LAGOS, Nigeria - A Nigerian murder suspect accused of killing his brother with an axe told police investigators he actually attacked a goat, which was only later magically transformed into his sibling's corpse, officials said Thursday.
The man, whose name wasn't released, offered police his explanation after his arrest on Tuesday in the death of his brother the previous day at Isseluku village in southern Nigeria.
"He said that the goats were on his farm and he tried to chase them away. When one wouldn't move, he attacked it with an axe. He said it then turned into his brother," Police Commissioner Udom Ekpoudom told the Associated Press.
Murder suspects in Nigeria, where many people believe in black magic, sometimes claim spirits tricked them into killing. In 2001, eight people were burned to death after one person in their group was accused of making a bystander's penis magically disappear.
#4
#3 bigjim - You're planning on singing a Keely Smith song? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/15/2006 19:26 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So Charlie Manson was just geeking some chickens and through an odd twist of supernatural intervention we ended up with the Tate-La Bianca murders. Well, that explains everything.
And that whole koro thing (as it were), certainly explains a lot about the democratic party's troubles.
I had a hard time figuring out just where I should put this article, so I flipped a coin and put it here in SAPT.
A new laboratory study suggests that exposure to Prozac can disrupt the reproductive cycle of freshwater mussels, potentially increasing their risk of extinction. "We be mellow, but we got larvae release problems."
The study, one of the first to examine the ecotoxicological effects of Prozac (fluoxetine) on native freshwater mussels, found that the drug caused females to prematurely release their larvae, essentially dooming them. The findings were presented on Sept. 11 at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
"The results from this study were quite alarming," said co-investigator Rebecca Heltsley, a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, S.C. "When larvae are released too early, they are not viable, which only contributes to the problems faced by struggling populations of native freshwater mussels." "Where are our children? I don't know. Chill out, man. Bring down the intensity 10db, will ya?"
About 70 percent of the nearly 300 species of freshwater mussels native to North America are extinct, endangered or declining, according to Heltsley. In the past 100 years, no other widespread North American animal group has experienced such notable collapse, she added.
In some cases, native mussels have been crowded out by invasive species such as the zebra mussel, Heltsley said. In others, native mussels have been devastated by increased sediment loads in rivers, habitat alteration and loss, or killed off by pollutants.
"The presence of Prozac and similar drugs in U.S. rivers and streams has likely compounded the problem," Heltsley said. "It's a big concern because freshwater mussels are such an imperiled group."
Prozac, one of the nation's most prescribed anti-depressant medications, helps relieve depression by increasing the brain's supply of a neurotransmitter called serotonin. But like many prescription drugs, some remnants of Prozac ultimately are mixed into wastewater that reaches rivers and streams, Heltsley said. Recently, University of Georgia researchers who found traces of Prozac in fish and frogs concluded the drug slowed the development of these animals.
In their study, Heltsley, along with lead investigator Gregory Cope of North Carolina State University and other colleagues, placed female freshwater mussels carrying larvae into tanks containing laboratory water with varying concentrations of fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac. The Prozac concentrations, which ranged from 0.3 to 3,000 micrograms per liter, mimicked those previously found in surface waters of lakes and streams. They also exposed a similar set of mussels directly to serotonin. Within 48 hours, the mussels in both groups had released their larvae prematurely.
"Protecting freshwater mussels and other aquatic life that are susceptible to the unintended consequences of exposure to pharmaceuticals in our rivers and streams will take a concentrated effort," Heltsley said. "These efforts could include the development of more efficient wastewater treatment facilities that can filter out these products before they reach our waterways."
Freshwater mussels have a key role in the ecology of rivers and streams, Heltsley emphasized. They filter large volumes of water for food each day, thereby helping filter contaminants and excessive nutrients from water and serving as an early warning of water quality problems. They also are an important source of food for muskrats, otters, fish and other animals.
Heltsley and her colleagues are evaluating surface water and sediment samples from a natural water system and will compare the results of this work with the results of their laboratory based study. This just goes to show that the old adage, "The solution to pollution is dilution" does not necessarily solve polution problems these days.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/15/2006 15:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Interesting. What about the effect on zebra mussels (a fresh-water "invasive species")?
#2
Your tax dollars at work. And tell me again about how we can't afford to improve (choose one): port security, the air traffic control system, the interstate highway system, border security. But we can study zoned out bivalves...
#5
why are so many people on prozac to begin with?
I'm thinking the stresses of modern life are pushing us humans out of our operating range.
We have parameters: we were not designed to work 50-hour weeks and then again on weekends. Sitting in a desk chair.
Obesity a major problem, mental health a major problem.
Loneliness a major problem.
People were originally social, tribal beings who worked and hunted and fished, then sat around the campfire talking and socialising with extended family at night. Extended family helped with child rearing.
We have gone too far from what we evolved to do and it's causing problems.
I reckon for our own mental health we need to cut down working hours: job share for example. This helps cut the unemployment rate and makes work more fun than stressful. Maybe we need to take lower wages but the upshot is we have more time to spend with family. More people feel involved in the community and less people take prozac.
We need to change our ways I think this is a marker or indicator that all is not well with us, not just the freshwater mussels.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland on Friday called sexual abuse ``a cancer in Congolese society'' and urged military and civilian authorities to punish those responsible for rapes.
In a report to the Security Council on his recent trip to Africa, Egeland denounced the failure of Congo's transitional government and the United Nations to end impunity for these crimes despite progress on improving security and recent successful elections. ``Sexual abuse has become a cancer in Congolese society that seems to be out of control,'' he said. ``Military and civilian authorities are still virtually unaccountable for crimes against civilians.''
Got ya, huh? Think they're talking about UN peacekeeping soldiers? Nah, of course not. Read the article and it's just the usual run-of-the-mill handwringing about the abuses in the third world.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/15/2006 23:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
(IRIN) - The Lords Resistance Army (LRA), the Ugandan rebel group, has promised to sign a final agreement to end fighting in the north once peace talks with the government are concluded, but said its leaders would remain in hiding until arrest warrants are lifted. "Our delegation will sign an agreement, but we shall stay where we are until the warrants are withdrawn," said Vincent Otti, LRA deputy commander, in a phone-in radio programme on Wednesday by satellite telephone from southern Sudan.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted Otti, LRA leader Joseph Kony and three other commanders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities allegedly committed by the group against civilians in northern Uganda over the past 20 years. Otti also said he was willing to personally lead the LRA delegation in the peace talks if the ICC dropped the charges against him and his co-accused. Alternatively, Otti would participate in the talks if the government delegation and mediators met him in one of the assembly sites in southern Sudan where LRA fighters are gathering under a cessation of hostilities pact reached last month. The leader of the southern Sudanese government, Riek Machar, is mediating the talks in the city of Juba.
"If the delegates of Uganda come to where I am, I will lead my delegates to the peace talks myself. I fear kidnapping, but if I'm with my people I will defend myself if someone came to kidnap me," Otti said on KFM radio. He said that an amnesty offer from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni meant little as long as the ICC indictment remained in force. "I would be with the president in Kampala, but the pressure would not allow the president to protect me. Even if the African Union agreed with the Ugandan government, the external pressure would be too much for them," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The issue of children--as young as 2--being kidnapped, sexually abused, and forced to serve as camel jockeys in Dubai has been brewing for years. Even after a ban was heralded by human rights groups last year, the sheiks looked the other way at the practice throughout the UAE. Now, families of kidnapped children have filed a lawsuit to stop the slavery. And Dubai's "progressive" ruling family is named as a top conspirator:
Dubai's ruling family has been served with a class-action lawsuit in the United States accusing them of masterminding an international child slave trade to provide jockeys and attendants for the popular desert sport of camel-racing. The suit names both Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, as being "the most active participants" in the slave trade, which was described and denounced in a US State Department report on human trafficking last year.
According to the suit, as many as 30,000 boys from South Asia and Africa could have been victimised in what it calls "one of the greatest humanitarian crimes of the last 50 years". "Because camel racing is extremely dangerous and arduous, especially for children," the suit says, "the Arab sheikhs would not make their own children jockeys and trainers. The sheikhs instead bought boys who had been abducted and trafficked across international boundaries and enslaved as young as two years old...
"The defendants robbed parents of their children and boys of their childhoods, their futures and sometimes their lives, for the craven purposes of entertainment and financial gain."
The suit identifies six families as plaintiffs in the suit, although it does not name them. The case is being brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which dates back 200 years but has become a popular means to redress wrongs taking place far outside the borders of the United States.
The suit was filed in federal court in Miami, because the Maktoums have vast horse farm holdings in Florida - part of a multi-billion dollar investment they have in the US, ranging from sporting pursuits to hotels, residential buildings, health care facilities and Dubai Ports World, the company that tried unsuccessfully to take over six leading US ports last year.
More on child slaves in Dubai's camel racing empire here and here.
#3
Ironically, the majority of these children are from Pakistan and Bangladesh and are muslim.
So much for Ummah brotherhood.
Pakistanis and Bangldeshis seethe over "Palestine" and "Occupied Arab Lands" but the palestinian arabs are far better off economically than they are and the gulf arabs think themselves racially superior and treat them like slaves.
Posted by: john ||
09/15/2006 15:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
They still aren't half as bad as George W Bush.
Posted by: Howard Dean ||
09/15/2006 17:07 Comments ||
Top||
Landlocked nations, generally the poorest of the world's poor countries, turned to each other at the Nonaligned Movement summit for ideas on how to lessen dependence on their neighbors. President Evo Morales of Bolivia, which lost its coastline in a 19th century war, expressed optimism Thursday that his nation will regain access to the Pacific thanks to improving relations with Chile. "We're convinced that we'll get it through our bilateral relations," Morales said. "We're two neighboring countries that can't be in eternal enmity."
Morales, a leftist elected as Bolivia's first Indian president in December, has something else on his summit wishlist: his campaign to legalize coca leaf, a move he says could reduce poverty in South American's poorest nation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hell that first war was a fluke loss, take on Chile and half of South America again.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/15/2006 2:41 Comments ||
Top||
#4
..I was waiting for the 'path-to-the-sea' moves to start - Jim Dunnigan in one of his books some years back said that as soon as things get bad in Bolivia, the leadership always wheels this out.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/15/2006 6:24 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Coca leaf is grown all over the jungle regions of Bolivia. Natives chew small amounts as a mild stimulant. Mate de Coca Tea is sold in all the large restaurants in Bolivia and Peru, and is still sold in Europe and North America. Cocaine production requires mass quantities. I haven't been to Bolivia for over 2 decades, but I doubt that Coca Leaf production has ever been diminished by law.
Germany's racist neo-Nazi party is poised to make a stunning breakthrough during elections this weekend, entering a regional parliament for the second time in three years, polls suggest.
According to a poll for ZDF television the far-right National Party of Germany (NPD) is likely to win 7% of the vote in elections on Sunday in the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Another Infratest poll puts the party on 6%.
The projected result is above Germany's 5% hurdle - and means the far-right MPs will sit in the parliament for the first time. "We are very confident. It's extremely likely we are going to make it," Michael Andrejewski, the NPD's candidate in its stronghold town of Anklam, told the Guardian today.
Mr Andrejewski claimed that voters in Germany's depressed former communist east were turning to the neo-Nazi right because they were disillusioned with mainstream politics. They were also fed up with the region's massive unemployment, he said.
#1
NS: I'm betting they turn their ire on the muzzies and set them as the new untermensche. Witness the recent display of Neo Nazis waving Isreali flags in the face of the Iranian soccer team. I never woulda bet on that. More important is the employment issue and that's right to the heart of why the muslims are there in the first place. As things continue to go south in EUrostan, we may see a lot more of this.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/15/2006 18:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You're probably right, Rex. After all, it would be rather tacky if they started right out by going after the Jews.
#3
I don't think so. Neo Nazis are a funny breed. They are more likely to side with the Muzzies against the Jews.
And reinstate holocaust denial. You just have to look at their websites and culture. Their dislike of muzzies is still secondary.
Which is ridiculous as the jews are law-abiding with respect for rights of women and tolerating other religions - and education/science/technology over religious ideology. They are modern thinkers. Unlike muslims
PARIS (AP) Airbus parent EADS insisted Thursday that it is too early to say whether the troubled A380 superjumbo jet faces further production hitches, after a minority shareholder said another delay is likely. Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, said Wednesday he would be "surprised if there weren't" any further delays. BAE owns 20% of Airbus and is planning to sell the stake to European Aeronautic Defence and Space, which owns the remaining 80%.
But a spokesman for EADS said Thursday that the superjumbo's delivery schedule would not become clear until the results of a program audit are presented to the board the end of September. "I don't know where he (Turner) has that information from," EADS spokesman Michael Hauger said. "The audit which EADS is doing at Airbus on the A380 is still ongoing."
Turner also said he believes there are risks over Airbus' A400M military transport plane program. EADS and Airbus officials have repeatedly denied newspaper reports that the program also faces long delays.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
And, of course, the new 5% investment by the Ruskies is sure to turn things around for EADS
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/15/2006 2:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Yes, BAE is bailing. Think they know when they see a turkey?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/15/2006 10:40 Comments ||
Top||
#5
ROFLMAO!!! What a pic accompanying the article posted.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/15/2006 11:22 Comments ||
Top||
#6
BAE decide to pull out last spring. And, Zen, Boeing has nothing to smirk about. They've bet the whole farm on the 787 and Mullaly waited for the perfect moment to screw them by abruptly leaving. They better hope everything continues on an even keel for the 787. They haven't won a fighter contract since they took over McDonnell, which used to win with regularity. Their other operations are behind schedule or losing orders. I think their existence depends on 787. But, it should. That's their core and they need to get back to it.
#8
Since BAE has yet to sell its stake in EADS, why would Turner be speaking openly about problems at Airbus that could diminish the value of that investment?
#9
BAE has been saying publicly that they are (considering) selling for about a month or better. Don't underestimate Boeing and their product line. prediction: the LCF airplanes they built (three specially configured 747s for hauling 787 parts) for internal use will be sought after by other operators of outsize air cargo, and BCAC will be only too happy to recoup their investment in them. There are an awful lot of older 747 airframes out there that are prime candidates for the conversion. It starts with cutting away about all but the wings, cockpit and landing gear and putting new skin on it.
#10
....chortle...chortle....heh...heh...hah....hah....OH! Excuse me. I was just laughing my ass off. Kinda get that way when another euro program is going down the crapper.
#11
SOP35/Rat, right about now, anything that puts the kibosh on Europe's oversized hijacker's wet dream suits me just fine. Boeing has done their homework and presented the market with exactly what cost-conscious and fuel-conserving carriers need. An intermediate range craft with good passenger capacity and light-weight composite construction.
Compare this to the European behemoth that can seat almost 900 people and the extremely restricted market appeal it will have and I think Boeing has positioned themselves rather well. Yes, business could be better but at least Boeing has brought a useful design to market.
#12
Here is a free idea (possibly indicating its worth, heh) for Boeing to put in their proposal to the USAF.
There is a sh*tload of B-747-200 airframes out there to buy up cheap. They ought to carry 230,000 lb of payload, IIRC. Reconfigure to fly remotely, and install a magazine to hold 8-10 MOABS. Configure a tube in the pressure hull like a torpedo tube, an airlock, if you will. Make the whole thing work like a revolver pistol. You can fly hellacious MOAB loads over places like Iran, one after another and systematically take out serious infrastructure. Just an off-the-napkin idea for getting a govt. Contract. Will haul more that a BUFF any day.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/15/2006 20:35 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's feasible. It would make for a VERY challenging flight control problem, I suspect, even if the 747s were fly by wire (which they're not, IIUC).
But maybe someone else here is more knowledgeable on that than I am.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday authorized building a fence along portions of the border with Mexico in a vote critics said had more to do with election year politics than controlling illegal immigration.
The Republican-written bill, approved on a vote of 283-138, calls for construction of about 700 miles of fence along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Democratic opponents said the measure was a charade designed to help Republicans ahead of the November 7 elections.
President George W. Bush backs comprehensive legislation and a guest worker program and spoke about the need for it during a meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol on Thursday. But the issue divides Republicans. Many feel the Senate bill would grant amnesty to people who broke U.S. law and it is unlikely a broad immigration bill will pass this year.
Instead, House Republican leaders plan to pass a series of border security measures before lawmakers break at the end of the month to campaign for the elections. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said the fence and other efforts would be added to a domestic security spending bill for next year that the House and Senate are hoping to finish by the end of the month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/15/2006 00:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"...would be added to a domestic security spending bill for next year that the House and Senate are hoping to finish by the end of the month."
Can't you just picture Nancy Pantsuit standing next to Opie Reid with a furrowed brow and hands on hip; Oh yeah...we'll jus..just se..see about that.
