By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's graft-tainted former police chief fell out of a squad car which then rolled over his legs Wednesday in a bizarre incident after a court ruled he would face a second trial on corruption charges.
Tafa Balogun is accused of stealing and laundering $100 million in his three years as Inspector General of Police in one of the most high-profile cases resulting from a government crackdown on graft. He denies the accusations. Nope! wudnt me!
Balogun is already facing trial on 50 charges brought by the government's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Wednesday, a court in Abuja ruled he would face a second trial to cover further charges.
Proceedings drifted into farce after the decision was read. I neresting phrase, "drifted into farce". Sounds to me like the whole thing is a farce, like a Marx Brothers movie. "Where's the money, you know dollas." "Dollas, my brother lives in dollas." "No, idjit, dollas as in taxes." "That's where he lives, Dollas Taxes."
Police tried to drive Balogun away to complete bail formalities but his defense lawyer resisted and in the confusion Balogun was shoved into a police car which sped off before the doors were closed. A short distance away Balogun fell out of the car and the back wheels went over his legs. Na, couldn't be he was pushed.
He returned to court, limping and covered in dust.
"This is not a prosecution but a persecution. This is a vendetta," No, it was probably an old Buick.he told the court. He said he had a broken leg, and a booboo on my elbow, too although he was still able to stand.
Just after speaking, Balogun apparently fainted and was carried out and taken to hospital. Got the vapors, did he?
Rotimi Jacobs, who represented the EFCC at the court hearing, said the attempt to take Balogun away had been a mistake, while the judge called the police action "barbaric." Yea, it's another Gitmo! Where's AI?
It was unclear whether there would be any repercussions.
Balogun is one of the most senior figures facing prosecution in President Olusegun Obasanjo's anti-corruption drive. Two ministers and the president of the senate have lost their jobs.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/30/2005 16:39 ||
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Wasn't that in "Eight miles"?
Neanderthals, the close relations of modern man who died out around 30,000 years ago, had their own music and dance, an academic says.
Yeah. The kid at the traffic light four cars back was playing some. I could hear it...
Professor Steven Mithen of Reading University also thinks the cave- dwellers would have enjoyed the rhythms and sounds made by rap artists. He said: "People often portray Neanderthals as dull and grumpy but they had a strong sense of music."
Yeah. I can glance at a few bones and tell if the deaders had a strong sense of music, too...
Their songs would have covered emotions such as embarrassment and happiness.
Just like the songs of primitive people today, right? The ones that aren't singing about whatever diety's in charge, anyway. How does he even know Neanderthals felt embarrassment? Or happiness, for that matter? They may have spent their entire existence grumpy...
Prof Mithen told the BBC News website: "All people are musical in the sense that they appreciate it in some way. We all respond to it. Music and language developed together. The Neanderthals would have had set songs and phrases, which could not be broken down like modern language. They would have used singing, clapping and dancing to communicate their state of mind. They didn't have words."
How'd he figure that? On the basis of (as far as I know) a single flute? Since they had hyoid bones, they were apparently capable of speaking and speaking implies words, though it doesn't necessarily imply singing, dancing, or any kind of party animal behavior.
"In a sense they were more musical than we are."
Sounds to me like he's found a thread and tried to turn it into a coat.
Neanderthals would have sounded rather "nasal" in their singing because of their larger noses, Prof Mithen said. Their get-togethers in caves helped group bonding.
How does he know their primary residences were caves? We may only have evidence from the po' folks who had to live in caves, while everybody else was building houses out of wood that wouldn't leave much, if any, evidence after 30,000 years.
Prof Mithen said: "There would have been a lot of singing together. Music is still used for a bonding groups today. Just look at football crowds, church choirs or kids in the playground.
Maybe they played basketball, too...
"The Neanderthals would have enjoyed it.
Not if they were grumpy. They could have sat around at the football games hollering "Goddammit!" instead of singing and dancing...
They weren't particularly creative people but they would have passed on little songs down the generations. "They would have danced and slapped their bodies and banged sticks."
The would have done the Boogaloo, too. In fact, I'm sure they did...
Neanderthals, who had fully evolved vocal tracts and a wide range of emotions, shared a common ancestor - Homo heidelbergensis - with man. They would have mimicked birdsong and other natural sounds for their music.
That's because they were descended from Homo heidelbergensis, though I happen to know that rather than singing, Homo heidelbergensis contented himself with playing the trombone...
It is thought that language, separate from music, developed with modern man's immediate African forebears. But, according to Prof Mithen, words are not necessary, as long as the tune is good. He said: "Had a Neanderthal attended a rock concert, they would have liked it and recognised that it was music.
I've heard a few rock bands and failed to realize it was music. Maybe Neanderthals were smarter than I am...
"I think they would have particularly liked rap music. It has the sort of effect Neanderthals would have enjoyed. I can see them rapping in my mind."
I'll stick with my vision of Homo heidelbergensis playing his trombone in a doleful minor key and he slouched to extinction...
Prof Mithen's book, The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language and the Mind, is published on 7 July.
#5
Da Sabba tooh Cat ate my ol man yeah
Oog Yaah Oog Ya Oog Oog Ya Oog Ya
Didn't matta much cause he was a bad painta Yeah
Oog Yaah Oog Ya Oog Oog Ya Oog Ya
His mammoth drawin's were a bit on da small side
Oog Yaah Oog Ya Oog Oog Ya Oog Ya
And da cat was a simly doin' an art critics work Yeah
Oog Yaah Oog Ya Oog Oog Ya Oog Ya
Oog Yaah Oog Ya Oog Oog Ya Oog Ya
#6
Where the hell did this guy come up with all this shit? Has he been smoking that kentucky greenbud again? We don't even have cave paintings that go back that far, how the hell did this dude find the musical score to the performance of Oklahoma that the neanderthals put on 30,000 years ago?
Says ring for Putin came from heart EFL:Of course it did, Bob.
Ending something of a diplomatic mystery, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said yesterday that he was so taken by President Vladimir Putin's affection for his diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring that he decided to give it to the Russian leader as a token of ''respect and admiration." How drunk was I? I did WHAT?!
''Upon seeing the ring, President Putin, a great and knowledgeable sports fan, was clearly taken with its uniqueness," Kraft said in a statement. ''At that point, I decided to give him the ring." What the hell. I'm the owner. They'll just make me another one.
During a press conference Saturday at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg with other American corporate executives, Kraft showed Putin the 4.94-carat ring. Smiling, Putin tried it on, placed it in his pocket, and soon left. Fire up Ebayski! I get many rubles for this! Moscow pimps will fight over it!
Until late yesterday, it wasn't clear whether Kraft had intended for Putin to keep the prized piece of jewelry. The confusion remained on Tuesday, when Kraft was still traveling overseas and hadn't spoken to US media on the matter. But finally Kraft, in the statement issued through a Patriots spokesman, said he had wanted Putin to have the ring.
''I have ancestors from Russia, so it added significance for me to know that something so cherished would reside at the Kremlin along with other special gifts given to Russian presidents," Kraft said. ''It was truly an act of serendipity and one that I am honored to have experienced. It touched me to see President Putin's reaction to the ring, and I felt, emotionally, that it was the right way to conclude an exceptional meeting." Oh, God. I'll never drink again...
The reception in Russia may not be so enthusiastic.While there was a time when gifts to Russia's national leader ignited fierce curiosity among the masses, when people would line up for blocks to see an exhibition of the tokens received by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, there was considerably less excitement in Moscow yesterday as word spread that Putin had scored a Super Bowl ring. A woman, who gave only her first name, Olga, for fear of getting in trouble for speaking publicly, said in an interview that gifts to Russian leaders usually are given in an official manner. A report in Kommersant, a Russian business newspaper, had described Kraft's handover as ''shy" and Putin's acceptance as somewhat covert.''Maybe [the Patriots] wanted to enlist Putin as their fan," Olga said. Knowing Bob, Vlad owes him. Big time. One of these days, he'll come by to collect.
Under Kraft's ownership, the Patriots have won three of the past four Super Bowls. Each time, the championship ring, which the team helps design, has been glitzier than the last. This year's ring boasts 124 diamonds. Glitzier? Is that French for like, really ugly?
