The child's two weeks old. No word on whether the new Mom is going to wipe his butt one sheet at a time.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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That runny baby stuff could be a real challenge for just one sheet. I hope the poor kid doesn't have to suffer diaper rash for his first 4 years due to nutcase Sheryl.
#4
Seems like this is the latest whacked-out celebraty fad. Go to some third-world country and adopt a child to show the rest of the world how nice you are. These children are nothing more than new baubles for these morally bankrupt people to flash to the minions. Using children to draw even more attention to themselves. It's all about Meeeeee!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/13/2007 9:13 Comments ||
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You of course assume that the Elite Crow will be the one wiping the kids ass. Probably will 'delegate' it to some illegal alien slave and then limit them to a single sheet.
The sad part is 2 - 3 years down the road when the elite stuperstar gets tired of having the kid around and the fad has passed what will happen to the kids?
#8
..I'm surprised the parents in here have overlooked a very important question - will she be using disposable diapers, which have theoretical lifespan of decades, even in a landfill but are far more easy and convienient, or old-fashioned, wash-em-out-yer-ownself cloth diapers?
Myself I'm voting for the third world nanny and disposables.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/13/2007 12:36 Comments ||
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Does this mean you are going to put the Global Warming cause on hold for awhile? Giving up the advice about one piece of toilet paper? Putting the vegetable oil express in the garage? No more music tours for awhile. See you in maybe 18-20 years. Sheryl, you are so sacrificing.
#10
We have two adopted children, and we're caring for a foster child at the moment. Most of the time, ANY adoption, especially an overseas adoption, provides a better life for the kid, regardless of how he's reared. A LOT of those overseas kids live ten to a room in orphanages, eat once or twice a day (if that), and have all kinds of illnesses. This baby boy will be spared that. I'm not a fan of ANY movie star, but if Crow provides him with a good first two years, half the battle's won. I wish these "celebrities" would read a couple of books by a friend of mine, Dr. Foster Cline, about adoption and childhood. They may do a better job as parents.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/13/2007 19:54 Comments ||
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Mike K: a number of years ago I spoke with a technician at Procter & Gamble, who was on their Greening the Company committee. The group's efforts resulted in things like the Ultra compact laundry and dish detergents and direct ordering from WalMart inventory to factory production lines, which significantly reduced day-to-day variation of production needs, and of course burning office waste paper in the furnaces to help heat the buildings. (She was a fascinating conversationalist!). One of the things they did was commission a study at the local garbage dump to see what actually happened to used Pampers buried there, what would happen if they tried to compost them, and what was the true net ecological impact of cloth vs. disposables.
What they discovered, in order:
In the garbage dump the diaper contents eventually broke down, but not the plastic outer layer;
When properly composted, the plastic outer layer having been separated before adding (ick!), the quickly resulting material made a wonderful, non-smelly compost entirely suitable for amending garden soil, equivalent to composted cow manure;
Diapers actually only make up about 2% of landfill contents. Although a large component of a family's garbage for a few, memorable years, most of the time most families are not using them;
Finally, after taking into account the chemicals and energy used to wash, sanitize, dry and transport cloth diapers, as compared to the energy and raw materials needed to manufacture, transport and dispose of the disposables -- even without the benefit of composting all but the thin outer layer at the end -- it turns out that the net environmental costs are so close as to be statistically insignificant.
These facts, of course, I expect Ms. Crow will never discover, as she seems incapable of asking the right questions of those who actually know the answers. But the trailing daughters like her songs, so perhaps her new toy will keep her to busy to spout stupidities for a while.
(SomaliNet) Somalias interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has on Saturday fired two of his cabinet ministers in a decree issued today for failing to do honestly the national duty as part of his reshuffle of the cabinet.
The sacked ministers are Bare Aden Shire Hirale the defense minister and Hussein Aideed, the deputy prime minister. In the decree, the fired ministers were accused of being inactive in their duties. Both Aideed who is now in Asmara, Eritrea and Hirale, in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, did not yet comment on losing their high ranking posts in the government.
Do-nothing ministers? Sounds like half the government hacks in the West.
Hussien Aideed who had already lost the post of interior minister was accused of making alliance with the ousted Islamist leaders and former parliament speaker.
The only posts left for both men are members of the parliament.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Egyptian security forces arrested 59 Muslims on Saturday accused of setting fire to Christian homes and shops in clashes over church construction that underlined lingering oppression sectarian tensions, security sources said. They said prosecutors ordered the arrests after taking the testimony of 10 Coptic Christians who were hurt in the clashes on Friday in the village of Behma, about 60 km south of Cairo, in which hundreds of people from both faiths fought with sticks and hurled bricks and firebombs at one another.
The 59 Muslims were charged with arson and with spreading sectarian strife. Security sources said an unspecified additional number of Muslim villagers were being held without charges pending an investigation. No Christians were being held. I think that may be a first...
Relations between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians in Egypt are generally peaceful despite sporadic violence, but restrictions on building churches have been one of the main grievances of Egypts Copts. Security sources said rumours that village Christians did not have a permit to build a church had sparked anger among Muslims that turned to violence after Friday prayers when about 300 Muslims clashed with about 200 Christians. Police intervened to stop the clashes and sealed off the village. At least 27 Christian-owned houses and shops were damaged by fire, including 10 homes that were completely gutted.
They said Christians had complained to authorities that the Friday sermon at a village mosque had discussed ongoing church construction, sparking anger among worshippers who emerged from the mosque in a large group and then moved to the church site, where clashes erupted. The sources said some Muslim villagers had also distributed pamphlets complaining about church construction.
A spokesman for Egypts interior ministry confirmed that around 500 Muslims had gathered after Friday prayers and that the entrances to three homes had been set on fire. He said three people were hurt in the commotion. He, however, declined to characterise it as a clash. "No, no! It was... ummm... something else."
One security source said Christians in Behma were expanding a house that was used informally for prayer, although others said the Christians were constructing a new church from scratch. The sources could not immediately say whether the Christians had obtained proper building permits.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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in which hundreds of people from both faiths fought with sticks and hurled bricks and firebombs at one another.
No AK 47s. sloppy
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/13/2007 11:55 Comments ||
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Senior BNP leader M Saifur Rahman yesterday called for an end to 'dynastic' politics and said a number of mistakes committed by the last BNP-led four-party government brought on the present situation. The problem with dynastic politix is that for any new blood to get in, they've either got to marry the beautiful daughter of the dictator, who is usually nonexistent or ugly as a stump, or they've got to bump off the "legitimate" heir. This doesn't make for a smooth succession, and it's a documented fact that the great usually have pretty wimpy or incompetent grandchildren.
During an interview on private television channel ntv, the former finance and planning minister said the extension of the judges' retirement age and the appointment of the president as the head of the caretaker government were the reasons which brought on the present situation. "There should be an immediate end to family-centric politics," Saifur said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Although underhand dealings at Chittagong seaport seem to have ceased in the changed scenario, bribery still continues stealthily despite strict monitoring under the current anti-graft drive, says a private probe report. According to a latest investigation by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), in the first few months of 2007, about Tk 300 crore has been transacted in bribe while this amount was Tk 943.48 crore in 2006.
TIB yesterday released its findings at a roundtable in the conference room of Chittagong Chamber. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Lt General (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, who was present at the function, urged the government to go for tough action against the corrupt practices and irregularities.
TIB Trustee Board Treasurer M Hafiz Uddinm Khan presided over the discussion. "Bribing is not taking place openly, but it is very much taking place in secret through the agents of the corrupt officials... Even in many cases, the rate of bribe has increased. Both the importers and exporters are forced to bribe the port officials," the TIB investigation report revealed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Bribery goes on secretly
OXYMORON LERT
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/13/2007 12:35 Comments ||
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"A" dammit
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/13/2007 12:36 Comments ||
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President Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding Saturday over ceremonies marking the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
Bolivia this week agreed to buy back formerly state-owned refineries from Brazilian state energy company Petroleo Brasileiro SA for $112 million. On Friday, the government announced it would negotiate the purchase of a majority share in the Bolivian operations of four more foreign companies, as dictated by Morales' nationalization decree last year. "We have not yet finished the job," Morales told a flag-waving crowd at the Guillermo Elder Bell refinery near the eastern city of Santa Cruz. "There is still work to do."
Morales was expected to attend a similar ceremony later at the Gualberto Villaroel refinery near Cochabamba. The four businesses to be targeted are: pipeline company Transredes, part owned by Royal Dutch Shell; the gas exploration company Chaco, owned by the British company BP; gas exploration company Andina, subsidiary of the Spanish-Argentine company Repsol YPF; and the Hydrocarbons Logistics Company of Bolivia, jointly owned by the German company Oiltanking GmbH and the Peruvian company Grana y Montera SA.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Step forward Evo. It's working so well for yurr buddy Baby Huey. He's about to shut the joint down. Might as well jump off the cliff right behind him.
A severed head reportedly accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime gangs was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz state on Saturday. The head was found in a box outside the army base in Veracruz city, just hours after the government announced it was sending troops to respond to a shooting attack. "Jey, Pablo! What's in the box?"
"I dunno. Let's open it!"
"I hope it's not another head!"
"Then don't open it!"
The box also held a message saying gangs would continue operating despite the presence of troops, Mexico's Reforma newspaper reported. "Lookidat! There's a note in his nose!"
The victim's body was found shortly afterward on a street in another neighborhood, wrapped in a sheet. "Jey, Manuel! What's that over there?"
"I dunno. Let's go see!"
"I hope it's not another headless corpse!"
"Then don't go see!"
On Friday, assailants killed four bodyguards assigned to protect the children of a state governor who were vacationing in Veracruz. The killings were latest in a wave of violence across Mexico that has also targeted soldiers and police. The government began sending additional troops to Veracruz after the slaying of guards protecting the children of Mexico State Gov. Enrique Pena, Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez said.
Victoria Hernandez, spokeswoman for the Veracruz state prosecutor's office said it appears the gunmen mistook the bodyguards' vehicle for that of a rival gang. Pena, a widower, also blamed the attack on mistaken identity and said he would not use extra security. "I rule out that it was against family. It was just confusion," he told reporters in Chalco, outside Mexico City. "Nothing to see here. Move along. These aren't the corpses you're looking for."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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More border action -- Two men trying to escape Anaheim CA police were shot by Mexican federal officers in Mexico early Friday morning after a high-speed chase that stretched from Anaheim into Mexico.
"Officers tried to end the pursuit by throwing a spike strip onto the freeway in San Clemente, but the strip broke in two, Peña said. The suspect drove between the two pieces, but an Anaheim cruiser and a CHP patrol car ran over the spikes and flattened their tires."
"None of the things tossed out of the car during the chase have not been found, Peña said"
that there's just good writin'
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2007 8:54 Comments ||
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Mexico is another sh$$hole we need to clean out for our own survival. Maybe after we finish in the Middle East. Of course, first on the list has to be Congress and the bureaucrats that stand in the way of getting anything productive done. THAT has to be job #1.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/13/2007 20:44 Comments ||
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Armenia voted for a new parliament Saturday in elections dominated by concerns about economic issues in the poor and landlocked ex-Soviet republic and by opposition fears that officials will falsify the results. All 131 seats in the National Assembly are to be filled - 90 to be chosen according to proportions that parties get nationwide and 41 in single-mandate contests. Preliminary results were expected Monday.
The last parliamentary election, in 2003, was assessed by Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers as falling short of international democratic standards. But a preliminary report from the OSCE's elections-monitoring office on this year's campaign did not point to significant problems. National media reports on the campaign have been "generally devoid of negative reporting," the report said. The OSCE frequently criticizes elections in post-Soviet countries for media reports that either ignore opposition forces or portray them unfairly
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Armenia is one of the more deserving basket cases of the post-Soviet collapse. As the oldest Christian nation in history they certainly deserve the support of Western religious groups
As shown above, Echmiadzin is a breathtaking example of the architecture that would eventually become the template for Europe's masterpiece cathedrals. The Roman era temple at Garni gorge is equally disregarded, even though cave dwellings in the region date to prehistoric times. Little if any attention is paid to Armenia's rich treasury of ancient Christian tradition. Yes, Robert Cocharian is just another gangster in the typical Soviet model, but this in no way negates the necessity of Western support for a culture that has always favored cleverness over book-learning.
How sad it is that America's powerful religious groups have chosen to overlook this vital and enduring component of Christian history. Imagine the revolting spectacle of visiting this enlightened country during 2001 only to see that, across the street from my own limited hot-water lodgings, the one major construction project in the dead of winter was Cocharian's private residence
#3
Actually, Zenster, I think private support from the very successful Armenian diaspora HAS been significant - and at least in the years 1992 to 1997, when I worked the issue, US support was substantial. Also, don't forget (unless it's changed) the strategic alliance between the two orthodox cultures, Russia and Armenia, which sort of provided Armenia a backstop during those early rough years of independence.
I managed to be in Armenia in summer or fall, and thus avoided the winter problems, though I did find myself in Nagorno-Karabakh in January once, and had some amusingly primitive lodgings there.
Trivia question: is it a settled fact that Armenia, and not Ethiopia, was the first Christian state? I thought that was in dispute.
#4
Damn your eyes, Verlaine. Is there no venue you haven't visited? What's an ordinary Rantburger to do?
is it a settled fact that Armenia, and not Ethiopia, was the first Christian state?
Let's have the Jews settle that question, eh?
Again, I really appreciate your well-informed posts. What do you see as Armenia's future? It is so difficult to imagine anything more that a horrid descent back into Soviet style gangsterism? I want this to be so untrue yet see very little alternative.
#6
There's plenty of places I haven't been, Zenster, I just happened to have worked in the Caucasus a lot in the 1990s.
I'm really way out of touch with things back there, thus have not the slightest idea where things might be headed. Armenia always seemed a cut or two above the other former Soviet republics I worked in, partly due to heavy foreign (i.e. diaspora) involvement and influence.
Russia itself certainly seems to be a lost cause, but as for Armenia, I can't say. Georgia seemed to have at least found a few decent folks with the young president's new government, Azerbaijan is a hopeless quasi-dynasty. Not a rosy picture, but then again real change can take a long time.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in the southern Romanian city of Craiova on Saturday to voice support for suspended President Traian Basescu, who faces an impeachment referendum next week after a dispute with the opposition-dominated parliament.
The president is at odds with most political parties in parliament after he accused lawmakers of drafting laws for special interests, and is also in conflict with Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, a former ally. Recent polls suggest that Basescu, a former sea captain and mayor of Bucharest who came to office in December 2004, is favored to win the May 19 referendum by a margin of more than 20 percent. More than 30,000 people were in the crowd Saturday, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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posted just because the hypocrisy is soooooo sweet
Sen. Barack Obama talks a good game. He also drives a good car, but the two are not entirely compatible.
The Democratic presidential contender was in Detroit on Monday, oozing charisma and environmental awareness as he chided local automakers for building too many big vehicles and not enough fuel-efficient hybrids.
So his choice to drive a V8 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C emits a whiff of hypocrisy along with its exhaust fumes. Obama's choice proves once again that fuel economy is seldom the No. 1 factor when Americans buy cars. The 340-horsepower 300C has plenty of room for the lanky senator, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters. It gets 25 miles per gallon on the highway, good for a big sedan, but far short of hybrids and compact cars.
His campaign Thursday said it leases a flex-fuel vehicle, and Obama, whose family has just one car, "believes we need to work together to achieve energy independence."
So although owning a hybrid is politically correct for presidential aspirants -- many report that they do -- this week reminds Detroit that campaigning still is sometimes about doing what I say, not what I do.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2007 08:58 ||
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So his choice to drive a V8 Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C
But it's wind-powered. And don't forget the carbon credits.
#2
Hybrids aren't hybrid these days. All the current so called hybrids are 100% gaseoline powered. That's because genuine hybrids were a really dumb idea, a massive waste of energy and resources.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, told New Hampshire firefighters Friday that he was frustrated his staff did not build into his travel schedule a personal appearance before their union meeting taking place in the coastal city of Portsmouth. Instead, the presidential hopeful had to address the IAFF and Federation of State and Provincial Firefighters Association this morning by telephone. "I have to tell you, I wish I was there," Obama said over a speakerphone. "My staff had already scheduled some things and they couldn't wiggle out if it. They heard from me a little bit because I wasn't happy I couldn't be there personally." Obama went on to say that "having a chance to talk to you guys is important. And I'm not going to let a thousand miles between us keep me from saying what I have to say." "Really, you guys are the most important people in the world to me. All the rest of these rubes and yokels I have to romance -- they mean nothing. Mere expediency, if that. You guys are tops, and I'm devastated I can't be there to tell you in person, each and every one. And I'm really, really sincere when I say that."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Obama - I wouldn't start whipping your staff in public. With your 10,000 dead gaffe and your other mistakes, you're just confirming to Hillary Her Thighness that your campaign staff isn't major league like hers is.
Senator Sam Brownback says an abortion rights candidate will have trouble winning the Republican presidential nomination. Brownback, who is seeking the G-O-P nomination, says any dispute over abortion rights within the party have been resolved and that it is unlikely an abortion rights candidate could win the nomination.
Polls show that Rudy Giuliani, who is an abortion rights candidate, on top of most polls of Republican presidential hopefuls. Brownback that status will change as hard-core party activists begin to focus on the race. Brownback also criticized former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who took an abortion rights stance as governor but has switched to anti-abortion in his bid for the G-O-P nomination. Brownback says much changes will be a deal breaker for voters. I have an opinion on abortion: I'm 51 percent against it, meaning that on very close balance I'm against it but I can see the arguments in its favor on the other side and accept the fact that it might be necessary occasionally. I am incapable of obsessing over the issue; it simply doesn't mean enough to me. Even though I don't consider it to be a good thing for society, I don't lie awake at night thinking about it.
What I do lie awake thinking about sometimes is the survival of the West, and particularly the survival of the U.S.A. I have visions of the great nations of the West being overrun by beturbanned hordes of primitives who will force out grandchildren to bow down toward Mecca five times a day and slice the pubic lips off our women. Next to the survival of the very concepts of individual liberty, freedom from oppression, and the culture we've painfully built since 476 A.D., "a woman's right to choose" wouldn't appear to mean squat. If we lose, our granddaughters will have to go to the local holy man to have an abortion approved. We can guess how well that'll work.
I hereby withdraw my personal approval from any politician who puts the trivial, whether it's Britney's haircut, Anna Nicole's laundry list of lovers, or abortion, before the survival of our culture.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Well put Fred. These pols need to get their pencil brains focused on what counts. We're tired of the drivel. Get onto the big topics. How are you gonna protect the USA for our children and grand children. Quit diplo dipshit speak. Talk clearly about Islamo threat to western civilization.
#2
This is "Culture of Life" vs "Culture of Death".
Its part and parcel of why the liberals promote abortion, open borders, tolerance of islamofascism, deny anything other than relativistic morals, etc, and the conservatives are against abortion, for protected borders, and call Islamofascism a threat, and speak out on truly evil things being evil, etc.
They are all part of the same fabric.
The trick is finding a politician who appeals to social and economic conservatives, who is also strong on defense and terror, and very clear about the moral dimensions of all of those subjects - and who, unlike Bush, can communicate all of these things to the public at large and bring them to consensus on the correct side of things.
Reagan did so - remember how he was cutting taxes, was socially conservative speaking openly about hte evils of liberalism, staunchly anti-Communist he was, how he called the Soviet Union the EVIL EMPIRE openly and plainly, challenged them to tear down the wall, and stood stong against the press and liberals - and convinced America it was not just the thing we must do, but what we morally were obligated to do. And he set us a beacon - that "Shining City on a Hill".
THAT is what the next Republican candidate needs to be able to do: stand firm on conservative principles, defend them well and in good spirit, and be genuinely optimistic about America and communicate it to all the people of the nation - while delivering clear warnings to our enemies, marking it as a clearly moral struggle.
(And yes I think Fred Thompson can do that, Rudy cannot).
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia may veto a draft U.N. Security Council resolution providing for effective independence for Kosovo, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said on Saturday. "Such a scenario is becoming more and more likely," Vitaly Churkin told the Russian television channel Vesti 24.
Churkin was responding to a question about whether Russia would use its right as a permanent Security Council member to veto the resolution. "We are trying to find a diplomatic solution but we cannot find such a solution simply accepting positions of countries we have deep disagreements with," Churkin said.
The draft resolution, circulated earlier by the United States and European Union countries, endorses a plan drawn up by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Under the plan, the Serbian province, which has been under U.N. administration for almost eight years, would be independent under European Union supervision.
Churkin accused his Western counterparts of enforcing artificial deadlines for resolving sensitive issues and applying double standards, an allegation often used by Moscow in response to international criticism of its policies. "We often tell our Western colleagues half-jokingly: "Why don't we apply the same timeframe to the Middle East crisis and try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within, say, three months," Churkin said.
