A GERMAN art expert was fooled into believing a painting done by a chimpanzee was the work of a master.
The director of the State Art Museum of Moritzburg in Saxony-Anhalt, Katja Schneider, suggested the painting was by the Guggenheim Prize-winning artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay.
"It looks like an Ernst Wilhelm Nay. He was famous for using such blotches of colour," Dr Schneider confidently asserted.
The canvas was actually the work of Banghi, a 31-year-old female chimp at the local zoo.
While Banghi likes to paint, she is not able to build up much of a body of work as her mate Satscho generally destroys her paintings before they can get to the gallery.
But this one survived long enough to give Dr Schneider a red face.
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"I did think it looked a bit rushed," she told Bild newspaper.
Posted by: too true ||
12/19/2005 16:25 ||
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Bananas on Velvet
by the Meso-Expressionist Visionary
Vincent van BONZO
#1
As an oxymoron, "Islamic Fun" rates right up there with my own personal contribution, "Arabic Unity." Soon, I shall probably have to add, "Moderate Muslim" and "Islamic Tolerance" to the list as well.
Sir Elton John has turned down £5.6 million for the exclusive rights to his wedding to David Furnish.
Oh, damn! And I was so looking forward to seeing it...
The singer was offered $10 million by an American company to cover his wedding on Wednesday, the Evening Standard has learned. A friend said: "Elton was approached to do a huge thing with an American media organisation which wanted to cover everything including the build-up and the wedding day itself. They were offering $10 million, but Elton is just not interested. He wants it as private as possible."
But they can cover the honeymoon, for a fee...
The offer dwarfs amounts paid to other couples. The rights for Victoria and David Beckhams' wedding were sold for a reported £1 million to OK! which is said to have paid Jordan and Peter Andre £1.75 million. Sir Elton's wedding, on the day civil partnerships becomes legal in Britain, will be held at Windsor's Guildhall. Seven hundred guests will attend a reception at Sir Elton's Berkshire home, Woodside.
I just love understated good taste...
Prior to the wedding, Sir Elton's "hen night" tonight will be played a video message from Bill Clinton. The minute-long recording will be played at a cabaret party at the Too2Much nightclub in Soho. A source said: "We were running through rehearsals when the tape was played. We knew Elton had good connections, but to see the ex-US president was something else." Mr Clinton congratulates Sir Elton, 58, and David Furnish, 42, and says: "If there were more people like Elton, the world would be a better place."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2005 12:00 ||
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Clintoon is a pathetic yutz. He was literally the most powerful man in the world, and all he's ever had is a terminal case of celebrity worship.
Clinton's constant underlying fear is that people will think he's hick trailer trash.
Quit worrying, Bill - they do.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/19/2005 21:40 Comments ||
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Man commits suicide as TV astrologer predicts a short life for him
SHARJAH â Sandeep, a 30-year-old Indian national hailing from Kerala, committed suicide in his room in Abu Shagara area in Sharjah on Friday night after an astrologer predicted a short life for the man on a TV channel.
The astrologer will live off this one for years ...
According to Pradeep, the brother in-law of the deceased, they found him hanging by the hook of a fan in his room. âHe was living with us, and on Friday I went out with my wife (sister of the deceased) at about 6 in the evening. When we returned late in the night, we found his room locked from inside and the lights on. When we knocked, there was no response. We informed the police who came and found he was hanging by the fan,â he said.
There he was, twirling around and all ...
Pradeep said that when Sandeepâs mother was informed about the death of her son, she revealed that her son had made a call to her in India on Friday night at about 9.30pm, asking her whether a short life was predicted in his horoscope written by an astrologer at his birth. He had informed the mother that a similar prediction was made by an astrologer on a TV channel recently.
We have two astrologers concurring. What could be more scientific than that?
He asked her why she did not tell him earlier what was written in his horoscope, said the brother-in-law.
"Mom! The astrologer said I'd only live to be 25!"
"Well you'd better get a move and get married, son, I want a grandchild before you kick off."
He also disclosed that the horoscope of the deceased was brought to the UAE for some proposals for Sandeep to match with the prospective girlsâ horoscopes.
"Allright now, daughter of mine, here's the next proposal. Clean-living, student, wealthy, good looking, pious, and his horoscope says he's going to kick off next week."
"Oh Dad, he's perfect!"
âThis is when he read it, and thereafter called the astrologer. He was feeling very low for the last three to four days. We did not know the reason. His mother only told us these things when we informed her about his death,â Pradeep said.
"She didn't seem to be too broke up about it, either."
âWe hope the body will be released soon,â said Pradeep, adding that they were planing to repatriate the body to India as soon as the forensic tests are conducted and the police releases the body.
"C'mon, Dr. Quincy, he was hanging from a fan! How much longer is this going to take?"
Sandeep was a masterâs degree holder in financial management and had a good job with a company in Dubai. I still canât believe that an educated person like him can commit suicide for a silly thing like this,â said the brother-in-law.
Educated people do all sorts of stoopid things: get drunk and take off clothes during a Packers game in December; clean a loaded rifle; become Democrats; I mean all sorts of stoopid stuff ...
Meanwhile, social organisations urged the authorities to look into the issue. âSome Indian TV channels are broadcasting programmes on astrology. Most of them give an option for the viewers to call them and get their future predicted. They make an income because viewers make an international hotline call which generates income from advertisements,â said Joy, a volunteer of âSneha Thazhvaraâ, a social organisation. He added that the astrologers are creating social problems and this should be prevented.
I dunno, I see possibilities. Wonder if Zarq has had his horoscope checked lately?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/19/2005 00:56 ||
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#1
Hey! I make a good living off of the simple minded with my Astrological predictions. It's all very unscientific. I even use a computer to do it these days so I can write off my web-browsing and pr0n collecting on my income taxes. You must take us very unseriously.
What else would you expect? I am a mahou Sensei after all, astrology is like, my middle name.
Reminds me of the ceiling fan installation piece I saw on This Old House a few years back. The fan mount was obviously well installed, which is essential for effective suicides.
#5
I find this all very ironic. We ship all of our jobs (esp. Customer Service) to India, and what do they get in return? Crack-pot Astrologers on TV 24/7! I love it! Isn't capitalism great?
Posted by: BA ||
12/19/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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#6
Self-fulfilling prophecies are not valid.
I predict the sun will rise tomorrow morning, worship me I've never been wrong.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/19/2005 10:35 Comments ||
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#7
Wonder if Zarq has had his horoscope checked lately?
I'd be delighted to give him a free palm reading. 'Course he'd have to come in person...
SOFIA â Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with the HIV virus are to have their appeal heard on Christmas Day, Bulgarian officials said on Saturday.
The appeal hearing for the five nurses and a Palestinian doctor had been set for January 31, but officials said it had now been moved forward. âThe Libyan court has moved the date for the trial to December 25,â Bulgarian foreign ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsanchev told Reuters. He said the nursesâ lawyer, Othman Bizanti, had informed the Bulgarian embassy in Tripoli.
The five nurses and the doctor, in jail since 1999, face death by firing squad for infecting 426 children with HIV in a hospital in the Mediterranean port of Benghazi. About 50 of the infected children have died.
Bulgaria, the European Union and the United States have all rejected the guilty verdicts as unfair, clouding Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafiâs efforts to end his diplomatic isolation. The nurses say their confessions were extracted under torture. Aids experts also told a Libyan court the outbreak started before the nurses arrived and was probably caused by poor hygiene.
Which is real easy to do in a near third-world country. Most likely cause: re-use of improperly-sterilized needles, syringes and other equipment that has come into contact with blood. One of the reasons why you don't see this in the first world is so much of our medical consumables are disposable. The third world is different, and just rinsing a needle with a little alcohol won't kill HIV.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/19/2005 00:23 ||
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There is a huge worldwide nursing shortage. Forget the firing squad, thats stupid. Re-train them, keep them away from kids, and let them get back to work caring for old people.
After enduring the most brutal of colonial histories, more than three decades of despotic rule after independence, and five years of playing the bloody host to "Africaâs first world war", the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo finally had something to smile about yesterday: they had a free vote. Lining up before dawn at more than 40,000 polling stations across the vast country, millions of people cast their ballots on whether to accept a new constitution.
It was the first genuine democratic poll in Congo since independence in 1960, and is being seen as a significant move towards stability across the entire Great Lakes region. A "yes" vote â the expected outcome â will clear the way for full elections to be held before July next year.
Although three polling stations in schools were burnt down in Kinshasa, the capital, on Saturday night, voting passed off largely peacefully under the eye of tens of thousands of local police and international peacekeepers.
The poll is seen by many observers as another step away from the five-year civil war that sucked in Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola before it ended officially in 2003. More than three million people died, mainly from disease and lack of food, making it the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Since then, Congo has hosted the worldâs biggest and most expensive UN peacekeeping mission, involving 16,000 troops who have had to fight running battles with militias determined to cling on to control of the countryâs vast mineral resources. Aid donors have poured in nearly £1 billion in support of the transitional Government.
In a huge operation supervised by the Blue Helmets this year, nearly 25 million people were registered to vote in the constitutional referendum and next yearâs elections. Observers from the European Union said that the turnout yesterday was high across the country.
The proposed constitution has the support of most political parties in Kinshasa. It provides for a decentralised government and limits the President to two five-year terms â an important selling point given the disastrous 32-year rule of Mobutu Sese Seko, the former President.
The new constitution also lowers the minimum age for presidential candidates from 35 to 30. This enables the 34-year-old transitional President, Joseph Kabila, whose father, Laurent, ousted Mobutu in 1997 before being assassinated, to run for office again next year. Another part of the constitution guarantees women half the seats in government.
President Kabilaâs administration, which includes four vice-presidents and numerous former rebels, has struggled to bring a number of brutal militia groups under control, particularly in the east, which is rich in diamonds, gold and coltan (a rare metal used in microchips).
Several small political parties have been agitating for people to express their dissatisfaction with their transitional leaders at the ballot. But a "no" vote â which Belgium, the former colonial power, said would be tantamount to "collective suicide" â seems unlikely.
Evo Morales, a leftist former coca leaf farmer vowing to be a "nightmare for the U.S.," was poised to become Bolivia's first indigenous president on Sunday after likely clinching one of the biggest electoral victories in the country's history.
Morales appeared certain to take office in January when his rivals conceded defeat and results tabulated by local media showed him garnering slightly more than 50 percent of the vote, much higher than predicted.
"Beginning tomorrow Bolivia's new history really begins, a history where we will seek equality, justice, equity, peace and social justice," Morales told hundreds of supporters amid chants of "Evo President! Evo President!" at his campaign headquarters in the central city of Cochabamba.
A high-school dropout who herded llamas as a boy, Morales has vowed to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas industry and roll back a U.S.-backed eradication program of coca, a key ingredient used to make cocaine but also prized by Indians for traditional medicinal uses.
Washington considers Morales an enemy in its anti-drug fight in Bolivia, the third biggest cocaine producer after Colombia and Peru. His critics fear a Morales government could jeopardize the country's flow of multi-million dollar economic aid from Washington.
Morales often invoked racial imagery on his campaign, feeding hopes among the impoverished Indian majority that one of its own could help reverse what most saw as more than 500 years of discrimination under leaders of European descent, which began with slavery in Spanish colonial silver mines.
Preliminary official results were expected to be released on Monday. Should Morales gain more than 50 percent of the vote he would avoid having to face a congressional choice between and him and his leading rival, rightist Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga.
Quiroga, a U.S.-educated engineer who served as president from 2001-2002, had vowed to keep Bolivia on a free-market path and implement U.S. coca eradication policies. Most of the country's coca leaves are processed into cocaine.
"There will be an end to hatred and xenophobia that we have suffered historically," said Morales, who said he was surprised at the historic outcome.
A Morales presidency will add Bolivia to a regionwide drift to the left that has seen leftist presidents come to power in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Support for Morales, a 46-year-old lawmaker who admires Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was also lifted by popular disillusionment with Bolivia's free-market economic policies, which many Bolivians say have done little to help many in South America's poorest country.
"Evo is a real man of the people. He's with us," said Estela Martinez, a homemaker celebrating in Cochabamba.
Morales will face tough challenges. Large-scale street demonstrations over economic policies, natural gas resources, greater autonomy for the provinces and Indian rights have toppled two presidents in the last three years.
Results showed Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party was just one seat shy of control in the lower house of Congress â and without control of the Senate.
An Aymara Indian, Morales first rose to power as the leader of the country's coca farmers, heading sometimes violent confrontations against Bolivian troops cooperating with the U.S. to destroy coca crops.
Political turmoil has plagued Bolivia for most of its 190-year history, including dozens of coups and counter-coups and many presidents who had weak mandates when they took office without a big majority of votes.
Morales' unexpectedly large margin may give him a chance to serve out his five-year term unlike the country's other recent leaders, according to analysts.
The majority Morales won on Sunday was the biggest "not only in the last 20 years of democracy, but in the entire history of the republic," said Roger Cortes, a political analyst in La Paz.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/19/2005 00:13 ||
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How soon until the nationwide famine starts? Will that, or the corruption scandal come first?
#4
I would not be so casual about this nutcase winning the presidency in Bolivia. Now, South America has 5 leftist government: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, ann Bolivia. This is not good for the US!
Posted by: ed ||
12/19/2005 8:36 Comments ||
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#6
I wouldn't get too bent over this guy. What could the bolivians possibly hold over our heads? The price of coke may go down, but that isn't really traded on the futures market is it?
#7
It's time to turn off the damn $pigot. I'm sick and tired of sending aid to prop up every two bit dictator on "humanitarian" grounds, or to bribe them to like us.
It never works worth a damn, and unless we have explicit, short term, national interests in maintaining a foot hold, screw them.
Pakistan is an example of a country that we need to keep access to, Bolivia isn't.
#9
Uh oh...looks like our supply of bright, multi-colored capes may, potentially, be at risk. Seriously...since they're not selling their natural gas...isn't that really the only legal export that Bolivia offers us? Well, capes and Bolivarian rhetoric.
#10
How cute! The little Bolivian wanna-be dictator really thinks he's one of the big boys!
(Honestly, I do not understand why these people insist on all this silly posturing when they could be working to improve the situation for their citizens. And why on earth doesn't the citizenry insist on it?!?)
#11
I suppose I just have a twisted mind, let them have a crop failure, famine and depopulation, then we don't have to worry about them anymore.
The weak pose no threat.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/19/2005 10:39 Comments ||
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#12
"Evo is a real man of the people. He's with us," said Estela Martinez, a homemaker celebrating in Cochabamba.
Appears to be a real struggle in that part of the world to find these so called, "real men."
#13
Well, Estela. If "man of the people" starts wearing his suits with lots of big medals and sashes, I'd watch my ass. That's usually a telltale sign that things are not gonna work out the way you thought.
#19
Time to pull all USAID funds from that fool. Oh, and don't forget a nice little trade embargo with perhaps a deportation of Bolivian nationals. Send them all home.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/19/2005 18:36 Comments ||
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#20
The rarefied oxygen at their altitude may explain part of the irrationality.
Posted by: Kalle ||
12/19/2005 21:55 Comments ||
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#2
Exports - commodities: natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
We get the same from Chile, beside tasty produce and list of other minerals. Tofu I wouldn't miss for anything--makes spongy brain tissue anyway--see lunachiropterus kumbayi (kumbaya moonbat).
#3
Bolivia has large gas reserves. There were protests that brought down the government due to plan to export via Chile. Bolivia lost sea access after a war with Chile and plans are being made for a more expensive pipeline via Peru. There is also talk of nationalizing the gas and oil industry. But w/ nationalization, they can put off exports for a long time since who will finance any part of it when they ownersip/loans can be taken over at any time.
Posted by: ed ||
12/19/2005 8:46 Comments ||
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#4
Natural gas ya say? Socialist dictator ya say?
More reason to get the negotiations completed, financing secured, and a natural gas pipeline underway from Alaska's North Slope to the Lower 48. And get ANWR going, while yer at it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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#4
Glenn, as long as the kosher diet strictly conforms with the halal one, it is permitted.
I guess everyone who is allergic to seafood is screwed on Christmas. (I didn't know that Muslims celebrate the birth of Christ with a big meal, either. You learn something new every day!)
#8
What do they do if I say that halal items violate my religion? Say my religion demands that I eat pork every day.....are they going to accomodate that?
#10
Don't worry besoeker. I'll make sure to eat my
and Achmed's fair share of bacon and ham this
Christmas. Another benefit of Christianity.
Posted by: BA ||
12/19/2005 10:29 Comments ||
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#11
I just spent a few days in the hospital on the surgical ward. For each meal we were presented with several options for each part of the meal (soup/salad, entree, vegetable, dessert, beverage), with at least one thing in each section conforming to the needs of a kosher or a vegetarian diet. Of course, if one keeps strictly kosher, nothing that comes out of an uncertified kitchen will be acceptable anyway (liberalhawk and mhw recently exchanged a series of jokes, the punchline of which was that even God Himself doesn't keep quite kosher enough for certain ulta-ultra-orthodox Jews!), but the families of such people bring food from home as a matter of principle. I s trongly suspect the same holds for halal, and so this hospital's effort is not only for naught, but demonstrates that they truly don't understand.
The schools where we live let the kids no if an item contains pork (with a little pic of a piggie on the menu) I presume this was done for the benefit of muslims, but it also helps kids from the kinda sorta observant Jewish homes, like my daughter.
#13
#10 Don't worry besoeker. I'll make sure to eat my and Achmed's fair share of bacon and ham this
Christmas. Another benefit of Christianity.
Posted by: BA 2005-12-19 10:29
#15
This woman is clueless. First of all, shellfish isn't necessarily halal either.
First of all, to be truly kosher or halal, you have to have separate kitchens or at the very least separate cooking utensils and dishware. Just taking pork off the menu is meaningless.
If she wanted to provide a halal menu, all she had to do was get a couple of halal turkeys, cook them in one of those aluminum trays and serve them on paper plates. And of course make sure that nobody touching anything from prep to serving was "unclean".
A variety of substances are considered haraam (forbidden), including: pork, blood, animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but God, carrion, carnivorous animals with the exception of most fish and sea animals, and all intoxicants (specifically alcohol). A section of the Muslim community believe that fish which do not carry scales as well as lobsters and crabs are considered haraam, while others believe that only those animals living in "both worlds" (land and water) are considered haraam; for example, frogs. Fish with scales are halaal if they are allowed to die on land (they cannot be beaten to death or cut apart while still alive).
#16
No offense to those keeping Kosher, but anyone know a good recipe involving bacon and shrimp? I've already planned on blowing my diet on Christmas Eve, so I may as well go (ahem) whole hog.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/19/2005 12:54 Comments ||
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#17
wrap the bacon around the shrimp and broil. YUM. Good for low carb too. bacon wrapped in shrimp
#18
2b - while not all muslims accept shellfish, I believe most do.
And many muslims will eat non-halal but not pork (like the practice of many jews wrt Kashrut) And IIUC halal is generally more lenient about slaughtering practice than kashrut - so most halal observant muslims will eat kosher meat, but Orthodox jews wont eat halal meat.
#20
Ham for Christmas comes from Northern European farming customs. Ham and goose were about the only good party meat available in Winter for those people not permitted to hunt his lordship's deer.
Patients diets fall into several categories and the menus are modified accordingly: Low Fat/Heart Healthy/Diabetic, Low Salt, Low Fiber/Bland/Soft, Liquid and Regular. Those are doctors orders.
The diets are then modified to meet personal needs such as vegetarian, kosher, halal, chewing problems, allergies, etc.
It would be an ENORMOUS effort to provide true Kosher or Halal meals in a hospital setting. Some Jewish hospitals do it - but usually have two completely separate kitchens, tray lines and sometimes even dishwashing facilities. And then of course, with Halal, there is the problem that you'd have to fire all the infidels.
Lots of hospitals don't serve ham anymore. It's extremely high in salt and fat, though it's not unusual to see it on holiday menu.
To meet the typical needs of Kosher or Halal, it can be accomplished through a few additional menu items and paper plates. It does not require making it unavailable to those who want it.
Additionally, it is very common in hospitals for those who want to assure that their food complies with strict kosher or 7th Day Adventist or halal or unusual ethic preferences to have their family provide it for them.
#22
What about bowhead whale muktuk? Black skin about 1 cm thick, followed by blubber to the core. Hey, it's not bad at all. After you eat some, you feel like your stomach is a little furnace, puttin' out the heat. Carrots, and other things in fresh seal oil, too are healthy. People would bring stuff to patients in the hospital in Kotzebue. Kinda raises the morale. So is it or is it not bloody halal or do I have to give it up when I go north to visit?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2005 18:25 Comments ||
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#23
Jeebus, AP. You could sell that stuff as Heart Attack in a Can.
#26
Thank you kindly, liberalhawk. I'm healing very nicely, indeed -- they doubled my blood volume, which makes my body extremely happy as well as putting roses in my cheeks. :-)
As for the piggies on the menu, no such thing. We're pioneering the outer suburbs here, still at the stage where I'm the go-to girl for all those who always wondered why the Jews ____ (fill in the blank). Always nicely meant though, and it is nice to see people think about these things. Besides, the trailing daughters don't keep kosher, so it isn't a hardship (except that they are junior foodies, and would really prefer sushi, or escargot with garlic butter).
#27
Alaska Paul: I flew into Galena once and spent a few days many years ago. I watched em eat some strange stuff, but no muktuk. The moose meat is pretty good, as is the antelope and bear. I nearly tasted some beaver at the Bush Company once also.
#28
Best be careful, Besoeker. Around Rantburg you can't ever be sure if the person you approve of isn't actually one of the Chosen. Not all of them keep kosher, y'know.
In a few weeks, demolition crews will descend on a grand monstrosity that has sat empty in the German capital for 15 years: the Palace of the Republic, former home of the East German parliament and one of the few Communist relics left in the city.
The palace's destruction is eagerly awaited by many Berliners who view the rust-colored structure as a shameful eyesore. And it won't be the first time that Germans have used the wrecking ball to rewrite history on this swampy plot of land in the heart of Berlin.
In 1950, East German Communists blew up another palace that stood on the site for 500 years: the Berliner Schloss, a baroque castle on the Spree River and an architectural showpiece of the historic German capital.
Officially, the castle was razed because of damage incurred at the end of World War II. But that was largely a pretext to get rid of the castle for ideological reasons; the Communists derided it as a symbol of Prussian imperialism.
Today, the Communists are the ones who stand ideologically disgraced, while memories of Prussian times are growing fonder: The present German government has given approval to plans to replace the East German parliament not with a modern addition to the city skyline but an $800 million replica of the long-gone Berliner Schloss.
Officially, German lawmakers and bureaucrats condemned the Palace of the Republic, created by dictator Erich Honecker, because it was infested with asbestos. But like the Communists half a century ago, many are driven by an ideological aversion. "In the West," said Uwe Hacker, a German government official in charge of the demolition, "they think of it as evil, as a home for Honecker and his parliament."
The campaign to rebuild the castle is emblematic of how many Germans want to celebrate honorable chapters in their nation's troubled history. While not discounting the 20th century horrors of World War I, the Third Reich or the Cold War, these people say they'd like to recall parts of their past without feeling guilty.
Since the Berlin Wall came down, that sentiment has helped restore the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag parliament building
and the 19th century neo-classicist museums in the city center. But some Germans wonder whether the zeal to erase all remnants of the Communist era is tantamount to pretending it never happened.
"You can't wipe out history just by tearing down a building," said Lothar de Maiziere, the first and last democratically elected leader of East Germany, who presided over the final legislative moments of the palace in 1990. "The people who want to rebuild the castle see it as a way to reverse what happened in 1950 and go back to Prussian history."
The decision to tear down the Communist palace has stirred a protest movement among citizens of the former East Germany who feel shortchanged by the promises of reunification 15 years ago. Disillusioned by unemployment rates that remain twice as high in the eastern states, they have become sensitive to efforts to rub out East German symbols. On a recent weekend, about 500 people demonstrated outside the vacant Palace of the Republic, demanding a last-minute reprieve for the decrepit building. "They can't tear it down. They can't take it away," said Lieseotte Schulz, 74, a retired postal worker and resident of East Berlin. "It's one of the only things we have left!"
"It is a cultural memorial, and it should be preserved," added Marie Luise Musiol, a 19-year-old college student. "It is a historical symbol in Berlin, and in general for Germany. This idea with the castle is crazy, and it's a senseless waste of money."
But easterners are a distinct minority in Berlin, as well as in Germany as a whole... A picture of the Berliner Schloss: http://www.berliner-schloss.de/start.php?navID=191
A U.S. nuclear submarine cruised through the Arctic Ocean last month -- probably passing through Canadian territorial waters -- but the federal government is refusing to say whether it gave permission for the voyage.
However, experts say it is highly unlikely Canada was even notified of the USS Charlotte's northern tour, which included a Nov. 10 stop at the North Pole, because it has no way of tracking what goes on beneath the Arctic ice. And that could threaten Canada's claim to hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of the North, including the Northwest Passage route across the Arctic, said Michael Byers, who holds the Canada research chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia. "This is very important -- it's crucial," he said. "Any unauthorized passage could have a serious effect on our claim."
Prof. Byers said potentially lucrative oil and gas resources off the Queen Elizabeth Islands could slip out of Canadian control if foreign navies are operating in the Arctic without our permission. "The fact of the matter is that we've spent nothing on Arctic sovereignty over the past 20 years."
Pierre Leblanc, a retired colonel and former commander of the Canadian Forces' northern command, said foreign submarines have been travelling through the Canadian Arctic for decades, but the federal government usually finds out about it only by accident. He said the nations controlling the submarines -- the Americans, British and French -- usually do not tell Canada when their vessels enter the Arctic. "We're relying on their goodwill to know if they're in our waters or not."
The latest underwater trip through the Arctic came just before the federal election call last month. USS Charlotte, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, left its home base in Pearl Harbor, sailed through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and cruised under the Arctic ice pack to the pole. The nuclear-powered sub spent more than 24 hours at the top of the world, giving its 154 crew members the chance to walk on the windswept ice and even play a quick football game in the -45C temperatures.
Sorta like the Bears and Falcons last night.
The Charlotte then submerged and headed to Halifax for a port visit, en route to a refit at the naval base at Norfolk, Va. U.S. Navy spokesmen would not give details about the Charlotte's route, but the shortest southerly course would have taken it past Ellesmere Island, through the Nares Strait and into Canadian waters.
Col. Leblanc doubts the Americans informed the Canadian government of the trip, let alone sought permission for it. "I don't think they told us a thing: I don't think they told anyone," he said. "In the submarine world, they don't tell anyone anything about where they go or when they go there unless they have to."
For obvious reasons.
If the Charlotte did sail through Canadian territory en route to Halifax, the U.S. submariners likely believed they were fully entitled to do so. Canada and the United States have disagreed for decades about the extent of Canada's territorial waters in the Arctic. Canada claims water 12 nautical miles out from the Queen Elizabeth Islands, and all the straits and inlets as its internal waters. The Americans say those are international waterways that are free for anyone to cross, including the Northwest Passage.
Lieutenant-Commander John Coppard, a spokesman for the Canadian navy, would not say whether the U.S. sub strayed into Canadian territory, nor would he confirm whether the Americans sought our permission if so, or even notified Ottawa if the sub was to sail through the Canadian part of the Arctic. "We do not discuss the movements of allied [nations'] submarines," he said, adding: "One would expect that a naval vessel transiting Canadian waters would seek the appropriate diplomatic clearances."
However, Rodney Moore, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs, said any notification would have come through military channels. "It probably wouldn't come to us and we wouldn't comment on it even if it did," he said. "If anyone had it, it would be DND [the Department of National Defence]."
David Rudd, the president of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, said successive federal governments have for decades pursued a policy he describes as "out of sight, out of mind." "It's an unspoken policy of willful ignorance," he said. "If the public doesn't know about it, they're not going to agitate for more spending to monitor the North and protect our sovereignty. And serious surveillance of the North is a very expensive proposition."
Prof. Byers said Canada has only five small and ageing icebreakers, none of which is capable of operating year-round. "We have the longest coastline in the world, much of which is under ice for most of the year, and we don't even have an all-weather icebreaker," he said. "We don't even have a federal government helicopter north of 60 -- not a single one."
But they spend lots of money on advertising buys for politican's friends.
He warned that if Canada cannot keep watch on its vast northern territory, we could lose control over the Northwest Passage, a 5,000-kilometre sea route through the Canadian Arctic that climatologists say could be open to commercial vessels within the next 10 years as a result of global warming and the retreating northern ice pack. "Our enforcement capability is embarrassing," he said. "[And] that sends a message to other countries that we aren't really serious about our sovereignty or about enforcing our laws in our own territory."
Col. Leblanc said Canada is not even spending the bare minimum on northern sovereignty. While he was military commander in the North, he said even the handful of flights over the vast Arctic territory claimed by Canada were cut sharply. "The number of planned observation flights in 2000 was zero. In '99, there were two," he said. "And this is for an area the size of Europe."
"We don't have any idea what's going on up there."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/19/2005 12:03 ||
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As an ex-submariner, this is funniest article I ever read here.
Like US submarine transits are a threat to Canada's claim for its arctic islands. If anything, they are the guarantee that those Islands will always belong to Canada!
Even if the they joined the gathering horde of Western hemisphere commies, I doubt we would even care. All it means is we'll have to build another couple of fences, (Alaska-Canada too). Which we should get cheap after they build the first one on the Southern border.
And hell, they did a port visit to Halifax! That's money in people's pockets. Gladly given, I might add.
#3
I'm trying to figure out how a US submarine is supposed to make a port visit to Halifax WITHOUT passing through Canadian territorial waters.
I also would have thought that previous mutual defense agreements would have covered this sort of exercise without jeapordizing Canada's sovereignity any more than the NATO training exercises at Goose Bay do.
