The head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association has urged the Nepali government to take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped off on top of Mount Everest. The Himalayan Times reported on Friday that the Nepali climbing guide, whose name it gave as Lakpa Tharke, stood naked for three minutes in freezing conditions on the 8 850m summit of the world's highest peak. If confirmed, he would be the first person known to have stripped atop Everest, considered by Nepali Buddhists as a god.
On Saturday, Ang Tshering Sherpa, head of Nepal's top mountaineering body, said he could not confirm that the incident had happened. "But if he did it, it is very shocking because Sagarmatha is the goddess mother," he said. "The government must enforce strict ethics for climbing." Authorities have yet to comment.
I can understand why. I feel kinda speechless myself.
#4
Next I suppose someone's going to want to make whoopie there....
MoneyQuote:
But the climbs organizers seemed happy enough with Lakpa Thaekes strip.
We are planning to file his extraordinary feat for the Guinness Book of World Records, the paper quoted an official of the hiking group that employs Tharke as saying.
His team told expedition organisers of his world-topping strip on Wednesday by satellite telephone and said they had taken photographs of the shivering Sherpa.
"Lakpa Tharke Sherpa stood naked for about three minutes after reaching the summit on Wednesday," Ishwori Poudel, managing director of the Himalayan Guides Nepal Trek and Expeditions, told AFP.
#9
So - how are they going to punish this guy - throw him into a "chilly" prison cell?
In my book, if you make it to the summit of Everest, you are entitled to do anything you want - you write your own laws/rules at that pinnacle, because you are a population of one (or maybe a very small handful of seriously suffering people)
A TRANSSEXUAL who moved to the UK because he feared persecution in his home town in America is seeking £500,000 compensation from his former British employers. He says he was demoted in Britain after he underwent surgery to feminise his face and breasts. Josh Bussert, 41, who now calls himself Jessica, is claiming for sex discrimination and victimisation against Hitachi Data Systems on the grounds that he was demoted from a senior information technology job. I am not a slacker, said Bussert. Im a hard worker and my change of sex does not affect my performance.
He is claiming £500,000 compensation in Britain in what is thought to be the largest discrimination claim to be launched over a sex change. The claim is expected to go to an employment tribunal within three months. Bussert, who transferred from the American branch of the same technology firm two years ago, is also pursuing £2m damages against the company in a parallel claim in the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Cheap. 1.5 million would make evething honkey dory.
#2
Ya know, making it so people are uncomfortable working with you could be considered rendering yourself unfit for a leadership position. It's one thing to have a condition that occurred naturally; it's a completely different thing to choose.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/28/2006 16:22 Comments ||
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Despite its often prophesised collapse, Zimbabwe is still standing - but experts have warned that planning for economic recovery by the international community is now critical.
Seems like Zim should be the one planning for economic recovery. They're the ones with the problem, not the international community. As far as I know, there's nothing in the international community's contract that says it exists to bail out kleptocracies and other sorts of failed states.
Presenting a paper on the economic, political and security situation in Zimbabwe, Tony Hawkins, professor at the Graduate School of Management of the University of Zimbabwe, commented: "Eight years into economic decline that has cut GDP [gross domestic product] by 40 percent and halved income per head, Zimbabwe is still standing - highlighting the yawning chasm that separates economic decline and political change in Africa."
The only way Zim hasn't collapsed is politically, and it's entirely likely that when Bob croaks the same political establishment will continue running the place further into the ground. It's only still standing because Bob couldn't sell off the pieces and the Movement for Democratic Change isn't made up of Somalis.
A recent report, 'After Mugabe: Applying post-conflict recovery lessons to Zimbabwe', published in the Harvard University Africa Policy Journal (APJ), underscores the need for the international community to "start preliminary planning now for responses to a transition in Zimbabwe", given the "war-like trauma experienced by the country and acute conditions today".