#2
That is - without question - the ugliest, tackiest piece of bling-bling I have ever seen. The big silver pot leaf medallions they sell at the mall pale in comparison. Putin will look certainly look def wearing that.
BEIRUT, June 30 (Bernama) -- Only four percent of Arab women use the Internet, the Moroccan news agency, MAP reported Wednesday, quoting the UN Economic and Social Commission For Western Asia (ECWA).
Moroccan women represent 30pc of this figure, noted the director of the Women Center in ECWA at a regional meeting held here... Emirati and Lebanese women topped the list of Internet users in the Arab world.
Women represent nearly 42 percent of Internet users in the world, including 51 percent in Canada and 37 percent in Italy and Germany... The director of the Center pointed out that Arab countries are heading towards a society of new information and communication technologies as the number of Internet users reached 12 millions in 2004, against nine millions in 2003.
Morocco with 30% doesn't surprise me - it was fairly liberal in 1978; maybe that's why they have grown so many fundamentalist killers.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2005 7:51 Comments ||
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#2
Since when are Moroccan women considered Arab? Another great UN "study" followed up by requests for more money to "get all the wommmenz online." I'm o.k. with that, as long as their homepage automatically links to Rantburg or Free Republic.
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - Pop star Michael Jackson arrived in the tiny Gulf kingdom of Bahrain as a guest of honor of the king's son, an official close to the royal circle said Thursday.
Why did the tune; "Where the Boys are" just pop into my head?
Jackson's visit to Bahrain is his first trip overseas since he was found not guilty of child molestation charges on June 13. Jackson, who arrived on a private plane from Europe on Wednesday night, was "here to relax," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because private visits involving the royal formally are not authorized to be announced.
The official said Jackson was a guest of Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the king's son, in one of the royal palaces. Sheik Abdullah, believed to be in his early 30s, is a friend of Jackson's brother Jermaine. He described the visit as "very, very private."
Euwwwwwwwwww!
It was not immediately clear if any of Jackson's family accompanied him on the trip. Jermaine Jackson has close links with Bahrain's royal circle. In January, he and Sheik Abdullah announced plans to record a charity theme song written by the prince.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 08:54 ||
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#1
This is the Nauseating Story of the Day. Well, he's certainly found the Mekkah for his perversion. No problems here, even if he wasn't hanging out (that's a pun, albeit a leetle teensy tiny one) with Kingy Thingy's son.
#3
Jermaine Jackson has close links with Bahrain's royal circle. In January, he and Sheik Abdullah announced plans to record a charity theme song written by the prince.
Running a little short on cash these days, Jermaine?
EFL: MEXICO CITY (AP) - U.S. activists called on the Mexican government to withdraw a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, saying the offense was worse than recent remarks about blacks made by President Vicente Fox. Mexico defended the series of five stamps released Wednesday, which depicts a child character from a comic book started in the 1940s that is still published in Mexico. But the Rev. Jesse Jackson said President Bush should pressure Mexico to withdraw the stamps from the market, saying they "insult people around the world." "The impact of this is worse than what the president said," Jackson noted, referring to Fox's May 13 comment that Mexican migrants take jobs in the United States that "not even blacks" want. Fox later met with Jackson and expressed regret but insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.
The character on the stamp, hapless but lovable, is drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. His appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subject of kidding by white characters in the comic book.Pictures of the stamps at the link.
Mexico said that like Speedy Gonzalez - a cartoon mouse with a Mexican accent that debuted in the United States in 1953 - the Memin Pinguin character shouldn't be interpreted as a racial slur. "Just as Speedy Gonzalez has never been interpreted in a racial manner by the people in Mexico, because he is a cartoon character, I am certain that this commemorative postage stamp is not intended to be interpreted on a racial basis in Mexico or anywhere else," said Rafael Laveaga, the spokesman for the Mexican embassy in Washington.
Every Mexican I know loves Speedy Gonzalez, except for the liberal activists looking for an issue.
But NAACP Interim President Dennis Courtland Hayes countered that "laughing at the expense of hard-working African Americans or African Mexicans is no joke and it should end at once."
The NAACP - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - called the stamps "injurious to black people who live in the United States and Mexico." Jackson also said Mexico should "issue a complete and full apology."
Activists in Mexico said the stamp was offensive but not unexpected.
"One would hope the Mexican government would be a little more careful and avoid continually opening wounds," said Sergio Penalosa, an activist in Mexico's small black community on the southern Pacific coast. "But we've learned to expect anything from this government, just anything," Penalosa said.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 09:07 ||
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#1
Looks like another trip south for Shakedown Sharpton. I believe he failed to get his check last time, must be getting rusty.
#2
U.S. activists called on the Mexican government to withdraw a postage stamp depicting an exaggerated black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin, saying the offense was worse than recent remarks about blacks made by President Vicente Fox.
Why are these guys all up in arms over it? It's a Mexican thing, folks. They will deal with it, not us.
#3
bar, It is not just a Mexican thing. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs from those at the bottom of the economic ladder, many of whom are black. Those stamps look like something from the 1930's and are an embarassment. I wish Bush would make it an issue. And build a fence. Good fences make good neighbors.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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#4
Those stamps look like something from the 1930's and are an embarassment.
Well yeah, it's an embarassment, but it's to them and it's happening within the confines of their territory, not ours. I dunno, I have this thing about people here getting involved in everybody else's business, regardless of however slight the consequences may be. I mean, this is a caricature on a postage stamp, which is basically a matter of bad taste, not Robert Mugabe-style tyranny.
#5
I agree BAR. Besides, making a big deal about past stereotypes only plays into the hands of racists, by reinforcing the idea that the caricatures constitute a slur. If it doesn't upset anybody, it's just another monkey.
It's silly to educate a whole new generation to associate these images as racist. It benefits no one but the racists.
#9
Mrs. Davis, another unintended consequence of illegal immigration is that the load they are placing on welfare is greatly increasing the probablility that benefits will be reduced in order to contain costs. This greatly aggravates those that Walter Williams calls "poverty pimps." Sharpton and Jackson fall into that category.
#10
If you're the guy who just lost a job to an illegal mexican willing to work for $2 per hour less and no benefits, it looks like an American problem. I agree the problems originates in Mexico, but they're exporting it here.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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#11
And for every Illegal Mexican that is getting shit for wages, without insurance I might add, when they need medical care they get emergency medicaid. All free. (when their baby is born here they are more interested in the social security card than the birth certificate) Recently it got down to 2 companies bidding on a construction job, Some of the jobs within the construction company I seem to remember hired Mexicans paying them 10 to 12 bucks an hour, the other union, paying the workers a more reasonable rate, with insurance benefits. There was only 5% difference in there bids, guess who was chosen for the job? Look at the profit margin difference. (sorry for not being able to find that article) This is so very wrong. At least they won't be able to use their stamp to mail in their out of country votes.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 13:05 Comments ||
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#12
what Mrs. D and Jan said.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/30/2005 13:33 Comments ||
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#13
Im hope Mmurray is on to something. This is potentially the sort of thing that can trip the liberal nut button.
#14
If you're the guy who just lost a job to an illegal mexican willing to work for $2 per hour less and no benefits, it looks like an American problem.
If you're an American who can lose your job to a non-English speaker who will work for $2 an hour and no benefits, you need to start thinking about making better life choices.
#15
BH, I've seen jobs go to folks that are bilingual over more qualified workers. That the more qualified person lost the job to someone just because they couldn't speak spanish. Also we have some city county and government agencies paying upwards to $15,000 a month for spanish interpreters.
We need English only, otherwise we'll be eaten alive with interpreters, needing spanish speakers at 911 etc.. I foresee lawsuits coming
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 14:36 Comments ||
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#16
BH - Well, what about the engineers losing their jobs to Bangalore? C'mon, it's not just a lower income thing anymore.
#17
Jan: That the more qualified person lost the job to someone just because they couldn't speak spanish.
Then the "more qualified person" wasn't, by definition, the more qualified person. I am not required, as an employer, to hire the most qualified person, any more than you are required to purchase, say, the highest quality mp3 player on the market. You pay for what is good enough for your needs, at the price you are willing to pay. And if the lower-priced model includes a nice-to-have feature, then so much the better.