#4
"The fact of the matter is that we've spent nothing on Arctic sovereignty over the past 20 years."
Thats right mate, but Arctic sovereignty isn't the only thing you've neglected. Your socialist gov't has nearly destroyed a once proud Canadian military. You've been hiding under the American defense cover for at least 50 years or so, spending your money on social welfare and give-away programs for foreigners.
#5
WTF? Who do the Canadian's think will actually protect their sovereignty if it's threatened? The CAF? Your kidding right? It will be us down here using a frw of these nuclear subs, eh.
Professors of TRANZI nonsense and newsies with too much time on their hands.
#8
He said the nations controlling the submarines -- the Americans, British and French -- usually do not tell Canada when their vessels enter the Arctic. "We're relying on their goodwill to know if they're in our waters or not."
That isn't a problem, it's a feature. The only real base that the Canadians have, besides the radar sites on the northern coasts, is Alert, which is more of a listening post. The Canadians do a bunch of Continental Shelf research projects every year, with much of the support out of Resolute (on Cornwallis Island). I guess that is how they justify their claim. The only inhabited village north of Resolute is Griese Fjord on the south end of Ellesmere Island. Cool place, but toward the end of the world. Then you have a weather station at Eureka, and maybe someone still at Mould Bay to the west. All in all pretty sparsely inhabited. And no resources to enforce sovereignty. If you want to play, you've got to play.
Flew up to Resolute in 1990, still my fartherst north aircraft oil change at Latitude 75 deg N. Used HF radio and sun compass (was near the magnetic N pole, so mag compasses are useless). Got a cool poster from Northern Transportation Company, Ltd, the barge co. up there. It is called "Our Northern Point of View." Check out the website:
http://www.ntcl.com/
Then click on the tab that says, "Route Map." A pictorial view that you do not see in most places.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2005 18:00 Comments ||
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#9
*ahem* correction: If you want to play, you've got to PAY. My bad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2005 18:02 Comments ||
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#10
This article is stupid. The issue here is the right of passage through so called international straits. More or less defined as a body of water which needs to be crossed to reach one area of international waters from another or the port of third country.
The USA maintains it has an unrestricted right to transit these passges without impediment. Other countries maintain they can restrict vessels transiting them for example by searching the ships.
#11
Well, the Canadians were going to do something about it, but then the rope snapped when the crew tried to start the Evinrude, and the cook forgot to bring the Subway coupons, and then ..
#12
"We're relying on their goodwill to know if they're in our waters or not."
The maybe it would behoove the Canuck gov't to project a little goodwill towards us.
The way the Canadian gov't has treated us the last few years, I can't imagine why they think we have any "goodwill" for them left. The best they can hope for is "indifferentwill."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/19/2005 23:11 Comments ||
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PowerLine Blog has words for house democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats Punt
Nancy Pelosi says that the Democrats will have an "issue agenda" for next year's Congressional elections, but it will not include a position on Iraq:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats should not seek a unified position on an exit strategy in Iraq, calling the war a matter of individual conscience and saying differing positions within the caucus are a source of strength for the party.
Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she sad.
Bhutanâs king is to hand power to his son and stage the tiny Himalayan kingdomâs first democratic elections in 2008, the state-run Kuensel newspaper reported on Sunday. In March, the Buddhist kingdom published a draft constitution that aimed to set up a two-party democracy after nearly a century of absolute monarchy put in place with British support in 1907. âI would like our people to know that the first national election to elect a government under a system of parliamentary democracy will take place in 2008,â the newspaper quoted King Jigme Singye Wangchuck as telling a public rally in the town of Trashi Yangtse. Wangchuck said his son, Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, would take over from him in 2008.
âIt is my wish and prayer that during the reign of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the Palden Drukpa (Bhutan) will remain strong and glorious ... and the hopes and aspirations of our people will be fulfilled,â Wangchuck was quoted as saying.
Seven years ago, Wangchuck, who became king in 1972 at the age of 16 on his fatherâs death, took a major step on the road to political reform by devolving power to a council of ministers. In 2001, he initiated the drafting of a new constitution to eventually replace a half-century-old royal decree under which Bhutan has been run. The draft calls for a two-chamber parliament - a 75-member National Assembly and a 25-member National Council. The king would remain head of state, but parliament would have the power to impeach him on a two-thirds vote. Citizens have been canvassed for their views on Wangchuckâs plans to hand powers to a council of ministers, introduce a system of two-party democracy and subject the monarchy to a confidence vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2005 00:00 ||
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We're suing the King of Bhutan for band-name infringement.
#2
Last year, like kings of olde, the crown prince led his army into battle against the ULFA terrorists, evicting them from bases inside the kingdom. He was wounded in one encounter.
Posted by: john ||
12/19/2005 17:29 Comments ||
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Scientists have mapped part of the genome of the woolly mammoth, a huge mammal that's been extinct for about 10,000 years.
The breakthrough could lead to recreating the creatures.
A team led by Hendrik Poinar at McMaster University unlocked secrets of the animal's nuclear DNA by working with a well-preserved 27,000-year-old specimen from Siberia. Colleagues at Penn State sequenced 1 percent of the genome in a few hours and say they expect to finish the whole genome in about a year if funding is provided.
"We were stunned," Poinar said today. âOnce you successfully sequence a genome, there are a million interesting questions one can begin to address."
The researcher can now begin to determine what separates mammoths from their closest living relatives, the Indian elephant.
Make mammoths?
âMore importantly our discovery means that recreating extinct hybrid animals is theoretically possible," Poinar said.
The scientists are already pondering the ethics involved.
"McMaster is already planning the first conference devoted to the ethics of bringing extinct organisms back to life," said Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president research and international affairs. "We have an obligation as scientists to explore and maintain the responsible use of research."
Researchers admit, however, that creating an extinct beast from scratch is not something they know how to do yet.
âWhile we can now retrieve the entire genome of the woolly mammoth, that does not mean we can put together the genome into organized chromosomes in a nuclear membrane with all the functional apparatus needed for life," said Ross MacPhee, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History who worked on the project. "We can't even do that with modern DNA."
The study will be detailed later this week in the journal Science.
The decoding was announced earlier than planned because a second study was reported in the media Sunday. In the other work, researchers sequenced mitochondrial DNA from a mammoth, but that reveals only the maternal side of evolution. Poinar said his project decodes both sides by looking at the nuclear DNA, where the majority of life's software resides.
Hunted by humans
Mammoths roamed Siberia and America during the Pleistocene era, which ended 10,000 years ago as the last Ice Age retreated. Studies have shown that their demise was due largely to hunting by humans, not from climate change as one theory held.
The breakthrough has been anticipated recently as other work has made similar progress. Scientists in June said they had unraveled snippets of the genetic code of an extinct bear species.
Other researchers have expressed a desire to revive the mammoth by injecting frozen sperm DNAâif they can find someâinto elephants. Over several generations, they'd create a creature that's 88 percent mammoth.
The DNA revealed by Poinar's groups is "very similar to the African elephant genome," the group writes in their journal paper.
In August, an American research team proposed restoring elephants, cheetahs and other African animals to the American plains. And a Russian team has created a Pleistocene Park to investigate mysteries of the mammoth.
The same folks that claim were going to get into severe (self-induced) global warming want to resurrect an elephant covered in fur? Does PETA know about this obvious cruelty to animals?
#2
During the invasion of Afghanistan our Special Operators participated in calvary charges. We should thonk about all possibilities before getting involved in North Africa.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2005 19:07 Comments ||
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There's something iconic about the wooly mammoth that captivates those who want to reconstruct them.
As to technique, I gather once they have figured out the genome of the mammoth, then they will do some elaborate cut-and-paste with their DNA to produce an elephant and mammoth hybrid, mothered by an elephant.
From that point, they cut-and-paste DNA again until they produce a "pure" strain of mammoth. Perhaps in 3 or 4 generations.
Russia has already set aside a BIG area in Siberia as a "mammoth preserve", when and if they pull it off.
Re: the pic, it's not Kenny G, but Frank's use of it in his duplicate post set me laughing so here it is again.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western and "indecent" music from state-run TV and radio stations. The ban follows a ruling in October by the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, which he heads, to ban Western songs from the airwaves.
"Blocking indecent and Western music from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required," a statement from the council said. Songs by artists such as Eric Clapton and George Michael will be affected.
Songs such as Clapton's Rush, Michael's Careless Whisper and The Eagles' Hotel California are often used as background music on Iranian TV programmes. Songs by American easy-listening artist Kenny G are also often featured.
"This is terrible," said Iranian guitarist Babak Riahipour, a musician whose songs featured on state TV and radio. "The decision shows a lack of knowledge and experience."
Mr Ahmadinejad became president this year promising to reverse a recent series of reforms and return Iran to the ultra-conservative atmosphere of the 1979 revolution.
"Supervision of content from films, TV series and their voice-overs is emphasized in order to support spiritual cinema and to eliminate trite and violence," the council said on its website in reference to the October ruling...
#2
Note to self: Have Commando Solo stock up on lots of Kenny G music. For "future use"...
Posted by: US Air Force: Psychogical Operations Group ||
12/19/2005 15:49 Comments ||
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#3
I bet it was a tough call between muzak and heroin trafficing.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2005 15:52 Comments ||
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#4
"Blocking indecent and Western music from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required, if you continue to play these dreadful sounds, how can we possibly hear the incoming infidel Thomahawk missiles?"
#7
They can torture their population by playing this 24/7:
It's a world without laughter
A world of tears
It's a world without hope
And a world of fears
There's so many who need to die
That it's time we have to try
It's an Islamic world after all
There is just Allah
And Allah is one
And a smile means
Death to someone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's an Islamic world after all
It's an Islamic world after all
It's an Islamic world after all
It's an Islamic world after all
It's an Islamic Islamic world
Niamey, Niger, 12/19 - Beirut, the Lebanese capital, is to host the 6th Francophone Games in 2009, after the 5th edition ended late Saturday with a fan-fair in the Niger capital, Niamey.
Francophone Games would be Olympics for French speaking and formerly French ruled countries.
A high-point of the closing ceremony was the handing over of the Games` flag to the Lebanese contingent by Niger Youth and Sports Minister Abdoulrahamane Seydou. In closing remarks, on behalf of the President of the International Committee of the Francophone Games, Jean François Lamour, who could not attend, Chadian Youth and Sports Minister, Oumar Boukar, commended the quality of the Games` organisation, saying "the people of Niger can legitimately be proud of the success."
Niger is first African country South of the Sahara to have hosted the Games, with some 3,000 artistes, athletes and officials from Francophone nations, including 44 African countries in attendance. Combining sports with culture, the event featured football, basketball, athletics, judo, table tennis, boxing, singing, painting, dancing, story-telling and poetry.
I'm thinking this sounds a lot like a political statement by the French government in support of Lebanon
Posted by: Steve ||
12/19/2005 15:01 ||
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of course Lebanon isnt francophone - arabic is the ONLY official language, IIUC.
Back in the 1940s Maronite Lebanon WAS virtually francophone. Arab league offered them a deal when they became independent from France. Join the arab league, become soley arab in identity, and we will recognize you, including the frontiers that include so many non-Maronites. Stick with your French identity, and we'll contest your existence and borders. Leb chose to take the deal.
Heh heh - another Euro-American split
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city. The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned killer inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria.
In a letter that began "Dear Mister Mayor," Schwarzenegger said he decided to spare the Graz city council "further concern" should he be forced to make other clemency decisions while he's governor. Another inmate is scheduled to be executed in California Jan. 17. "Don't worry your little selves"
"In all likelihood, during my term as governor, I will have to make similar and equally difficult decisions," Schwarzenegger said in the letter. "To spare the responsible politicians of the city of Graz further concern, I withdraw from them as of this day the right to use my name in association with the Liebenauer Stadium."
The stadium was renamed for the former Hollywood star in 1997. He asked that the lettering be removed by year's end.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said the letter was faxed Monday to the Graz city hall. The city council was expected to take up the matter next month. I think that's not really necessary now, is it, you grandstanding assholes. Feeling morally superior?
