Twenty years to the day, crews who had searched in vain for survivors of the Arrow Air crash came to a church in Newfoundland Monday to remember those who perished in the worst aviation disaster on Canadian soil. On Dec. 12, 1985, the chartered Arrow Air DC-8 crashed less than a minute after taking off from a refuelling stop in Gander, killing all 256 people on board, including 248 U.S. peacekeepers returning from duty in Egypt. "It seems like yesterday. The hurt is still there," said Maj. Alexander Conyers, who lost a cousin and friend in the crash. "The memories linger on, and we miss them and we love them." Similar ceremonies were also held Monday in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the 101st Airborne Division was based. The troops had been heading home for a Christmas vacation.
[...]In the years that followed, some evidence was disclosed, including autopsy reports which showed that soldiers had inhaled smoke in the moments before they died, indicating there had been a fire on board before the jet hit the ground. Les Filotas was one of the four members who filed a minority report, and later wrote a book called Improbable Cause, which suggested other causes â particularly an explosion â may have been responsible.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/12/2005 17:16 ||
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A Liberian man was arrested with about one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cocaine concealed in 100 condoms in his stomach on the Norwegian-Swedish border, customs officials said Monday. The 41-year-old, whose name was withheld, was a passenger on bus from Sweden to southeastern Norway, and needed medical attention shortly after he was detained late Saturday, said Wenche Fredriksen, of the Norwegian Customs Region Eastern Norway. She said the man swallowed the illegal drugs in Germany, and became ill during the customs interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 16:55 ||
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Monsieur, a wafer-thin mint? It's only wafer thin.
Posted by: ed ||
12/12/2005 18:04 Comments ||
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"I've eaten a kilo of this stuff and still don't feel a thing."
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
12/12/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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perhaps cocaine in condoms is some Liberian provincial delicacy
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2005 21:34 Comments ||
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It's still early, but we might have the Dumbass of the Week already...
A man who robbed a New Zealand bank was so disappointed with his haul he tried again - this time by phone, police said Saturday. "He's rung (the bank) and said 'I'm the guy who robbed you the other day and I want the manager to put some money in a bag and go and stand in the street," said Detective Sergeant Chris Winder of the Auckland Police. "(He said) 'I'll drive by slowly and take the bag from you and drive off.'"
A plain clothes police officer stood outside the bank in the northern city of Auckland on Friday carrying a bag but the man did not appear. Instead, he called again. "A phone call was made by the offender saying, 'I've been watching and I don't like what I see,'" Winder said. "He said 'can you meet me down (the road) instead.'" A plain clothes officer waited for the man at the second rendezvous but he again failed to appear. Police traced the calls and arrested a man Saturday, charging him with aggravated robbery and demanding money with menaces.
#4
I saw a mated pair of Ivory-Billed woodpeckers in 1963, when hunting with my dad. Nothing I've ever done gave me so much grief as my insistence to my high school assistant principal that I saw what I saw. He absolutely refused to accept it - he was a lifetime member of the Audobon Society, and KNEW it was "extinct". The birds have been seen a dozen times since then in the same area I saw them. Mr. Smith is dead, so I won't wait for an apology.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/12/2005 22:38 Comments ||
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One witness saw him execute a pleading relief worker accused of profiteering. In a video, he chugged beer while his men hacked off an ousted president's ears hours before his tortured death. Once a powerful faction leader, more recently an evangelical preacher-in-exile, Prince Johnson helped drive Liberia into a catastrophic civil war. Today, he's a senator-elect promising to rebuild this West African nation â and he is not the only lawmaker with a notorious past. "We're talking about a new Liberia, a new future. We have an enormous job to do," Johnson said during an interview in Monrovia, sitting in a faux-leather chair at one of this bombed-out city's hotels. "The country is in ruin, total ruin. I've come back to help rebuild."
Johnson's brutal past is no secret, even if he says little now about his role in a war that took the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, turned millions into refugees and left even the capital without electricity or running water. Liberians can only hope that the rise of Johnson and others tainted by charges of brutality or corruption won't undermine their chances of recovering and building a democracy.
My guess is that it will.