That's the donor aid the first paragraph mentions, of course. The logic of that escapes me, silly little man that I am. When Bob shuffles off this mortal coil there will be some sort of a line of logic that says those remaining behind to continue his iron-fisted ways should be rewarded with a fresh shipment of boodle. That's the part that triggers my intellectual gag reflex. Were I advising the international community which I'm not, since I don't even own a turtleneck and haven't smoked a Gauloise since I was about 19 I'd say that once post-Bob Zim shows signs of changing its ways we might offer aid if asked politely and given guarantees that it didn't go into the pockets of Bob II.
The report warns that "the southern African country is in a perilous state of decline and could face a transition at any time. Waiting until the day after the fall of [president] Robert Mugabe could be too late". President Mugabe's current term in office ends in 2008.
Too late for whom? Not for the international community. Bob, Grace & Co. have thoroughly fouled their own nest. Their people suffer. But their people haven't risen up in their wrath and cut their tormentors' heads off. Zim's oozing corruption remains an internal problem and therefore no skin of our collective fore.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 09:45 ||
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When Bob shuffles off this mortal coil there will be some sort of a line of logic that says those remaining behind to continue his iron-fisted ways should be rewarded with a fresh shipment of boodle. That's the part that triggers my intellectual gag reflex.
Remind me of Gromgoru's Arab Way of Making War
1. Start War
2. Loose War
3. Put conditions on the victor.
#4
The Vulture Elites pray for and actively facilitate such disasters - so they can call for Other People's Money to be "donated" and then "manage" it, LOL.
#6
Didn't Zimbabwe used to be called 'the breadbasket of Africa'?
And this POS has run it into the ground, made hundreds of thousands homeless, made countless thousands more leave the country, killed opponents, muzzled the press, stolen farms, paid off his cronies and done his best to destroy the infrastructure of the country as well.
And now the rest of the world (and you know that what that really means is America) has to pick up the bill?
Excuse my language, but ************** it!
For the sake of half a pound of lead (I would have wanted to make sure) there's an entire country that has been flushed down the tubes.
Swine.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/28/2006 16:02 Comments ||
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Even if Mugabe goes, the rest of ZANU-PF and Mutambara and Moyo's parts of the MDC will still be around.
The former will either want to keep what they have stolen, or at least not be executed for it. The latter two would open the aid-spigot, but they would keep much of the already enacted policies.
Just days after British Prime Minister Tony Blair made headlines admitting errors in Iraq, his wife Cherie said on Saturday she too had made mistakes but did not like to talk about her gaffes. During the nine years her husband has been in power, Cherie Blair has been skewered in the press for everything from her political comments to her choice of friends. In an interview with the BBC she said it would be "arrogant and foolish" to say she did everything right. When pressed about mistakes she said: "I don't own up to them publicly. I'm never really in a situation where it gets to that." The latest unwelcome spotlight shone on her this week when she was criticised for signing a copy of the official report into a government scientist's suicide which was then offered for auction at a fundraiser for the ruling Labour Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Don't blame her much. Any mistake she admits to would be blown out of proportion anyway, used for media folly.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/28/2006 0:18 Comments ||
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don't worry Cherie, my wife never admits to them either........
#7
This is newsworthy?
NO female ever admits a mistake, after all they were just misunderstandings by the men who she talked to, not her fault, no no, not ever.
I had a conversation once at dinner with a Judge, he stated "No woman should ever be hit" I asked him "Why then do we have prisons for women?"
No answer.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/28/2006 12:56 Comments ||
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#8
I'd answer because there's a market for the movies, but that's just me.
#11
I'm single, and here's what I know about women. The young lady next door is fat because she eats to replace the fact that no man will look at her. No man will look at her because she's fat. She gains about 35 lbs every year, and still no guys are calling. She is adjusting her life to never going out, and never being seen.
It makes me feel a tad frustrated. I know the problem, the solution, and how to implement it, but I'm not suicidal. What's really sad is that she was cute once.
