examen" or put under official investigation, the first step under the French legal system to being charged.
For the past week Ms M'Barek has been voluntarily undergoing psychiatric treatment at a hospital in Cannes, from where she was taken into police custody over the weekend, said the source.
Checked herself into a private looney bin, working on her defense.
"Lord Shaftesbury's sister, Frances Ashley Cooper, was too upset to comment at her home in the south of France last night.
Her lawyer, Philippe Soussi, said: "The whole family is in a state of shock after hearing this terrible news, even if they had few doubts that Anthony had been the victim of a crime and even if it's a relief to finally know his fate.
"Both the family and I were certain from the beginning that a crime had been committed, now we know it was a sordid crime indeed. I didn't know Lord Shaftesbury but from what I have learned of him he was a man who was kind and generous but at the same time weak and febrile."
Rich, generous, feeble minded, one foot in the grave, Jamila must have had dollar signs flash before her eyes.
The developments bring to a climax a three and a half month police investigation involving police forces in Sussex, the City of London and France.
The aristocrat shared his time between homes in Britain and the south of France where he became a well-known face, frequenting hostess bars and becoming a regular part of the Riviera club scene.
After he went missing two days into his trip to Cannes, fears grew that he had fallen victim to criminals. He had hired a lawyer, Thierry Bensaude, because a number of strange events were beginning to frighten him. The peer suffered a series of thefts, including the loss of a painting which had been in his family for more than 200 years. He was apparently considering legal action against those he thought responsible.
Right away Mohammed flew in from Munich
on a red-eye midnight flight.
He held Jamila's hand, and they worked out a plan,
and it didn't take them long to decide that
Earl had to Die.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 2:26:40 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Rich, generous, feeble minded, one foot in the grave, Jamila must have had dollareuro signs flash before her eyes.
It was in the Froggy Islamic Republic, after all...
#2
"He had hired a lawyer, Thierry Bensaude, because a number of strange events were beginning to frighten him." Um Earl maybe you should have hired a BODY GUARD and not a lawyer. Did this guy watch too much JAG?
#4
Actually, this is pretty exciting. The camel racing world has always had breeding problems. Apparently, unlike horses, it's really, really difficult to tell when a she-camel comes into heat, and often enough even then she isn't interested in what the males have to offer (camel PMS being backed by those effective teeth and legs, I guess). According to an interesting article I read a while back, the only consistently successful breeder is an American woman veterinarian (*snicker*) caring for the racing stock of one of the Sultans/Princelings/whatever over there.
Besides, that part of the world already has entirely too many genetic problems resulting from their compulsive inbreeding. Giving the people the option of test-tube conception and in a couple of generations they won't be able to conceive at all.
Human rights in Venezuela worsened last year after new government laws undermined media and judicial independence, the United States said on Monday in a report dismissed as "more lies" by Caracas. The State Department 2004 world human rights report singled out the Venezuelan media legislation and a Supreme Court law which critics says allows the government to pack the nation's top tribunal with political allies. "We saw unfortunately some real backsliding there," Michael Kozak, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said in a Washington press conference.
The report comes after U.S. officials recently stepped up attacks on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who they criticize as authoritarian and a threat to regional stability because of his ties to Cuba's President Fidel Castro (news - web sites). Venezuela's government, a fierce opponent of what it calls U.S. "imperialist" policies, dismissed the comments. "This State Department report is more of the same: more lies, more fabrications and more hypocrisy," Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said. Relations between the United States and Venezuela have become increasingly antagonistic since Chavez was first elected in 1998 promising to fight corruption and poverty in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. The former army officer presents his "Bolivarian revolution" for the poor as an alternative to U.S. capitalism and accuses the United States of trying to oust him, including through a short-lived 2002 coup which he survived. Venezuela at the same time reiterates its key petroleum supplies to Washington are safe.
The U.S. government dismisses Chavez's charges, but it admits to financing local pro-democracy groups which helped organize a recall referendum in August. Chavez won the vote. Venezuela's National Assembly in November approved the media law the government said would improve broadcasting and protect minors from scenes of sex and violence. Critics fear the law, which forbids the broadcasting of scenes or statements that incite disorder or threaten national security, will be used to crackdown on political opposition. The National Assembly also passed a law expanding the Supreme Court and allowing the parliament, which is controlled by pro-Chavez supporters, to more easily appoint judges. The government said the reforms aimed to end years of corruption.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's navy is taking a close look at the American military presence on the nearby island of Curacao to determine the intention of U.S. operations there, Venezuela's navy commander said Monday.
Navy Cmdr. Armando Laguna said the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles on the Caribbean island. He did not provide details regarding what measures the navy was taking.
Cruising by looking at the Marines who are looking back making faces at them.
Laguna told the state-run television channel the navy "detected a series of (military) units" on the island, located roughly 46 miles (75 kilometers) northeast of Venezuela's Paraguana Peninsula.
Getting a prickly feeling on the back of your neck, Hugo? Good.
"We took precautions to determine what the intention is," said Laguna, adding that the U.S. Navy often carries out exercises in southern Caribbean but failed to notify Venezuela's military on this occasion.
Fancy that
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
Not that we'd tell State if we were up to anything
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 1:59:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If the US were to take Venezuela down there would be no signs and portents in the days ahead. Chavez would learn about it when he heard the gunfire and shelling.
#4
Love it. Rattling the guys with all the epaulets and medals, huh? Be sure to watch for subs and covert insertions... get those clips and ammo for the 100,000 AK's? No?
Time to start jerking Hugo's chain in a big way and he'll overreact
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
#5
this is just propagamda from Chavez to get locals to rally round the flag. The US aint doing anything about him anytime soon.
#9
Hey, Kimmie sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from Clinton. His buddies in Iran sabre-rattled and got offers of free stuff from the Euroweenies. Why not give it a try?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 15:00 Comments ||
Top||
#10
He is running out of lies to tell stuff to say on his multi hour Sunday tv show.
Is there any sane democracy anywhere that has a multi hour TV show of the head of state ranting?
#13
Not to worry Hugo, your not in real trouble until John F. Kerry leads a congressional delegation to save you goverment. It's about the time that these LLL Yahoos leave that you start hearing the sound of JDAMS landing on your office.
#15
...the Venezuelan navy was "taking precautions" as it observes the presence of U.S. Marines, along with military planes and amphibious vehicles on the Caribbean island.
And?
Greeting from our guys on Curacao for Hugo "The Magnificent"
#16
I think it would be wonderful if the US found a way to quarantine a few Venezuelan oil tankers enroute to Cuba. Hold them a day and let them go. Send a powerful message that if we wanted to screw with them it would be very easy. Their entire economy depends upon US patrolled oceans.
#17
#13. They might not have to wait long for the American lefties. Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center are on the way back to Caracas "to help consolidate peace and democracy." Jimmah figured he didn't demoralize the Venezuelan's enough the last time he 'helped' democracy's cause there.
#18
Sorry my fellow hawks, but I do not think it wise to respond to Chavez's provocations in any way except isolation. As Liberalhawk pointed out, Chavez's posturing is for domestic consumption and while it might be good to puncture his puffery, I think he is more clever and dastardly than you might believe. His goal is to suppress internal opposition and consolidate power in the classic totalitarian style. He is distributing weapons to his supporters on the pretext of mobilizing defenses against American invasion. Our Armed Forces should be as far away as possible so that it is clear to all of S. America and the world how empty and false such pretexts are.
The biggest problem is that, for now, Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezualans - he's the first Commie to win an election. We cannot move against him and be true to our principles while he retains this support. We will have to be patient and wait for his support to erode, even if it takes years and lots of suffering.
There is a large base of opposition - basically all of Venezuela's middle and upper classes - including some of my friends. No doubt many of them would welcome American armed intervention - they loathe Chavez. But they have made many mistakes until now, including when they were in power and in misplaying their cards since Chavez came to power. The failed coup was a colassal blunder. Now they have to pay the price but the first step to eroding Chavez's base is to start being smart - not desperate and foolhardy.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
02/28/2005 20:30 Comments ||
Top||
#19
"Chavez retains the support of a slight majority of Venezuelans"
If Chavez really had the support of "slight majority", why did he need to obstruct and cheat on the referenda?