"It's embarrassing," said Mamadou Kromah, 24, who sells videos showing snippits of the ex-warlord overseeing the torture of just-captured President Samuel Doe. "Prince Johnson should be put on trial, not put into office." Johnson's militia seized Doe and tortured him to death in 1990. A video shows the leader in his underwear, tied up and bloody. Doe begs to be spared, but Johnson orders the terrified leader's ears severed. Around the same time, Johnson personally executed a Liberian relief worker he accused of profiteering from rice sales, calling him a "traitor." An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the scene reported the crumpled victim briefly lifted his head and asked "Why, why?" before Johnson finished him off. During the war, Johnson also reportedly killed some of his own commanders and briefly took 22 foreigners hostage in a bid to provoke international intervention.
The war ended two years ago when warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor stepped down as rebels advanced on the capital. Johnson's militia fought fierce street battles with Taylor's forces in the early 1990s, but he left in 1992 and became an evangelical preacher in Nigeria's Christ Deliverance Ministry in Lagos. Johnson returned for the first time last year. Despite his ruthlessness, he remains popular among many for taking a stand against Taylor and overthrowing Doe, who took power in a coup a decade earlier. Johnson's 34 percent of the vote in his native Nimba County was the highest won by any senator. "My regret is that we fought one another for nothing. It was a senseless war," Johnson said. "Whatever reason I may give you now for getting involved in the war, it does not erase the fact that this country was destroyed and needs to be rebuilt."
Johnson was a giggling sadist. At one point he'd have gotten my vote for the most evil person in the world. He can preach and raise his palm to heaven all he wants, but if there is a God, he's going to rot in hell. I hope he knows that, and I hope he catches something lingering and painful and dies his own agonizing death.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 00:36 ||
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Takes a stab at Chiraq, EU bureaucracy, and the new EU member states, among other things. Hilarious, assuming it's for real. Delete if deemed inappropriate.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/12/2005 06:05 ||
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The Tories should make this guy a shadow minister when he is recalled and chucked out.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/12/2005 7:24 Comments ||
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If true, I can hear l'ami Jacques say "Perfide Albion"
A SENIOR British ambassador has lambasted our European Union partners in undiplomatic language, blaming them for farm subsidies that âbloatâ rich French landowners, âpump up food pricesâ and create poverty in Africa. In an e-mail to colleagues seen by The Sunday Times, Charles Crawford, the ambassador to Poland, mocks âmon amiâ Jacques Chirac and the Poles for selfishly blocking Tony Blairâs attempts to secure a face-saving deal on the European budget. His sardonic tone will embarrass Blair as he seeks to reach agreement this week at a key summit. Some will see his exasperation as revealing what ministers privately think.
He'll embarrass Blair, and the content of the email will be disregarded...
Crawford says that Britain has created more jobs for Poles in Britain than the Polish government since EU membership was extended to another 10 countries last year. He visualises Blair or Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, telling the new member states that the UK wants to help them, despite their ârudeness and ingratitudeâ.
âWe like you so much that we are proposing in the budget a huge new transfer of funds to you on a scale which will give your people the greatest boost in 1,000 years.â In a jibe at David Cameron, the new Conservative leader, the ambassador imagines Blair or Straw saying: âI will be attacked by my scary new teenage Tory opposition for building roads and hospitals in Poland and Hungary, rather than in poor areas of the UK.â
The memo was sent last week to Kim Darroch, Blairâs European policy adviser, and Nicola Brewer, head of EU policy at the Foreign Office. Much of it represents Crawfordâs blackly humorous opinions on what Blair should tell other European ministers. He suggests putting a childrenâs alarm clock on the conference table and giving delegates an hour to accept Britainâs offer. If it is not accepted, he suggested, Britain would be able to walk away with its rebate intact. It would then be able to use money that it was prepared to deduct from its rebate to fund projects directly in former eastern bloc countries. Crawford estimates that it would be equivalent to twice as much spent through the EU and that Britainâs help would go much further, faster and more efficiently to the countries concerned. There will not be the loss of money in âall the bollocky EU bureaucracyâ and âsticky transaction costs, local and Brussels corruption, overheads and other rubbishâ.
Crawford describes the common agricultural policy (CAP) as âthe most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take communismâ. The e-mail lays bare the frustration in the British government at stalling by France and Poland ahead of this weekâs make-or-break EU summit. Failure to reach a deal on the budget will be disappointing for Blair, who has little to show for Britainâs six-month presidency. The prime minister has offered to give up part of the annual £3.8 billion British rebate in return for France and other nations agreeing to reform the âunfairâ CAP which benefits their farmers. Chirac and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the Polish prime minister, have shown little sign of compromising on the budget proposals for 2007-13. Blair said on Friday that hopes for a deal were fading and such a failure would âcast a real shadowâ over EU enlargement. Crawfordâs e-mail, sent at 5.36am last Thursday to officials at No 10 and the Foreign Office, displays his frustration.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 00:01 ||
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Signs of actual brain activity in the UK government? This is disorientating, I'm not used to this.
