The initial assault was carried out by 181 soldiers -- four platoons of D and two of B Companies, 2nd Ox & Bucks -- in six Horsa gliders, led by Major John Howard. Major Howard's orders were to capture intact the bridges and to hold them until relieved. . . .
At 16 minutes past midnight on 6 June, three of the gliders landed near the village of Bénouville on the west bank of the Caen Canal within fifty metres (164 ft) of the canal bridge (Pegasus Bridge). The first, Glider No.91, containing Major Howard and No.1 Platoon of the "coup de main" force, landed heavily and came to an abrupt halt when, as had been planned during the briefings, it pushed its nose through and penetrated the first belt of barbed wire around the bridge. The force of this sudden halt catapulted both glider pilots through the cockpit screen and rendered them, together with all of their passengers, unconscious. Within a few seconds, however, the men had fully regained their senses and became aware that all around them was quiet. The noise of the crash had not alerted the Germans at the bridge, a mere 50 yards (46 m) from where the glider had come to rest. If it had then the fate of the coup de main might have been decided in seconds. Fortunately, the guards had disregarded the noise that they heard as that of debris falling from a damaged Allied bomber.
No.1 Platoon were quickly out of the glider and instinctively went about the tasks for which they had been training for months. Several men knocked out a machine-gun position whilst the majority of the platoon, led by Lt. Den Brotheridge, rushed over the bridge to capture the other side, firing from the hip and lobbing grenades as they charged. Once across to the western side of the bridge, Brotheridge dropped a grenade into another machine-gun position but was shot through the neck in the next instant. Mortally wounded, Lieutenant Den Brotheridge was the first British soldier to die as a result of enemy action on D-Day. As No.1 Platoon had begun their attack, No.2 Platoon landed safely in the second glider and immediately moved up to help clear the enemy away from the eastern end of the bridge. No.3 Platoon were not so lucky as the abrupt halt to their landing had torn the fuselage from the glider and left a dozen men trapped in the wreckage, one drowned in the adjacent lake. Their commander, Lieutenant Smith, was injured as a result of the crash and was hurt further by the grenade-wielding German whom he encountered and killed several minutes later, however he continued to lead his men and helped to secure the western side of the bridge. Throughout all of these actions, the accompanying Royal Engineers of the 249th Field Company, had been ignoring the enemy fire directed at them as they climbed all over the bridge, looking for wires to cut and detonation devices to remove. The Germans had clearly prepared the bridge for demolition but, fearing an accidental explosion or sabotage by the French Resistance, the charges had not been placed. After overcoming the initial shock of this sudden and violent assault, the German garrison fought back, but defeat was inevitable and many fled the scene. As the firing died down, Major John Howard knew that, for now at least, Bénouville bridge was safely in British hands. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
06/06/2008 06:32 ||
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#1
Today and every 06-06 I put the audiobook D-Day by Ambrose on at work. Also a good quick read is Pegasus Bridge.
#3
It seems as if every year the significance of D-Day slides further and further into history. Good to see articles such as this posted as reminders of how significant D-Day was. There was a lot put on the line on June 6, 1944.
#4
D-Day on 6 June and Midway on 4 June were to WWII as Gettysburg & Vicksburg (nearly the same day in 1863) were to the USCW. D-Day gets a lot of press as it should just a Gettysburg does, though lets not forget the other battles that happened simulataneously and were just as tactically/strategically important.
#6
There was one unit of the 507th Parachute Infantry that was dropped 20 miles from their drop zone. These 181 men held of an SS Panzergrenadier Devision for 6 days, allowing the 101st to capture Carantan. They are almost never heard of. They had to leave their wounded behind when forced to fall back and the SS troops murdered about 30 of them as well as the two Priests and their housekeepers in the town the Americans were defending. The SS also murdered more civilians.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/06/2008 20:34 Comments ||
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Tatum O'Neal followed the troubled actress script Tuesday - rushing off to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on her first full day of freedom after a weekend drug bust.
Her hair and makeup were neatly put together, her sundress was a conservative navy and around her neck she wore a gold cross and a pair of sparkling golden angel wings. "I'm doing very well. I'm going to an AA meeting," O'Neal said as she stepped into a blue SUV outside her East Broadway apartment. "The whole thing is regrettable. What's good in what I did?"