A LEADING Anglican bishop has attacked the trend towards what he called a multi-faith mish-mash in ethnically diverse Britain, and said it was time to reassert the country's Christian identity. Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali also questioned heir-to-the throne Prince Charles's desire to be seen as a defender of all faiths, not just Christianity, when he takes over as monarch.
Oh, this is great. It takes a Pakistani-born British Christian to point out that the Emperor is buck nekkid and that Prince Chuck exhibits the same core principles as a bowl of Jello.
Pakistani-born Nazir-Ali, whose family background is both Christian and Muslim, pitched into an emotive debate about national identity in a country deeply shocked last year when four British Islamic militants killed 52 people in attacks on London's transport system. The bishop argued that the basis of British society, from the monarchy to its laws, was "Christian constitutionally".
That's what makes Britain British, as opposed to... ummm... Pakistani or something.
"All our values come ultimately from the Bible," he told BBC radio.
And the Koran's not a continuation of the New Testament...
"People of other faiths recognise this and they are not often the ones asking for a multi-faith mish-mash. They recognise the value of Britain being a Christian country," he said.
"Sometimes they stand around scratching their turbans, wondering what the hell's going on..."
He has complained that the Church had come under increasing pressure to convert chapels in places such as prisons and hospitals into neutral venues that could be used by people of all faiths.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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in the end - this is just Darwin in action. In the UK - Islam is the stronger horse than is the current anglican multi no faith mish-mash. Islam isn't better - it's just stronger and more aggressive than the PC rot of George Galloway and Cheri Blair.
Around 15,000 people demanding constitutional reform to trim the powers of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and a crackdown on crime protested Saturday in this Central Asian state. "Bakiyev Open Your Eyes!" and "No To Corruption! No To Crime!" were among the slogans chanted by the protesters, who gathered in central Bishkek near the presidential and government headquarters in the second largest opposition demonstration in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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I'm sure this will make the front page in the MSM - not.
Since FP just said our base in Kyrgyzstan was one of the most important US bases.... could outside influences be behind the protests? Since the base cost was just raised to $23x millions could that money be behind the corruption charges?
The European Union agreed Saturday to give itself another year to sort out the impasse over its troubled constitution and build confidence in the bloc's plans for further expansion. EU leaders have spent the last 12 months in a self-imposed "period of reflection" after French and Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected the constitution in referendums a year ago. Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said the EU envoys meeting in Vienna agreed that although Europeans remain positive about the grouping, "we need to extend the reflection period" by another year to settle doubts about the charter and the future of the bloc.
The constitution was designed to reorganize bloc's decision-making and raise its profile as a global player by establishing an EU president and foreign minister. But all 25 member states had to approve it for it to take effect. Bot suggested a new EU treaty or constitution be in place by 2009. He reiterated, however, that the Dutch government would not put the charter to a popular referendum or a parliamentary vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:25 ||
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"Gentlemen, upon reflection, I submit that we must gain control of the vote-counting process!"
#5
East Saint Louis has the best vote-fixers, even better than Da Saint'd Mayor's Eleventh Ward Machine here in Chicaga. And youse can take dat to da bank.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2006 11:31 Comments ||
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East St. Louis doesn't need vote fixers. The residents are all in favor of the results they produce.
#10
I was talking to a colleague about the EU and its 'plans' about 18 months ago, when all the 'constitution' talk was building up. I told him that there was no way the federalists would allow their dream of 'ever closer union' to fail, and that one way or another, they would push their agenda through, whether through the 'constitution' or via other, more opaque, routes.
We talked about getting out of the EU, to which I said that it wasn't likely to be 'allowed'. He was sceptical at first, but after quite some more chat (and beers), he stopped, looked up and said "there's going to be a war, isn't there?" to which I replied "I think it's likely".
He reiterated, however, that the Dutch government would not put the charter to a popular referendum or a parliamentary vote.
That says all you need to know about the federalists.
I truly despise the EU.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/28/2006 15:07 Comments ||
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It's easily the biggest pile of Other People's Money likely to be available anywhere in the world for the forseeable future - and they can engineer the scam with no accountablility - so no, they will never give up.
Perhaps they will home in on the half-million dollar bribe, offered to an African official "to motivate him real good". An alternative could be the note, bearing the word "cash", written to avoid Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) listening devices. Or there is the small matter of the $90,000 (£48,000), carefully wrapped in aluminium foil and hidden in plastic food containers within Congressman William Jefferson's freezer.
Unfortunately for the Democratic Party as it struggles to seize back power on Capitol Hill, these are not plot choices being debated by scriptwriters for the Mob drama The Sopranos. They are options being considered by Republican strategists for use in an advertising attack campaign for November's congressional elections which they believe will blow a hole in Democrat plans to expose a "culture of corruption" within President George W Bush's party.
The FBI searched Mr Jefferson's Washington office last week, the first time that federal officials had raided a congressman's headquarters. To justify its actions, the bureau unsealed an 83-page affidavit that had gleeful Republicans cracking jokes about "frozen assets".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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So why are GOP congressmen defending this guy?? Apparently Rep. Hastert didn't get the memo.
#3
From what I remember reading, Abramof clearly stated that Tom Delay was clean. Jefferson had better be convicted and sentenced to a LONG jail term, or the corruption in Washington will grow expotentially. I think the stupidity of the recent statements by the Democratic Black Caucus should cause all of us to be concerned. Hastert was trying to create immunity from investigation by the Executive, whose responsibility is to implement the laws of the nation. Also, maybe Dennis has something he's hiding in his freezer? I expect lots of holes being dug in strange places, and mysterious bundles buried deep.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/28/2006 15:49 Comments ||
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Keep Representative Jefferson on the front page as long as possible, in as much of the country as possible.
Also keep the illegal immigration debate on the front pages.
Scores of volunteers gathered at a remote ranch Saturday to help a civilian border-patrol group start building a short security fence in hopes of reducing illegal immigration from Mexico. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps plans to install a combination of barbed wire, razor wire, and in some spots, steel rail barriers along the 10-mile stretch of private land in southeastern Arizona.
The group's founder, Chris Simcox, said they want a secure fence and they're starting at the site where his first patrols began in November 2002.
Rancher John Ladd and his son, Jack, were hopeful the effort would limit the illegal immigrants and drug runners who have cut the small fence along the property or just driven over it to cross into the U.S. "We've been fighting this thing for 10 years with the fence, and nobody will do anything," Jack Ladd said.
Most of the day was dedicated to speeches from politicians and Minutemen leaders and celebrating large donations the Minutemen group has been receiving. Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair said it would take up to three weeks to build the estimated $100,000 fence. So far, the group has raised $380,000 for more border fences, she said.
Timothy Schwartz of Glendale, Ariz., who was among at least 200 volunteers gathered, said he wants to see a fence along the border from California to Texas. "We're not going to stop," Schwartz said. "We're going to stay here with a group and keep building."
Quetzal Doty of Sun Lakes, Ariz., a retired U.S. diplomatic consular officer, brought his wife, Sandy, to the event. He said he's convinced the Minutemen and most Americans aren't anti-immigrant. "They're just anti-illegal," said Doty. "The Minutemen walk the extra mile to avoid being anti-immigrant and that's what we like about the organization and what got us interested." The last paragraph must be excised in any MSM republication.
#3
If they complete the 10 mile stretch, it will embarrass the border Govs and the congress. It will be both impossible to ignore and impossible to easily explain away. The MSM wil cover it because they'll spin to lay it solely at Bush's feet, though it was definitely a group clusterfuck that led to this moment.
This is the seed that will get it done. Thank you, Chris.
#5
I think this is the group I sent some fence money to a few weeks ago.
Money well spent.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/28/2006 15:33 Comments ||
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This is so cool. I really wish these guys well. Surely there's some oil guy in Texas that's got $20 million burning a hole in his pocket...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/28/2006 15:47 Comments ||
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*slaps forehead*
Damn! Thank you, Tony. I know some of those guys - we go hunting ever so often. Never shot one cuz they aren't lawyers, lol. Hmmmm... I need to think about this - they're all old hard-bitten nasty bastards, kinda like me, lol. Real wildcatters with not a namby-pamby Daddy's Money or Petrofizzicist in the lot, so only facts will talk, not fluffy-bunny shit. This could be great, lol. Thanks! God RB is great! Rantburgahu Akbar!
#9
Gracious, boy! Are you always so disparaging and abusive to people you don't know and so cynical about matters of which you have no actual knowledge? Son, every word I said was true and you need to relax. What a nasty piece of work.
When the real guys fail to do the job, call in the dummies. That, in short, is the Central Public Works Department's latest plan of action to deal with marauding monkeys of the high-profile Raisina Hill area in the Capital.
Failing to rid the high-security area of the monkey menace and with their best bet, the black-faced langurs employed to scare away the marauding simians, unable to stand vigil 24 hours CPWD officials are working on a project to use the services of dummy langurs.
The department, a senior official said, plans to procure stone statues of langurs. "These dummies will look real. They will have wheels for easy movement, but these will be covered to make the dummies look real.
At some places, we plan to place these statues on bicycles, just like the real langurs carried by madaris (langur-keepers)," he said. The dummies will be placed all over the Raisina Hill area, among the worst affected by the menace.
Though langurs employed by the government do scare away the notorious monkeys, but they are 'on duty' only from 9 am to 6 pm. After the langurs leave, the monkeys return to wreak havoc.
CPWD feels employing dummies will not only keep monkeys off round the clock, it will also save the government money. The madaris are currently paid Rs 7,000 a month for their services.
If this measure appears desperate, so is the situation. As a CPWD officer put it, "In this rhesus monkeys have been attacking people, sabotaging hotlines and destroying property.
A couple of years ago, monkeys raided Army headquarters and classified documents were found strewn in corridors and power cables to computers containing sensitive data were snapped.
The simians routinely enter private houses, raid fridges, snap power lines and take free bus rides. At least 10,000 monkeys plague South Block alone."
The government had mooted, and rejected, several plans to tackle the problem, such as setting up a park for captured monkeys or neutering the animals.
An earlier plan to trap the pests and ship them to neighbouring states fell apart after these states complained they had enough trouble coping with their own monkeys.
Exterminating the animals was not an option are they are worshipped as incarnations of Lord Hanuman, sources said. The sterilisation plan also faced stiff opposition from animal activists.
"Former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh had hit upon the plan to use the services of the black-faced langur. Langur keepers were hired as government employees and paid salaries for their services.
But it's high time we found a permanent solution. Even now, such is the monkey terror that government employees walk to work warily armed with sticks and stones, an official said.
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2006 19:45 ||
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It sounds like they could use a couple of tigers wandering the landscape. ;-)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said that the latest data shows per capita income in the country has risen to US$846 due to the government's prudent economic policies over the last five years. Talking to a delegation of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) led by Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman at the PM House, he said the government intended to provide relief to the common man through a number of measures in the forthcoming budget for 2006-07. He said the government had already taken some bold steps to check domestic prices of sugar and cement. He told the delegation that due to the economic reforms, the country's debt had come down from over 100 percent of GDP in 1999 to less than 60 percent at present. He said the privatisation process of various public sector entities was clear and transparent.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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All those billions in foreign aid.
Shaukat better be careful, this is not sustainable.. and the crash will be severe...
Posted by: john ||
05/28/2006 9:44 Comments ||
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It's more interesting to compare per capita GDP at PPP - which takes into account cost of living. When the British ruled India, it included what is today Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. So they all began at roughly the same starting point:
India (per capita GDP - PPP): $3400
Pakistan (per capita GDP - PPP): $2400
So the per capita GDP in India is 50% higher. What could possibly account for the difference? (Hint: democracy, education, culture).