The UKâs premier security think tank warned that, while the world focuses on the fight against international terrorism and the Middle East, China is rapidly expanding its influence from Asia to Africa. The âpearlsâ in Africa include Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Gabon, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Djibouti, Mali, Central Africa, Liberia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
President George W Bushâs recent visit to Asia made little news â by design. But thatâs because Mr Bush didnât begin to address the issue that is looming ever larger in the region: the changing face of security in Asia in view of Chinaâs growing economic and military might.
This summer, for example, China and Russia conducted their first-ever grand-scale joint military exercises. This was followed by Russian news reports that China, Russia, and India would conduct trilateral military exercises, named âIndira 2005â on the same scale before the end of this year.
In the past, such a combination of countries was almost unthinkable, and these exercises cannot be explained away as simple âone-offâ affairs with little resonance. Instead, they reflect Chinaâs long-term strategic goal of establishing hegemony across Asia.
One tool of this ambition is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), under which the Sino-Russian exercises took place. Established in June 2001, the SCO includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The SCOâs original purpose was to mitigate tensions on the borders of China and the Central Asian countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the arrival of the United States military with the war in Afghanistan.
China regards the SCO as a stage for broadening its influence over a vast region, ranging from the Asia-Pacific to Southwest Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean. Indeed, its members include about 45 percent of the worldâs population, and 28 percent of the landmass ranging across the Eurasian continent.
Chinaâs active leadership of the SCO has resulted in policies that it favours. Gradually, the SCO shifted its focus to fighting Islamic radicals. Nowadays, however, the SCO is often used as a forum to campaign against supposed American unilateralism and to provide a united front â especially between China and Russia â against the US with respect to security and arms-reduction issues in the region. This includes joint anti-terror training and demands to reduce US forces in the region, particularly from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The SCO provides China not only with a platform to confront the existing US-led alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, but is increasingly being used to prevent the formation of a US-led network to restrain Chinaâs advance. Ultimately, it is feared that the SCO could develop into a military alliance similar to the Warsaw Pact of the Cold War era, with an embryonic âGreat China Unionâ at its core.
But Chinaâs regional diplomacy goes far beyond the SCO. It seizes every opportunity that comes its way, including the Six Party Talks on North Koreaâs nuclear ambitions, to emphasise its centrality to the settlement of any and all Asian issues. Moreover, it continues to build its âstring of pearlsâ of military bases at every key point on maritime transportation routes along the âarc of instabilityâ from the Middle East to Chinaâs coast.
The âpearlsâ in Africa include Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Gabon, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Djibouti, Mali, Central Africa, Liberia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In each country, China is nurturing special military and commercial relations intended to promote loyalty to Chinese interests.
Similarly, many African states now seem to be leaning heavily towards China in its dispute with Taiwan. When Japanâs government tried to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, few African countries backed its bid, despite receiving economic aid for decades.
China likes to boast of its âpeaceful riseâ. But the rise of Bismarckâs Germany at the end of the nineteenth century was also peaceful â for a while. The question is not whether China rises to great-power status peacefully, but whether it intends to remain peaceful when it gets there. Just as the world confronted the âGerman Questionâ 125 years ago, it is now confronting the âChina Questionâ. We need a better answer this time.
Hideaki Kaneda, retired vice admiral of Japanâs Self-Defence Forces, is currently director of the Okazaki Institute
Posted by: john ||
12/12/2005 14:51 ||
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#1
There are two ways of looking at this. The first is out of concern that China is doing something dangerous. The other is to objectively ask what the Chinese should do, no matter who was in charge.
That is, China is clearly desirous of leaving its isolationist box and joining the rest of the world. Many of its historical problems originate from this isolationism, which is just plain unacceptable in the modern world.
So how does China come out? Trade opened the door. Vast amounts of goods flow in and out of China today. To support this, the Chinese had to build a massive merchant marine. To support this merchant marine, the Chinese had to build a deep water navy and invest in far-flung transportation corridors and installations.