The 44-year-old "Rescue Me" actress was arrested Sunday evening just blocks from her lower East Side home after undercover narcotics officers spotted her buying crack and powder cocaine from a homeless street hustler.
O'Neal at first told cops she was researching a role but changed her story when officers found two yellow bags of drugs and an unused crack pipe in her pockets, sources said. "I've been clean for a long time," the teary-eyed actress pleaded as she asked cops to give her a break, sources said. "Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?"
Instead, both she and alleged street dealer Allen Garcia were cuffed and put into an NYPD van about 7:30 p.m. on Clinton St. Another passenger in the van, Charles Anderson, 21, told the Daily News that O'Neal was still claiming to be working on a role after she was arrested. "She was saying it was for a part in a movie, like 'Sex and the City' or s--t like that," said Anderson, who had been charged with possession of marijuana about 40 minutes earlier.
He spent the night in jail, pleaded guilty and was released. O'Neal was charged with misdemeanor drug possession and released without bail until her June court date. Her lawyer rejected a two-day drug counseling program for her, but the actress is likely headed for a rehab program. Garcia was held on $10,000 bail for felony drug sale.
So the rich actress goes free and awaits rehab, while the homeless guy sits in jail. Figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is the b..ch who was the cause of John MacEnroe's carreer heading twpords its sunset. With all of his tnatrums McEnroe was a real artist, one who created beauty on a tennis court. However his leadership was too short lived for him having an influence and getting successors. Thak you Miss O'Neal.
Zimbabwe's generals have mounted a "military coup by stealth", reducing President Robert Mugabe to a "figurehead", a senior western diplomat said.
The tight circle of "securocrats", who sit on the Joint Operations Command (JOC) committee, are now believed to be in day-to-day charge of Zimbabwe's government. They ensured Mr Mugabe did not step down after his defeat in the presidential election's first round in March and are now masterminding a campaign of terror to suppress the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and guarantee victory for Mr Mugabe in the June 27 run-off.
The government indefinitely suspended all work by aid groups and non-governmental organisations, accusing them of breaching their terms of registration. Taking a page from the Burma junta
Mr Mugabe is a useful figurehead who still commands the deference of other African leaders, notably President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. But the western diplomat said Mr Mugabe's power had ebbed away and Zimbabwe was now run by a "junta". "This is a military coup by stealth," he said. "There are no tanks on people's lawns, but the Joint Operations Command runs this country."
The most powerful figures on the JOC are Gen Constantine Chiwenga, the overall military chief; Augustine Chihuri, the national police commissioner, and Gen Paradzai Zimondi, the commander of the prison service. Air Marshal Perence Shiri, the commander of the air force, who masterminded a brutal military campaign against Zimbabwe's minority Ndebele people in the 1980s, is also part of the circle, although believed to be less influential.
All four fought in Mr Mugabe's guerrilla army during the war against white rule in the 1970s. Each has publicly proclaimed their support for the ruling Zanu-PF party. They have also benefited from Mr Mugabe's seizure of white-owned land, with farms and business concessions falling into their hands, allowing them to amass considerable wealth.
The diplomat said after the first round of the election on March 29, Mr Mugabe, 84, "almost went" when it became clear that Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, had won significantly more votes.
But a pivotal meeting of the JOC on March 30 convinced him to stay. "The generals didn't let him go," said the diplomat. From that moment, Mr Mugabe was "beholden to his senior generals to hold office".
Another source inside Zimbabwe confirmed: "He [Mugabe] was prepared to concede but the generals, whose positions would become uncertain with his departure, prevented that from happening," he said. And another page from the Burmese book.
Other observers backed the diplomat's view that Zimbabwean politics had fundamentally changed.
Tiseke Kasambala, a Zimbabwe specialist at Human Rights Watch, said there was an "increasing militarisation of the state". "The evidence points to an increasing role by the army in state affairs," she said. "The army is no longer just in barracks, waiting to protect the country. The army is out there, taking a role in the day-to-day government of the country."