VOCAL
Russia, flush with oil revenues, is flexing its muscles on the international scene and is becoming an increasingly vocal critic of the West. Russia said earlier on Saturday it could not accept parts of the resolution. "Of course, there will be further discussions with the authors of this document but it is clear that the draft resolution contains provisions which cannot be accepted by us," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in remarks published on the ministry's official Web site www.mid.ru.
Kamynin's statement did not say which parts of the resolution Moscow objected to or make any mention of a veto.
Diplomats expected talks between Security Council diplomats to start next week in an attempt to agree a text but Churkin said Russian diplomats would not touch the draft until next week's visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Moscow was over. "Everyone is waiting for the talks' outcome in order to review the situation and see what can be done in the Security Council," Churkin said in an interview with Vesti 24.
Rice is due to arrive in Moscow on Monday. Churkin said Russia did not want to maintain the status quo in Kosovo and was prepared to work on a solution that would involve the European Union.
"We admit there can be a solution that would not only push both sides to further negotiations but would also replace the United Nations in Kosovo with the European Union's presence," Churkin said.
Western nations say it is time to end the lengthy stalemate on the breakaway province after talks between Serbs and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority on its status led nowhere. Belgrade's ally Russia says negotiations should continue.
"As we had stated before, the real solution of the Kosovo problem may not be enforced but should be based on the will of both sides -- Serbs and Kosovo Albanians," Kamynin said.
#4
The way I understand it, Kosovo is an historically important part of Serbia dating back to the earliest influx of Serbs into the area, holding an a place in Serbian history similar say to New England in the US. Over time, more and more Albanians moved into the area, muslim and christian, making the Serbs a minority there.
So contemplate a bunch of foreign countries telling the US that New England is going to be split off so the Somali taxicab drivers that have moved in can have their own country. Not hard to figure out how the Serbs feel about it.
BTW__ don't take this as support for the Serbs or their ethnic cleaning back in the '90's. Just trying to explain why they feel the way they do.
Zimbabwe has been elected to head the UN's commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) despite strong objections from Western diplomats. We're talking audible eye-rolling.
They had said Zimbabwe was unsuitable because of its human rights record and economic problems. It is suffering food shortages and rampant inflation. Not to mention the fact that Zim hasn't been able to develop anything since Bob took over, much less sustain it.
But Zimbabwe has dismissed such criticism, calling it an insult. "We're just so insulted!"
"Ah, go sustain something!"
The country was chosen by other African nations. Really? Who'da guessed that?
The CSD post rotates every year between the world's regions. I'm waiting to see who gets voted in when it's Antarctica's turn.
Zimbabwe was elected to lead the commission by a 26-21 secret ballot among CSD members at the UN headquarters in New York. There were also three abstentions. There was a brief round of applause as the result was announced. "Hurray! Zim's gonna sustain the UN's development into a laughingstock!"
Developing nations appear to have voted for Zimbabwe, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says. They respected the decision of the African group to nominate the country for the post in the first place, and they have shown they cannot be pushed around, our correspondent says. "Yeah! Ain't nobuddy pushes us around!"
"That's how we can tell you're impoverished, weak, ineffectual, and 'developing.' Only civilized countries get pushed around anymore."
Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Francis Nheme will now become chairman of the CSD. Luckily the body doesn't actually produce anything except salaries for its staff.
Mr Nheme is the subject of European Union travel ban because he is a member of President Robert Mugabe's government. That means he cannot travel to the EU to meet ministers on commission business. Guess he's gonna have to teleconference, huh?
Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku, said before the vote that his country was entitled to hold the chairmanship. "It's our right. "Yeah! It's our Legitimate Right!"
We're members of the United Nations and we're members of CSD, and the Africa group did make a decision and endorsed Zimbabwe," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme. He said the real objection came down to Britain's criticism of Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme. That and the fact that Zim's actually becoming undeveloped, and maybe sustainably so.
Zimbabwe was once a prosperous food exporter, but production has plummeted since land reforms in 2000 that saw thousands of white-owned farms seized. "We see it as a translation of a bilateral quarrel between London and Harare on the land reform programme," Mr Chidyausiku said. The rest of the world sees it as the loons taking over the administration of the cackle factory.