At this point, their actions become indistinguishable from a military build-up. Their emergence cannot be sanely looked at as anything else by the other world powers, and for the sole reason that pressure must be met with pressure they must match this build-up, creating a greater possibility for conflict.
This means that the rest of the world has a very hard time distinguishing between what would be good for China and the world as a whole, and what is a threat for the future.
China wants to internationalize, but to keep its domestic standards, many of which are intolerable to international standards. So begins a delicate balancing act of incremental domestic change in China. It is a frightening prospect for the Chinese leaders, and a miscalculation could prove deadly.
Liberalization does not happen overnight, but it must happen. China cannot enter the world yet remain what it had been without destructive results. But if they liberalize too fast, they deeply fear chaos.
Can China even exist, or be managed, with less than authoritarian means? A good question. Can it continue on its present internal course without collapse? Also a good question. Lastly, will it seek some solution to its internal problem by becoming militarily aggressive? That is the biggest question of them all.
#2
Here's an interesting solution. America should tell China that if it initiates hostilities with any other nation, including Taiwan, we will instantly cancel all debt held by the communists in the form of US treasury bonds. Make any military action upon their part prohibitively expensive. I doubt such a move would permanently taint the appeal of American treasury notes as a stable investment for other foreign powers.
#3
China is rapidly expanding its influence from Asia to Africa. The âpearlsâ in Africa include Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Gabon, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Djibouti, Mali, Central Africa, Liberia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
I suspect this comes as a complete surprise to the US State Department.
China has succeeded in putting the spotlight on Japan's World War II history. But while harping on that distant war, Beijing refuses to face up to its own aggressions and employs revisionist history to rationalize its assertive claims and ambitions.
With fervent nationalism replacing Communist ideology, the scripted anti-Japanese mob protests earlier this year were one blatant case of the Chinese rulers' open mixing of history with their politics. Another case in point occurred more recently at a seminar in Mumbai, after Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian defense minister, fleetingly cited the Chinese invasion of 1962 as a defining moment that set in motion India's new thrust on defense production, and referred to the still-festering border problem with China, which he said had resolved its land-frontier disputes "with all its neighbors except India and Bhutan."
In contravention of diplomatic norms, which would have involved consulting the Chinese ambassador in New Delhi, China's Mumbai-based consul general castigated Mukherjee on the spot for using the term "invasion" and claimed that "China did not invade India." Later, the ambassador, too, criticized Mukherjee's reference to 1962, telling the Indian media, "Whatever happened in the past is history, and we want to put it back into history."
The incident revealed how China contradictorily deals in history vis-Ã -vis its neighbors to further its own foreign policy objectives: While it wants India to forget 1962, it misses no opportunity to bash Japan over the head with the history card. Its aim is not to extract more apologies from Tokyo for its World War II atrocities but to continually shame and tame Japan. (It is ironic that visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao used Indian soil last April to demand that Japan "face up to history squarely," setting the stage for his country's orchestrated anti-Japanese protests.)
Another way China manipulates history is by reconstructing the past to prepare for the future. This was illustrated by the Chinese foreign ministry's posting on its Web site last year a revised historical claim that the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, founded in northern Korea, was Chinese. This was seen as an attempt to hedge China's options with a potentially unified Korea.
Then there is China's continued use of what it presents as history to advance extravagant territorial or maritime claims. Its maps show an entire Indian state - Arunachal Pradesh - as well as other Indian areas as part of China.
While the Chinese-Japanese rivalry has deep roots, dating back to the 16th century, the Chinese and Indian military frontiers met for the first time in history only in 1950, when China annexed (or as its history books say, "liberated") Tibet, a buffer nearly the size of Western Europe. Within 12 years of becoming India's neighbor, China invaded this country, with Mao Zedong cleverly timing the aggression with the Cuban missile crisis.
Beijing has yet to grasp that a muscular approach is counterproductive. Had it not set out to "teach India a lesson," in the words of then Premier Zhou Enlai, this country probably would not have become the significant military and nuclear power that it is today. The invasion helped lay the foundation of India's political rise.
This has a reflection today. Just a decade ago, Beijing was content with a Japan that was pacifist, China-friendly and China's main source of low-interest loans. Now, it is locked in a cold war with Tokyo, with its growing assertiveness and ambition spurring a politically resurgent Japan.
Even the Chinese consul general's outburst has counterproductively returned the focus onto an invasion that Beijing wishes to eliminate from public discussion and about which it hides the truth from its own people. The impertinence only draws attention to the fact that China remains unapologetic for the major stab in the back that shattered India's pacifism and hastened the death of its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Japan certainly needs to come to terms with its brutal militaristic past. But just as Japanese textbooks and the museum attached to the Yasukuni Shrine glorify Japan's past, Chinese textbooks and the military museum in Beijing distort and even falsify history. The key difference is that Chinese foreign policy seeks to make real the legend that drives official history - China's centrality in the world.
(Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.)
Posted by: john ||
12/12/2005 14:38 ||
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Seen this bumpersticker? "Afghanistan? Free. Iraq? Free. Hey, how's that 'Free Tibet' campaign going?"
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
12/12/2005 21:22 Comments ||
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"Free Tibet - with purchase of regular or same-sized Tibet"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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Only 1 per cent of French people want President Jacques Chirac to stand for a third term at the Elysee palace in elections due in May 2007. Asked which candidate they would like to see representing Mr Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement party, 36 per cent chose Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and 19 per cent chose Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, according to the survey for Le Journal du Dimanche. Seven per cent chose other figures, while 34 per cent refused to nominate anyone from the party. The findings appeared to confirm the eclipsing of Mr Chirac, 73, by a younger generation of politicians as he enters the last phase of his second term.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This could end up meaning a visit to the slammer for the worm in his dotage. Heh.
#2
I would very much appreciate JFM or A5089 jumping in here to clarify something.
I clearly recall reading a comment quite some time ago by someone (don't remember who, exactly) who has credibility on French matters saying that Chirac would very likely become a Senator - an honorary (?) life-long position which has immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office - upon stepping down from the Presidency. Thus he would skate on the (now old) charges of financial chicanery which seemed to be commonly accepted as substantial. The memory is so clear because it generated a huge sense of anger that he would never face the music for anything he's done, thus I did not forget the gist of that comment.
#3
My recollection is that he has to be appointed by the new Pres to that position. With numbers like these, even Dominique (a man) would have to think twice about giving the worm a Stay out of Jail Free Card. In any case, it's bound to become an election issue.
#4
SG - I think that sounds like the answer. Thx! And way back then, such an appointment would not have been as "controversial" as he was basking in the glow of the anti-American fires he had helped create. Yep, your take makes sense. I hope you're right that it would be / should be controversial now, too. I believe an additional point was that it was more or less customary and common. I hope not. I think he'd look perfect in a prison jumpsuit. He has another 1-2 years (his term expires in 2007 - whenever they hold elections) to turn this around with the usual political sleight of hand... I hope the cupboard is truly bare.
#5
Nope. He will not become a senator but he would be for life, member of the Conseil Constitutionnel, ie the Court who checks if laws are constitutional. I have been unable to determine if they have any kind of immunity.
Anyway, Chirac will no go to jail. Whenever there is new President there is an amnesty and a right-wing president, even Sarkozy, who has no sympathy for him, would find nearly impossible to not formulate that amnesty in a such way that Chirac is covered by it. A left-wing president would not do someting so public but he can discretely slow the thing long enough for Chirac dying or becoming senile (IMHO, he has been senile since he was born) and I don't doubt he will do, even if out of fear of what the right could tell about the left's own dirty laundry.
I know you're probably right about him never having to face the charges against him. BTW, do you consider them valid, not political? Just wondering. Well, at least he won't be around after 2007 to sew his shit - he's got de Villepin to take over in that dept - but it seems he's taken on more of a burden than a mantle, which pleases me.
Subscription reqd. Key point: EU governments may lose an estimated 1/2 billion Euros a year from taxing companies doing business elsewhere, depending on the outcome of a case that will start this week. Might could be that that would put a squeeze on the welfare state in some places.
"After studying the evidence, searching the history, listening to the arguments and wrestling with the profound consequences, I could find no justification for granting clemency," Mr Schwarzenegger said.
"The facts do not justify overturning the jury's verdict or the decisions of the courts in this case," the governor added.
#2
Not surprised, if there was ever a person that needed executing it is this man. Oh and FUCK Mike Farrel, Bianca Jagger, and the NAACP for their race baiting a clearly guilty murderer. I can't believe they actually tried to play the race card to save this scum.
#6
I can't overstate how absolutely SICK I am of these limousine liberals believing that the life of a murderer who makes a superficial penance for his horrible crimes is worth saving, to the point that they nominate him for a nobel peace prize. WTF?