Mr Mugabe does not fear his generals will actually overthrow him they still need him as the regime's titular leader or he would not have travelled to Rome for the United Nations food summit this week. However, observers believe Mr Mugabe's age and his new dependence on the generals means he is no longer the sole arbiter of Zimbabwe's fate.
#2
What else do Zimbabwe and Burma have in common? A growing bond with the PRC, for one thing.
More on this matter is included in an article titled
Zimbabwe: China Trade Relations Improve (allAfrica.com) LINK
Excerpt:
The ambassador said China and Zimbabwe had strong bonds of friendship and co-operation that developed since the days of Zimbabwe's struggle for independence.
Ambassador Nasheng said these relations were now bearing fruit in many fields of co-operation, including politics, economic co-operation and trade, culture, tourism, people to people contact, especially after Zimbabwe adopted the Look East policy in 2002.
"Take trade for example. In 2003, bilateral trade was US$197 million. In 2007, trade reached US$340 million, up 72,6 percent from that in 2003.
"Zimbabwe exports to China also increased to US$200 million from US$167 million in 2003, a rise by 20 percent," he said.
He said the aggregate investment by Chinese companies in engineering and contracted projects amounted to US$1,6 billion.
Ambassador Nasheng said it was his fervent hope that the good harmonious relations existing between the two countries would continue to grow from strength to strength.
Add to that the PRC veto in the UN Security Council and Chinese military arms shipments.
#3
I wonder how long it will take the U.S. to start pouring millions of dollars into this septic tank of a country? Moreover, which one of those tribal chieftains will become the next "Mugabe" and how long will he last? Watching events in these crummy little third world countries is like watching "Ground Hog Day" (the film) without any changes being made in behavior for a favorable outcome. Its only a temporary grab for power and foreign aid. Will we ever learn to leave these shit holes alone. Do we think that Russia and China would really want to fund these regimes? Can anyone see a pattern here? Anyone?
Posted by: Jim Woodward ||
06/06/2008 12:33 Comments ||
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#5
I have trouble believing this. The generals would be taking a huge risk by keeping Mugabe alive. Coups generally occur when a leader leaves the nation or the first goal is to kill that leader. A coup that killed Mugabe and then appealed to the world for aid would be able to feed the people and come across as heros to help solidify their power.
#6
A coup that killed Mugabe and then appealed to the world for aid would be able to feed the people and come across as heros to help solidify their power.
These guys are ZANU-PF. It's a 'meet the old boss, same as the old boss' situation.
I wonder how long it will take the U.S. to start pouring millions of dollars into this septic tank of a country? Do we think that Russia and China would really want to fund these regimes?
Likely the US won't 'pour money' until the current party in power is gone. As for Russia and especially China - they're not supporting the government because they like them. They're supporting the government because of what Zimbabwe has in the ground.
The detention of presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai by Zimbabwean police for nearly 12 hours on 4 June is another instance of the orchestrated harassment of opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters and other organisations regarded as out of step with the 28-year rule of President Robert Mugabe, according to analysts.
CARE International, one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Zimbabwe, has been ordered to suspend its operations for alleged political activity, as have others.
Media reports on 5 June said a convoy of British and US diplomatic staff investigating reports of election violence north of the capital were stopped by a police roadblock at Bindura, 80km from Harare, where the tyres of their vehicles were slashed and a Zimbabwean driver was hauled from one of the diplomatic cars and beaten by police.
Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, said in a televised briefing from Washington that the incident was "unacceptable", had caused "deep distress" and was the action of a government that "does not know any bounds"; the US would take up the incident in the Security Council.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told IRIN that party leader Tsvangirai, his deputy, Thokozani Khupe, party chairperson Lovemore Moyo, as well as other senior party officials and their security detail were stopped at a roadblock, and then held at Lupane police station, north of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city.
Tsvangirai, who claims that election rigging cost him victory in the 29 March presidential vote, will contest the run-off ballot on 27 June. He left Zimbabwe soon after the March elections, in which ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since independence in 1980, and very recently returned to Zimbabwe. He sustained head injuries last year from a beating in police custody and has twice been charged with treason.
Chamisa said the party had confirmed the killings of 60 MDC supporters since the March ballot, but this was "a conservative figure", as ZANU-PF had established "no-go" areas where people were "being killed, buried and forgotten".