#19
understood, while I agree that some features are something to consider, when looking for the best candidate for a position, I will try to be more specific; this was in a hospital, involving several very experienced nurses. The nurse that got the job was practically a new grad with very little experience. She got the job because she spoke spanish, not because of any of her skills as a nurse. In this case, I feel like it was a loss to the community. Now you tell me that having the "features" of the new grad, as compared to the more experienced nurses that applied is an advantage, I beg to differ, the more experienced nurse has more to bring to the table if you will. Would you rather have a nurse that speaks spanish fluently, or one that knows how to care for you in the best way. Remember, with the shortage of nurses, the requirements to get into schools, pass the exams have all been lowered in order to get more nurse candidates. We are seeing more incidents and it has brought our expertise level down over the years. This is a sad fact but true. I might add that this was in a city and county hospital, that pays $15,000 a month for spanish interpreters.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 16:47 Comments ||
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#21
Jan: Yes, I understand that the nurse who got the job had less experience than the one who didn't get the job. What I want to know is, was she able to perform her duties? Has she killed anybody? Caused problems in the workplace? Has she gained experience in the course of her employment or not?
That she had less experience than the other person is not the same as saying she had no experience. And it's specious to say that she got the job only because of she spoke Spanish. If that were the case, the hospital needn't have hired a new grad - they could have simply hired some schmo who knew Spanish. And it's likely that, by hiring the bilingual nurse, they saved $15,000 by not having to hire a translator. Bottom line: if Spanish language ability is a factor in the hiring policies of hospitals, perhaps the other nurse should make herself more marketable by investing in a Spanish class.
This is really getting away from the original point, because now you are comparing an American to another American who happens to have language skills. I have no doubt that the nursing field is competitive, but we started out talking about people who were so unskilled that someone could illegally enter the country with no English, no grasp of the culture, and no prior experience, and somehow manage to take a job away from them. That tends to make me wonder what choices they made in life, that they could be so unmarketable.
#22
sorry for sidestepping the stamp issue.
BH, yes the new grad was able to be oriented and trained further, but one more month of training was needed. And yes I'm sure it was a very valuable asset speaking both languages. Most of us understand spanish, as we get very few folks that understand english here where I work. The higher level of understanding the language is necessary for consents and the like.
To get back on track a bit, refer back to my earlier comment about the company hiring mexicans at a lower wage that didn't pay insurance benefits that underbid the other company that paid it's workers more and gave insurance benefits. The CEO is earning the money and we have to pay the medical bills for them when they get hurt because they don't have insurance. Thanks to emergency medicaid. I don't like how that shakes out.
Thanks for your insight I'm loving this site
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 19:29 Comments ||
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#23
Jan, I see nothing wrong with hiring legal aliens because they can do the job and can speak a foreign language. No amount of superior skills will help if you have no idea what the patient is saying. Having a language skill can be just as useful to a hospital as having a special skill in surgery or some other specialty. Now if you said they were hiring illegal aliens or non-schooled nurses, it would be different. Sorry to but in, just my dos centavos
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the United States this week to consider sending troops to Haiti to support a U.N. peacekeeping mission beset by mounting armed challenges to its authority, according to senior U.N. officials. Annan told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a meeting at U.N. headquarters Tuesday afternoon that he may have to ask for American "boots on the ground" in the coming months to reinforce more than 6,500 Brazilian, Chilean, Argentine and other peacekeeping forces serving in Haiti, the officials said.
No thanks, our dance card is booked. Besides, we've been there and done that way too many times
He expressed hope that the United States would participate in a planned U.N. rapid reaction force, authorized by the Security Council earlier this month, that would have the firepower to intimidate armed gangs threatening the country's fragile political transition. Officials said that similar requests are being considered for other countries, including Canada and France. "We want scarier troops," one senior U.N. official said.
You mean no one in Haiti is scared of the big, bad UN? Ahhhhh, poor babies.
Annan told Rice that the Haitians "respect the U.S. military," according to a senior U.N. diplomat familiar with the closed-door meeting. Annan added that the United Nations may make a formal request for troops later, the diplomat said.
The plea from Annan comes weeks after Rice questioned the need for U.S. military intervention in Haiti, saying that it would be a "mistake" to abandon confidence in the ability of the Brazilian-led peacekeeping force to do the job. Rice provided Annan with no pledges of military support, officials said, but offered to help persuade France and Canada to contribute to the mission.
Following the meeting, Annan's office made no specific mention of his suggestion about U.S. troops. Instead, Annan's spokesman issued a statement saying that the U.N. chief had highlighted the "need for greater military support" for the U.N. mission during his talks with Rice. The Pentagon has been weighing a request from the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley, and other senior U.S. officials to present an American show of force in the troubled Caribbean island nation, according to U.S. officials.
A "show of force" isn't what they need. They need to really use force, and Kofi wants the US to get the blame for any dead Haitians.
The officials, who said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, expressed concern that violence could spiral out of control, threatening the country's municipal and presidential elections scheduled for October and December.
U.S. and U.N. officials have begun a series of preliminary discussions about a possible U.S. military role in Haiti, including the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the planned U.N. rapid reaction force, according to senior U.N. diplomats. But the diplomats said that the United States, which currently has only four military staff officers serving in the U.N. mission, has made no formal commitment to expand its military presence. The chief U.N. peacekeeping official, Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, declined to discuss the specifics of any military contacts with Washington. "At the moment, we are discussing a range of options," he said. "We don't exclude any options."
The Bush administration sent U.S. troops into Haiti in March 2004 to halt an upsurge of violence that culminated in former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's flight from Haiti. A Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping force replaced the United States as the country's chief guarantor of security. In Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers raided a slum filled with gangs loyal to Aristide, killing six gunmen. The largely Brazilian force suffered no casualties during the eight-hour offensive. About 300 soldiers participated in the operation. Troops detained 13 suspected criminals and turned them over to Haitian police.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 08:41 ||
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#7
It's not just the armed gangs in Haiti that are causing problems. There's non-Haitian NGOs and individuals who still back Aristide and have been doing their best to foul up the operation.
#8
Officials said that similar requests are being considered for other countries, including Canada and France. "We want scarier troops,"
The scarier troops would rule out France and Canada. Unless the Foreign legion came to play.
Too bad those militaries are such a pathetic shadow of their former selves.
#9
Send troops from Spain - they're certainly not using them.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/30/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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#10
"We want scarier troops," one senior U.N. official said.
Come out and say it, asshole. You want American troops. Preferably big scary Marines with big scary guns that they aren't afraid to use. Like Shipman says, it worked in the past.
Too bad for you it ain't gonna happen, UN boy...
#11
Those square-jawed big-assed turkey and balogna sammich-eating guys. Were were hearing about them just the other day, here in our debit-ridden shitty country.
Hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers raided a slum filled with gangs loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday, killing six gunmen. In a raid on a house in Bel-Air, a ghetto in the capital of Port-au-Prince, troops freed a kidnapped woman who was being held bound and blindfolded by armed men, said U.N. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jorge Smicelapo. The raid touched off a gunbattle that killed six suspected gang members and injured five, Smicelapo said. The woman was unharmed. The Brazilian troops suffered no casualties during the eight-hour offensive, Smicelapo said.
Local Radio Metropole reported that the kidnapped woman was an employee of the Haitian Red Cross. Smicelapo could not immediately confirm that report. About 300 soldiers participated in the operation, one of the biggest U.N. offensives in weeks against armed gangs accused of waging a campaign of violence that could undermine elections later this year. Troops detained 13 suspected criminals and turned them over to Haitian police, Smicelapo said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Woops! Call the ICJ, the ICC, AI, HRW, and start the UN investigation! I'm sure it will eventually be found to be Bush's personal fault.
On the positive side, at least they didn't get sternly-worded letters. That woulda really hurt.
#3
Brazilian troops know how to clear a slum. Don't expect them to give a tinkers damn about any wailing and gnashing of teeth. Resist and die must be their standing operating mode.
#6
The Brazilians have a knack for clearing out slums or Favelas in Rio and Sao Paulo of drug lords such as the evil Gangan. Best guys for the job really, UN credit where it's due, used the correct tools for the job.
The seizure of Japanese textbooks showing Taiwan and the Chinese mainland in different colours was in accordance with Chinese law, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular press conference in Beijing that Chinese customs in April seized 15 geography textbooks ordered by a Japanese school in Dalian as they violated Chinese regulations on customs management and publishing.
He said customs returned the books to their sender and would continue to deal with similar situations in the same way.
My friend got a magnetic map of China with the different provinces. I asked him, "Where'd the Taiwan piece go?" He grinned and replied, "Whoops, must have lost that one."
#3
Getting a little paranoid now, arent they?
If they knew about the ballistic missile submarines we sent to the straights they would probably go off their rockers.
A lunch meeting between a leading parliamentarian in Belgium and counterparts from Iran has been canceled because the beer-loving Belgian could not stomach a ban on alcohol.
"Even for the tolerant Herman De Croo, that was a bridge too far," De Croo, a Dutch-speaking Liberal, told De Standaard daily Thursday. De Croo, president of parliament's lower house, had been due to entertain the speaker and members of the Iranian parliament Friday during their visit to Belgium -- famous for its diversity of beer brands.
But he said lunch had been canceled because the Iranians, who as Muslims do not drink alcohol, demanded wanted their hosts to do the same. "It is as Allah wants it, you dirty infidel pig!
"I did not receive such demands in writing. But ... I was threatened with a fatwa if I did indirectly asked not to serve alcohol," said De Croo.
The visit ran into further trouble after Iran's parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel insisted he would not shake hands with the female president of Belgium's Senate. "Girls are, like, icky! She might have cooties!" Anne-Marie Lizin, a Socialist, then canceled their meeting. She said in a statement that Iranians should respect local customs in Belgium, just as Belgians should in Iran.
Posted by: Captain James T Kirk ||
06/30/2005 14:28 ||
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#1
Uh, sounds like some folks got a real problem getting along with others.
#2
wake the fuck up Belgium! They are A-holes! The rest of the world knows it , and now you know it. They act like it is their way or the highway, problem is, it isn't their country.
#3
Why should they respect you Belgium? To them, you are sub-human and pigs. Only fit to be ruled over or killed. Get used to it, you are gonna see a lot more like them in the next 20 years as your own and Europe's islamic population grows. Enjoy!
#9
I thought moslems only refrained from alcohol when the Saudi religious police hadn't been properly bribed. You would think that Belgian Parlementarians would have been able to negotiate a compromise like sharing a communal hash pipe after dessert. I expect would expect better problem resolution skills for parlementarians. Maybe the Iranian courier interrupted the round of jello-shooters that the Belgiuns were enjoying at 2nd breakfast break.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A federal jury Wednesday convicted the head of this city's Democratic Party and four others of scheming to buy votes with cash, cigarettes and liquor last November to try to get key Democrats elected. Jurors in the monthlong trial deliberated more than five hours before convicting local Democratic Party chairman Charles Powell Jr., 61, and Kelvin Ellis, 55, the city's former director of regulatory affairs, of felony conspiracy to commit vote fraud. Also convicted were Democratic precinct committee members Sheila Thomas, 31, and Jesse Lewis, 56, and City Hall worker Yvette Johnson, 46.
Ellis, Thomas, Lewis and Johnson also were convicted of one count apiece of election fraud for allegedly paying at least one person to vote -- or offering to do so. Powell was never charged with that count.
Jurors set aside defense claims that the government's case was flimsy because of unreliable witnesses whose testimony often contradicted each other and, at times, was recanted. ''I respect the jury, but I am disappointed,'' Ellis' attorney, John O'Gara, said after the verdicts. He said the defense would consider asking for a new trial. A date for sentencing was not immediately set. ''We'll take it one step at a time in terms of where we go from here,'' said Johnson's attorney, Pearson Bush, who declined to elaborate. Messages left with attorneys for Powell and Thomas were not immediately returned. Voice mail for Lewis' attorney was full.
Prosecutors provided little evidence directly linking the defendants to the alleged vote-buying, often relying on secretly recorded audiotapes in which they say those accused could be heard talking about paying $5 per vote in the Nov. 2 election -- and whether that amount would be enough. A federal prosecutor in the case referred calls to his boss, U.S. Attorney Ron Tenpas, who did not immediately return messages left at his office.
Prosecutors alleged that money flowed from the Belleville-based St. Clair County Democrats to their East St. Louis counterparts in a bid to elect certain Democratic candidates, including Mark Kern as St. Clair County Board chairman. Kern, who narrowly won the race, has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Powell lost his re-election bid to the City Council in April after his arrest.
State records showed that tens of thousands of dollars were transferred from the county Democrats to the committeemen days before the Nov. 2 election. Party leaders said it was for legitimate expenses, including rides to the polls for people without cars.
Defense attorneys called the audiotapes -- the cornerstone of the government's case -- meaningless entrapments by opportunistic informants intent on seizing power for themselves. Defense attorneys called the prosecution's key witnesses liars. ''I would say jurors looked at these tapes and listened to them, and I'm guessing they are using the interpretations these very faulty witnesses gave them to reach their conclusion,'' O'Gara said after the verdicts. ''I would not have trusted the government's presentation.'' Another tidbit on this case from Powerline;This is, really, only the tip of the iceberg; still to come is an attempted murder trial arising out of the effort by a Democratic Party official to murder a witness who threatened to blow the whistle on the Democratic official's corruption. Based on press accounts, I understand that in the attempted murder case, the prosecution will offer into evidence photographs that were shown to the Democratic Party official, which appeared to show the dead body of the witness whom the official had ordered murdered.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 10:28 ||
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#1
Too bad you can't take the court ensemble, judge, jury, et al, and go on the road with 'em. Wisconsin, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, etc. So many crooked rotten DhimmiCrook Machines, so few monkey wrenches.
#4
Another peek inside the pig ugly underside of Democratic politics as usual on the local level in our cities. They can present whatever public national face they want but for those of us who live and work in cities governed by Democrats, this is the reality of all it has ever been.
#5
I love the tone this reporter's taken. If I hadn't checked the link, I'd have sworn this was a press release from the Donks:
Prosecutors provided little evidence directly linking the defendants to the alleged vote-buying,
Proven, I think, now that there's a conviction.
often relying on secretly recorded audiotapes in which they say those accused could be heard talking about paying $5 per vote in the Nov. 2 election -- and whether that amount would be enough.
Gotta love that: "provided little evidence... relying on audiotapes in which the defendants can be heard talking about paying $5 a vote". Sounds like enough damned evidence to me.
The phrasing and word choices in this piece are almost textbook examples of spin:
o Continuing to use the word "allegedly" despite the conviction.
o "Jurors set aside defense claims the case was flimsy... unreliable witnesses...". Yeah, that's what happens in cases -- the defense claims the evidence is poor, the jury often decides otherwise.
o Those convicted are "the accused" instead of something more accurate, like, oh, "convicted".
On and on and on...
The only thing unusual about this story is that the party affiliation is mentioned in the first sentence. Usually a Democrat's party doesn't get mentioned until after the jump, if ever.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/30/2005 12:20 Comments ||
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#6
Reminds me of when they caught Mario "Crack" Barry sucking on a crack pipe with a hooker. The obvious cry from the left was "He was set up!" You have to wonder how they get into that alter universe?
#7
Tkat: "Another peek inside the pig ugly underside of Democratic politics"
Underside? More like the top side. They don't even try to hide this shit most places.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/30/2005 12:57 Comments ||
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#8
Sometimes I think that if there were ever a genuinely fraud-free election in this country the Democrats would lose just about every other position they now hold. I think it really is that bad.
#9
I always thought it would be fun to get cameras rolling in districts where you know fraud is going on. Then make it available online and allow the blogosphere to analyse and compare how many of these bozo's voted more than once or in more than one location. Allow
And put the names and addresses of those who voted online, so if I live at 123 anystreet, and there is not now and has never been anybody next to me named Joe Smoe, then I can let someone know. If we start putting these smucks in jail, the glamour of an extra $20 would wear off fast.
#10
I have been unable to find info about the sentences: a 1$ fine? a gazillion dollar one? Twenty years at Sing-sing? Shot at dawn? Gitmo? Being forced to listen Air America?
#11
2b, soundpolitics just about did that after the last Washington State election. You can look up who, of your neighbors voted and their address (but not how they voted).
Unfortunatly even proving that a voter is an imaginary friend isn't enough - you have to prove (drum roll please):
How they voted (impossible under the secret ballot) and
Their real address (and I dont think 'inside Ron Sim's mind' or 'the county morgue' is acceptable...).
Look for Donks trying to get laws like this passed in other states....
#12
JFM: here in the States, sentences are usually imposed (sometimes by a judge, sometimes by a jury) at a later date. It may be months before we hear what, if anything, will be done with these clowns.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/30/2005 17:08 Comments ||
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#13
JFM:
In criminal cases, the trial only determines Guilty or Not. Sentencing usually happens by a judge at a later date. There are exceptions, but usually for things where the death penalty is involved.
1. Were proper taxes paid on the cigarettes and beer?
2. Are the defendants libel in civil court for providing their constituents with hazardous products?
3. Didn't they know that cigarettes would be harmful and possibly habit forming for these poor votors?
Hopefully these partisan operatives didn't make the mistake of purchasing Malt Liquir instead of regular beer for their bribing. If so, I'm sure that the race-baiters and liberals will have their heads.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 18:21 Comments ||
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NEW YORK â Time Inc. said Thursday it would comply with a court order to deliver the notes of a reporter threatened with jail in the investigation of the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is threatening to jail Matthew Cooper, Time's White House correspondent, and Judith Miller of The New York Times for contempt for refusing to disclose their sources. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the reporters' appeal and the grand jury investigating the leak expires in October. The reporters, if in jail, would be freed at that time.
In a statement, Time said it believes "the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society." But it also said that despite its concerns, it will turn over the records to the special counsel investigating the leak. "The same Constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires obedience to final decisions of the courts and respect for their rulings and judgments. That Time Inc. strongly disagrees with the courts provides no immunity," the statement said. The New York Times was preparing a statement, said spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan agreed to hold a hearing next week to consider arguments against jailing the two. But he expressed skepticism that any new arguments would change his mind.
"It's curiouser and curiouser; I don't understand" why the reporters are asking for more time, Hogan said. "It seems to me the time has come. Much more delay and we will be at the end of the grand jury."
Time magazine's lawyers had revealed Wednesday that the company was considering turning over the documents sought by the grand jury, a step that Cooper said he hoped the magazine did not take. Fitzgerald said that the documents are Cooper's notes of his interviews. "On balance, I think I'd prefer they not turn over the documents but Time can make that decision for itself," Cooper said outside the courthouse.
Meanwhile, columnist Robert Novak, who was the first to identify CIA officer Valerie Plame in print, told CNN he "will reveal all" after the matter is resolved, adding that it is wrong for the government to jail journalists. Novak, who has not been held in contempt, has not commented on his involvement in the grand jury leak investigation. Cooper wrote a story subsequently about Plame. Miller did some reporting but did not write a story.
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, has been investigating who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity days after her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, publicly undercut the president's rationale for invading Iraq.
Joe later was proven to be a liar. Of course, you don't hear anything about that.
Theodore Boutrous, an attorney representing Time magazine, told the judge Wednesday, "We don't want to reargue this case." The magazine hopes to "avoid this crisis and journalists going to jail," Boutrous added. Robert Bennett, representing Miller, told the judge in asking for more time that "it's a big step to put two people in jail who have committed no crimes." After Hogan held Miller, Cooper and the magazine in contempt, an appeals court rejected their argument that the First Amendment shielded them from revealing their sources. It was that appeals court decision upheld Monday without comment by the Supreme Court.
My take on this is that if the "leaker" was in fact a member of the Bush administration, the reporters would have outed him a long time ago.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 09:29 ||
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#1
I don't get why two other journalists are on the hook for a story that Novak broke. Did the Grand Jury talk to him?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 18:26 Comments ||
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#2
Bzzzzt Matthew Cooper is married to Democrat spokeswoman Mandy Grunwald - what a tight little incestuous community, no? No bias here. Novak talked to the GJ
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 19:12 Comments ||
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Interesting study that highlights there is a simple solution to global warming should it ever prove to be a real problem (unlike the Kyoto idiocy). The article predictably ignores the obvious potential to introduce dust into the atmosphere to cool the climate. Unlike reducing CO2 levels which would take decades to centuries to produce a measureable effect, changing dust levels would work in days and also clear in days. This means we could cool the climate over very short timescales and adjust what is done in light of the actual effects. The thermal chimney planned for Australia as a power generation facility would appear to an ideal mechanism to introduce controlled levels of dust into the mid-level atmosphere. I wait without real expectation that such a simple and apparently effective idea can penetrate the politically motivated fog of Kyoto.
Global warming looks set to be much worse than previously forecast, according to new research. Ironically, the crucial evidence is how little warming there has been so far.
Three top climate researchers claim that the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere should have warmed the world more than they have. The reason they have not, they say, is that the warming is being masked by sun-blocking smoke, dust and other polluting particles put into the air by human activity.
But they warn that in future this protection will lessen due to controls on pollution. Their best guess is that, as the mask is removed, temperatures will warm by at least 6°C by 2100. That is substantially above the current predictions of 1.5 to 4.5°C.
âSuch an enormous increase would be comparable to the temperature change from the previous ice age to the present,â says one of the researchers, Meinrat Andreae of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. âIt is so far outside the range covered by our experience and scientific understanding that we cannot with any confidence predict the consequences for the Earth.â The calculations assume a doubling of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere by 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels.
Andreae and his two British colleagues, Peter Cox and Chris Jones, are leading authors from the UNâs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These new findings are likely to be reflected in the IPCCâs next assessment of climate change science, scheduled for 2007.
The cooling effect of aerosols has been known for some time. But, says Andreae, past assessments have underestimated its influence. Because of this, they have also underestimated the sensitivity of the atmosphere to the warming effect of greenhouse gases.
The new modelling study finds that only high estimates of both aerosol cooling and greenhouse warming can explain the history of global temperatures over the past 50 years.
The problem for future climate is that the cooling aerosols only stay in the air for a few days, whereas the warming gases stick around for decades or centuries. So while the cooling effect is unlikely to grow much, the gases will accumulate and have an ever-bigger effect on global temperature.
The world, says Andreae, is âdriving the climate with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. When the brake comes off, it makes a hell of a difference".
The authors have added another previously unrecognised element to the temperature forecast - the effect of all this on nature and the natural carbon cycle.
Natural ecosystems are currently absorbing up to half of the CO2 that humans put into the atmosphere. Most climate models assume this will continue. But there is growing evidence that from about 2050, soils and forests will stop absorbing CO2 and start releasing it instead.
The authors calculate that this switch in the natural carbon cycle could accelerate the build-up of CO2 in the air by more than 50%, producing a total warming that âmay be as high as 10°Câ by 2100.
#1
Raising dust, you say? Is there a pot of money attached to it, or can we tax countries based on the mileage of dirt roads or something? That does sound much easier than measuring sheep and cow farts, I do say! Brown, call Kojo whip me up a memo, backdated to about mid-2003, saying I proposed this idea and the proceeds are to go to the UN Aid programs for, um, Africa, yeah, that's the ticket! Get right on that, won't you? There's a good chap.
The new modelling study finds that only high estimates of both aerosol cooling and greenhouse warming can explain the history of global temperatures over the past 50 years.
Ah, yes, the infamous model showing ONLY 1 cause. No mention of this even potentially being related to natural warm/cool cycles in the earth; no, we can't have that result from our model, that would keep us from getting more $ for more models.
The authors have added another previously unrecognised element to the temperature forecast - the effect of all this on nature and the natural carbon cycle.
I've always just assumed that if there is truly global warming, then there's more arable land, and, thus, more trees/forests in areas that were previously frozen or tundra. But, what do I know, it only makes logical sense. Kind of like yesterday's report that the icecaps melting results in seawater that's less salty! Imagine that!
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2005 9:23 Comments ||
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#6
"But there is growing evidence that from about 2050, soils and forests will stop absorbing CO2 and start releasing it instead."
Say *what*? I know they don't mean to imply that plants are going to start breathing out CO2, but it sure as hell reads that way. Unless this is their roundabout way of predicting some sort of global forest fire.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/30/2005 10:37 Comments ||
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#7
I think what they are saying is that the biomass being eaten by termites and othe animals will result in a release of CO2 greater than that absorbed by the growing plants. Sounds like BS to me. That sure is a lot of termite farts.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 10:52 Comments ||
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#8
Sounds like BS to me
Sure, but if you repeat it often enough, you can get your followers to blame it on GWB, whatever it is.