What about the 90% of this country who goes to work, raises their children, loves their spouse, loves God and country and does no harm to anyone? Are they not worthy of consideration by seeing that this monster gets the justice coming to him? Why is the life of this man who killed at least 4 other hard-working people worth so Go*damned much?
I will be happy when this fuc*er gets his due...and hope that the families of those he killed can finally find solace in his execution. Now...when can we move on to Mumia?
#10
Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. All claims of jailhouse reformation were contradicted by his adamant refusal to assist in dismantling the gang he masterminded. He is responsible for the murder of THOUSANDS. Roast in he|| Tookie. For once, I'll quote .com. "FOAD" Stanley Williams.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/12/2005 17:37 Comments ||
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#12
Time for Tookie to Ride the Lightning! No reason for executions to be expensive. Just cut the end off an extension cord, undo the insulation a bit and violo! apply vigorously and be sure to turn off the smoke detector.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/12/2005 19:06 Comments ||
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#14
The crowd is standing in San Quentin villege, just in front of the gates, which are off to the left a bit. [the camera position may change] Most of the buildings you see this side of the gate and beyond are used by prisoner resources groups for the families. the prison itself is massive.
back in the day it was different.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/12/2005 19:14 Comments ||
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#15
This guy is more responsible than any other individual for turning the African American neighborhoods of the west coast into killing fields.
Foreign readers may find it hard to believe, but the death toll in Crips-instigated gang wars does indeed run into the thousands.
Let him die, let his apologists riot, let justice be done if the heavens fall.
Immigration - both legal and illegal - continues to boom as Congress grapples with how to better control America's borders.
A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies found that 7.9 million people moved to the United States in the past five years, the highest five-year period of immigration on record.
The report, released Monday, comes as the House prepares to take up a bill to curb illegal immigration by boosting border security and requiring workplace enforcement of immigration laws.
There are 35.2 million foreign-born people living in the United States, according to the report, which is based on the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey from March. The report said an estimated 9 million to 13 million are here illegally.
"The 35.2 million immigrants living in the country in March 2005 is the highest number ever recorded - two-and-a-half times the 13.5 million during the peak of the last great immigration wave in 1910," said the report by Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tougher policies on illegal immigration and favors attracting immigrants with needed job skills.
About 12.1 percent of the current U.S. population was born in another country, the highest percentage since 1920, according to Census figures. Rest at link.
RSK MiG has invited Algeria and India to exchange their small fleets of MiG-25s for new MiG-31 interceptors in buy-back deals that would support the design bureauâs bid to extend MiG-25 operations for Libya and Syria.
RSK MiG says it is offering two MiG-25 users a trade-in deal that would enable them to acquire new-build MiG-31s to be produced at Sokolâs Nizhny Novgorod plant in exchange for their ageing MiG-25s. The offer is believed to have been made to Algeria and India, which are expected to withdraw their entire MiG-25R/U fleets within the next three to five years. Should the countries accept the offer, their MiG-25s will be disassembled and used as spare parts to sustain Libyan and Syrian aircraft.
RSK MiG deputy general director Vladimir Vypryazhkin says new health-monitoring and preventive maintenance techniques and modern logistics practices developed by the bureau in support of the German air forceâs former MiG-29 fleet could enable current MiG-25 operators to keep their aircraft in use for up to 10 more years.
The Russian air force plans to replace its remaining MiG-25 reconnaissance and strike aircraft with MiG-31 variants.
Posted by: john ||
12/12/2005 18:45 ||
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I'll say this for the Russian weapons makers - those that made it through the revolution adapted to capitalism quite well.
#2
"great employee-pricing plans extended to our customers! You pay what we pay! Great pay for trade-ins! We're BLOWING them out!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2005 21:53 Comments ||
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I don't think India's stupid enough to trade reconnaissance aircraft for interceptors, even if the MiG-25 is getting a bit long in the tooth. The Russians have nothing to offer in the form of a reconnaisssance aircrft to replace it with, and the "pod" for the Mig-31 is a piece of crap! I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I doubt this deal will entice the Indians. The Migs have been too important to them in their keeping track of the Pakistani military.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/12/2005 23:20 Comments ||
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A firecracker thrown by a celebrant at a wedding set fire to a bus filled with guests on Sunday, killing at least 40 people in eastern Pakistan, police said. The firecracker exploded under the vehicle's fuel tank, setting it and the fireworks inside on fire in central Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, said Amir Zulfikar, a senior police officer. "It took seconds until the bus was engulfed by flames and people hardly had any chance to rescue anyone," he said. that must have been an excruciating way to die
Forty bodies were pulled from the burned bus â including many burned beyond recognition â and 12 people were injured, Zulfikar said.