One of the people killed was a local MDC organiser, Tonderai Ndira, who had been arrested 35 times and was taken from his house on 14 May by six armed, masked men. His decomposing body was found a few weeks later. According to reports, a preliminary autopsy by an independent South African pathologist said "it was clear that he died very soon after he was abducted."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The British government says it has summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador to explain the detention of diplomats on Thursday. According to the U.S. embassy, Zimbabwean police detained U.S. and British diplomats, slashing the tires of their cars after they visited victims of political violence ahead of a presidential runoff election. They were released hours later.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ian Smith has sadly been proved right
By Graham Boynton
Ian Smith only once doubted the wisdom of his decision to declare UDI and lead Rhodesia into a 15-year civil war to protect white rule.
That moment of doubt occurred in April 1980, during a meeting with Robert Mugabe, who the previous day had taken office as the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
Mugabe had summoned Smith to Government House and Smith was surprised to be greeted with a warm handshake and a broad smile; after all, the country's new Marxist leader had promised his people that, come liberation, he would have Smith publicly hanged in Harare's main square.
advertisementAt that meeting, Mugabe told Smith he was acutely aware that he had inherited from his old adversaries, the whites, a jewel of a country, and he praised its superb infrastructure, its efficient modern economy, and promised to keep it that way.
Smith, completely disarmed, rushed home in a state of excitement, and, over lunch, told his wife, Janet, that perhaps he had been wrong about a black government being incapable of running his beloved Rhodesia.
As he told me years later: "Here's this chap, and he was speaking like a sophisticated, balanced, sensible man. I thought: if he practises what he preaches, then it will be fine. And for five or six months it was fine "
The simple, trusting banality of Ian Smith's words may, in fact, offer more clues to the catastrophe that has been Rhodesia/Zimbabwe over the past half-century than any number of political or academic tracts.
The point is Mugabe was not the sophisticated, balanced, sensible man Smith had briefly hoped for. Even as he was shaking Smith's hand, he was plotting the destruction of another group of political enemies, the Matabele, and was soon to send Korean-trained troops into Matabeleland to conduct a campaign of torture and murder that has still to be fully exposed.
It is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 civilians were murdered and as many again disfigured and tortured in what the Matabeles call the gukuruhundi, the washing away after the storm.
The sensible chap, in fact, turned out to be the type of African leader that "good old Smithy", as his supporters called him, had campaigned against throughout the UDI years. He became the embodiment of corrupt, violent, amoral African dictatorship - just as Smith had warned his supporters.
Let us not forget the context of Smith's determination to hang on to white rule in the 1960s.
At the time that he claimed to be defending "civilised standards", Rhodesians had already witnessed the flight of Belgian refugees from the Congo; Idi Amin had trashed Uganda, and Mobutu Sese Seko was about to introduce an even more brutal and dysfunctional regime in neighbouring Zaire; immediately to the north of Rhodesia, Kaunda's Zambia was in a mess, riddled with corruption and economically mismanaged, and Malawi was being similarly misruled by the eccentric despot Hastings Banda. So why, Smith argued, would Mugabe be any different? Why, indeed.
Smith was a simple man and it was his rather humourless, one-dimensional Rhodesian-ness that at once made him a hero among his own people and a figure of derision among his enemies. I spent hours interviewing him for a book I was writing in the early 1990s and he never once smiled or told a joke. He was the same dour, Calvinistic character whom I had so strongly opposed as a young white liberal growing up in Rhodesia, and who at the time represented all that was wrong about white minority rule in Africa.
At our meetings, he spoke endlessly about how Rhodesians had been more British than the British, how Churchill - had he been alive - would almost certainly have emigrated from corrupt, liberal England to Rhodesia, and how this small community of decent, fair-minded whites had been betrayed by, well, just about everybody he could think of - the Tories, Labour, the Afrikaners, the OAU, the UN. Not surprisingly, he called his ponderous autobiography The Great Betrayal.
It was easy to mock Ian Smith, but he was right - both about the betrayals and about the quality of most African politicians.
He has particular resonance this week, as heads of the Commonwealth convene in Uganda, a country with an interesting democratic history.