Venezuela - Chavez Obstruction of the Presidential Recall Referendum
Dr. Constantine Menges Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/4/6/102346.shtml
#20
...First, it's now Officially Obvious(TM) that Chavez now suffers from Noreiega's Disease, a little know affliction that renders the sufferer incapable of knowing exactly what he's screwing with.
Second, a prediction: Jimmah will fly to Venezuela, denounce the coming invasion, and stand as a human shield with Hugo, figuring we won't DARE mess with him.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2005 23:34 Comments ||
Top||
George Bush knew Vladimir Putin would be defensive when Bush brought up the pace of democratic reform in Russia in their private meeting at the end of Bush's four-day, three-city tour of Europe. But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984."
The Russians did not let the matter drop. Later, during the leaders' joint press conference, one of the questioners Putin called on asked Bush about the very same firings, a coincidence the White House assumed had been orchestrated. The odd episode reinforced the Administration's view that Putin's impressions of America are often based on urban myths fed to him by ill-informed aides. (At a past summit, according to Administration aides, Putin asked Bush whether it was true that chicken producers split their production into plants that serve the U.S. and lower-quality ones that process substandard chicken for Russia.) U.S. aides say that to help fight against this kind of misinformation, they are struggling to build relationships that go beyond Putin. "We need to go deeper into the well into other levels of government," explains an aide.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/28/2005 6:50:59 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I do not think Putin really thinks we did that.
It does provide cover for when he essentially does what he's accusing us of, under the guise of "fighting the oligarchs."
Misinformation isn't what Putin's government suffers from, it's what they _do_.
#7
I'm sure the guys in the KGB have the goods on Bush and are unlikely to be using any contemporary Microsoft Word. Does Cyrillic on a manual superscript?
Posted by: Dan ||
02/28/2005 23:41 Comments ||
Top||
From the Wall Street Journal. Given complete. A nice summary of how China is putting its foot in it all around the neighborhood.
HONG KONG -- A scene here last month was humorous and telling about why China is rapidly losing the public relations war in Asia.
It was Australia Day, and the local, Beijing-appointed administration had sent out one of its leading lights to make a toast at the annual consulate bash. He beamed at the gathered guests and, searching for something to add to his prepared remarks, uttered rather infelicitously, "Hong Kong and Australia have much in common. You are a young country and are free, and we . . ."
It was at that point that some of us started to look around embarrassedly. And we what, exactly? For a people who constantly go around recalling "5,000 years of continuous history," boasting about being a "young country" seemed a tad out of place. As for free . . .
The Hong Kong government official, who himself had paused, found a way out (somewhat) by admitting that, yes, Hong Kong was "part of the People's Republic of China", but the city itself was "quite young and free." He searched around the room, and, as if pleading to the pack of assembled Aussies, added once more, "those of you who work here know that we are quite free."
Yes, despite interference from Beijing, Hong Kong has retained many of its freedoms, as well as the rule of law and an efficient civil service, all bequeathed by Britain. But the urgency to put distance between the city and the motherland was palpable, and noteworthy. When one of China's own representatives, albeit from the semi-detached capitalist outpost of Hong Kong, seeks to play down the association with the mainland, there's something amiss.
It's clear to impartial observers that China is having difficulties with the rest of the region at the moment. Not only is the Chinese "model" failing to attract many imitators -- youths from Sumatra to Hokkaido are still wearing jeans and Yankee caps, as are indeed their counterparts in China -- diplomatically China is actually repelling many of its neighbors.
That Southeast Asians -- above all the Vietnamese and the Indonesians -- would regard China's rise with a weary [I think he meant wary] eye is to be expected. Vietnam has historically feared domination by its former overseer. Indonesia has always suspected that China would use the large and successful ethnic Chinese community as a fifth column. Singapore is leery, too.
But in the past few months China has managed to alienate its Northeastern neighbors as well. Even South Korea -- where the fascination with things Chinese was growing apace with economic dependency -- has been put off by a series of mishandled events. Chinese security goons raided and broke up a press conference in Beijing by a group of South Korean parliamentarians last month. Later, brushing aside a plea from Seoul, China sent back to North Korea a poor, 72-year-old South Korean POW from the 1950-53 war who had managed to escape after decades in the gulag.
And, of course, China's claim that a chunk of North Korea is historically Chinese has not gone down well at all. Some South Korean intellectuals are beginning to ponder how salutary China's rise is for the long-term health of the Korean nation.
As for Taiwan, China's drumbeat of intemperate comments against the democratic island it claims as its own could well be pushing the population further into a separate identity. Of late the threats have reached such a crescendo that they are starting to spook the entire region. And now China's other northeastern neighbor, Japan, has been drawn in.
Late last year, Japanese warships chased a Chinese submarine willfully violating Japanese waters. Invading territorial waters is hardly a way to win friends. Last Sunday, China went into near apoplexy when Tokyo added its voice to that of the U.S. in expressing concern about China's constant reminders that it could attack Taiwan any day. The actual wording of the U.S.-Japanese declaration itself was mild, logical and -- given China's saber-rattling -- entirely appropriate.
The joint U.S.-Japanese statement was issued after a meeting between Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld and their Japanese counterparts, Nobutaka Machimura and Yoshinori Ohno. The 16-point document, dealing with issues from Afghanistan and Iraq to North Korea and Russia, made but the briefest of references to Taiwan. In fact, all it said was that U.S.-Japan "common strategic objectives" included the desire to "encourage the peaceful resolution of issues concerning the Taiwan Strait through dialogue."
That innocuous statement of the obvious became the top item on China's state-owned Xinhua news agency, newspapers and TV news. Foreign Minister Kong Quan denounced it with predictable vehemence: "The Chinese government and people firmly oppose the U.S.-Japan statement on the Taiwan issue, which concerns China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security." The China Daily's editorialists went even further, calling the U.S.-Japanese statement "an irresponsible and reckless move that will have grave consequences."
Such hyperbole is revealing. China often sounds much more like North Korea than the sober world power it insists it is becoming. The reason for that is obvious, and goes back to why our Hong Kong official suddenly felt so squeamish: China, like North Korea, remains a dictatorship. Of course, China is much more advanced on the path to freedom than the prison state on its border. Economic development pays political dividends, but even now nobody in China is likely to openly ridicule China Daily's editorials or openly criticize the government's anti-Taiwan rants. Public debate helps fashion a moderate foreign policy in most countries, but even internal debate in China is still extremely limited.
China insists on going slowly with its political reforms. Some people say it isn't moving at all. It should know that the result of this reluctance is to be out of step with the world. Not even great powers can afford that.
Mr. Gonzälez is editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
#1
There's a logical error here. The author points out several examples of foreign policy failure, then blames them on a lack of internal political reforms. The two aren't necessarily related. Consider the foreign policy incompetence of the Carter and Clinton administrations. They had nothing to do with the political state of the US, which was fine, and everything to do with an administration with an incompetently led foreign service. China has long been a dictatorship, and its foreign policy varies along with the competence of its foreign service.
#4
Oh, I don't know. I had lots of cash on hand and bought zero coupon bonds that paid me 18% interest. That sure helped pay for the house I bought about eight years later.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 17:04 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Cardigans and LOW thermostats were all the fashion, and wimpy guys got the chicks. As far as autos, all I need to say is AMC Pacer
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 17:05 Comments ||
Top||
Reports, and digital photos, getting out of China via the Internet, indicate that the modernization of the Chinese armed forces is some two years ahead of the schedules cited by most Western experts. New aircraft, ships and tanks are showing up sooner than expected, and China is spending money on more training for pilots and ship crews. Not as much training as Western forces, but more than in the past for China. It appears that the Chinese defense budget will go up another 10-15 percent next year. This is only about half of what Japan spends, but the Japanese pay much more for personnel and equipment. This gives Japan a qualitative edge that the Chinese are trying to close.