#9
If it will not hobble the American economy what good is such a solution?
Posted by: J. Chirac ||
06/30/2005 16:09 Comments ||
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#10
"But there is growing evidence that from about 2050, soils and forests will stop absorbing CO2 and start releasing it instead."
I don't know what their "reasoning" is, but Old Growth forests generally produce nearly as much CO2 as they use. It's the new, young, growing forests (and of course algae) that are the big CO2 sinks. So, the greenies running around trying to protect old-growth forests in the West (which proves they're really communists, as they protect redwoods) are causing global warming (if you believe rising CO2 is a cause, not an effect).
If you really wanted to reduce CO2, you need to log old forests (don't let them burn) and replant seedlings. Basically, the privately-owned tree farms in the southeast are model to use.
#11
Jackal is right but only for the land. the real carbon sinks are the oceans where organic matter falls to the ocean floor where it is locked up in forming sediments. I recall the limiting factor on plankton growth which drives the whole ocean biosphere is minerals that originate from the land. So introducing dust into the atmosphere that falls into the oceans will stimulate plankton growth and hence capture more carbon. BTW, this should be easy to test.
#12
IOW, what the best of the best are trying hard NOT to say, until the next Research Grant allocations or election year PC, is that the OZONE HOLE is the earth's natural release method for greenhouse gases. Iff the pollutants were stratificallly "masking" global warming as is claimed, then the earth's land masses should be hotter than usual due to heat being reflected back, not the status quo, or cool or cooler. SUB-IOW, ITS DUBYA AND AMERICA'S FAULT THE FAILED LEFT CAN'T CONTROL AND REGULATE THE SUN AND OUTER SPACE AT WILL - you know, being an Anti-God God, or at least Darth Vader/Sidious vv the Force!? Prob NOT Madonna fans either!
Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference opened a meeting here on Tuesday with a call for a Muslim permanent seat on the UN Security Council. OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged a greater role for Muslim countries in world affairs and demanded a 'permanent representation for the Islamic world on the UN Security Council'. "The Islamic world, which represents one-fifth of total mankind, cannot remain excluded from the activities of the Security Council which assumes a fundamental role in keeping security and peace in the world," he said. Mr Ihsanoglu had announced on Monday that ministers would discuss proposals for the representation of the 57-member body on the Security Council during their three-day conference in the Yemeni capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
When hell freezes over then we might consider it...
#2
Lol - OIC - the gift that keeps on giving. Since the UN is as useless as tits on a boar hog, this is at least twice as funny. Or is it twice as funny because they don't realize the UN is worthless?
Don't they know you have to be this tall:
--------------------------------------------
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to ride the Short Bus?
;D
They deserve a chance to take their rightful place on the UNSC. Put 'em on a waiting list, along with a seat for Catholics, Methodists, Orthodox Jews, Disciples of Christ, Hindus, Progressive Jews, Hare Krishnas, Presbyterians, Buddists, Hasedic Jews, Lutherans, Mormans, Wiccans, and Tom Cruise's Scientologists, among others....
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2005 7:48 Comments ||
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#6
...Rosecrucians, Santarians, Voodooists, Druids, Ra, Animists, Four Square, Snakehandlers, the ever popular Seventh Day Adventists...
[cue Jaws music]
*knock knock*
"Who is it?"
"Have you met Jesus?"
"Who?"
"Jehovah's Witnesses"
"Who?"
"Candygram"
#7
You guys are too much. And here I wuz, thinking in simple terms like, don't you have to be a freakin' country (not a group bound by religion) to have a seat on the UNSC? Man, I guess I'm to red-state thinkin' in simple terms for the OIC.
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2005 9:10 Comments ||
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#8
The only members of the UNSC should be "powers". Not just economic and military, but willing to commit a significant percentage of that military to UNSC goals. This means its membership should be the US, Russia, and China. Conditional on developing a military and deploying it, should be the EU and Japan. These should be the sum total of *voting* members. Three non-voting members would be ASEAN (excepting China and Japan), a South American bloc and an African bloc. If in future a Middle East Common Market is created, then it should also be included as a non-voting bloc. The motivation is for economically and militarily weak nations to join forces until they become de facto powers in their own right. Only then do they deserve anything akin to a veto. (And, if they do exhibit such growth, they would most likely no longer need the intervention of the UNSC in their territory.)
#9
Gee, then we'll need to give one to the Vatican and those yahoos in Salt Lake City. We'd need a Hindu seat, and a Shinto seat. Not to mention those South American jungle tribes with the ,er, curious ideas of religion...
#13
hahahaha stop your killing me! Please no more! this stuff is better than Sat nite live! Next thing osama will be their spoksman and al jazirra will be the official info ministery. oh geez this is funny! please tell them to stop.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
06/30/2005 20:10 Comments ||
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#14
after Israel and Taiwan get one
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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Fishermen in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record -- a 646-pound (293-kg) giant the size of a grizzly bear -- and eaten it, the WWF and the National Geographic Society said on Wednesday.
The giant catfish, believed to be the largest freshwater fish ever found, was caught along the Mekong River, home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth. "We've now confirmed that this catfish is the current record holder, an astonishing find," Dr Zeb Hogan, a WWF Conservation Science Fellow, said in the joint statement.
Local environmentalists and government officials tried to negotiate the release of the fish so it could continue its spawning migration in the far north of Thailand but the adult male died and was eaten in a remote village, it said.
You'll need a 5 gallon jug of tartar sause and 10 pounds of hush puppies to serve with this bad boy.
The Mekong giant catfish is southeast Asia's largest and rarest fish and the focus of a National Geographic Society project headed by Hogan to study freshwater fish greater than 6.5 feet (2 metres) or 220 pounds (100 kg).
Picture HERE
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- About 31 per cent of students in public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) said they would take bribes if they were in a position of power and had the opportunity, Malaysian Integrity Institute (IIM) president Datuk Dr Sulaiman Mahbob said. [The] finding was gathered from a 2002 survey on public perception of corruption done among IPTA students.
Dr Sulaiman said a large number of the complaints received about bribery involved enforcement agencies such as the police, customs, enforcement officers of local authorities, and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs...only 31 per cent of civil servants were willing to report corruption activities.
However, on the whole, the survey showed that 85.1 per cent of the respondents had never been involved in corruption, and 87 per cent did not agree that bribery was an effective means to get something... 82 per cent of the respondents were willing to give evidence to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and 81 per cent were willing to be court witnesses.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
EFL, usual old person marks milestone story.
Right at the top, this is certainly relevant to an old lady in the Netherlands. In that selfsame year of 1890, Dutch colonialists held the teeming millions of the East Indies, now Indonesia, in a virtual state of slavery.
Dutch settlers in South Africa, the Afrikaners or Boers, still had literal slaves at that time.
Elsewhere in Africa, in what is now Sudan, Islamic fanatics who had seized the country in 1885 were still in control. Their slaving expeditions ranged as far south as present day Rwanda and westward to the Niger, spreading famine, genocide, rape, and (of course) Islamic influence.
This was the heyday of European colonialism and it is likely that there were dozens of massacres worse than Wounded Knee during that year, as well as the systematic degradation of hundreds of millions, but Al-Reuters would not find those useful since the perpetrators were not Americans.
Reuters was founded as a financial service in Germany in 1851, the same year Victor Hugo first used the term "United States of Europe" during a speech to the French National Assembly. It was also the year that the Library of Congress burned down in Washington DC. (Coincidence? You decide.)
Reuters news service was founded in London (site of many sadistic executions and much torture at the infamous Tower of London) in 1858. This was the year in which British colonial forces finished the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, during which many captured mutineers were reportedly blown from the mouths of cannon, among inumerable other atrocities.
Baron von Reuter himself died in 1899, the year in which Al Capone was born.
Source (other than wikipedia) my trusty and un-PC 1964 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia.
Btw, this belongs on page 3. I keep forgetting. Categorization is morally equivalent to racism, genocide, and forced delousing of hippies. I want my money back!
#4
I'm sure we did some other bad stuff in 1890. Somebody Google history of Utah and see what we did vis-a-vis the Mormons that year. I fault Reuters cutbacks in editorial and research staffs for the oversight. Maybe horong Ward Churchill as a fact-checker would improve the quality of their "news."