He said the European countries should respect the decision of the African block. "When they tell the African group to change, it's an insult to our intelligence - that we Africans can't think," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2007 00:00 ||
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Yeah, right. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is supposed to be involved in worldwide activities, not just African.
I see this simply as a way for this particular bloc of nations, and ZimBob in particular, to siphon off funds from us evil colonialists.
#3
Zimbabwe has been elected to head the UN's commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) despite an economy so bad that their citizens beg visiting Ethiopians for pocket change.
#5
Oh, well, it's just the african countries regional voting bloc (as UN members vote according to their affiliation, not as free-minded State-members) sticking it to whitey, just like the arabs did for darfur. But that won't prevent them for asking for having their debt cancelled, or for more aid money, of course. I mean, it's working fine for them that way, why should they ever change?
#6
He said the real objection came down to Britain's criticism of Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme.
The key or bottom line is not the UK's "real objection" but the in-yo-face response to a western notions of white land and farm ownership in an African nation. How dare the west poke a finger at Afrian tribal land reform and redistribution?
#9
Y'all are all wrong, Zimbob has found something to steal, that's all.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/13/2007 12:48 Comments ||
Top||
#10
It's stupidity like this that makes savvy investors think there isn't a country in Africa worth investing fifty cents in. It's also one of the major reasons the African continent, as a whole, plays a lesser part in world trade in 2007 than it did in 1960. And it didn't play a real big part then. If Africa suddenly disappeared under the waves tomorrow, the world economy would barely notice.
Posted by: Mac ||
05/13/2007 18:22 Comments ||
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May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC's expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it's credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day.
Now that speed and efficiency is coming to internet surveillance. While CALEA is all about phones, the Justice Department began lobbying the FCC in 2002 to reinterpret the law as applying to the internet as well. The commission obliged, and last June a divided federal appeals court upheld the expansion 2-1. (The dissenting judge called the FCC's position "gobbledygook." But he was outnumbered.)
So, if you're a broadband provider (separately, some VOIP companies are covered too) Hurry! The deadline has already passed to file an FCC form 445, certifying that you're on schedule, or explaining why you're not. You can also find the 68-page official industry spec for internet surveillance here. It'll cost you $164.00 to download, but then you'll know exactly what format to use when delivering customer packets to federal or local law enforcement, including "e-mail, instant messaging records, web-browsing information and other information sent or received through a user's broadband connection, including on-line banking activity."
There are also third party brokers who will handle all this for you for a fee.
It's worth noting that the new requirements don't alter the legal standards for law enforcement to win court orders for internet wiretaps. Fans of CALEA expansion argue that it therefore won't increase the number of Americans under surveillance.
That's wrong, of course. Making surveillance easier and faster gives law enforcement agencies of all stripes more reason to eschew old-fashioned police work in favor of spying. The telephone CALEA compliance deadline was in 2002, and since then the amount of court-ordered surveillance has nearly doubled from 2,586 applications granted that year, to 4,015 orders in 2006.
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.
Although underhand dealings at Chittagong seaport seem to have ceased in the changed scenario, bribery still continues stealthily despite strict monitoring under the current anti-graft drive, says a private probe report. According to a latest investigation by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), in the first few months of 2007, about Tk 300 crore has been transacted in bribe while this amount was Tk 943.48 crore in 2006. 
President Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding Saturday over ceremonies marking the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, told New Hampshire firefighters Friday that he was frustrated his staff did not build into his travel schedule a personal appearance before their union meeting taking place in the coastal city of Portsmouth. Instead, the presidential hopeful had to address the IAFF and Federation of State and Provincial Firefighters Association this morning by telephone. "I have to tell you, I wish I was there," Obama said over a speakerphone. "My staff had already scheduled some things and they couldn't wiggle out if it. They heard from me a little bit because I wasn't happy I couldn't be there personally." Obama went on to say that "having a chance to talk to you guys is important. And I'm not going to let a thousand miles between us keep me from saying what I have to say."
Senator Sam Brownback says an abortion rights candidate will have trouble winning the Republican presidential nomination. Brownback, who is seeking the G-O-P nomination, says any dispute over abortion rights within the party have been resolved and that it is unlikely an abortion rights candidate could win the nomination.
Zimbabwe has been elected to head the UN's commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) despite strong objections from Western diplomats. 