NEW DELHI: Even as IAF fighter jets fly mock combat missions along the entire western front as part of the force's ongoing gigantic 'Gagan Shakti' exercise, the Navy too has jumped into the fray with its own combat manoeuvres along the Gujarat coastline.
Over 20 destroyers, frigates, submarines and minesweepers are taking part in the naval exercise called the 'Defence of Gujarat', which will conclude towards the end of this month after "tactical phase and weapon firing drills".
"The primary objective of this exercise, as the name suggests, is to prepare for protection of coastal assets, including oil refineries, which will be targeted by hostile forces in the event of a war," said an officer.
Among the warships undertaking combat manoeuvres are the guided-missile destroyer INS Mysore, guided-missile frigates INS Beas and INS Brahmaputra, apart from the new multi-purpose 'stealth' frigates INS Talwar, INS Tabar and INS Trishul.
Posted by: john ||
09/15/2006 19:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[13 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The primary objective of this exercise, as the name suggests, is to prepare for protection of coastal assets, including oil refineries, which will be targeted by hostile forces in the event of a war,"
Sure - that's the ticket. And whom, exactly, be they defending Gujarat from, I wonder?
NEW DELHI: An Indian federal minister on Thursday proposed a 1,000 US dollar incentive to encourage people to break centuries-old taboos and marry across caste boundaries. The idea put forward by Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar, a member of one of India's many lower castes, was aimed at ending discrimination. "This is not the only way to end the caste discrimination, but one has to start somewhere. I am very keen on this and I have asked all states to get back to me. Let's see," Kumar told NDTV news channel. A senior social justice ministry official, who wanted to remain unnamed, said Kumar's idea was discussed at a meeting of state officials in New Delhi on Thursday. "The aim is to integrate the deprived lower castes into the national mainstream and ensure true social justice," he said. Lower castes who perform chores such as excrement collection make up two-thirds of India's one-billion-plus population. They have faced discrimination in employment, housing and education for centuries from upper caste members, many of whom hold positions of authority in the government and business.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahatir Muhammad on Thursday urged Muslim clerics to unite and become a global force. Accompanied by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan, the former prime minister told a press conference that political stability played an important role in the development and progress of a country. He said all that Pakistan lacked was political stability, which, if achieved, would be followed by economic stability. He said that Muslims should follow the principles of Quran.
Replying to a question, he condemned suicide bombings and people associating such a practice with Islam. He said that a country should concentrate on factors necessary for its development and progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Good. Unite the clerics. Make them begin to centralize Islamic policy-making. Then hold all of them accountable for any future atrocities. This decentralized bullsh!t aspect of Islam has let it off of the hook for far too long. While they're at it, they can figure out a way to begin expelling all the jihadis. If they can't, we'll do the job for them and it won't be pretty.
#3
Naw, let them form their Caliphate. Let them assemble their top spiritual advisers from around the world all in one place. Let them begin to reform their stinking church.
#5
Unification would lend them a sense of "credibility" in the Western world viewpoint. Remembering that most people are in the dark about all of this, I think it's a really bad move . . . EXCEPT that you'll soon (and very soon) see them arguing and jockeying for power, and that would be good for everyone to see.
#7
They can't even unite today in the sense this moonbat meant. They have expended all the karmaic credits, having destroyed the ancient world, committed untold genocides, uprooted civilizations etc., through such previous unity for conquests and bloodshed....and never repented or attoned for them.
#8
At the risk of moderator wrath, I'm going to post this in two places today.
I feel it is extremely important to begin taking these wankers at their word. For quite some time we've been told that "Islam is not a monolithic religion". Despite such minute offshoot sects as the Kurds and whatnot, it is increasingly apparent that much of Islam is monolithic.
One look at how all of the tin pot Islamic dictators, mullahs and every mother's son uses the Palestine issue as a wrench in the gears for all other discussions regarding governmental reform in Muslim majority nations should be enough.
While Muslims continue to claim that Palestinians are being murdered by the Jews, they handily overlook the publically declared intention of genocide on the part of Fatah, Hamas and Hezbollah. The reverse of this matter is not at all so clear.