However ponderous, however humourless and unsophisticated he was, Smith had run a successful emerging African country and, although the whites were the main beneficiaries, there was increasing prosperity among the black population.
Above all there was a sound, intelligently managed economy, free from the post-colonial blight of corruption.
Today, Zimbabwe is a failed state with a non-functioning economy, a once-flourishing agricultural sector now moribund, and a population on the brink of starvation. According to a UN Development Programme index, life expectancy there today is one of the lowest in the world. So much for liberation.
Although the first 20 years of Mugabe's rule saw a slow, somewhat even-paced decline, the calamitous collapse has been achieved in little more than half a decade, an extraordinary feat of self-destruction when one considers that it took more than a century for Ian Smith's white antecedents to carve a modern, functioning, European-style society out of raw African bushveld.
But that has been the story of post-colonial Africa and, although this week's obituaries will largely dismiss Smith as a colonial caricature, a novelty politician from another age, if you were to go to Harare today and ask ordinary black Zimbabweans who they would rather have as their leader - Smith or Mugabe - the answer would be almost unanimous. And it would not be Mugabe.
It is perfectly ironic that Mugabe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, when told of Smith's death this week, described him as a man "who brought untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans". Those words surely apply more to his own leader than to Ian Smith.
Nearly a month since the Lord's Resistance Army leader skipped a third gathering to sign the agreement with the Ugandan government in the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba, Uganda's military announced plans for a military operation against the group.
Ugandan military spokesman Paddy Ankunda says the troops for the mission will be provided by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, where many of the rebel troops have been based in recent years. "The DRC government has decided to attack the Lord's Resistance Army because ever since they refused to sign the peace agreement, they have been killing Congolese. And therefore it has been decided that the DRC will lead this operation," he said.
Ankunda says the operation will begin by the end of June and that the governments of Uganda and Southern Sudan will provide intelligence and "moral support". A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo, Jean-Paul Dietrich, told VOA that the mission will offer logistical assistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The UN refugee agency says at least nine people were killed in a rebel attack on a camp for displaced people in eastern Congo. An earlier UN statement said six had been killed.
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva says two children died in the attack in the North Kivu region near the Rwanda border on Wednesday.
Geneva-based UNHCR said in a statement Thursday that it was evacuating its staff and that all other humanitarian agencies working in the region have also pulled out.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The United States on Thursday expressed outrage over what it called Zimbabwe's unjust detention of U.S. diplomats and protested the envoys' treatment at the United Nations. Zimbabwean officials eventually released the diplomats, who were stopped at a roadblock north of Harare, the capital. But the chief U.S. representative in Zimbabwe said police slashed tires and grabbed phones, and that "war veterans" threatened to burn the vehicles with the officials inside.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters at the State Department, condemned the "outrageous act" and said she hoped the U.N. would not "consider the mistreatment of diplomats to be an internal matter for Zimbabwe."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warned that "while this immediate incident has been resolved, it will not be forgotten."
Despite U.S. anger, Rice indicated that the U.S. ambassador would not be recalled in protest because American diplomats were needed to ensure "some modicum of civility" and fairness in a June 27 presidential runoff election.
Opposition and rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe of orchestrating violence and intimidation in the run-up to the contest.
In Rome, senior U.S. and British officials delivered a message of protest to a member of the Zimbabwean delegation on the plenary floor of a U.N. food conference. State Department officials said the Zimbabwean diplomat initially attempted to ignore the U.S. and British envoys' presence.
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad "called for consultations on the tragic attack in Zimbabwe" with other Security Council members in the council chambers, said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. The U.S. briefed the council, which asked for more information. "We hope to follow up with the council very soon to obtain a condemnation of what happened," Grenell said. If the council goes along, a formal statement of condemnation on the incident is not expected to be issued until Friday at the earliest.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Selective US State Department "outrage." Very disturbing. In decades past, no similar "outrage" for thousands of Afrikaans farmers slaughtered or run off their land and farms.
LUXEMBOURG - European Union interior ministers agreed on Thursday that illegal migrants can be detained for up to 18 months and face a 5-year ban in a move which rights groups say will undermine human rights. The law is due to be voted on by the European Parliament next week. The assembly is divided, and lawmakers say the vote will be tight. