When critics attack the United Nations, they often accuse the world body of being a web of bureaucracy. Now officials there are hoping to turn that image around by using the web of Spiderman.
The UN recently announced a union with the comic book company, Marvel. Together, they aim to print a special comic that will see the superhero fight alongside UN aid workers and peacekeepers. Marvel scribes have offered to pen the work for free.
The UN is now seeking private backing so it can distribute 1m free copies to American schoolchildren. The project's creator, the French producer Romuald Sciora, says he hopes it will then be translated into European languages.
Already critics warn their spider-sense is tingling. John Bolton, the outspoken former US envoy to the UN, called it an "act of desperation". He said the world body should concentrate on improving its overall performance. "You can have Spiderman in a comic book all you want, but it's not going to change public perception," he told the BBC:
However, the UN's top man on the project says critics are missing the point. Amir Dossal leads the UN Partnerships Office, which is putting up half the money for the project. He told the BBC it was not intended to promote the UN per se, but rather to inform children about UN humanitarian causes.
Nonetheless, diplomats and comic book fans alike are speculating why the UN should ally itself with the web-slinger. Jerry Gladstone, co-owner of New York's Midtown Comics store, told the BBC Spiderman's face was better known than such Marvel companions as the X-Men and Fantastic Four. His colleague, Brian Quinn, noted that Spiderman's story makes him "one of the most relatable characters in all of comic books". "Spidey", he said, is "just an average guy" who struggles to use his incredible powers responsibly. That, he suggested, is not so far from the position of the UN.
The BBC asked several American schoolchildren on tours of the UN HQ what they thought of the idea. Most said they would indeed be more interested if the organisation were associated with the wall-crawler. One little boy, however, dissented vociferously. "I don't like any superheroes," he told the BBC. "I don't think they're real."
The comic is set for release in 2009, so the UN will find out then whether fictional heroes can drum up real support.
#2
I heard a flamboyant homosexual comedian who greeted this news by saying "That settles it! I'm going to buy Spider-man vibrators for all my friends! It's just wrong in so many ways!"
The first reverse polarity sunspots have been spotted, so it's time to make your bets re: sunspot activity in this cycle & their effects on weather (short term) and climate (longer term).
#2
Astronomers have been counting sunspots since the days of Galileo, watching solar activity rise and fall every 11 years. Curiously, four of the five biggest cycles on record have come in the past 50 years. "Cycle 24 should fit right into that pattern," says Hathaway.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... So you say that this intense solar activity pattern has occured in the last 50 years, do you? Could this have anything to do with the 'hockeystick' variation (other than cooking data) of temperature that's been widely touted as caused by human-caused greenhouse gases?
#7
"Important and significant changes taking place on the surface of the sun" > Formerly tropical torrid Guam as COLD, ICY, and DENSELY FOGGY as anywhere else??? The good news is that in future when the Sun expands, we won't be as cold anymore.
DREAM/VISION - snow flurries and piles on Guam roads; a young shipyard worker looks out of a drydock endsection and sees a PORTOPS tug struggling to get a large ship thru Guam's Apra Harbor in ICY DENSE FOG. A FUTURE GUAM DAY, OF A FUTURE GENERATION.
#11
RUMORMILLNEWS > NORWEGIAN POLITICIAN: PLANET X IS JUST APPROACHING/COMING. Claims 'tis the reason Norway + Israel, etc. is rushing to complete new nationwide undergound bunkers and facilities
"BEFORE 2011"???
Twenty four hours after saying he'd never do such a thing ...
President Mwai Kibaki told the top U.S. diplomat for Africa that he was willing to share power and the opposition backed off demands for his resignation on Saturday, offering hope for an end to Kenya's deadly electoral crisis. As Kibaki and Raila Odinga faced growing pressure to compromise, the violence that has killed more than 300 people across the country appeared to ease in the capital for the first time since the disputed vote that gave the president a second term and awakened dormant ethnic rivalries.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front resume UN-sponsored talks on the disputed Western Sahara in suburban New York Monday amid warnings that failure to clinch a deal could lead to renewed fighting. UN spokeswoman Michele Montas confirmed Friday that a third round of closed-door discussions would be held in the New York suburb of Manhasset from Monday through Wednesday to try to resolve the 32-year dispute.
As in the two previous exploratory rounds held last year at the same location, the secluded Greentree estate in Manhasset. UN envoy for Western Sahara Peter Van Walsum will serve as mediator.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has demanded the immediate release of a Bangladeshi cartoonist whom the military-backed interim government arrested for allegedly insulting Islam.
Mohammed Arifur Rahman, a former cartoonist for the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, is "a prisoner of conscience" who was detained for exercising his legitimate right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International said in a statement Friday. Security officials arrested Rahman on Sept. 18 after hard-line Islamic groups protested against one of his cartoons that they said mocked the Prophet Muhammad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Well, yes and no. If she's far enough behind after the primaries, the superdelegates throwing in with her anyway would create an upheval among the grass roots. Getting the fix in for the nomination is not the same as fixing the general election.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/06/2008 9:41 Comments ||
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#3
"Getting the fix in"
Sounds like the Dems, MM. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/06/2008 12:14 Comments ||
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#4
Brokered convention in Denver with a backdrop of hippie anarchists and Code Pink uglies in the streets parading around with the tin foil hat crowd. Maybe a televised welcome speech from Hugo. Two year primary school graduates party!
For a preview, try www.recreate68.com for laughs.
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday. The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
The win was a boost for Romney, coming two days after his loss to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses and three days before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. Those two states have attracted most of the political attention. Wyoming had scheduled its GOP county conventions earlier to attract candidates to the state but had only modest results.
Romney visited Wyoming in August and November and three of his five sons campaigned in the state. One son, Josh Romney, owns a ranch in southwest Wyoming.
"Number one, he campaigned here," delegate Leigh Vosler of Cheyenne said of Romney. "I think that helped while some other candidates ignored us. But also he's the right person for the job."
Hunter, Thompson and Ron Paul all stopped by the state visits they probably wouldn't have made except for this year's early conventions and candidates have sent Wyoming's GOP voters a flood of campaign mail. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, did not visit Wyoming and drew little support. Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also did not visit and received little support.
"I think we're encouraged that the voters in Wyoming value that my dad had spent time here," Josh Romney said.
The traditional leadoff nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire have dominated the attention of both candidates and the national media in recent months, and no candidates had visited Wyoming in the four weeks leading up to the caucuses. Hunter was the last to visit the state on Dec. 4.
Tom Sansonetti, the county convention organizer, maintained Saturday that moving the state's caucuses ahead was the right thing to do. "The ultimate goal is not how many times we appear on Katie Couric," Sansonetti said. "The ultimate goal was to have attention paid to rank-and-file Republicans by national candidates." In addition, he said more Wyoming Republicans have become involved in the process.
Wyoming Republicans also paid a price for jumping ahead. The Republican National Committee has slashed half of Wyoming's 28 national convention delegates. National party leaders similarly penalized Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina for moving up the dates of their nomination contests.
RNC rules require the punishment for states that hold their nominating contests earlier than Feb. 5. Iowa, which held caucuses on Thursday, will not be penalized because, technically, the caucuses are not binding on convention delegates. Nevada, which plans to hold its caucuses on Jan. 19, will not be penalized for the same reason.
Besides the 12 delegates chosen at Saturday's county conventions, two delegates to be chosen at a statewide convention in May will also be sent to the national convention in Minneapolis.
MAP by Me:
D=Delegate Elected in County
A=Alternate Elected in County
#9
The last person to diss Wyoming was that lawyer fella out hunting with the Dickster.....
And when Dick's done with you, or if he isn't feeling merciful, he'll leave you to Lynne for envisceration. Polite, succinct, utter visceration. On Sunday morning talk TV, probably. ;-)
Dismissing a claim that Norman Hsu's right to a speedy trial had been violated because California authorities didn't fully pursue him after he fled from justice 16 years ago, a San Mateo County judge on Friday sentenced the former Democratic fundraiser to three years in prison for fraud.
Hsu faces a number of other legal troubles. Last month a federal grand jury in New York indicted Hsu, 56, on charges of operating a large new Ponzi scheme and making illegal campaign contributions to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and others.
The sentencing provided long-awaited satisfaction to Hsu's prosecutors and victims. "I am very pleased," said Ronald D. Smetana, the California deputy attorney general who handled the earlier fraud case against Hsu from its inception. "It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied, but not in this case."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Got to get him out of the way before the general election.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The Obama gang has now released a pamphlet in which the would be President is quoted from a 2002 speech against Iraq intervention. The speech was cheap rhetoric, void of principle. The fact that Obama is coloring dirty opposition politics with saint-hood, should red flag any promises that issue from his spinners. Too bad that 20% of the population rely on Oprah-gasbaggery. That hag could put him over the top.
#2
People, People, Obama is the wholly owned subsidiary of the Daley Machine in Chicago! At his victory speech he was surrounded by the most racially divisive, corrupt, and incompetent of Illinois Politics. And in Illinois that is saying a lot! He did nothing for his constituents when in the Illinois Legislature and since he was elected to the Senate he has done NOTHING for Illinois. It is like we have only one Senator, and Dubin at that, which is as good as having no Senators!
#5
Why partier, Hussein would be the greatest president since, since...James Earle Carter. Amazing how the only way the donks have won the presidency in the last 40 years is with stealth candidates they blow by the electorate before they reveal their true selves.
The Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos has purchased a manufacturing plant in south India. BrahMos plans to use the new facility to turn out twice as many supersonic cruise missiles as before, a company spokesman said Monday, RIA Novosti reported. The Indian state-owned company Kerala Hightech Industries Ltd. sold the facility to BrahMos, and the increased manufacturing capacity will allow the number of cruise missiles being produced to rise from 25 a year to 50 a year, the report said.
RIA Novosti reported that Praveen Pathak stated the Defense Research and Development Organization, which represents the Indian half of BrahMos, would put around $25 million in the plant within two years, and the Indian Space Research Organization would contribute another $6 million. "At the plant in (the state of) Kerala, we will assemble BrahMos missiles, as well as make components for Astra rockets produced by ISRO," Pathak said.
RIA Novosti said the contract on the transfer of the plant's ownership to BrahMos is expected to be concluded on Jan. 1. BrahMos Aerospace was set up in 1998, and RIA Novosti said the company specializes in manufacturing supersonic missiles of its own design for the Indian army and navy.
The news agency said the BrahMos cruise missile enjoyed a range of 180 miles and was capable of flying with a conventional warhead of up to 660 pounds. The missile flies as low as 309 feet about ground level at speeds of up to Mach 2.8, or around 2,000 miles per hour, making it three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile, it said.
RIA Novosti said India could buy as many as 1,000 BrahMos missiles for its armed forces in the next 10 years and export as many as 2,000 of them at the same time. Indian and Russian engineers are currently seeking to develop air- and submarine-launched BrahMos missiles, the report said.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/06/2008 07:14 ||
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#1
The missile flies as low as 309 feet about ground level at speeds of up to Mach 2.8, or around 2,000 miles per hour, making it three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile, it said.
#8
In the picture above they removed the nose cap diverter to show the ramjet inlet.
It has a two-stage propulsion system, with a solid-propellant rocket for initial acceleration and a liquid-fueled ramjet responsible for sustained supersonic cruise.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/06/2008 15:37 Comments ||
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That nose is a Ramjet Cone.(Oh, you noticed too)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/06/2008 16:54 Comments ||
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#10
WAFF > DOES CHINA HAVE PLANS TO DEPLOY THREE CARRIER BATTLE GROUPS? Notsoumuch the number but where they'll be operating and training i.e. China wants to sail on TAIWAN'S SIDE OF THE STRAITS.
The Guardian's Tehran correspondent, Robert Tait, has been expelled from Iran without explanation after nearly three years of reporting from the country. Tait was forced to leave the country after the Iranian authorities declined to renew his visa and residence permit, despite an appeal on his behalf from the Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, to Iran's culture and Islamic guidance ministry, which supervises the activities of all foreign and domestic media. He is now back in the UK, along with his Iranian wife.
The ministry gave no reason for its decision but said the newspaper was free to propose another journalist as its correspondent in Iran.
Tait, 43, was originally ordered to leave the country in March after officials expressed displeasure over his reporting. He was allowed to remain after the Guardian successfully appealed for his residence permit to be renewed. He is the second British journalist to be expelled from Iran in the past six months. Angus McDowall, a correspondent for the Independent, left last July after his documentation was not renewed. McDowall's expulsion was also unexplained but he had been detained after inadvertently entering a forbidden military zone during a driving holiday.
Tait was the last British journalist working in Iran for an English language newspaper. Several other newspapers employ local English-speaking Iranians, often because of difficulties in obtaining resident press credentials for foreign nationals.
Posted by: Pappy ||
01/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Posted by: ryuge ||
01/06/2008 07:21 ||
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#1
Sounds like a heck of a book.
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/06/2008 8:31 Comments ||
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#2
Instead he argues that fanaticism is the basic principle in Islam. The Muslims are, from an early age, indoctrinated into a shaming code that demands a fanatical rejection of anything that threatens to subvert the supremacy of Islam
#3
By contrast, the West has cultivated an ethos of individualism, reason and tolerance, and an elaborate system in which every actor, from the individual to the nation-state, seeks to resolve conflict through words. The entire system is built on the idea of self-interest. This ethos rejects fanaticism. The alpha male is pacified and groomed to study hard, find a good job and plan prudently for retirement: While we in America are drugging our alpha boys with Ritalin, Harris writes, the Muslims are doing everything in their power to encourage their alpha boys to be tough, aggressive and ruthless.
Absolutely brutal. Note the reviewer is Ayaan Hirsi Ali; not some run of the mill NYT rumpswab
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/06/2008 11:10 Comments ||
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#4
Of course, they "balance" her perspective with others, such as an essay on how to read the Koran by Tariq Ramadan. Still, they're making some attempt at showing "both sides" and that can't always be taken for granted.
#5
Don't think that this review means anything, or will be read by anyone - the elites will look at the byline, see it is by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and skip to the next article, correctly concluding that it was merely included for "balance" and can be ignored.
#6
gromky - in the old days that would have been true. But today both you and I saw the review and it sounds like a good read. While it won't make the Oprah reading list for mindless pleasure, it will make its way in the circles of those who WILL be interested in purchasing it.
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.
When critics attack the United Nations, they often accuse the world body of being a web of bureaucracy. Now officials there are hoping to turn that image around by using the web of Spiderman. 
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has demanded the immediate release of a Bangladeshi cartoonist whom the military-backed interim government arrested for allegedly insulting Islam. 
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday. The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