China also expects Europe to drop its arms embargo this Summer. This would enable China to more quickly, and cheaply, upgrade warplanes, ships and tanks with more modern, and effective, French and German electronics and weapons. European nations have been selling China hundreds of millions of dollars worth of dual use military equipment each year, but as long as the embargo is in force, explicitly military gear can only be sold under the table and smuggled in. American protests, that selling China weapons might mean the use of those weapons against American forces, has no effect on the French and Germans. Indeed, France was rather pleased when in 1986, a French Exocet anti-ship missile, fired by an Iraqi warplane, heavily damaged an American warship (by mistake, of course.)
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 10:26:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
thanks for your intelligent input trial tractor jurisegs button4u troll
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 15:01 Comments ||
Top||
#6
China is about a decade away from collapse. It needs two things to stave that off, capital and resources. Taiwan means capital. Taiwan has the third largest foreign currency reserves, and a well established industrial base. Think of a Chinese takeover of Taiwan as the largest bank robbery in history.
The Russian Far East means resources. Already the Chinese are the fourth largest ethnic group in russia, and they are the fastest growing. About 20% of the population of the RFE is Chinese. The RFE is going Chinese and the Russians can do little or nothing about it.
The only question is whether or not China lasts long enough. They're broke, and only the trade surplus with the United States is keeping them going. Their banking system is verging on collapse, with recent estimates showing that nearly all of their loans are bad. 90+% bad! Various regions of the country, such as the Shanghai area, are all but independent. Breakdown into warlords is an economic hiccup away.
The more debt, the more worth (as we well know). China leverages huge power over the US with all it's foreign reserves, which - if cashed in - will throw the US economy in tatters (granted, that depreciation would lower the value so fast that it would be nill before it was all cashed in), and its position in APEC is only growing, demonstrated by recent economic ties with Indonesia and South Korea. Further, the Chinese Navy is building more classes of warships than the total amount of US warships in several of its smaller classes, adding to Chinese marine power and prestige. China's enormous political weight in East Asia, financial pull with the US, and growing oil consumption has pushed it to expand into markets in remote regions such as Brazil and South Africa, with solid investments in infrastructure.
3 thousand years of dealing with pesky revolts (some of which have succeeded) have not toppled the Chinese identity, that, and the long-run ideology, are things that the West has yet to learn. I don't see warlordism anytime soon any more than I see a failure in the US military hegemony
Tractor - "best of the West, worst of the East," then? (capitalism + authoritarianism) / Got a strategy for fixing this? What defines "Chinese identity" and what is this ideology?
Andres Oppenheimer's take is pretty interesting: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/andres_oppenheimer/11003398.htm?1c
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
02/28/2005 16:33 Comments ||
Top||
#9
We can control how fast they can cash out if we have to. We can destroy their dams and bridges and paralize them if we have to. We can nuke them if we have to. But we don't have to. Isn't it just possible that they are doing logical things for a country that has Putin on their northwest, Kimmie on their northeast, Islamo-nuts to their west, and the need to protect oil shipments around the southeast? We're talking about a Chinese defense budget that's only half of Japan's -- let's not over-react.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 16:36 Comments ||
Top||
#10
For loads and loads of links, intermixed with my commentary, please see my three part series:
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
02/28/2005 16:50 Comments ||
Top||
#12
China leverages no power over the U. S. If it wants to unload its securities, it makes them worthless. What good would it do to destroy its market? It's like any other creditor; borrow a little money, you've got a creditor, borrow a lot, you've got a partner.
China's banking problem is a domestic problem, not international. China does have a lot of problems, but most are doemstic. In addition to the banking problem, we simply don't know what the distribution of incomes is and how much pressure is building up in the lower classes for a part of the pie.
The Russian revolution lasted 70 years, almost a lifetime. That would give the Chicom regime until 2020, darn near Chuck's 10 year estimate. While China has dealt with pesky revolts, it has also had lots of melt downs. And it has done precious little evolving. Its long-run ideology reminds me of the long term view the Japanese had in the 1980's just before they started buying U. S. real estate at the peak. The long term Chinese will do the same.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/28/2005 16:58 Comments ||
Top||
#13
So I'm not answering vague questions like "so?" and your link requires registration. Do you want to discuss this, or just be cryptic?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 17:00 Comments ||
Top||
Japan's space agency is drawing up plans that could include manned space flights and a manned research base on the moon, a newspaper said on Monday.
Japan took a step toward restoring faith in its space program on Saturday when it put a satellite in orbit, 15 months after its previous attempt ended in humiliating failure when the rocket had to be blown up shortly after launch. That failure was particularly painful because it came shortly after China successfully put a man into space -- a move that Japan said at the time it had no plans to emulate.
The daily Mainichi Shimbun said on Monday a draft long-term plan being drawn up by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) includes developing a vehicle similar to the U.S. space shuttle by 2025.
Around the same time, it hopes to start constructing a research base on the moon, the paper said. Other plans include using satellites to send information on disasters such as tsunami directly to mobile phones, it said. ...
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 2:47:38 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#9
India, Japan and China have all made some kind of murmors about going to the moon. I'd love to see a four way space race, especially if it left enough equipment/infrastructure behind to leverage our way to Mars.
Former US president Bill Clinton, following his low-key China visit, arrived in Taiwan on Sunday to meet the island's pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian despite opposition from Beijing, officials said. "Doesn't anyone listen to us, anymore? What? When did anyone listen? Well, I'm sure someone must have, at some time or other, I mean, we're China! We're a World Power! See us on the UNSC? See our veto?"
Clinton arrived at Taipei's Sungshan airport at around 1045 GMT and was met by Taiwan foreign minister Chen Tan-sun. Afterwards, Clinton drove directly to Taipei's International Convention Centre where he gave a speech. Ah, the bag man.
Local newspapers said the government-financed Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the host of the trip, will pay Clinton US $250,000 for the talk. Clinton will also have lunch with Chen, foreign ministry spokesman Michel Lu said without giving details. Ala Carte. Dutch. You've been bought paid, Sluggo, now pay for your own lunch, heh.
The visit, coming on the heels of Clinton's trip to the mainland to promote AIDS awareness, irritated cross-strait rival Beijing. "As a former US president he should know China's solemn position on the Taiwan question," China's foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters on Thursday. He does, but you paid a lot less - and only 3 girls per night? C'mon, this boy's from ArkoAmerica!
In an interview Sunday in Tokyo with a Hong Kong newspaper group ahead of his two-day visit to Taiwan, Clinton said: "The United States and I have not changed our positions (on the Taiwan question). I hope that China and Taiwan would not think that my position or the US' would change because of this trip. Translation: This trip is a junket. I have no idea why any of you invited me - I'm just an impotent twit now, but hey... Money talks, so here I am. No, it doesn't mean diddley-squat. No, sorry, can't help either of you. But thanks for the cash! Uh, just kidding about the girls, ChiComs - they were swell! Tasted just like chicken!
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 2:40:19 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You mean Clinton didn't stay bought after the Chicoms financed his previous campaigns?
#3
Okay, what are the odds the W trusts him enough to have added a little "private" diplomacy to Clinton's agenda, hmmmm?
Me, I'm thinking that the answer is about the same as winning the lottery + getting picked off the street to play in the NFL (I'm 55 with a bad back) combined, or mathematically infinity to one.
#4
I'll disagree there, Alan. I suspect there's a lot of mutual respect between the two, even if they disagree on about every policy. They're both politicians and know how to use other people to get what they want. They've got a lot more in common with eachother, than say with Jimmah Cahtah.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/28/2005 9:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
They're both politicians and know how to use other people to get what they want
Bill is still trying to prop up his place in history and he see's that W is on a roll. So he's going to try to grab a seat on that bandwagon.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 10:09 Comments ||
Top||
#6
also ties in nicely with the "remaking of the Hildabeast as a moderate"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 10:39 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Mrs D,
I'll grant mutual respect as politicians, but trust to carry out delicate diplomatic stuff w/o shafting Bush for fun or personal profit?