The beheading of Christians in Indonesia take place in a total absence of any attempts on the lives of Muslims. The Christian church is not calling out for the casting down of Islam. It is merely the minuscule threat of Muslims coming into contact with any other religion or the simple existence of any other religion at all that puts the psychos into a frenzy.
The single fact remains that, claims to the contrary notwithstanding, Islam continues to act and function in a monolithic fashion. The sunni - shiite conflict is about all that disspells this notion until you look at how sunnis and shiites alike still pursue genocide and kill the kufir with glee.
Either Islam unites to form some sort of regulatory body akin to the Catholic Vatican or it must continue to lose all credibility as any sort of ostensible religion. The Pope has done well to begin gnawing at the underpinnings of this revolting death cult.
If Muslims can unite and begin issuing edicts that result in the ejection of jihadists, that is fine. If they cannot unite and refuse to denounce and renounce terrorism, then we need to clean out each and every pocket of this corrupt and decayed ideology.
Preferably all in one place - for easier targeting.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/15/2006 19:28 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Preferably all in one place - for easier targeting.
Barbara, that was meant to be intrinsic in my first post when I mentioned how we should, "Then hold all of them accountable for any future atrocities."
The Air Force chief of staff announced "Reaper" has been chosen as the name for the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle.
"The name Reaper is one of the suggestions that came from our Airmen in the field. It's fitting as it captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system," General Moseley said.
The MQ-9 Reaper is the Air Force's first hunter-killer UAV. It is larger and more powerful than the MQ-1 Predator and is designed to go after time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets with 500-pound bombs and Hellfire missiles.
"The Reaper represents a significant evolution in UAV technology and employment," General Moseley said. "We've moved from using UAVs primarily in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper."
General Moseley stressed the key advantage is not keeping manned aircraft and pilots out of harm's way, but the persistence UAVs can inherently provide. The Reaper can stay airborne for up to 14 hours fully loaded.
A 900-horsepower turbo-prop engine, compared to the 119-horsepower Predator engine, powers the aircraft. It has a 64-foot wingspan and carries more than 15 times the ordnance of the Predator, flying almost three times the Predator's cruise speed.
The Air Force has seven MQ-9 Reapers in its inventory, with a full-rate production decision expected in 2009.
The Air Force is the global leader in UAV innovation, General Moseley said.
"Today, the Air Force can launch a UAV from a remote field on the other side of the globe, then pilot that aircraft from a base in the United States. These systems and the Airmen who operate them offer unprecedented flexibility to combatant commanders worldwide," he said.
#1
I wonder if the AF is intentionally not mounting machine guns and cannon on these UAVs, because it would make an uncomfortable comparison with the Warthog.
#7
A large verrry slow aircraft coming in low is a fine target for anything from an Ak47 and up. Even worse, with satellite linked remote pilots, there is a 1/2 second delay to react to any control events. Not something you want during a strafing run.
Posted by: ed ||
09/15/2006 14:46 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Aw c'mon eLarson, filk it. We already know the real words.
You're close, Alaska Paul. This new weapon was first mentioned in a fairy tale about the Grimm Reaper. In fact, I used to be addicted to fairy tales ...
#10
If my experience with the shadow uavs is anything to go by, 8-10 hellfires is more than adequate for a 24-48 hour long flight. Remember, each platform has to land to refuel occasionaly.
If there a truly target rich environment, well, the A-10s Of Doom, and the AC-130s Of Doom will show up before uav ammo becomes an issue.
The busyest night saw a whole 4 shootable targets. In a dense AO with lots of non-shootable womyn, chilluns, kittens, puppies and baby duckies(TM) all around.
I can't remember how many nights were dry holes with nothing to see. Ick.
Posted by: N guard ||
09/15/2006 20:41 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Suspect the terrs will refer to it as the grim reaper
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/15/2006 22:53 Comments ||
Top||
#12
The busyest night saw a whole 4 shootable targets. In a dense AO with lots of non-shootable womyn, chilluns, kittens, puppies and baby duckies(TM) all around.
In a rather bizarre ruling that has marine industry officials worried, Judge Robert G. James of the United States District Court, Western Division of Louisiana, has said that it is criminal trespass for the American boating public to boat, fish, or hunt on the Mississippi River and other navigable waters in the US.
In the case of Normal Parm v. Sheriff Mark Shumate, James ruled that federal law grants exclusive and private control over the waters of the river, outside the main shipping channel, to riparian landowners. The shallows of the navigable waters are no longer open to the public. That, in effect, makes boating illegal across most of the country.
"Even though this action seems like a horrible pre-April fools joke, it is very serious," said Phil Keeter, MRAA president, in a statement. "Because essentially all the waters and waterways of our country are considered navigable in the US law, this ruling declares recreational boating, water skiing, fishing, waterfowl hunting, and fishing tournaments to be illegal and the public subject to jail sentences for recreating with their families."
Last month, James rejected the findings of the Magistrate judge who found earlier that the American public had the right under federal law and Louisiana law to navigate, boat, fish, and hunt on the waters of the Mississippi river up to the normal high water line of the river. Judge James Kirk relied on the long established federal principles of navigation that recognized the public navigational rights "...entitles the public to the reasonable use of navigable waters for all legitimate purposes of travel or transportation, for boating, sailing for pleasure, as well as for carrying persons or property for hire, and in any kind of watercraft the use of which is consistent with others also enjoying the right possessed in common."
"MRAA is working with the Coast Guard, state boating law administrators, and NMMA to fight this onerous ruling," said Glen Mazzella, MRAA chairman, in the statement.
#1
That's not even close to what the opinion says. Some folks owned property between the high and low water marks of the Mississippi. The question was whether that privately owned land became available for public fishing and hunting when it flooded. The court said no. If you hated Kelo you should like this one.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/15/2006 13:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Riparian landowners.
Always sounded lika bunch of likkered up hellraising low gentry.
LONDON (Reuters) -- Oil fell to $63 on Thursday continuing a month-long retreat on swelling stockpiles and tensions taken in stride by the market.
Markets were already just above five-month lows this week after a sharp price drop sparked by swelling stockpiles, perceptions that supply disruptions from Iran were growing less likely and a mild Atlantic storm season. U.S. crude was down 97 cents at $63.00 barrel in afternoon trade after rising 21 cents on Wednesday, snapping a 12 percent, seven-session slide, its longest losing streak in three years.
Markets were soothed when tanker loadings resumed at Nigeria's Brass export terminal overnight after a brief break due to a strike by oil unions, ship agents said on Thursday. A three-day strike over insecurity in the Niger Delta began on Wednesday, but was expected to be called off later on Thursday after talks with the government.
Underlining the view that supplies are robust, a spate of refinery run cuts across Asia deepened on Thursday as an industry source said Exxon Mobil Corp. (Charts) had cut output by 8 to 10 percent at its 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) Singapore plant.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/15/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Our friends in the futures and options markets are slowly unwinding their positions...allowing the price at the barrel head to approach supply and demand which is somewhere in the $40s.
#5
hmm if the iran thing is gonna blow up after midterms (date?) then that is the time to buy oil futures because iran probs = straights of hormuz = oil back up super quick
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.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland on Friday called sexual abuse ``a cancer in Congolese society'' and urged military and civilian authorities to punish those responsible for rapes.
(IRIN) - The 
Landlocked nations, generally the poorest of the world's poor countries, turned to each other at the Nonaligned Movement summit for ideas on how to lessen dependence on their neighbors. President Evo Morales of Bolivia, which lost its coastline in a 19th century war, expressed optimism Thursday that his nation will regain access to the Pacific thanks to improving relations with Chile. "We're convinced that we'll get it through our bilateral relations," Morales said. "We're two neighboring countries that can't be in eternal enmity." 
PARIS (AP) Airbus parent EADS insisted Thursday that it is too early to say whether the troubled A380 superjumbo jet faces further production hitches, after a minority shareholder said another delay is likely. Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, said Wednesday he would be "surprised if there weren't" any further delays. BAE owns 20% of Airbus and is planning to sell the stake to European Aeronautic Defence and Space, which owns the remaining 80%.
Former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahatir Muhammad on Thursday urged Muslim clerics to unite and become a global force. Accompanied by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan, the former prime minister told a press conference that political stability played an important role in the development and progress of a country. He said all that Pakistan lacked was political stability, which, if achieved, would be followed by economic stability. He said that Muslims should follow the principles of Quran. 
LONDON (Reuters) -- Oil fell to $63 on Thursday continuing a month-long retreat on swelling stockpiles and tensions taken in stride by the market.