Ariel Sharon, who has been comatose since suffering a massive stroke in January, will be moved from Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital to a long-term care facility in Tel Aviv. The 78-year-old Sharon will be transferred on Sunday to Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre, probably in the morning, Hadassah's spokesman said on Saturday.
But Ron Krumer denied a local television report that the former premier could be moved overnight. The move had been discussed for several weeks, since Sharon has shown no signs that he will regain consciousness. Sheba will try to take Sharon off a respirator and make other efforts to revive him, Channel 2 said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Wonder if they will try that new medicine on him that revived a couple of long term coma patients?
Though it was designed as the heart of the upcoming Sony PlayStation3 game console, the STI Cell processor has created quite a stir in the computational science community, where the processor's potential as a building block for high performance computers has been widely discussed and speculated upon.
To evaluate Cell's potential, computer scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory evaluated the processor's performance in running several scientific application kernels, then compared this performance against other processor architectures.
[..]
"Overall results demonstrate the tremendous potential of the Cell architecture for scientific computations in terms of both raw performance and power efficiency," the authors wrote in their paper. [b]"We also conclude that Cell's heterogeneous multi-core implementation is inherently better suited to the HPC environment than homogeneous commodity multi-core processors."[/b]
[..]
"We've integrated 1024 Cell processors into our new massively parallel super-computer and we're now getting over 1 million frames per second on Quake 4. "
Record numbers of men and women are downloading pornography from the internet, making Britain the fastest-growing market in the world for the booming £20bn adult website industry.
In the first definitive portrait of the nation's consumption of pornography, The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that more than nine million men - almost 40 per cent of the male population - used pornographic websites last year, compared with an estimated two million in 2000.
In a major survey for the IoS by Nielsen NetRatings, a world leader in internet analysis, research discloses that women are among the fastest-growing users of pornography on the internet, with a 30 per cent rise from just over one million to 1.4 million in the past 12 months. The figures also show that more than half of all children - some seven million - have encountered pornography on the internet "while looking for something else".
Until now, the extent of the use by Britons of internet pornography had not been accurately measured. But the new figures show that one in four men aged 25 to 49 have visited an adult website in the past month - a total of 2.5 million. The surge in use of web pornography mirrors a huge boom in the number of hard-core sex films available to buy legally in the UK over the past few years. Film censors passed more hard-core sex films last year than 18-rated movies.
Relationship agencies have reported that as many as 40 per cent of couples with problems believe pornography has contributed to their difficulties.
Christine Lacey, a senior counsellor for Relate, said: "For many women, the reaction is exactly the same as if they discovered their partner is having an affair. They may not be having sex with someone else but the effect is the same if it is detrimental to their marriage."
Sandra Gidley, MP, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said she was "alarmed by the type of material accessible to people, particularly young people". "I'm concerned that the boundaries are being pushed on what is acceptable. Some of the hard-core stuff is quite shocking," she said.
While some specialists welcomed the figures, saying they show Britons have a more liberated attitude towards sex, others warned the search for graphic images of sex acts is contributing to relationship break-ups.
Phillip Hodson of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy warned that this new generation of "voyeurs" risk problems in their love lives. "The internet has made sex-lazy men even sex-lazier where they get lost in their own world," he added. "It used to be said that men neglected foreplay, but now they are neglecting sex."
The UK porn industry is estimated to be now worth about £1bn, compared with £20bn worldwide. British internet surfers look up the word "porn" more than anyone in the English-speaking world.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/28/2006 10:25 Comments ||
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#5
women are among the fastest-growing users of pornography on the internet, with a 30 per cent rise from just over one million to 1.4 million in the past 12 months.
Sound like some men better pay more attention to their bored wimmin.
DILI: East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the violence that rocked Dili Saturday was part of a plot to overthrow him. Alkatiri, a political rival of President Xanana Gusmao, defended his government's record and attacked his enemies in his first public appearance since international peacekeepers arrived in Dili earlier this week. "What is in motion is an attempt to stage a coup d'etat. However I am confident that the president of the republic, with whom I am keeping permanent contacts, will not cease to respect the constitution of the democratic republic of Timor-Leste," Alkatiri told reporters.
When later asked directly if Gusmao was plotting against him, Alkatiri stopped short of openly accusing the president. "You're wrong, you're wrong," he responded when questioned on the issue.
He also dismissed suggestions the violence in Dili amounted to an ethnic war. Asked who was behind the unrest, he said: "It's still being investigated by the Portuguese police. I still don't know, if I did I wouldn't come here to talk."
Gangs of youths allied to feuding East Timor police or army units went on the rampage in parts of the capital on Saturday, torching houses and vehicles, as Australian and Malaysian peacekeeping troops stepped up their patrols.
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05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of injured men, women and children packed the grounds of Sardjito Hospital in this historic city Saturday, stretched out on pieces of bloody cardboard as cries of agony pierced the evening air. Several relatives read the Quran to victims as they anxiously awaited treatment. But the staff was stretched to its limits by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 3,500 people and injured thousands when it struck central Java island. "We are running out of surgeons, we need help," said Dr. Alexander, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said many patients could die of internal bleeding and other injuries if they did not receive treatment quickly.
Heru Nugroho, an official at the hospital, said: "We are in a panic to accommodate hundreds of injured people, and our emergency care is overwhelmed. We are using the parking area to provide medical treatment ... and dead bodies lie in the hospital's corridors."
Damage could be seen across Yogyakarta, a central Indonesian city of 1 million people that is home to ancient temples and other historic landmarks. Many people refused to re-enter their houses, fearing aftershocks. Exhausted and distraught, they slept outdoors in front yards and fields.
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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AUSTRALIA now has 1300 troops in East Timor, and the Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has said that overnight gang and ethnic violence has eased. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, John Howard has said that restoring stability in East Timor will be a "quite challenging" process.
Mr Howard said the presence of Australian and coalition forces had helped to diminish the violence considerably in East Timor. "It has begun to quiet things down, it's a trickier operation than some people think," Mr Howard said on ABC TV's The Insiders. You have a lot of gang activity, so nobody should assume that it's just a simple walk-in-the-park military operation it's quite challenging. I've no doubt as the days go by, I think it will further stabilise the situation and then of course, there'll be a very heavy responsibility on the political leadership of the country to try and heal the wounds that have brought about this situation."
Mr Howard said he would not rule out a regional assistance body, similar to that which currently operates in the Solomon Islands, to help East Timor's military and police forces in the future. "I don't rule anything out but I don't want to presumptuously declare that that's going to happen, or ought to happen, without the matter being discussed with the East Timorese," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2006 00:00 ||
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"We are in a zero-sum game in terms of moral values," says Chai Feldblum of Georgetown University's Law Center, a veteran gay rights advocate. Government must choose sides.
Disclaimer: I could care less what other people do in their spare time.
This is what they call an "echo chamber". Gay activists should be more worried about the rise of Islam than they are their chances of getting the nation to recognize their normalcy.
Their belief that we will all acknowlege their superiority may play well in cities recognized by their initials - but the big gay push is losing ground in the rest of America, not gaining it.
Speaking of which - I happened to pass through the gay district in Chicago today. Lots of guys in leather and cammys. But I wish I had a photo to share with all of you of one guy in particular, he was dressed.... dressed is a relative word since he was basically naked ... but he was dressed in tight, tight, shorts and some sort of horsey looking halter getty up.... words just cannot describe.
Anyway, my point is that as things stand today, Main Street is ok with gays as long as they keep playing the clown role that they play on all of the sitcoms or they keep up the June Cleaver I'm a good cook routine - but it's tough to get serious about people whose whole identity is built around telling us how they like it sexually.