Continuing his tour of Gulf countries, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Monday called on Saudi business leaders to invest more in Germany.
Speaking at a German-Saudi economic forum, the chancellor urged his audience to consider Germany -- and especially the country's eastern regions -- as a place to invest their money.
"The German economy is definitely waiting for you to become active there as our friends and partners," Schröder said.
At the same time, he also expressed his belief that "enormous possibilities" exist for German business in Saudi Arabia. Schröder said Germany had first class engineers and architects that could help to improve Saudi infrastructure. He added that German companies working abroad did a lot to train young local employees.
While Schröder's comments were focused on future economic cooperation, a number of German business people were already able to sign treaties totaling â¬18 million ($23.8 million) for telecommunications and consulting services as well as the expansion of an airport. Much larger deals are expected to be finalized when Schröder visits the United Arab Emirates in the coming days.
The Saudis and other Arab governments have expressed interest in German defense industry products including armored vehicles, helicopters and submarines. Germany has not delivered notable amounts of military goods to Saudi Arabia since 1991.
Addressing human rights
Berlin is often accused of putting business ahead of encouraging political reforms in the region. Human rights groups including Amnesty International have urged Schröder talk to his hosts about contentious civil rights issues while in the Islamic kingdom.
"The Chancellor can't simply focus on economic relations with Saudi Arabia," Amnesty's Middle East expert Regina Spöttl told the DPA news agency. "The Chancellor should stand up for the abolishment of the death penalty."
The German Foreign Ministry has pointed out that Schröder will be addressing the situation of political prisoners and lacking rights for women in Saudi Arabia. He is also sure to raise the latest Middle East peace efforts, stability in Iraq and the ongoing European negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
After talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Schröder praised the "cautious democratization" process under way in the country but said it did "not go far enough."
Voters in eastern and southwestern Saudi Arabia will go to the polls in municipal elections on Thursday. While half of all council representatives will be elected, the other half will still be appointed by the authorities. Women cannot vote nor run for election.
Celebrating 75 years of friendship
Attending celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the German-Saudi friendship treaty in the Saudi capital Riyadh Sunday, Schröder praised efforts encouraging closer ties between Germany and the Arab world. He said Saudi Arabia's recent participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair and Deutsche Welle's Arabic language programming were important elements for intercultural dialogue.
"That clearly shows that Germany and the Arab world are making serious efforts to come closer together," said Schröder, who will officially launch DW's Arabic TV service in Kuwait on Monday. "We can be very proud of this."
The German-Saudi Friendship treaty was signed in Cairo in 1929 and ratified in 1930. It paved the way for diplomatic and consular ties between the two countries, which first exchanged ambassadors in the late 1930s.
After spending two days in Saudi Arabia, Schröder will continue onward to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will be his second visit to the region in the space of 18 months.
Posted by: TMH ||
02/28/2005 9:19:47 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The German-Saudi Friendship treaty was signed in Cairo in 1929 and ratified in 1930. It paved the way for diplomatic and consular ties between the two countries, which first exchanged ambassadors in the late 1930s."
How macabre: a Saudi "friendship treaty" with the Nazis -- they had the desire for extermination of the Jews in common.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 10:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Your comment sent literal shivers down my spine, Tom. Let's don't forget, though, both countries share a similar opinion on the existence of Israel now.
#3
Well, future non-existence really, but the Germans haven't consciously thought through how that would happen and what would be the outcome, and the Saudis have.
#5
Hindenburg was president of the Weimar Republic until 1934. Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor in 1933 because he could not form a government without the Nazis, the largest party in the Reichstag.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"The Chancellor canât simply focus on economic relations with Saudi Arabia," Amnestyâs Middle East expert Regina Spöttl told the DPA news agency. "The Chancellor should stand up for the abolishment of the death penalty."
Once again, AI shows it's true colors! All the messed up stuff in the Crazy Kingdom, and all they could come up with is the Saudis need to do away with the death penalty? Must be some good weed this FEMALE's smoking! She's female...what about them driving, voting, running for office, eh, AI?
Posted by: BA ||
02/28/2005 11:32 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The 1930-1945 period is a facinating time in Middle Eastern history:
1932 -- "In 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed by Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the first modern Muslim state, as Max Rodenbeck put it, that was the product of a jihad."
1935 -- "In November 1935, Syrian Islamic Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam died in a confrontation with British troops in Palestine after he and two followers killed a Jewish policeman. al-Qassam became one of the inspirational forces behind both the Islamic Jihad group and HAMAS during the first Palestinian Intifada ("uprising") in the late 1980's. al-Qassam was a fiery orator who called for the waging of jihad against Zionist, British, and French forces in the Middle East."
1937 -- "The Arab Higher Committee organized anti-Jewish riots in Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad. The British arrested the leaders, but the Mufti escaped to Europe where he proclaimed his support of Nazi Germany."
1938 -- "Americans, having been awarded a sixty year concession by Saudi Arabia to search for oil, made their first strike."
1941 -- "In Iraq, Rashid Ali, former prime minister, staged a nationalist coup on April 10, 1941 with the backing of the military, then turned to Nazi Germany for support. Thanks to the separate peace treaty the French Vichy government had struck with the Nazis in 1940, Nazi influence had begun to spread throughout the Middle East, mainly via the French Mandate areas of Syria and Lebanon. The emerging Baâath (âResurrectionâ) Party in Syria became attracted to some atavistic Nazi ideas, including anti-Semitism, that fit well with the Baâathists' own fantasies of restoring a glorious Arab and Muslim past."
1945 -- "On February 14, 1945, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Saudi Arabia's King Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud met on board the American warship Quincy in the Suez Canal and agreed that the U.S. would protect the kingdom militarily in exchange for Saudi concessions to develop the country's oil resources (meaning a reasonably priced supply of oil for the United States for the foreseeable future)."
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 11:58 Comments ||
Top||
#8
All the messed up stuff in the Crazy Kingdom, and all they could come up with is the Saudis need to do away with the death penalty?
Maybe Ms. Spöttl and the rest of her colleagues actually like the idea of women being treated as chattel, or thieves getting an extremity or two amputated as punishment.
A former commander of the Bosnian army has flown to The Hague to appear before the International War Crimes Tribunal. Rasim Delic, 56, has been indicted over war crimes said to have been carried out by foreign Islamic fighters during the Bosnian war in the 1990s. The alleged crimes include the murder and torture of Bosnian Serbs and Croats and the rape of female prisoners.
Gen Delic said earlier that he had decided to surrender immediately after learning that he had been indicted by the Hague court. Prosecutors say Gen Delic "knew or had reason to know" that crimes were being committed by his subordinates, and that he had failed to take prevent such acts. The unit, called El Mujaheed, consisted of fighters from Islamic countries and fought with the Bosnian army for the independence of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Gen Delic has said he is happy to go to The Hague to defend his role in the war. Bosnian Prime Minister Adnan Terzic joined hundreds of war veterans to bid farewell to Gen Delic in Sarajevo on Monday. "My fellow fighters, thanks for coming and don't worry. Justice wins," the retired general told the crowd. The man he succeeded in 1993 - former Bosnian Army Cdr Sefer Halilovic - is already on trial in The Hague. He is charged with the massacre of 62 Bosnian Croat civilians in 1993. The two generals are the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslims to go on trial in The Hague.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/28/2005 6:43:15 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
"My child is in the 7th grade in Scottsdale, Arizona. The school's officially adopted social studies textbook is titled Across the Centuries and is published by Houghton Mifflin. However, Across the Centuries has been shelved and the school is piloting a brand new book from Teacher's Curriculum Institute, aka TCI, titled History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond (this book is not permitted to go home). In my opinion, this book is highly biased towards Islam, historically incorrect and also includes fake history along with Islamic religious proselytizing and indoctrination techniques.
The school has spent approximately 5 weeks of the third quarter grading period teaching Islam to 12 and 13 year olds. The children had to write a full biography on the life of Muhammad, using the information from the textbook - an extremely indoctrinating exercise. This biography will be a large portion of their grade for the 8 week period... The school hosted two professional Muslim speakers, from the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona, to speak to all 7th grade social studies classes. This took one whole day. The Muslim speakers brought prayer rugs and taught the children to pray the Muslim way. I also believe that there were recitations from the Koran and possibly an Islamic "fashion show".
To the best of my knowledge, in this Islamic program, there are none of the negative aspects of Islam touched upon. It is my opinion that in the book, History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, Christians are trounced and portrayed as murderers of the Muslim and Jewish people. The Jewish people are only mentioned, and very briefly, in order to be victimized, persecuted and murdered by the Christians. All the while, Islam builds great and grand new empires, has many great and wonderful achievements in architecture, education, science, geography, mathematics, medicine, literature, art and music, and ultimately rules benevolently over the Jewish and Christian people..."
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/28/2005 10:11:30 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I almost wish I was back in high school, or married and with kids in the public school system, so I could get in there and mix it up with the idiots who want to teach this crap in taxpayer-funded educational institutions.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
02/28/2005 10:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
s'okay. Just let 'em teach Islam with the same skill that they teach Math, English, and Science and maybe the kids will grow to hate Islam too.
#3
I lived in Moracco for six months and wish evey Christian knew as much about Islam as I do - which is not much, BTW. I do not object to teaching a bit about other religions. It will be more useful and horizon-broadening than "Creation Science", for example. As usual, tho, everyone puts their own spin on it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/28/2005 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#4
And a bit of perspective about schools - Billy Gates says they're a one on a five-point scale. My sister, the teacher, complains parents don't care at all, and a recent Time magazine article features parents who interfer WAY too much, to make sure little Johnnie's self esteem isn't damged. A little bit of truth in all of it!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/28/2005 10:48 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Here's the contents of the program:
http://www.teachtci.com/curriculum/mwh/mwh_toc.asp
Muhammad does get early and intensive coverage [a whole "lesson" (chapter) on him alone], while Jesus disappears somewhere into the fall of the Roman empire.
Lesson 8 covers "expansion of Muslim rule" while Lesson 32 tackles "the spread of Protestantism". Protestantism is made to sound like a disease and is far enough in the program that in may not get covered at all.
Islam basically gets Lessons 7 through 15. Christianity is not directly mentioned by name in the Table of Contents, but must be covered in Lessons 3, 31, and 32.
I don't even want to think about the bullshit in Lesson 10:
"...students read and learn about the contributions of Muslims to world civilization in such areas as science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature..."
Posted by: Tom ||
02/28/2005 11:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Doc, be glad you aren't. It might be fun for you, but your kids pay the price. And the union stewards make sure they do.
But, you're still paying taxes and don't have kids they can hold hostage. I'm sure some of your neighbors with kids would be happy to tell you what to sound off about. Sic 'em.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/28/2005 11:18 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"I don't even want to think about the bullshit in Lesson 10..."
This is the kind of crap we get when we put idiots in charge of educating our children-- idiots who view life as an extension of Sesame Street. Idiots who believe "if only we try harder to understand these nice, gentle Muslims and be tolerant of them, then they won't hate us so much and keep trying to kill us".
They don't want us to be more understanding and tolerant: THEY WANT US TO BOW DOWN TO THEIR HATEFUL GOD, OR DIE.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/28/2005 11:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Nambi-pambi multicultural BS of the first order. Do you suppose they have chapters on women's rights under Islam, jihad for the modern Muslim, beheading technigues, suicide martyrs and the 72 virgins, and bombs for children and the retarded? Do those chapters go before or after the half page chapter on "Contributions of Muslims to World Civilization?"
#9
students read and learn about the contributions of Muslims to world civilization in such areas as science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature
Must be a very thin book, unless, as someone mentioned, its full of bullshit.
#10
http://www.historytextbooks.org/islam.htm
Islamic organizations act as domestic textbook "censors." Strictly speaking, since only governments censor books, the Islamists are merely agents of suppression, using educational publishers to do their bidding. But for years, publishers have ignored -- "stonewalled" -- those who have pressed them about motives, funding, legal status, and strong-arm tactics on the part of their Muslim "consultants."
...
Anyone who is interested in world history or how Islam is covered in social studies classes should pay attention to a new seventh grade history textbook, History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond. The textbook and its instructional materials are now being piloted in Scottsdale, Arizona. The program is almost certainly to be submitted in the important California adoption this spring.
The publisher is Teachers' Curriculum Institute, a privately held company trying to break into the lucrative California textbook market. Based in Palo Alto and Sacramento, TCI's greatest advantage is being local. The student edition is an ill-written product printed on the cheap. Accompanying instructional materials are simply amateurish. By comparison, the Council on Islamic Education-inspired and often criticized Houghton Mifflin textbook for seventh graders, Across the Centuries, is an elegant tome with superior content, lessons, and instructional activities, on Islam and other subjects in medieval and world history.
According to the History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond front matter, the chief author-advisor on Islam is Ayad Al-Qazzaz, professor of sociology at California State University, Sacramento. Al Quazzaz is a Muslim apologist, a frequent speaker in Northern California school districts promoting Islam and Arab causes. Al-Qazzaz also co-wrote AWAIR's Arab World Notebook. AWAIR stands for Arab World and Islamic Resources, an opaque, proselytizing "non-profit organization" that conducts teacher workshops and sells supplementary materials to schools. AWAIR is just as hermetic as the Orange County-California based Council on Islamic Education.
An aggressive, organized effort to whitewash Islam permeates social studies textbooks. The passages below are instructive examples of misinformation directed at twelve-year-olds and their teachers. This classroom initiative is part of what Jon D. Levenson, a professor of Jewish studies at Harvard University, identifies as "a cottage industry [that] has sprung up to define jihad exclusively as an internal struggle to gain self-mastery in order to act morally." With History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, TCI will try later this year to sell a textbook to California schools that takes dictation from Islamist sources and advancing classroom fabrications of Islam. The proximate question is whether the state's department of education and state school board will let this happen.
more at link.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
#11
If the children are not allowed to bring that book home, what other books are they not allowed to bring home?
#14
Not to worry folks. The ACLU will be all over the school reminding them, through a law suit, of the "separation of religion and state" clause found in their copy of the Constitution. YEAH! RIGHT!
Recall election "snuck past" the members of the school board who voted for the Islamic cirriculum. No one on the board thought anything was wrong until they showed up for work one day, and thier personal belongings were carelessly tossed into a box, and set in the hallway. The security guard came up and told them the former board members had two minutes to leave the building ...
What do twelve Special Forces operators and several hundred NGO (non-governmental organization) workers have in common? It's simple, both groups can get about the same amount of work done in a foreign country. Actually, that's being too generous to the NGOs. The Special Forces do their good works a lot more quickly, and at much less cost.
The NGOs, as they have taken over the delivery of foreign aid during the last half century, have also become part of the problems they are trying to treat. Despite their description as "non-profits" and "relief workers," the NGOs live from contract to contract. While "non-profit," they are not "non-revenue." They have to bring in contracts to take care of their payroll and expenses. This has become an issue in some of the countries where NGOs operate. The locals have been noticing how much of the aid money given to their country is going through the NGOs, and how the NGOs use a lot of it to pay NGO expenses, and generally distribute the aid as they feel best, without a lot of consulting with the locals. But a major reason so many donor nations prefer to give aid via NGOs is that it cuts down on corruption. In too many poor countries getting emergency aid, local officials are quick to divert aid to personal use.