A survivor said the fireworks exploded with a bang that sounded like a bomb. "It was smoke and dust everywhere after the explosion," said Naseem Khan, who jumped out of a broken window in the bus. "Everyone was crying for help," Khan said from a hospital bed where he was being treated for burns and cuts.
Deaths from fireworks accidents are common in Pakistan and often occur at makeshift factories with poor safety conditions for storing and handling the explosive materials.
Posted by: too true ||
12/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Look on the bright side: at least they weren't flying any kites.
KUWAIT CITY - The OPEC oil cartel is expected to leave its production quota unchanged at a meeting here on Monday, with the market well supplied and prices steady, but members may consider a cut in the new year.
In a sign of what to expect, an influential advisory group said late Sunday that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should maintain production for now and meet again by early February.
Several members of the 11-nation group want an extra meeting to address concern at an expected drop in demand for oil in the second quarter of 2006 because of warmer weather in the industrialised northern hemisphere. Analysts predict OPEC will have to lower its quota of 28 million barrels per day (bpd) before March to counter waning demand and a knock-on drop in prices.
For now, however, OPEC quotas look set to remain unchanged, with actual production remaining at high levels of about 30 million bpd when Iraqâs output is included. The war-torn country is usually excluded from the quota system. âThe two main points that are acceptable are a meeting in January or early February, and to maintain our production level,â said Kuwaiti energy minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al Sabah, who also holds the rotating OPEC presidency.
âIt looks like the idea has been accepted by everyone,â he told reporters after the late Sunday night meeting of the so-called ministerial monitoring sub-committee, which also comprises the oil ministers of Iran and Nigeria. OPEC often, but not always, follows the advice of the trio.
But a question mark still hangs over whether to renew a three-month pledge to make an extra two million barrels per day available to the oil market. The emergency spare capacity, which expires on December 31, was created in September to meet demand -- if necessary -- in the wake of hurricane disruption to US output, but so far there have been no takers.
Sheikh Ahmad indicated that the measure was slightly redundant because the drama of hurricanes Katrina and Rita had passed. In addition, the price of oil, which hit a record high of 70.85 dollars per barrel on August 30 in New York, had fallen back to a more acceptable level. âNow I donât think thereâs a reason (for the extra capacity) because thereâs no need in the market,â said the Kuwaiti energy minister.
As for the sensitive issue of oil prices, members appear satisfied with the current level, which is hovering around the 60 dollars a barrel mark in New York, ensuring ample revenue fills their coffers. The price of oil has tripled since the start of 2002.
Libyaâs Energy Secretary Fathi Hamed bin Shatwan Shatwan said on Sunday he thought the very minimum price for oil should be 40 dollars. âIt is the red line for us,â he said, adding that a price of 60 dollars made both consumers and producers happy.
I'm a consumer, and you don't speak for me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, the US Congress has decided to hold production as well, so you can't blame OPEC.
They held hearings about Exxon's profits and then turned around and did precisely what was needed to keep prices high and volatile for the forseeable future.
#3
Will they be capable of maintaining this level of production? Venezuela's output has dropped significantly since Chavez started his improvements program, and how many knowledgable Westerners left when their compounds and businesses were attacked by AQ (Saudia branch), and never returned? And how are the Russian oil fields doing? The last time I looked (admittedly several years ago, sorry) the equipment dated back to around the Stalin era, and was woefully neglected, resulting in poor production and plenty of product lost through leakage. And even Syria can't maintain production levels... Before Thanksgiving gasoline dropped to as low as $1.98/gallon here in Cincinnati, but as of today is back up to around $2.25/gal.
The Japanese PM on the upcoming trade talks. Excerpt:
This round must succeed. It has the potential to be historic. Not only does it aim at more ambitious levels of trade liberalisation than previous rounds but, more importantly, it embraces enhanced integration of developing nations into the WTO system as equal beneficiaries and participants, rather than allowing them to be further marginalised or alienated by the flourishing regional trade agreements. Today, developing nations account for four-fifths of all WTO members.
Japan is deeply and actively committed to this goal, not only because it is the second largest economy in the world and the largest net importer of agricultural products; but because the country owes its present economic prosperity to the opportunities for growth provided by the post-second-world-war multilateral free-trade system and domestic structural reforms, backed by development assistance and advice from the international community. Creating an upward spiral where trade promotes development and development in turn enhances trade is in the interests of developing countries today, just as it was in ours.
The issue is of particularly pressing importance for the least developed countries (LDCs) and other small, vulnerable economies. In the area of agriculture, where these countries generally have a comparative advantage, Japan provides no export subsidies, has already made substantial cuts in trade-distorting domestic support and will further liberalise its market in conjunction with agricultural reform
and with that backhanded slap at the EU, especially France, he goes on to say some interesting things about the relationship between all members of the 'supply chain' and about ways to increase the likelihood that aid and trade together actually do create increased wealth in many countries at once
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he would not grant clemency to Stanley Williams, whose bid to avoid execution after midnight tonight has gained wide attention. Mr. Schwarzenegger's decision not to halt Mr. Williams' execution by injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday is his third rejection of a petition for a stay of execution or clemency since taking office in 2003. Clemency has not been granted to a death row inmate in California since 1967.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2005 16:24 ||
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Yea, but Tookie wrote children's book on toilet paper.
I'll take my toast slightly buttered, thank you.
Don't forget to flush the crispy critter.
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/12/2005 17:01 Comments ||
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#5
one less societal tumor
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2005 17:24 Comments ||
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Too bad they can't start with a couple of saline solution injections to boost the suspense a little. Then follow up with a dozen CCs worth of battery acid directly into the aorta for entertainment value.
#10
The MSM radio people really pissed me off about this. They were discussing Tookie's case and referred to him as a "Reformed ex-gang member." What they needed to say that he was the founder of the Crips gang, a convicted murderer of four people, and has lost numerous appeals in 20+ years. He has made efforts to stop people from getting into gangs and had written some children's books in prison.
Tookie committed cold-blooded murder and four people were denied their life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness. He needs to pay for his crimes by execution by the State, and this tragic chapter in history can be closed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/12/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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the NAACP and Jesse were all up in arms - we had blacks protesting (10-20 or so) in Downtown SD today. Don't they realize the tragedy, death, pain, and suffering this bag of crap and his gang unleashed upon his own people? Jeebus! Some people should just STFU
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2005 21:05 Comments ||
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yea Tookie's reformed, he hasen't killed even one civilian since he's been locked up on death row.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/12/2005 21:14 Comments ||
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Winnie Mandela is gonna be really really pissed, which is really really GOOD!
#14
I'd be willing to give him clemency, on one condition: Jesse Jackass takes his place for the lethal injection. Otherwise, continue on.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/12/2005 22:53 Comments ||
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They said on Fox that Jesse's almost begging Tookie for permission to be one of his "witnesses"... Somebody needs to tell him there won't be any blood to smear on his shirt, this time...
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.
A Liberian man was arrested with about one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cocaine concealed in 100 condoms in his stomach on the Norwegian-Swedish border, customs officials said Monday. The 41-year-old, whose name was withheld, was a passenger on bus from Sweden to southeastern Norway, and needed medical attention shortly after he was detained late Saturday, said Wenche Fredriksen, of the Norwegian Customs Region Eastern Norway. She said the man swallowed the illegal drugs in Germany, and became ill during the customs interrogation.
A man who robbed a New Zealand bank was so disappointed with his haul he tried again - this time by phone, police said Saturday. "He's rung (the bank) and said 'I'm the guy who robbed you the other day and I want the manager to put some money in a bag and go and stand in the street," said Detective Sergeant Chris Winder of the Auckland Police. "(He said) 'I'll drive by slowly and take the bag from you and drive off.'"
A SENIOR British ambassador has lambasted our European Union partners in undiplomatic language, blaming them for farm subsidies that âbloatâ rich French landowners, âpump up food pricesâ and create poverty in Africa. In an e-mail to colleagues seen by The Sunday Times, Charles Crawford, the ambassador to Poland, mocks âmon amiâ Jacques Chirac and the Poles for selfishly blocking Tony Blairâs attempts to secure a face-saving deal on the European budget. His sardonic tone will embarrass Blair as he seeks to reach agreement this week at a key summit. Some will see his exasperation as revealing what ministers privately think. 
Only 1 per cent of French people want President 
