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Somalia Islamic movement appoints new leadership
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Africa Subsaharan
French TV crew may face Niger death penalty
Authorities in Niger have charged two French journalists with colluding with armed groups in the country's uranium-rich north, which could carry the death penalty if they are convicted, their lawyer said on Saturday.
Wonder what it will do to ratings?
Thomas Dandois and Pierre Creisson are accused of violating the terms of their media accreditation to film a report about bird flu in the southern city of Maradi, instead traveling to film rebel fighters in the country's Saharan north. Northern Niger has been under a state of alert since August and foreign reporters are banned as part of efforts to combat rebels who have killed at least 49 government security personnel since they launched their uprising in February.

The Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), led by light-skinned Tuareg nomadic tribesmen, says its members are fighting for more autonomy from the black African-led government in the south and for a greater share of their region's mineral wealth. The government dismisses them as bandits and smugglers.

Dandois and Creisson were ordered to be held in a prison in Kollo, about 25 km (15 miles) southeast of the capital Niamey, where they were arrested on Monday. The crime could carry the death penalty, their lawyer, Coulibaly Moussa, told reporters in Niamey, saying: "This is a serious setback for liberty and the rule of law."

Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres this week demanded the release of reporter Dandois and cameraman Creisson, who were employed by Camicas Productions and were in Niger compiling a report for European TV station ARTE.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A lesson for us all.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2007 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Most likely DPSD Reporters Sans Frontieres. Money and release to follow.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 1:51 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a start.
Posted by: Gromomble Oppressor of the Nebraskans8916 || 12/23/2007 1:53 Comments || Top||

#4  A clear violation of the 1st ammendment. code pink should get over there right now protest.

On the other hand, someone close to me was in Iraq on patrol within the first year and was ambushed. I am told that within an unreasonably short amount of time pictures of that ambush were shown on french TV and CNN...hmmm..
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 2:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Was it the same group that fabricated that crap about the Palestinian kid who got "killed"?
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 3:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Gromomble Oppressor of the Nebraskans8916
Seine handle is zur mir laugh machen yep.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/23/2007 7:50 Comments || Top||

#7  This could be the start of an exciting new series of reality shows. Too bad the name "You Bet Your Life" was already used.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/23/2007 11:57 Comments || Top||


Britain
Tony Blair converts to Catholicism
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has converted from Britain's established church, Anglicanism, to Roman Catholicism, the head of Britain's Catholics said on Saturday.
Cheeze. What next? The Archdruid of Canterbury becomes a Christian?
Blair, whose wife and four children are Catholic, was received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor on Friday in a move that had been widely expected after he stepped down from power in June. "I am very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church," Murphy-O'Connor said in a statement, adding the conversion took place in private at a chapel at the cardinal's residence in central London. "For a long time he has been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months he has been following a program of formation to prepare for his reception into full communion. My prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together."
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cherie the Moonbatess is a catholic?
Sure, nothing to prevent loonies from being catholics, but still...
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/23/2007 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, Charles already took Islam . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 6:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Did Tony renounce his position on abortion?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/23/2007 7:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Papists! In the highest ranks of Government! It was all kept a secret 'ya see. In time we'll see the Knights of Columbus battling in the streets with the Masons and the Jooooooooooooooooooos! It's all controlled by the Bilderburgers and deh Lizard Peeps. lern to read the krop sircles!
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/23/2007 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  After that statement the Archdruid made the other day about how Christians need not believe the Christmas story it occurred to me that anyone who really wants to be a Christian in the UK might want to look just about anywhere except the Anglican church. With an imbecile like that in charge it's no wonder the pews are empty.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 12/23/2007 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey, the best recruiters we have for Catholicism are the Anglicans and other liberal sem-Christian sects who discard orthodoxy, promote secularism and discard traditional theology.
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/23/2007 18:31 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Uzbekistan votes as Karimov gears up for long rule
Uzbeks head to the polls on Sunday in an election certain to extend President Islam Karimov's long rule and criticized by the opposition and human rights activists as a Soviet-style contest.

In power since 1989, Karimov is accused by international rights groups of violating basic freedoms in his Central Asian homeland. Karimov was condemned in the West in 2005 when troops opened fire on a protest in the town of Andizhan. "Under no circumstances one should accept this election as legitimate," said Nigara Khidoyatova, leader of the unregistered opposition Ozod Dekhkonlar party. "We live in an ugly and amoral regime which admits no human values. And the main element of this are lies and falsification. The election ... is just a show for Western nations."

On Sunday, Karimov faces a line-up analysts say is designed to give the election the veneer of a democratic vote.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Danish politician stakes claim to Swedish provinces
A Danish politician has staked a claim to the Swedish provinces of Skåne, Blekinge and Halland. Sören Krarup, a member of the Danish People's Party, argues that the provinces should be returned to Denmark after 350 years of Swedish rule.