Special Forces teams work a lot cheaper than NGOs, and are better able to work with the locals. Many of the Special Forces operators speak the local languages, and understand the local customs. Moreover, the Special Forces are armed. This helps deal with a common problem in disaster relief; how do you deal with the armed thugs you run across. Some are local police or army, but most are bandits, rebels or just desperate, armed, civilians. The NGOs have to back off, and end up either providing support for the gunmen, or getting out of the area. Special Forces simply scare off or kill the gunmen, which is what Special Forces are trained to do.
Unfortunately, you're not going to have many Special Forces available to run relief operations. There are only about 4,000 Special Forces troops, and they are currently chasing down terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The NGOs are basically an outsourcing of government foreign aid operations. The NGOs are an outgrowth of centuries old religious relief groups. The Red Cross and anti-slavery groups were the first modern NGOs to appear, in the 19th century. Since World War II, there has been an explosion in the formation of new NGO organizations. Thousands have appeared, driven by a more generous public, and a growing number of idealistic men and women willing to work, in dangerous places, to do what task the NGO dedicated itself to. Over the last few decades, governments realized that it was more efficient to have NGOs handle disaster relief, and foreign aid in general, rather than having government employees do it.
But increasingly, the NGO employees are becoming like the civil servants they have replaced. Part of it is the passage of time. While many NGO employees are idealistic young people who do it for a few years, others have made a career of it. The NGOs have become more bureaucratic, and political. These days, most NGOs tend to have a foreign policy, and they often group together to pressure governments to do things the NGOs feel comfortable with. This has increasingly brought NGOs into conflict with the governments and donors who supply the money, and locals who are supposed to be benefiting from it.
There's no easy solution to these problems. The NGOs are too effective at what they do, especially since they make use of large numbers of "temps," and can expand and contract their workforce quickly and with far fewer problems than can a government. Natural and man-made disasters aren't predictable, so the NGOs have a major advantage with their flexibility. However, the political differences between NGOs and governments may lead to the return of government personnel taking back more of the work in distributing aid. And after the war on terror is over, the Special Forces may end up doing more in this area as well.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2005 10:35:54 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Peter Benenson, a British lawyer whose outrage over the imprisonment of two Portuguese students for drinking a toast to liberty spawned the human rights organization Amnesty International in 1961, died Friday in a hospital in Oxford, England. He was 83.
The cause was pneumonia, said Brendan Paddy, a spokesman for the London-based organization.
What Mr. Benenson first envisioned as a one-year letter-writing campaign on behalf of "prisoners of conscience," who were being persecuted for their beliefs, eventually grew into the world's largest human rights organization, with 1.8 million members, chapters in 64 countries and a perennially powerful voice against torture, unjust imprisonment and the death penalty.
Amnesty International, which won the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for "defending human dignity against violence and subjugation," has campaigned for decades against violations of the rights of women, children, political prisoners, minorities, religious groups, workers and disabled people, among others. Today, it is fighting the execution of child offenders in Iran, warning of human rights violations by Nepal and demanding the release of prisoners at the United States detention camp at Guantänamo Bay, Cuba.
"Peter Benenson's life was a courageous testament to his visionary commitment to fight injustice around the world," the organization's secretary general, Irene Khan, said in a statement. "He brought light into the darkness of prisons, the horror of torture chambers and the tragedy of death camps around the world."
Educated at Eton and Oxford, Mr. Benenson was a passionate advocate for human rights in fascist Spain, British-ruled Cyprus and repressive South Africa. He was almost 40, a bowler-topped barrister on the London Underground in 1961, when he read a news item about two Lisbon students sentenced to seven years in prison for toasting freedom in Portugal, then under the dictatorship of António Salazar.
In what he called "The Forgotten Prisoners" and "An Appeal for Amnesty," which appeared on the front page of The Observer, a British newspaper, he wrote about the two students and four other people who had been jailed in other nations because of their beliefs.
"Open your newspaper any day of the week, and you will find a report from somewhere in the world of someone being imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government," he wrote. "The reader feels a sickening sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into common action, something effective could be done."
He called for a one-year campaign of letter-writing to repressive authorities, demanding enforcement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 but was widely ignored. The result was an outpouring of letters, telegrams and publicity that swelled into a permanent campaign and the formation of Amnesty International.
In its early years, Mr. Benenson ran the organization, provided most of the money, traveled widely to investigate cases and promoted its causes in journals and newspapers. He stepped down as the leader in 1966 after an independent investigation did not support his claim that the group was being infiltrated by British intelligence.
But he continued to have an active interest in the organization's affairs, helped to found and support similar groups and observed Amnesty International's 25th anniversary by lighting a symbolic candle outside St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the church off Trafalgar Square where he had first envisioned the organization. Its logo is a candle wrapped in barbed wire.
Peter Benenson was born in London on July 31, 1921, the son of a British army colonel. He was tutored privately by the poet W. H. Auden and began his first campaign at Eton - for better food. At 16 he organized fund-raising for orphans of the Spanish Civil War, and later raised money to get two Jews out of Nazi Germany.
After service with the Ministry of Information in World War II, he became a lawyer, was an official observer at the trials of trade unionists in Franco's Spain, advised lawyers for defendants accused of resistance to British rule in Cyprus and prodded London to send observers to Hungary during the 1956 uprising and to racially divided South Africa during a treason trial.
For his role in founding Amnesty International, he was recommended for a knighthood by various prime ministers, but always demurred, responding with a litany of human rights violations that, he said, needed more urgent attention. In the 1980's, he became chairman of Association of Christians Against Torture, and in the 1990's he organized aid for Romanian orphans. He also founded a group to aid victims of celiac disease - a faulty absorption of gluten in the intestines - which he had.
Mr. Benenson's family issued no statement. Amnesty International, which announced his death, listed his survivors as his wife, Susan; a son, Joe; a daughter, Manya Scarffe; and two daughters by a previous marriage, Natasha Benenson and Jill Ackroyd.
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 2:24:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sorry I don't miss him already. For all good he may have done his organizations opposition effective death penalty under any circumstances and the constant attacks by his leftist organization on my country and government amounts to the biggest minus he could ever deserve.
Wasn't he actually the co-founder? His partner was some Irish commie (also a know IRA sympathizer) who also received a order of Lenin or some such or the Lenin peace prize. I can't remember the guys name but he also founded âJusticeâ a communist legal aid society if I recall correctly.
May the worms have their way with him and the memory cease of him cease as soon as possible.
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Outraged by scenes of young boys and girls using Shiite Islam's most sacred mourning day as an opportunity to flirt in public, Iran's religious hard-liners are calling on authorities to stamp out such "vulgar displays." Failure to do so, some newspaper commentators said, would force pious citizens to take matters into their own hands.
That would be code for the Revolutionary Guard and their junior militia
"Let the officials realize that the heroic and passionate people of Iran can easily deal with a handful of hoodlums and promiscuous elements that ridicule our sanctities," the hard-line Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily said in an editorial last week. The main focus of hard-line anger was a gathering of several hundred youngsters at Mohseni square in affluent northern Tehran earlier this month on the night of Ashura.
Ashura is the day Shiites commemorate the death of Imam Hossein in a 680 AD battle which cemented the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam. In Iran, where Shiite Islam is the official religion, it is supposed to be marked by mourning.
"In the sunset of Ashura, women and girls in tight clothes and transparent scarves and guys dressed in Western fashion lit candles while laughing their hearts out," said the Ya Lesarat weekly, mouthpiece of the feared Ansar-e Hizbollah hard-line vigilante group, members of whom later dispersed the crowds.
The hard boyz with clubs and motorcycles
Other newspapers printed pictures from the Mohseni square gathering, focusing on young girls wearing make-up, laughing and mingling freely with the opposite sex. "In this disgraceful event which was like a large street party, women and girls ... as well as boys ... mocked Muslims' beliefs and sanctities in the most shameless manner," Jomhuri-ye Eslami said.
Public displays of affection between unrelated men and women are banned in Iran. Western dress, make-up and pop music are also frowned on by hard-liners upon as signs of moral turpitude. "Some long-haired guys would openly cuddle girls creating awful and immoral scenes. Fast, provoking music ... nearby gave the street party more steam," it added.