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 TRANSSEXUAL who moved to the UK because he feared persecution in his home town in America is seeking £500,000 compensation from his former British employers. He says he was demoted in Britain after he underwent surgery to feminise his face and breasts. Josh Bussert, 41, who now calls himself Jessica, is claiming for sex discrimination and victimisation against Hitachi Data Systems on the grounds that he was demoted from a senior information technology job. I am not a slacker, said Bussert. Im a hard worker and my change of sex does not affect my performance. 
Despite its often prophesised collapse, Zimbabwe is still standing - but experts have warned that planning for economic recovery by the international community is now critical.
Just days after British Prime Minister Tony Blair made headlines admitting errors in Iraq, his wife Cherie said on Saturday she too had made mistakes but did not like to talk about her gaffes. During the nine years her husband has been in power, Cherie Blair has been skewered in the press for everything from her political comments to her choice of friends. In an interview with the BBC she said it would be "arrogant and foolish" to say she did everything right. When pressed about mistakes she said: "I don't own up to them publicly. I'm never really in a situation where it gets to that." The latest unwelcome spotlight shone on her this week when she was criticised for signing a copy of the official report into a government scientist's suicide which was then offered for auction at a fundraiser for the ruling Labour Party.
A LEADING Anglican bishop has attacked the trend towards what he called a multi-faith mish-mash in ethnically diverse Britain, and said it was time to reassert the country's Christian identity. Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali also questioned heir-to-the throne Prince Charles's desire to be seen as a defender of all faiths, not just Christianity, when he takes over as monarch.
The European Union agreed Saturday to give itself another year to sort out the impasse over its troubled constitution and build confidence in the bloc's plans for further expansion. EU leaders have spent the last 12 months in a self-imposed "period of reflection" after French and Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected the constitution in referendums a year ago. Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said the EU envoys meeting in Vienna agreed that although Europeans remain positive about the grouping, "we need to extend the reflection period" by another year to settle doubts about the charter and the future of the bloc.
Perhaps they will home in on the half-million dollar bribe, offered to an African official "to motivate him real good". An alternative could be the note, bearing the word "cash", written to avoid Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) listening devices. Or there is the small matter of the $90,000 (£48,000), carefully wrapped in aluminium foil and hidden in plastic food containers within Congressman William Jefferson's freezer. 
Ariel Sharon, who has been comatose since suffering a massive stroke in January, will be moved from Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital to a long-term care facility in Tel Aviv. The 78-year-old Sharon will be transferred on Sunday to Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre, probably in the morning, Hadassah's spokesman said on Saturday. 
Record numbers of men and women are downloading pornography from the internet, making Britain the fastest-growing market in the world for the booming £20bn adult website industry.
DILI: East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the violence that rocked Dili Saturday was part of a plot to overthrow him. Alkatiri, a political rival of President Xanana Gusmao, defended his government's record and attacked his enemies in his first public appearance since international peacekeepers arrived in Dili earlier this week. "What is in motion is an attempt to stage a coup d'etat. However I am confident that the president of the republic, with whom I am keeping permanent contacts, will not cease to respect the constitution of the democratic republic of Timor-Leste," Alkatiri told reporters.
Hundreds of injured men, women and children packed the grounds of Sardjito Hospital in this historic city Saturday, stretched out on pieces of bloody cardboard as cries of agony pierced the evening air. Several relatives read the Quran to victims as they anxiously awaited treatment. But the staff was stretched to its limits by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 3,500 people and injured thousands when it struck central Java island. "We are running out of surgeons, we need help," said Dr. Alexander, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said many patients could die of internal bleeding and other injuries if they did not receive treatment quickly. 
AUSTRALIA now has 1300 troops in East Timor, and the Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has said that overnight gang and ethnic violence has eased. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, John Howard has said that restoring stability in East Timor will be a "quite challenging" process. 