Krarup argues, in an interview with Danish news agency Ritzau, that Denmark's current borders are not "natural". He goes on to claim that large numbers of the population of southern Sweden would elect to become Danish citizens. When questioned as to where Denmark's natural border would reach, Krarup replied: "It extends as far as there is a Danish majority."
"All your Saabs are belong to us"
Everything belongs to the EU anyways.
Krarup bases his claim on the "historical maltreatment" of Denmark and claims that "horrible terror" methods have been applied to force residents of southern Sweden to become more Swedish.

Dagens Nyheter reports that Krarup has since toned down his stance and he concedes that although it is regrettable that the Swedish provinces were taken from Denmark in the seventeenth century, it can't be changed now.

Krarup's territorial ambitions are mainly focused on the Swedish county of Skåne but also extend in another direction from Denmark, to Germany and South Schleswig. A referendum was held in 1920 which resulted in the division of Schleswig and gave the south to Germany and the north to Denmark. Krarup questions the legitimacy of the referendum as only those born in the province were eligible to vote. According to Krarup this led to Germans traveling in from all over the country to vote.

Krarup is reportedly unwilling to apply the same reasoning to Kosovo and rejects comparisons with the Albanian majority's claims of independence from Serbia with the historically Danish territory of Schleswig. Albanian domination in Kosovo is due only to immigration and high birth rates he points out.

Halland became part of Sweden in 1645 following peace at Brömsebro; Skåne and Blekinge were under Danish control until 1658. The provinces had been part of Denmark for over 600 years and many residents refused to accept their new Swedish rulers. Guerillas known as Snapphanarna, who had fought on the Danish side in the war, continued to fight against their Swedish conquerors.

The Danish People's Party (Danish: Dansk Folkeparti) is a social conservative, nationalist political party in Denmark. In the 2007 parliamentary election, it took 25 seats in the 179-member Folketinget, with 13.8% of the vote. It is the third largest party in Denmark.
Posted by: mrp || 12/23/2007 08:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Krarup bases his claim on the "historical maltreatment" of Denmark and claims that "horrible terror" methods have been applied to force residents of southern Sweden to become more Swedish.

Water Glögg boarding? Swedish pancakes? Lingonberries? Powdered sugar? Lutfisk? Kluft torture stamps?

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Krarup bases his claim on the "historical maltreatment" of Denmark and claims that "horrible terror" methods have been applied to force residents of southern Sweden to become more Swedish.

Water Glögg boarding? Swedish pancakes? Lingonberries? Powdered sugar? Lutfisk? Kluft torture stamps?

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  note to England... you need Royalty that looks like that...
Posted by: john frum || 12/23/2007 9:41 Comments || Top||

#4  The 'Right of Return'[tm] comes home to roost. Enjoy it Euros, it's just beginning.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2007 11:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Illegal immigrants packing up and leaving Arizona
Illegal immigrants in Arizona, frustrated with a flagging economy and tough new legislation cracking down on their employers, are returning to their home countries or trying their luck in other states.
But, but, liberals arguments suggest that's against human nature!
For months, immigrants have taken a wait-and-see attitude toward the state's new employer-sanctions law, which takes effect January 1. The voter-approved legislation is an attempt to lessen the economic incentive for illegal immigrants in Arizona, the busiest crossing point along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Maybe we should install a few one-way doors along what little of the fence exists?
And by all appearances, it's starting to work.
Do my eyes deceive me? Did the MSM use the word 'work' in the proper context?
"People are calling me telling me about their friend, their cousin, their neighbors -- they're moving back to Mexico," said Magdalena Schwartz, an immigrant-rights activist and pastor at a Mesa church. "They don't want to live in fear, in terror."
Neither do I. But since I'm a legal citizen, I figure I have a right to live securely and with a near-maximum quality of life within my country's borders, even if it costs you. Go home and fix your own country up the way you like it and stop leeching off mine lifestyle. I truly wish you well, but your place is there if you're not legally here.
Martin Herrera, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant and masonry worker who lives in Camp Verde, 70 miles north of Phoenix, said he is planning to return to Mexico as soon as he ties up loose ends after living here for four years.
Loose ends? What loose ends? You're illegal. Get in your car with your wife and anchor babies and go. Here's a hint someone should have given you a long time ago: Those speed signs along the way are in MPH, not KPH.
"I don't want to live here because of the new law and the oppressive environment," he said. "I'll be better in my country."
Stick it to the man, baby! Please.
He called the employer-sanctions law "absurd."
Depends on your point of view, I suppose. Try paying all your taxes and insurance for a couple of years and we'll talk again. After you learn how to drive. And speak ingles.
"Everybody here, legally or illegally, we are part of a motor that makes this country run," Herrera said. "Once we leave, the motor is going to start to slow down."
You can be sure you'll be invited back when the motor needs you again.
There's no way to know how many illegal immigrants are leaving Arizona, especially now with many returning home for normal holiday visits. But economists, immigration lawyers and people who work in the immigrant community agree it's happening.
Why don't you just start charting the number of reported cases of "el weeplash" across the state?
State Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, the author of the employer sanctions law, said his intent was to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona.
And into a state nearer to you.
"I'm hoping they will self-deport," Pearce said. "They broke the law. They're criminals."
Simple. Clear. Effective. If it's enforced. I'm sure given the stiff fines that it will be.
Under the employer sanctions law, businesses found to have knowingly hired illegal workers will be subject to sanctions from probation to a 10-day suspension of their business licenses. A second violation would bring permanent revocation of the license.
Err, where are the stiff fines?
Nancy-Jo Merritt, an immigration lawyer who primarily represents employers, said her clients already have started to fire workers who can't prove they are in the country legally.
I'll bet Nancy-Jo can prove she's here legally.
"Workers are being fired, of course," she said. "Nobody wants to find out later on that they've got somebody working for them who's not here legally."
Don't worry, I'm sure there will be a brisk business involving lawsuits against companies who wronfully fired legal workers.
When immigrants don't have jobs, they don't stick around, said Dawn McLaren, a research economist at Arizona State University who specializes in illegal immigration.
Must have a PhD in human behavior, too!
She said the flagging economy, particularly in the construction industry, also is contributing to an immigrant exodus.
Maybe they could take a course or two in remedial arithmetic. If nothing else it would make them able to space the studs properly if the construction industry ever picks up again. And if they take a remedial course in Geometry, maybe they will be able to master the concepts of the right angle, the straight line, and level.
"As the jobs dwindle and the environment becomes more unpleasant in more ways than one, you then decide what to do, and perhaps leaving looks like a good idea," she said. "And certainly that creates a problem, because as people leave, they take the jobs they created with them."
Well, when they leave the job they created by coming here won't need to exist any more, now will it?
Pearce disagreed that the Arizona economy will suffer after illegal immigrants leave, saying there will be less crime, lower taxes, less congestion, smaller classroom sizes and shorter lines in emergency rooms.
Yeah, but what about the translation industry, man? Ever think of that? And what about the forged document industry, eh? Gotcha! Also, won't that help with "no child left behind" scores when they won't have to slow down to teach the newbies basic english?
"We have a free market. It'll adjust," he said. "Americans will be much better off."
Smart man. Pay attention if you happen to be a state rep of another state.
He said he's not surprised illegal immigrants are leaving the state and predicts that more will go once the employer-sanctions law takes effect next month.
Better get a few of them to pave the southbound lanes of the exit routes before the rush starts.
"It's attrition by enforcement," he said. "As you make this an unfriendly state for lawbreakers, I'm hoping they will pick up and leave."
Understatement of the week material?

You know, this gives me an idea where we could have a system whereby we codify expected behaviors, and anybody who violates these codes be punished. We could call it a legal system.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 04:22 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is sketchy, at best. To start with, you can't believe *anything* the "advocates" say; they are as unreliable as "homeless advocates".

Second, why go to Mexico when they could go to the much friendlier California or New Mexico? (Not Colorado, as it is cracking down, or Utah, as the gaming industry only hires legals. Though the Mormons in Utah might help if they are Mormon.)

Third, a lot of legal/illegal families are going to decide that their legal members are the breadwinners, while the illegals make money in the underground economy, or just support the legals.

That is, there are "workarounds". If women are illegal, they just stay at home and make legal babies. The men either work at cash jobs, which many do already, or they do stay at home work, which is then bartered by the legals. "Juan is a good worker, he does the work of three men. He does his best work at home."

There is going to be an explosion in the number of fake IDs, as thoroughly Americanized illegals will fight tooth and claw to stay here. For them, Mexico is a foreign country, they don't speak Spanish well, and have no relatives there. It might as well be Albania.

And since this only affects employment, the illegals will still be going to public school, emergency rooms, and everything else they currently do, including driving without either a license or registration.

And yet, none of this is going to be in the papers, much. It is a mess no matter what happens.

On the plus side, ugly middle aged guys can come here and pick up a young, good looking 18 year old illegal Mexican girl for a bride. Sure it's a lot of paperwork, but they won't get lucky any other way.

And if he takes her to Utah or Nevada, she only has to be 16. (It could be worse. In South Carolina, it's 14.)
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/23/2007 10:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "They don't want to live in fear, in terror."

Terror, fear? The reality is that most crimes against whites are committed by other whites. Most crime committed against black is by blacks. I would expect that real terror and fear is not generated from the INS, it by crime committed by illegals against other illegals. The only calculation that could be in their minds is that the crime committed in the community on this side of the border is becoming greater than the crime committed on the home side of the border.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2007 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3  #2, just one legal American robbed, raped or killed by an illegal alien is too many. If the illegal was where he belongs there would be no victim.

And there are many more that one. Sounds like you need an invite to the hospital bedside or grave site ceremonies. That would keep you busy for a ling time.
Posted by: Throger Thains8048 || 12/23/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Oops. LONG time....
Posted by: Throger Thains8048 || 12/23/2007 12:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Throger Thains8048: Poor logic. The same could be said about blacks and Africa, Italians, or even the Irish. If the Irish were sent back to Ireland, there certainly wouldn't be an Irish mafia in Boston.

There are a small percentage of illegals who commit crimes, relatively not that much more than the percentage of other races who commit crimes.

So while there may be a reasoned argument against illegals in the US, this isn't one of them, as it smacks of racism, not of nationalism.

It took at least 50 years to make this problem as messy as it is. And no solution is going to make it any the less messy. So the only consideration is to start trying solutions hoping for good effects, while trying to mitigate the bad effects and unintended consequences.

No matter what we do, even if we do nothing, lots of people are going to get hurt. Pretending otherwise is self delusion; but being indifferent to the hurt inflicted on others is just mean.

AZ has made a good start, but as strong as it seems, its impact will be tempered and restrained, and it will also have lots of consequences, intended or not.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/23/2007 13:14 Comments || Top||

#6  They don't have to be kicked out entirely. They just have to get legal status and pay taxes, get insurance, get an address, learn to drive, etc. Best way to do that is to make illegal status less convenient than illegal. I'll bet anyone here a dollar I could come up with a way to accurately verify legal status. Someone just has to have the political balls to do it. And I don't know why it takes political balls. The legal status solution would work and get rid of a lot of "take advantage of them" behavior.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 14:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Millions who enter each year (as census indicates) already have a legal status: Mexico.

Our country is a melting pot, not an over-flow for ONE country.
Mexico's only chance of reform must come from within... and NOT in America.

This remains the best explanation: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1e2_1188492536
Posted by: MB || 12/23/2007 15:17 Comments || Top||

#8  There are a small percentage of illegals who commit crimes, relatively not that much more than the percentage of other races who commit crimes.

I call bullshit. A great big steaming pile of bullshit. 100 precent of all illegals are criminals.

but being indifferent to the hurt inflicted on others is just mean.

And I don't care. They can kiss my ass. They're not Americans. They're Mexican criminals. Better to be mean than to subscribe to the mass undermining of the very Rule of Law that makes this country the reason they want to be here. Preserving Rule of Law requires that we send these people back to the shitholes from whence they came. If Rule of Law is tossed out the window because we don't want to be 'mean', this country has nothing to hold it together.
Posted by: I think you dropped this || 12/23/2007 15:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Bah, that was me.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/23/2007 15:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Illegal immigrants, by definition, are here illegally. If you want to call that 'criminal', fine.

But if I were a struggling campesino in deep Mexico, with a starving campesino wife and six starving campesino children, I have to say that chopping up chickens for eight dollars an hour in Iowa would start to look pretty good.

And if, in the process of trying to feed my family, someone wants to label me an 'illegal', well, I'd suppose I'd manage to take that in stride.

Mexico is a country that needs substantial reform. We can talk about the need for the people there to stay home and fix their country. Then again, it's hard to ask people, particularly people with families, to be brave, and brave when their country has a history of stepping hard on people who were brave before them.

So I don't have much complaint with the ones who are here. And given the competency of the ICE, it's not like we can round them up. Maybe some will go home if we make our laws draconian enough, but I'm not sure that's good for America long-term.

Why not just hire Judge Dredd? I wouldn't want to live in that kind of America, either.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/23/2007 15:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Take for an example; yesterday I waited over 30 minutes in line to correct a huge over-charge on my phone bill... Finally got to the front, and the representative wouldn't speak to me in English!
...Evidently it was a Spanish line! (?)

Like, where’s the need to be constitutionally assimilative?

Too bad it is not only just a sense of humor that Americans are loosing here… But retreating droves will definitely bring it back! :)



Posted by: MB || 12/23/2007 15:59 Comments || Top||

#12  My position has been clear - illegals have no place in this country. They should be deported. If we have legal immigration, and we should, these linejumpers spit in teh face of every foreigner working hard (and they do) to become American citizens. I see naturalization ceremonies every other month or so at San Diego Convention/City Hall complex. These people from all parts of the world are there to celebrate their new country and the hard work they put in to call themselves citizens of teh United States. Illegals are here to make money (which they send back to Mexico) and gain benefits they haven't earned.

Build the fence and THEN we can talk about guest-workers in certain industries/fields that need em, but NO amnesty and no open borders, and the "story" that they don't commit more crimes is utter BS. As someone who's lived their entire life along the US/Mexico border, I should know
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2007 15:59 Comments || Top||

#13  We are not the solution to Mexico's problems.

It is only the elements of a Nation who STAND for its betterment, that reform it.

The citizens of Mexico MUST act brave to challenge reform in Mexico, as this is the problem.
I am told that those who could use their support (in Mexico) to push for essential elements (such as water systems) have low turn-out because they are in the US!

Mexico had better prioritize its own Sovereignty; before it’s suddenly a larger Colombia.

Posted by: MB || 12/23/2007 16:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Enforcing the laws is a helluva long stretch from Judge Dred. Its more like Judge Judy.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/23/2007 16:52 Comments || Top||

#15  As an aside, I found a web page which lists interesting statistics (key findings) about criminal activities by illegal aliens. More than making any argument, there is some really interesting stuff on the front page. Check it out:

http://www.urban.org/publications/410366.html

Here are a few more unusual bits:

*The major offenses for which illegal aliens were convicted in federal court in 1995 were unlawfully entering the United States (47 percent of the total), drug trafficking (27 percent), other immigration offenses (11 percent) and fraud (5 percent).

*For U.S. citizens and legal aliens, drug trafficking and fraud were the most common major federal offense conviction.

*In Florida (Cubans?), the most common offense among illegal aliens in state prisons was murder. Both illegal and legal aliens in Florida were far more likely than aliens in other states to have been convicted of violent offenses against a person.

*In 1995, California accounted for more illegal aliens sentenced in federal courts than any other state, 31 percent of the total. Texas had the next highest number of illegal aliens, 18 percent; together these two states accounted for about half of the illegal aliens sentenced. Other states with large number of illegal aliens sentenced were New York, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, and Washington.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/23/2007 17:02 Comments || Top||

#16  The southwestern states and the largest cities have been taken over by an incredible crime wave. The facts are:(FBI/INS) 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegals. 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegals. 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegals. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegals. More than 71% of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California were stolen by illegal aliens or transport "coyotes." 47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance, and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegals. 63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance, and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegals. 66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance, and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66%, 98% are illegals. More than 53% of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegals. More than half of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919295/posts
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2007 17:25 Comments || Top||

#17  "And if, in the process of trying to feed my family, someone wants to label me an 'illegal', well, I'd suppose I'd manage to take that in stride."

Pack your bags and head out with them. We won't miss you, either.
Posted by: Jomosing Bluetooth8431 || 12/23/2007 17:33 Comments || Top||

#18  WOW. Whoda thunk it? I was lowballing their crime figures!
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2007 17:33 Comments || Top||

#19  Procopius2k: I suspect that is too good to be true.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp

To start with, the FBI and INS would probably not issue a mutual report. And while this report is all over the Internet, it is mutually reflective, that is, there is no link to the original, which is a good indicator that it is bogus. Such reports are always available to the public.

Snopes.com does mention that some of the data was made in testimony before Congress, but not by either the FBI or INS, but by a lobbyist, without attribution.

And while snopes doesn't have a direct reference to the report itself, bit and pieces of the information, open to interpretation, appear elsewhere. Often with qualifications that would take away from the impact of the raw data.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/23/2007 18:28 Comments || Top||

#20  moose, every report I've read has had to be pushed through past the resisitance of the immigrant lobby, meaning they don't want you to know the truth. Every report that is published by commisions, committes, and think-tanks is done with an agenda, usually pro-illegals.

If your car is stolen in San Diego, chances are it's in Mexico. If you're hit by an unlicensed, uninsured driver, chances are it's an illegal. Facts are nasty things. Don't get on the wrong side of the truth, your credibility is at stake.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2007 18:47 Comments || Top||

#21  “There's no way to know how many illegal immigrants are leaving Arizona…”

Don’t’cha just love these Bullshit articles that try to slip in the essence of the story half way through. It’s almost like they treat the only fact here like it’s an addendum. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to why there's no way to know how many illegal immigrants are leaving Arizona? Here’s a hint. There's no way to know how many illegal immigrants are in Arizona at any given time! Oh sure, there’s plenty of estimates Just like the “official US” illegal alien population estimate has a plus or minus ratio of five fuckin million people. Odd how that that little ditty alone isn't enough drama for the media. Sigh...guess there's not enough..."conflict".
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/23/2007 18:54 Comments || Top||

#22  If I was home, south of Albuquerque, I could post a better reference. However, my own experience with the local news reporting crime and motor vehicle accidents go closer to this report, than the denials by people not living there. Remember these are open warrants, not arrests. Arrests tend to sort out at a different proportion, but when you can run for the border, usually the warrant is something that will likely not be cleared and they accumulate.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/23/2007 20:54 Comments || Top||

#23  I just did a Google search of "+immigrant +illegal +impact", and got 384,000 hits. I haven't gone through more than half a dozen so far, but from what I gather, the impact of illegal immigration is staggering. Several reports put the costs in the millions of dollars per year, one puts them in billions. There's also evidence of economic impact in many other areas, including identity theft, criminal cases, and more. I'm going to take a couple of weeks and go through this mess. I'll provide a place for all of you to read and comment on it later.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/23/2007 22:17 Comments || Top||

#24  When illegals have become a safety and crime problem in rural Indiana, things have gone way too far.

Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/23/2007 22:23 Comments || Top||

#25  P2K: Terror, fear? The reality is that most crimes against whites are committed by other whites. Most crime committed against black is by blacks. I would expect that real terror and fear is not generated from the INS, it by crime committed by illegals against other illegals.

Most crimes (>50%) are committed by blacks. Most crimes committed against blacks and whites are committed by blacks. It is also likely that more crimes are committed against whites by illegals than by other whites. Why? For the same reason Willy Sutton robbed banks. Because that's where the money is.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/23/2007 23:09 Comments || Top||


Democrat Edwards looks to pull a surprise in Iowa
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For Clintonically Obomious reasons, I hope he does well. Riding in the turrent of a tank might help.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 2:03 Comments || Top||

#2  He has returned instead to the populist themes that drove his 2004 presidential campaign, promising to fight for everyday Americans and take on the corporate interests he says have Washington by the throat.
Which America, the Sharks or the Jets?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 3:11 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 4:02 Comments || Top||

#4  this guy is something, they clamped the story of his New baby. Probably pending dna results. the alleged infant was concieved in a tryst with a reporter, supposedly......utube has a video with him being interviewed on a plane, by the reporter, who now is claiming shes pregnant by him....at least that is how the story was framed, but its disappeared.....oh what a tangled web they weave.
Posted by: Spiny Gl 2511 || 12/23/2007 9:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Apparently, Edwards spent too much time in his own "Other America."
Posted by: doc || 12/23/2007 10:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Sorry, here's the photo.
Posted by: doc || 12/23/2007 10:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Compared to Clinton, Obama, Kucinich, Richardson - he's beginning to not look so bad...
Posted by: borgboy2001 || 12/23/2007 12:14 Comments || Top||

#8  "Democrat Edwards looks to pull a surprise in Iowa"

The surprise is that he can find his ass Iowa with both hand and a map.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/23/2007 13:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Pull a surprise? Just don't pull a Hammie.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/23/2007 17:06 Comments || Top||


Clinton targets women voters
Flanked by her mother and daughter, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton sought on Saturday to shore up votes among women whose support is turning more fluid in the tightening U.S. presidential race.

Less than two weeks before voting begins in the state-by-state process to select party candidates, the New York senator who would be the nation's first female president touted her plans to expand paid family leave and boost child-care funding to help working mothers. "We can do a better job in America in supporting families," Clinton told about 120 voters in the lobby of the Young Women's Christian Association offices in Manchester, New Hampshire, as her 27-year-old daughter, Chelsea, and her 88-year-old mother, Dorothy Rodham, sat in chairs beside her.

National polls have shown Clinton holding a strong lead among women over Democratic rival Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, but surveys in the early-voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa are more volatile.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll published on Wednesday showed Clinton and Obama in a statistical dead heat among women who plan to attend Iowa's January 3 caucuses, which will kick off the nomination process for the November 2008 election.

In New Hampshire, whose January 8 primary vote is the second big nomination contest in the race for the White House, a CNN/WMUR poll this week showed Clinton leading Obama 42 percent to 25 percent among women -- roughly unchanged from November. But just a week earlier, the same pollsters said Clinton's support among women had collapsed in New Hampshire when they found that from December 6 to December 10 her support narrowed to 33 percent while Obama's support among women rose to 28 percent.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Bill Clinton targets women voters"

There - fixed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/23/2007 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "We can do a better job in America in supporting families,"

Yes, we certainly could. We could lower taxes so that it becomes unnecessary for both husband and wife to work to make ends meet. This would allow mothers, who don't see raising offspring as bad, menial, or passe, but rather the natural order, to stay home and raise children properly. Of course if one fails to see or denies the need to continue western culture and civilization and sees employment as a means to gain personal power and independence, or a method in which to best men at hunting and gathering, then none of my drivel applies. Applying rather handily however, is the old axium, "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Rules The World." Unfortunately, it appears the hand that is doing the rocking may be doing so from behind a veil.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 1:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Had the same thought Barbara - what did they ever do to hillarity!

Whenever I hear someone talk about state run health care I think back to my last trip to the DMV office.

BTW, big fan of the medici photo. (suggest the Grotto di Leo for Florintine visitors near the train station - great food reasonable price, can still taste the Mozzarello).
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 1:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Well it's a good strategy. Wymens can be fooled easily, I mean, hell, look at how many of 'em are married.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/23/2007 7:59 Comments || Top||

#5  “Hillary Clinton sought on Saturday to shore up votes among women whose support is turning more fluid in the tightening U.S. presidential race…”

Heyy noww!…is this the Reuters’ reporters way of tipping us off that Hillays’ much anticipated “I promise a Multiple-Orgasm in every Bedroom” speech is right around the corner?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/23/2007 19:44 Comments || Top||


O'Bama Moves to Defend Foreign Policy Experience
Senator Barack Obama is defending his foreign policy credentials, saying his service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his judgment should allay any voter concerns about his experience. At a campaign event on Friday evening, Mr. Obama suggested he had more foreign policy experts from the Clinton administration supporting him than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did. That, he told voters, “should raise some pretty interesting questions.”

“Even by the standards of Washington,” Mr. Obama said, “I have dealt more with foreign policy than, let’s say, Bill Clinton had, when he became president, or Ronald Reagan — he was governor at the time.”

Shortly after Mr. Obama made his comments in response to a voter’s question, Mrs. Clinton produced a list of more than 80 foreign policy advisers supporting her candidacy who had worked in the Clinton administration. The Obama campaign did not respond to requests for a similar list for Mr. Obama. “Attacking Senator Clinton by making claims about his foreign policy credentials that he can’t support only raises more questions about Senator Obama’s experience,” said Phil Singer, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ironically, his experience in Chicago would I suspect qualify as quite "foreign" to most downstaters and folks outside of Cook County.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2007 1:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess that means Martians don't count (your move K). The only work I know him to have done is campaign and Monday Night Football - let's forget that deal about 10,000 people dying in Greensburg since only about 1,000 people lived there in the first place.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 4:13 Comments || Top||

#3  B. Hussein Obama has no foreign policy experience to defend.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/23/2007 14:49 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Inbreeding Genetic diseases cost Arabs USD 13 bln a year
(KUNA) -- Patients with genetic diseases cost the Arab world USD 13 billion annually, a medical expert said on Saturday. Ghazi Omar Tadhmori, Assistant director of the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS), affiliated to the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences, said genetic diseases in the Arab region had increased the burden on the health institutions. In his lecture on genetic diseases in the Arab countries delivered at the Arab Gulf University, Tadhmori noted that health figures show that such diseases were on the rise in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. There are more than 240 genetic diseases in the UAE, 114 in Bahrain and 250 in Oman, a matter that prompts fresh ideas on the genetic variation of that geographically small region. More data will be gathered about the rest of the Arab countries over the coming years. Interim statistics suggest there are about 850 genetic diseases in the Arab world, that could exceed 1,000 when data collecting is completed, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thin skin and hemophilia - gooble gobble gooble gobble.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  And those are just the gross physical aberrations. Now think, more subtle---psychological, heritable disorders.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2007 0:21 Comments || Top||

#3  No kidding indeed - factor cultural practices as an exponant to such disorders.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 2:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Not that subtle, g(r)om.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/23/2007 2:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Who says they aren't breaking ground in the medical field?

"When you gene pool is a relecting pool, you might be ..."

"When you plot your family line in 1 dimension, you might be ..."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2007 2:50 Comments || Top||

#6  %s/inbr/crossbr/g

There, fixed it.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2007 4:11 Comments || Top||

#7  If they ain't that subtle how come most people keep ignoring 'em?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2007 4:55 Comments || Top||

#8  If they ain't that subtle how come most people keep ignoring 'em?

It isn't PC polite to notice!
Posted by: Elmoque Dingle5648 || 12/23/2007 7:05 Comments || Top||

#9  that's genetic JUSTICE for ya....
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2007 8:00 Comments || Top||

#10  The picture makes me sad and happy at the same time. It's from a documentary? Freakshow brings up too much current stuff on google.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/23/2007 8:03 Comments || Top||

#11  The giant dirty secret of all these "quaint cultures," and one of our best hopes in the long run. What's a high birth rate worth when the genetic pool's only a fraction of a centimeter deep?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/23/2007 9:11 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, when you don't learn, you don't learn. Compare this with the change in the incidence rate for Tay-Sacks in the Jewish population since reliable carrier testing became available in the 1970s.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/23/2007 9:40 Comments || Top||

#13  Re th epic, why, it's from Todd Browing's "Freaks" (aka "la parade des monstres" when I first saw it in that old movies slot around midnight on FR3/F3, many moons ago), of course!!!

A website I like about the subject, well done and not sordid :

The Human Marvels Vindicating those once labeled as freaks
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/23/2007 11:03 Comments || Top||

#14  Btw, Todd Browing is the (tallest) guy being hug.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/23/2007 11:04 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thailand votes in first polls since coup
BANGKOK - Thais went to the polls on Sunday in an election meant to restore democracy more than a year after the military ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose shadow looms large over the balloting. About 45.7 million Thais are eligible to vote in the first post-coup election, in which opinion polls predict neither of the kingdom’s two leading parties will win a clear majority of the 480 seats in parliament.

The Election Commission said voter turnout would likely reach 70 percent, with unofficial results expected by midnight Sunday. “This December 23 election is very critical for Thailand. It’s an historic poll,” election commissioner Prapun Naigowit said. “We’re urging people to go to vote to bring the country back to democracy, to move the country forward and to be accepted by the international community,” he said.

Voters began lining up shortly before polling stations opened in Bangkok, many of them wearing yellow or pink shirts in honour of the nation’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Frontrunners in the race are the People Power Party (PPP), which was taken over by allies of Thaksin’s disbanded Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, and the Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest political outfit.

Analysts predict the outcome of the election will be unlikely to resolve deep divisions between anti-Thaksin urban dwellers and the rural masses, who remain loyal to the deposed leader. PPP draws most of its support from farmers, the majority of Thailand’s 64 million population, who remember efforts by the self-made billionaire Thaksin to boost the rural economy during his five-year rule. The Democrat Party is popular among Bangkok’s middle-class, who spearheaded anti-Thaksin protests that culminated in the coup.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/23/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Early results say a big win for Thaksin supporters. No real surprise for me, but others here might want to re-appraise their views on Thaksin.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/23/2007 4:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran's oil income $52 bln in Jan-Nov
TEHRAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Iran's oil revenue amounted to about $52 billion in the first 11 months of 2007, Iranian media on Saturday quoted a senior oil official as saying. Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, said the world's fourth-largest oil exporter on average sells 2.4 million barrels per day.
Perspective: Iraq is up to about 2 million barrels a day.
Iran has made windfall gains from the high oil price in recent years and has previously said it expects to earn about $70 billion from oil exports in the year to March 2008. Iran earned about $60 billion from its crude sales in the Iranian year that ended in March 2007.

"Generally the export of crude oil is different from time to time depending on the season," Ghanimifard said in comments carried by Kayhan and other Iranian dailies. "The average amount of daily exports is 2.4 million barrels."
Posted by: Steve White || 12/23/2007 10:04 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting note on the Iraq perspective, which forward projections Iran is likely most focused on - particularly the point where they cross, and a "peaceful" shiite-majority ruled arab Iraq becomes a mulitfaceted dilemma for the mullahs.
Posted by: Glung McGurque2454 || 12/23/2007 23:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Elect me and oil prices instantly drop, says Hillary Clinton in Iowa
so, it's come to this? Snakeoil and venom
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2007 17:25 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why weep or slumber America
Land of brave and true
With castles and clothing and food for all
All belongs to you.

Ev'ry man a king, ev'ry man a king,
For you can be a millionaire.
But there's something belonging to others
There's enough for all people to share.
When it's sunny June and December too
Or in the winter time or spring
There'll be peace without end
Ev'ry neighbor a friend,
With ev'ry man a king.

Posted by: bruce || 12/23/2007 19:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Once again Bill & Hil think Americans are stupid, and can be fooled with anything. Hillary needs to find herself unemployed, and very soon.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/23/2007 21:24 Comments || Top||



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Sun 2007-12-23
  Somalia Islamic movement appoints new leadership
Sat 2007-12-22
  Paks raid madrassah after mosque boom
Fri 2007-12-21
  France Detains Five Men In Connection With Algeria Bombing
Thu 2007-12-20
  Hamas leader appeals for truce with Israel
Wed 2007-12-19
  Turkey's military confirms ground incursion; claims heavy PKK losses
Tue 2007-12-18
  Turkish Army Sends Soldiers Into Iraq
Mon 2007-12-17
  Paks form team to rearrest Rashid Rauf
Sun 2007-12-16
  Kabul cop shoppe boomed, 5 dead
Sat 2007-12-15
  Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Thu 2007-12-13
  Leb car boom murders top general
Wed 2007-12-12
  Qaeda in North Africa claims Algiers blasts
Tue 2007-12-11
  Taliban abandons Musa Qala
Mon 2007-12-10
  al-Abssi is in Syria and Fatah al-Isalm is in Gaza
Sun 2007-12-09
  Fierce battle rages for Taliban stronghold


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