It's Spring Break
Tehran residents said the Mohseni square Ashura gathering has swelled in size over recent years, attracting growing numbers from the generally more affluent parts of the city. But political analysts said the trend observed at Mohseni square was in evidence, to a lesser extent, elsewhere.
"In general, religious events like Ashura have become a way for young people to interact freely in public," said one analyst who follows religious affairs closely. "The religious side of it is much less important to them than the social aspect," the analyst, who declined to be named, added.
Religious figures in Iran, including President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist cleric, have noted with dismay that Iran's disproportionately youthful population, around two-thirds of whom were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution, are increasingly turning away from religion. Mohsen Kadivar, a mid-ranking cleric and philosophy lecturer whose views have landed him in prison, told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that young people in secular Turkey were more interested in religion than those in Iran. "This shows that religion is voluntary. Forcing it on society has the opposite effect," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2005 2:08:47 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
tick tock
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2005 14:35 Comments ||
Top||
#3
A successful religious rightwing in action. We want the same strict crackdown on immorality in the USA. Those who think immoral thoughts should fall on their own dagger. Those who flirt should be stoned or those who are stoned should flirt.
#4
Just do it, Bushies, topple Khatami (a potential ally and soft-authoritarian) and let the hardliners install real "friendly" regime. It's the liberal way.
#8
And the demographics are a bear -- if you're a Mullah. When they took over in '79, one of the first directives was to ban birth control and abortions. Here we are, about 25 years later, and there's this large bubble of youthful Persians - a direct result of that ban order.
And these people feel no love for the MM's because they have pre-MM relatives who remember when. Most Iranians were not supporters of the Rev Guard that "toppled" the Shah. The RG guys had the smuggled guns, and the normal Persians didn't. Of course most were not exactly unhappy to see the Shah fall, but that does not mean they supported the insane Ayatollah Khomeini...
In any case, the rose-colored memories of a freer, saner, and much more progressive time have been instilled in this population boom / bubble... And the MM's are dependent upon a few with guns to keep it in line. The hold is slipping, too. I saw a documentary on PBS that had to be 5-6 yrs old last year after I got back to the World about the level of this activity way back then. There were all sorts of clandestine means by which young people flirted and "dated". Now I'll bet it's as pervasive as sunlight. For CNN to be reporting it, it has to be blatant.
EFL, much more tasty goodness at link, a veritable rogue's gallery of pop-culture druids and voodoo science shamans.
4th Annual Tarnished Halo Awards
The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has announced the winners of its 4th annual "Tarnished Halo" Awards. CCF awards these prizes to America's most notorious animal-rights zealots, environmental scaremongers, celebrity busybodies, self-anointed "public interest" advocates, trial lawyers, and other food & beverage activists who claim to "know what's best for you."
The "Reverend Rooster" Category
Awarded to Al Sharpton, the publicity-seeking preacher, for joining PETA to crow at KFC restaurants and attempting to instigate a boycott from the African American community. It's odd that Sharpton would stand side-by-side with PETA, which advocates a complete end to chicken consumption. When the reverend emerged from prison in 2001 after a four-week hunger strike, he didn't ask for tofu and lentils. He told a crowd of well-wishers: "I'm going to walk through Harlem just to settle in again, then I'm going to Amy Ruth's for some fried chicken." That restaurant's menu carries a dish named after Sharpton—it's chicken and waffles.
The "Will Sue Your Mom for Publicity" Category
Awarded to George Washington University professor John "Sue the Bastards" Banzhaf for threatening to sue doctors of overweight patients and parents of overweight children. Of course, that's in addition to his supporting role in a billion-dollar fishing expedition to sue food companies for making people fat. *snip
The "Cereal Killer" Category
Awarded to New York University professor Marion Nestle for insisting that 19-year-old college students aren't smart enough to pick their own breakfast cereal. She stated: "It's asking far too much of late adolescents to exercise that kind of choice." *snip
The "We Have No Recollection of That Event, Senator" Category
Awarded to the PETA-affiliated Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) for claiming this year that murder advocate and long-time spokesman Jerry Vlasak was not, in fact, a spokesman for the group. Yet he was listed as a PCRM spokesperson in a brochure for an animal-rights conference in which he chillingly supported the murder of humans to further animal rights, saying of doctors whose medical research requires the use of animals: "I don't think you'd have to kill—assassinate—too many." PCRM's website still carries stories listing Vlasak as a representative (that is—until they read this!).
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
02/28/2005 9:12:19 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Addressing the nation's governors, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates delivered a scathing critique of U.S. high schools Saturday, calling them obsolete and saying that elected officials should be ashamed of a system that leaves millions of students unprepared for college and for technical jobs.
Gates was speaking as the invited guest of some of the nation's most powerful elected officials, at a National Governors Assn. meeting devoted to improving high school education across the country. "Training the workforce of tomorrow with today's high schools is like trying to teach kids about today's computers on a 50-year-old mainframe," said Gates, whose $27-billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made education one of its priorities.
"Everyone who understands the importance of education, everyone who believes in equal opportunity, everyone who has been elected to uphold the obligations of public office should be ashamed that we are breaking our promises of a free education for millions of students," added Gates, to strong applause.
Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, chairman of the nonpartisan association, said high school education was in need of an overhaul to raise standards and to closely align instruction with the requirements of colleges and employers. "It is imperative that we make reform of the American high school a national priority," Warner, a Democrat, said.
The governors' winter meeting coincides with a push by President Bush to extend elements of his No Child Left Behind initiative from the primary grades to the high school level. The governors painted a dire picture of the state of public high schools, releasing statistics that, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, showed 68% of ninth-graders graduate from high school on time.
But, measuring a different way, U.S. government statistics show steady increases in high school graduation rates, particularly among whites and African Americans, although less so for Latinos.
For example, the high school graduation rate for adults 25 years or older was at an all-time high of 85% in 2003, as was the 27% share of adults holding at least a bachelor's degree. Just wait till someone clues them in on the fact that those BA's aren't equal, either... For instance, a degree in Ethnic Studies from U Colorado at Boulder, well...
Posted by: .com ||
02/28/2005 3:06:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well I usually don't take educational advice from college drop-outs either no matter how rich they are.
#2
Despite having been a Linux activist for over 10 years I find that Bill Gates told sensible things and despite him being a college drop-out I would take his advice over the one of most academics in a system who mass-produces moonbats a la Ward Churchil.
#4
See what Microsoft requires to be employed by them. That is the reality no matter what BillG "thinks."
But don't mind me I am a high school dropout who has a GED and 5 certifications for various professions plus some college units. I also have started, run and sold several businesses.
My advice. Stay in school, don't listen to BillG. Don't believe the Microsoft propaganda about him. Don't trust industrialist and billionaires when it comes to education. They are only looking for consumers and cheap labor they don't have to train much. Work your ass off in school. It will pay later.
#5
I wonder how many property tax exemptions MicroBorg has rung out of local communities for putting a plant in their neighborhood, not to count Mr.G's challenge to his own property assessment by the tax man? Not that the educational establishment could make effective [that is a definable increase in quality of output] use of more tax money.
#6
SPOD's got it. "They are only looking for...cheap labor..."
How often have we been told of the people with engineering degrees and science degrees that can't find a job? Why? Cause the supply is more than ample to meet the demand at a wage rate that many don't find sufficient for the amount of effort involved. So, let's get even more trained so we can drive that salary down more. (If you can't there's always India)
#7
Whew. For a second there I thought Gates was going to try to use the ol' liberal rope a dope about how "great" the schools are in other countries (especially the socialist and communist countries) as opposed to ours.
Our schools need upgrading but I'll be goddammed if I want my tax dollars buying billions of dollars worth of computers and tech just so some kid gets a free laptop. The costs involved in ungrading schools are one of the best reasons to get the feds OUT of education before it's too late for my wallet.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
02/28/2005 13:15 Comments ||
Top||
#8
in a single year india graduates more trained engineers that we currently have in the usa.