It makes you wonder whether she will die in a bizarre tomohawk mishap as a final stroke of cosmic justice.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 19:57 Comments ||
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#5
They didn't do her any favors with that mugshot either. This one is more appropriate:
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/b/b0/Hendrikje_van_Andel-Schipper_at_113.jpg
Posted by: Tom ||
06/30/2005 20:18 Comments ||
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Another nail in the Bangladesh coffin.The multi-million-dollar Chhatak gas field is all set to turn into a vast wasteland as experts fear all four layers of the upturned natural gas structure at Tengratila might have crumbled following the blowout, second in six months. With the blowout passing into the fifth day and the raging blaze blowing away gas worth millions of dollar a day, Niko Resources, the Canadian operator of the joint venture, did literally nothing to tame the flames or limit the damage. "The way the raging fire continues to go wilder, I'm afraid the blowout might have driven the last nail in the coffin of the 260 billion cubic feet (bcf) gross reserve," Prof Badrul Imam of Department of Geology at Dhaka University told The Daily Star. "And if that happens, the explorer will have no way but to eventually abandon the gas field," he said.
Experts both at Petrobangla and Bapex confirmed that the fire has already blazed out of Niko control and that the Canadian firm can only wait until the fire dies down exhausting the reserves or a miracle underground earth layer movement takes place to seal the gas leaks.
According to the estimates of the explorers, the gas reserves below the first layer at 550 metres are no less than 115bcf and the gas loss has been initially forecast at Tk 1,150 crore ($185m). But experts now fear that this major blowout might have destroyed the vast structure in its entirety, killing chances of further commercial extraction. "The loss of gas reserves alone would be double than what has been predicted in the media. The 260bcf gross reserves will be no less than Tk 2,600 crore ($322 million) at current market rate," a top Bapex official said, wishing anonymity in fear of possible wrath from a powerful lobby that has sided with Niko all the way to the disasters, environmental damage of which is yet to be assessed.
Geologists and drilling experts have no hesitation in singling out Niko for the twin Tengratila disasters and expressed shock at the strange reaction of energy ministry Adviser Mahmudur Rahman who blasted none but two local companies for monitoring failure before suspending two officials of Bapex-- the partner of the highly controversial explorer Niko. A Petrobangla expert said Niko committed the same crime twice, nakedly exposing their dubious credentials as explorers. The first blowout took place due to faulty well design and wrong drilling while the second was the consequence of the post-blowout mishandling by Niko, he said. He observed that Niko was too sluggish to drill a relief well after the first blowout on January 7, possibly turning about 100sqkm area around the structure into a virtual 'minefield' for any exploration. A relief well should be drilled immediately, preferably within a week, after any blowout, Imam said. But Niko sat on it for six months to let the gas channel through ground layers and then drilled the relief well up to 350 metres when a sudden kick from high-pressured gas pocket led to the blowout.
Imam, a leading exploration expert in the country, termed the sudden fluctuation in gas pressure all too natural after any blowout and slammed Niko for its failure in handling the situation. The structure of the main reserves 550 metres below the surface were understood to have been badly damaged in the first blowout. Worse still, gas spread through the soft sand layers above it, creating numerous gas pockets of varying pressures at different depths. "Niko should have been expecting a major kick from the gas pockets all the time, and it had to have the capability to control any unwarranted situation," Imam said. Niko has no excuse in their defence to justify its unprepared position, especially after the January experience with the Tengratila structure, he said. "You don't need to be an expert to know the existence of high-pressured gas pockets after such an accident." Besides, Niko ignored a Petrobangla advice to drill relief well far away from the main well, he pointed out.
Though rallies and human chains across the country demanded immediate cancellation of the controversy-ridden agreement and Niko to pay dearly for its mistakes, Bapex and Petrobangla remained highly sceptic about the government acting wisely to protect national interests. "The government did not go tough on Niko after the first blowout although investigations held it solely responsible for the accident. All investigations this time will also embrace the same fate. The prompt suspension of two Bapex staff is what we say morning shows the day," said a top ex-Bapex staff. "Powerful friends will surely help Niko get off the hook once again."
The plundering of Tengratila reminds many geologists of the blowout way back in 1955 at the Sylhet Gas Field. The explorer, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, had then failed to manage the post-blowout situation and it could not even plug the well, leaving a highly rich gas field on its deathbed.
"Gas still oozes from that well after all these decades and you can even light a fire there. We take our students there for study tours every year," said Imam. And, thanks to Niko, a horde of geology students may well flock to Tengratila in the future to witness the grave of what once happened to be a promising gas field as a case study.
This sounds bad. Commentary by Rantburg - Petroleum Division experts will be greatly appreciated
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 10:35 ||
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#1
Petrobangla
PD's next stop? Maybe there are worse places to work than SA.
#3
Niko Resources, the Canadian operator of the joint venture
Owned in part or whole by which members of the Canadian government?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/30/2005 12:23 Comments ||
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#4
RC - Bingo! ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/30/2005 12:54 Comments ||
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#5
Whoops, there goes the Kyoto credits.
Chhatak gas blowout = the greenhouse gas [methane]produced by 100,000,000,000 farting oinkers.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/30/2005 13:24 Comments ||
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#6
Sounds like greedy fools and the blind. This stuff is readly handled by people who know what they are doing.
Any Banga "experts" statements have to be discounted. Kick this NIKO out and bring in real hands. This blowout fire can be extunguished in time. If the structure is fragile it should have never been drilled into the way they did.
A state-run newspaper in Zimbabwe has suggested the UK and US are to blame for droughts in southern Africa. The Herald said climate change has been artificially induced "in a bid to arm-twist the region to capitulate to the whims of the world's superpowers". It said weather was being manipulated for political gain using unspecified "unconventional" chemical weapons.
It is widely seen as a shill mouthpiece for President Robert Mugabe's government, correspondents say.
It said recent droughts, which defied predictions by the Zimbabwean government and the Southern African Development Community's Drought Monitoring Centre, pointed to the possibility of the weather being manipulated for political purposes. "The overt and covert machinations by Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler Britain, which has declared its intentions to effect illegal regime change in Harare, have given credence to the conspiracy theory," the paper said.
Question: how many Zimbabweans would be happy for the Brits to come back and run the place for ten years?
It said that the US Famine Early Warning System had predicted famine in Zimbabwe six months before it occurred. "The prediction, which was the exact opposite of other forecasts, seems to confirm that the conspiracy to remove the Zimbabwean government has gone chemical."
Zimbabwe is currently facing a food crisis and the country urgently needs to import 1.2 million tonnes of food to avoid famine. Correspondents say the crisis is complex with erratic rains, disastrous economic policies, land reform and the spread of HIV/Aids all playing a part.
And the massive corruption. And the genocidal policies of the head cheese. Don't forget those.
#5
ZimBob has obviously been to the Kimmie school of blame (we started the 1950 Korean War, indeed!)
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2005 8:40 Comments ||
Top||
#6
No, it's not Bush's fault. We were just working with Halliburton-Climate Control Division on our newest version of Weather Control 2.0! Sorry about that, we need to make some corrections to the beta version
Posted by: Bill Gates ||
06/30/2005 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Well, me n' Zeke were firing up the ol' DraughtMaster 5000 and Zeke asked me where to shoot it and y'know, I said Zimbabwe 'cuz I just like the way it sounds - Zim Bob Wayyyy! Hell, yeah.
#8
Pres. Bush should publicliy state that Executive order 12333 has been revoked, sit back and watch bob turn into a hamster.
Posted by: evert V in NL ||
06/30/2005 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#9
For shame to that newspaper, this would be funny if not for being so sad knowing how uneducated these guys are if they believe that nonsense. Yeah condemn us by construing our early warnings into some bad weather machine, or not understanding our integrity, then tell us how you need sustinence, that it is something owed &/or expected.
Unbelievable that they didn't jump on this information to prepare for it.
How horrible to be without food and shelter and not be able to provide for your children, being plagued with AIDS and other diseases. We should look at collective ways that all countries can help them through this.
How easily swayed these folks may be to the wrong influence, now that's a scary thought.
Come to think of it, Mr. Peabody did make a weather machine along with the way back machine
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 14:19 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I thought that was a scrappleface news item. Is life really starting to read like scrappleface???