In the letter, Schwarzenegger also said he would no longer permit the use of his name "to advertise or promote the city of Graz in any way" and would return the city's "ring of honor."
The ring was given to him in a ceremony in Graz in 1999. At the time, Schwarzenegger said he considered it "a token of sincere friendship between my hometown and me."
"Since, however, the official Graz appears to no longer accept me as one of their own, this ring has lost its meaning and value to me. It is already in the mail," the governor wrote. "mailed third class, like the politicians of Graz"
Williams, unrepentant co-founder of the Crips gang, was convicted of four 1979 murders. He was executed shortly after midnight Dec. 13.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2005 21:10 ||
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His demise is greatly exaggerated IMO
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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Arnie ain't one to threaten or insult. I suspect he was very proud of the role he played in the Williams execution.
#5
Well, the Graz city council could always rename their beloved stadium in memory of Tookie Williams.
[/bad taste comment]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/19/2005 21:48 Comments ||
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#6
For some reason I just can't be convinced that these moral phonies really give a rat's ass about the death penalty half a world away. But then I was always a cynical bloke.
Posted by: long memory ||
12/19/2005 22:06 Comments ||
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Name me an Austrian politician who ignored law and made it up as he went along, hmmmmm.....
I would sign a petition, anything to help the Euro's become and even greater parody of themselves. How is THAT going to be explained on the tourist map of Graz?
While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.
Don't know if the study's methodology is all that foolproof, but the results are kinda interesting
#1
It's UCLA, and the study's authors claim to have been surprised by the results, so I think the study can be trusted. Certainly their claims match what I saw just these last few days in the Wal Street Journal's "news" pages. I wrote the journalists a chiding letter. (I know, silly me, but I'm in a mood not to suffer fools lightly, y'know?)
(CNSNews.com) - An administrator at California State University, Sacramento has banned decorations pertaining to Christmas and the 4th of July, among other holidays, from her office because they represent "religious discrimination" and "ethnic insensitivity." So, the 4th of July is ethnically insensitive, is it? I wonder if Sonntag still accepts federal funding from the evil United States whose birthday she condemns.
"Time has come to recognize that religious discrimination, as well as ethnic insensitivity to certain holidays, is forbidden," Patricia Sonntag, director of the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities, stated in the directive she e-mailed to members of her staff on Dec. 9. Jah! Verboten!
So she's going to ban religious discrimination by banning .. a Christian holiday. Oh. I see. Well then.
Cybercast News Service obtained the directive from the non-profit Catholic League, which "defends the right of Catholics ... to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination," according to its website. The content of the e-mail was confirmed by the university.
The memo specifically names Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day and Easter as the most offensive holidays, but Sonntag adds that they are "off the top of the list," implying that there may be others. I would bet that Bastille Day, Lenin's birthday (aka Earth Day), and May Day are still acceptable though.
Don't forget Ramadan.
She wrote that the ban was being implemented "in order to avoid offending someone else" because Sacramento State is "a secular university and we are a public service area that has a diverse employee and student populations [sic] even in our private offices." It doesn't occur to her that her orders are based on extremist political ideology and that she is using her publicly mandated authority to enforce conformity to those ideological positions.
Sonntag noted that she is "the worst offender and celebrant," and apologized "if this offends anyone, but it is time to start the new year differently." Sonntag, whose name means "Sunday," is a born offender.
A Nov. 28 profile of Sonntag in the university's faculty and staff newsletter stated that she and her office "Have been the cornerstone of equality and progress here on campus." If you're a National Socialist, that is. Wait, even Nazis didn't ban Christmas decorations, though they may have shared her aversion to the 4th of July.
Yup, she's the cornerstone and linch-pin. Not the students, not the faculty, not their achievements, it's her, all her, and all about her. This is performance art. Was she a drama major?
But the university associate vice president for public affairs, Frank Whitlatch, distanced the university from Sonntag's policy, saying in a prepared statement that it "was well-intentioned but strays from the established practice." "I don't even know the cat that drug her in."
He stated that the university "has no guidelines prohibiting holiday decorations," aside from the responsibility of supervisors, "to ensure that employees do not spend an unreasonable amount of work time decorating." Translation: The bitch is finished here.
Whitlatch echoed Sonntag's sentiments that Sacramento State "is a public entity ... and employees do not endorse specific religious beliefs while on the job." Except Islam and Gaia worship, of course.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue called the policy a violation of free speech rights. "It never occurs to these secular supremacists that it is their aversion to anything religious - or patriotic - that accounts for their desire to muzzle free speech."
A receptionist in Sonntag's office told Cybercast News Service that Sonntage was on vacation. Off to Taos to sacrifice a virgin with some friends at the annual Solstice get-together.
They usually go on vacation first. Then they go on administrative leave. Then they go on to a new job.
The office's assistant director, Teresa Mendick, did not return calls requesting comment for this article. "I didn't know that cat either."
We want Rocklin Democracy for America Meetups too!
......
Patricia Sonntag
Sacramento, CA · Tue Mar 01 14:58:52 EST 2005
"What is Democracy for America?"
"Inspired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, Democracy for America (DFA) is a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of governmentâfrom school board to the presidency. DFA fights against the influence of the far right-wing and their radical, divisive policies and the selfish special interests that for too long have dominated our politics."
"DFA has a long-term goal to rebuild the Democratic Party from the bottom upâit will take time, but we must start building a base now for the future"
#2
He stated that the university "has no guidelines prohibiting holiday decorations,"
hmmm.. That's a bit ambiguous. Does he mean that she's in the clear because they have no guidelines to prevent her from prohibiting holiday decorations? just asking.
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.
Sir 
After enduring the most brutal of colonial histories, more than three decades of despotic rule after independence, and five years of playing the bloody host to "Africaâs first world war", the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo finally had something to smile about yesterday: they had a free vote. Lining up before dawn at more than 40,000 polling stations across the vast country, millions of people cast their ballots on whether to accept a new constitution. 
(CNSNews.com) - An administrator at California State University, Sacramento has banned decorations pertaining to Christmas and the 4th of July, among other holidays, from her office because they represent "religious discrimination" and "ethnic insensitivity."