( if your kids are not training to be an engineer or a doctor, it's a big shame on the family)
#9
I have seen many educated dumbell's (M.B.A. P.h.D)
employed and unemployed. I think the school's need to teach common sense and new technology.
I can't tell you how many times I have gone into a store- the cash register is not working and God forbid...the cashier has to count back the change
manually---AND CAN'T do it (No longer think)because we are so use to having a "computer" give us the answer***
I honestly can not "knock" Mr Gates. He is a college drop out and VERY successful, he is also trying to help in anyway that he can. There are so many others out there who can help BUT WILL NOT. Hurray for me the hell with you!
Mr. Gates does not follow that philosophy.
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea Jackson ||
02/28/2005 15:05 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Actual Msoft interview questions.
Try this one:
There are 4 women who want to cross a bridge. They all begin on the same side. You have 17 minutes to get all of them across to the other side. It is night. There is one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be walked back and forth, it cannot be thrown, etc. Each woman walks at a different speed. A pair must walk together at the rate of the slower woman's pace.
Woman 1: 1 minute to cross
Woman 2: 2 minutes to cross
Woman 3: 5 minutes to cross
Woman 4: 10 minutes to cross
#11
Phil - just have the two strongest carry the two lightest piggy-back or fireman's carry. One of the carries holds the flashlight.
As to labor, back in the late 1980's, H1B visas numbered 2,000 for exceptional skilled individuals whom employers needed to fill tech positions. Last time I checked about five years ago, business had plied enough gold and cried enough to get the Rep's to up the number to over 250k. That's 250k skilled Americans who didn't get jobs. The trick is to develop a job definition that no one can fill at 100%, though plenty at 80%. The company then gets a foreign hire with 88% ability. Companies are loath to invest in training their own at that level and they don't want long term contracts, to pay for the cost of such training, as they become liabilities rather than assets.
#14
dcreeper: in a single year india graduates more trained engineers that we currently have in the usa.
( if your kids are not training to be an engineer or a doctor, it's a big shame on the family)
Whoa, there! Doctor, yes - engineer, no. For the most part, doctors have to be local to deal with emergencies. They also get paid a lot of money. Engineers don't. Accountants are making as much as engineers are, without having to go through the grind of engineering.
The reality is that most of the engineering jobs of the future are going to be generated in the developing countries. If your kid is a math prodigy, he should get into engineering. If he's just a hardworking type with no particular talent in the subject, he's better off in accounting.
In yesterday's world, the less talented people who weren't doing path-breaking work used to get shunted off to pretty routine stuff. In today's world, these jobs get generated in Singapore or Taiwan. The really low-end engineering work gets done in China. It's the reality. There's no shame in being an accountant or a marketing person, but at any rate, it's not something you can really ignore if you don't want your kid wasting four years of a really expensive college education.
#15
RE engineering careers in Asia. I recall an HR person in Singapore telling I couldn't run a hiring ad I had written. After the normal beating around the bush when an Asian subordinate has to tell a superior they are wrong, I established I had titled the position 'engineer' which meant no one would apply. It was explained to me that engineer meant someone who got their hands dirty and hence was low status. In contrast 'engineer' was clearly high status in Germany when I worked there.
#19
I liked the problem with the farmer in the boat with the fox, hen, and corn that had to get the whole shebang across the river. He could only carry two at a time, or something like that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2005 23:55 Comments ||
Top||
They are one of the most common particles in the universe. You are no doubt oblivious to the 1,000 trillion of them flying through you every second and the 100 million or so that your own body produces every day. In fact, these mysterious particles are so elusive that it would take 10 light years of solid lead to stop one of them. And scientists know next to nothing about them. Welcome to the blurry world of neutrinos.
But on Friday, that world will begin to move into focus. Deep under Chicago, scientists will switch on a remarkable new experiment that will fire a beam of neutrinos through 435 miles of solid rock in an at tempt to study them like never before. If it succeeds, scientists might finally be able to understand why these strange particles exist and how they have shaped the evolution of our universe.
The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (Minos), is a $180m (£94m) project involving more than 200 scientists in six countries. The UK government has contributed £6m and five British labs will be analysing the data from the experiment.
"This is a very exciting time," said Geoff Pearce of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, one of the institutions that has been working on Minos. "After all the hard work designing and constructing the experiment, we can't wait for the data to start flowing."
A decade in the making, Minos's first task will be to confirm the solution to a mystery that eluded physicists for decades. In the 1960s, physicists found that the number of neutrinos they detected from the Sun did not match their calculations. The detectors always came up with a third fewer neutrinos than they expected.
The missing neutrino problem was finally cracked by Japanese and Canadian scientists in the late 1990s, who found that the neutrinos, which exist across the universe in three different types, or "flavours", were changing from one to the other en route to the Earth. The discovery had big implications for the Standard Model of physics, the cornerstone of scientists' mathematical description of the world.
But the strangeness of neutrinos does not stop there. The mass that the particles do have is about a billion times less than all the other particles, something that has left particle physicists scratching their heads. So Minos will play the numbers game. Because the chances of it detecting a neutrino are so small - less than a million times smaller than winning the National Lottery, according to Mark Thomson, a particle physicist at Cambridge University - Minos will do the equivalent of buying billions of lottery tickets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I think neutrinos are the packing dust left over from God's ACME Universe In A Box kit. ;)
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/28/2005 14:44 Comments ||
Top||
Following criticism at home over steamy scenes in her upcoming film Nazar, Pakistan's film star Meera has decided to live on in India where she is now based, Online news agency reports. Meera has come in for strong criticism from the Pakistani establishment and politicians for her role in the movie produced by Mahesh Bhatt. The actress has said she had received threats to her life from certain groups. Online said she had rented a home in Mumbai and bought a car to extend her stay in India.
Not having a death wish, as it were.
Meera has also drawn up plans to work in other Indian movies, it said. She was given Rs10 million by a friend in the US and she has reportedly used the amount for the car and home. Meera is sometimes referred to as the 'Queen of Lollywood'. Since a thaw in relations between Pakistan and India, she is one of several Pakistani stars who have accepted work in Bollywood.
#5
The actress has said she had received threats to her life from certain groups.
Most of those groups are directed by decrepit old geezers in turbans, quite repressed and jealous, whose wives long ago gave up the daily ritual of shaving of their own mustaches and beards...
Any of the turbanites who'd consider attacking her might feel the rath of angry fans, most of whom are Hindu, not Moslem.
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.
IN its 183-year history, the august Oxford Union debating society has heard the wisdom of Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Mother Teresa. Now its members are to hear from Ron Jeremy, star of 1700 adult films, including Bang Along With Ron. "Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell," Oxford Union librarian Vladimir Bermant, who organised the event, said. Jeremy, who claims to have slept with more than 4000 women, will address the union tomorrow, joining many British prime ministers, three US presidents and prominent figures from the Dalai Lama to Malcolm X in its archival guest list. Advertisement: Peter Cardwell, spokesman for one of the English-speaking world's most respected debating societies, said US porn star Jenna Jameson also addressed the union a few years ago.
Human rights in Venezuela worsened last year after new government laws undermined media and judicial independence, the United States said on Monday in a report dismissed as "more lies" by Caracas. The State Department 2004 world human rights report singled out the Venezuelan media legislation and a Supreme Court law which critics says allows the government to pack the nation's top tribunal with political allies. "We saw unfortunately some real backsliding there," Michael Kozak, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said in a Washington press conference. 
Following criticism at home over steamy scenes in her upcoming film Nazar, Pakistan's film star Meera has decided to live on in India where she is now based, Online news agency reports. Meera has come in for strong criticism from the Pakistani establishment and politicians for her role in the movie produced by Mahesh Bhatt. The actress has said she had received threats to her life from certain groups. Online said she had rented a home in Mumbai and bought a car to extend her stay in India.