Oi....
This was the case where some Army officers raped a lady doctor, then in an attempt to cover it up, the government put the victim into a mental institution, and protected her rapists. Meanwhile a tribal jirga ordered she be killed. Luckily she got assylum in the UK.
A lady doctor whose rape in the southern province of Balochistan last year sparked tribal clashes says she is still terrified. âI was threatened so many times in Pakistan that I still feel scared,â Dr Shazia Khalid told the BBC. She is currently living in London and has spoken about the incident for the first time since leaving Pakistan. Dr Shaziaâs rape led to a violent confrontation between Baloch tribesmen and security forces. âI cannot tell you how many times I was threatened. My life was made impossible. I am still terrified,â she said in the interview with the BBC Urdu service. She said she had never been satisfied with the inquiry conducted by the government into the incident. âMy whole career was destroyed, as was my husbandâs. That was why we left our country. âInstead of getting justice, I was hounded out of Pakistan,â she said. âI never wanted to leave Pakistan but I had no choice.â
The government has denied that Dr Shazia suffered any harassment from any quarter. In an earlier interview with the BBC, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said: âShe has been sent out of the country by some NGOs and the government has nothing to do with it.â Dr Shazia has been invited to address a function organized by the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women (AANA) in the United States on July 2. The function is a substitute for the organizationâs earlier plans of inviting gang-rape victim Mukhtaran Mai whose case is now in the Supreme Court in Islamabad.
Online adds: Reacting to Dr Shaziaâs latest interview, the information minister said that allegations about threats were baseless. He said that Dr Shazia herself wanted to go abroad. The minister called for setting up a commission by international media to review the cases of Dr Shazia and Mukhtaran Mai. He said he would like to know which vested interests had kept Dr Shazia quiet for so long.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/30/2005 01:32 ||
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#1
Well, given that the PakiWaki Govt has sooo much credibility, and her description makes perfect sense both the "authorities" (Hush it up and commit her to an institution) and under Shari'a (Kill the victim), I'm definitely inclined to believe her version.
Pakistan on Tuesday held talks with four states whose telecommunications networks will remain suspended for two hours on Wednesday morning during which a key undersea cable that developed a fault on Monday night will be repaired. The world's longest fibre optic link - known as SEA-ME-WE â developed the fault 52 nautical miles (over 96 kilometres) off the coast of Karachi, a senior official of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) confirmed.
The breakdown of telecommunications channels badly hit the 100-odd Internet service providers of the country who lost millions of rupees on Tuesday. Bankers complained they were greatly inconvenienced by the shutdown. Online traders suffered losses as the Karachi Stock Exchange and put up a terse notice on its website saying that it could not be updated on a regular basis. "India, Djibouti, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are the four countries whose telecommunication channels will be disturbed while the defective portion of the 39,000-kilometre-long cable is repaired," Mashkoor Hussain, senior executive vice-president (operations) of the PTCL, told Dawn from Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Two Rwandan businessmen were sentenced to 10 and 12 years in prison Wednesday after being convicted for helping Hutu militias who killed thousands during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. While the prosecutor sought life terms — or at least 25 years in prison as permitted under Belgium law — the judge and jury agreed on lesser sentences because the businessmen had no direct role in the killings. The two were convicted of participating in plans to massacre people at a church and a nearby municipal hall where Tutsis and moderate Hutus met. The prosecution said the two offered transport for the killers and helped arrange for weapons.
The court handed down a 12-year sentence to Etienne Nzabonimana, 53, who was convicted Tuesday on 56 counts of aiding and abetting in the slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Kibungo, southwest of the Rwandan capital, Kigali. His half-brother Samuel Ndashyikirwa, 43, was given 10 years in jail after being found guilty on 23 counts. "It was people like them who also have a crime to answer for, just as the people who wielded the machetes," Luc Walleyn, a lawyer representing victims' families, told VRT radio during a break in the trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistanâs president said on Wednesday that the victim in a high-profile rape case is free to go anywhere, and defended his earlier decision to ban her from traveling abroad. âLet me make it absolutely clear that Mukhtar Mai is free to go wherever she pleases, meet whomever she wants and say whatever she pleases. I have full faith in her and in her patriotism,â Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in a message on his Web site.
"Not that her life expectancy is much better than mine," he noted.
Musharrafâs message came a day after the Supreme Court ordered that 13 men who allegedly assaulted 33-year-old Mukhtar Mai be re-arrested after overturning their earlier acquittals by lower courts.
Musharraf had banned Mai from traveling to America earlier this month. During a tour in New Zealand, he said he did not want Pakistanâs bad image projected abroad. On his Web site, Musharraf defended his decision again. âI have already publicly stated that I took the decision to stop her from going to the US myself. I took this decision in the best national interest of Pakistan because I truly believed that the invitation would have tarnished Pakistanâs international image rather than help improve the lot of women folk in Pakistan or elsewhere in the world,â he said.
âI believe there was a strong ulterior intent of maligning Pakistan by vested interests, rather than sincerely helping Mai out,â he said but did not identify the âvested interests.â
âWhile I sincerely regret what Mai had to endure, the government is taking action to remedy it,â Musharraf said
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
" tarnished Pakistan's international image..."
First, you gotta have one. Second, if it's already tarnished cuz your shithole is a cesspit of IslamoNutz, what phreakin' harm would it be to let her go? Only your native IslamoNutz would fucking care. Wotta load. PakiWakiLand is PakiWakiLand cuz it's the DisneyLand of an alphabet soup of 7th Century Shari'a mooks and zoomers. In IslamoFuckwitia, it's the "E" ticket ride.
#2
What more proof do you need from this assclown that his country is a cespit over which he has no control . The MMA and it's ilk control the country. It is after all the place OBL is likely hiding out with government assitstance.
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.
Hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers raided a slum filled with gangs loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday, killing six gunmen. In a raid on a house in Bel-Air, a ghetto in the capital of Port-au-Prince, troops freed a kidnapped woman who was being held bound and blindfolded by armed men, said U.N. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jorge Smicelapo. The raid touched off a gunbattle that killed six suspected gang members and injured five, Smicelapo said. The woman was unharmed. The Brazilian troops suffered no casualties during the eight-hour offensive, Smicelapo said.
Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference opened a meeting here on Tuesday with a call for a Muslim permanent seat on the UN Security Council. OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged a greater role for Muslim countries in world affairs and demanded a 'permanent representation for the Islamic world on the UN Security Council'. "The Islamic world, which represents one-fifth of total mankind, cannot remain excluded from the activities of the Security Council which assumes a fundamental role in keeping security and peace in the world," he said. Mr Ihsanoglu had announced on Monday that ministers would discuss proposals for the representation of the 57-member body on the Security Council during their three-day conference in the Yemeni capital.
A state-run newspaper in Zimbabwe has suggested the UK and US are to blame for droughts in southern Africa. The Herald said climate change has been artificially induced "in a bid to arm-twist the region to capitulate to the whims of the world's superpowers". It said weather was being manipulated for political gain using unspecified "unconventional" chemical weapons.
Pakistan on Tuesday held talks with four states whose telecommunications networks will remain suspended for two hours on Wednesday morning during which a key undersea cable that developed a fault on Monday night will be repaired. The world's longest fibre optic link - known as SEA-ME-WE â developed the fault 52 nautical miles (over 96 kilometres) off the coast of Karachi, a senior official of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) confirmed.
Two Rwandan businessmen were sentenced to 10 and 12 years in prison Wednesday after being convicted for helping Hutu militias who killed thousands during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. While the prosecutor sought life terms — or at least 25 years in prison as permitted under Belgium law — the judge and jury agreed on lesser sentences because the businessmen had no direct role in the killings. The two were convicted of participating in plans to massacre people at a church and a nearby municipal hall where Tutsis and moderate Hutus met. The prosecution said the two offered transport for the killers and helped arrange for weapons.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistanâs president said on Wednesday that the victim in a high-profile rape case is free to go anywhere, and defended his earlier decision to ban her from traveling abroad. âLet me make it absolutely clear that Mukhtar Mai is free to go wherever she pleases, meet whomever she wants and say whatever she pleases. I have full faith in her and in her patriotism,â Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in a message on his Web site.
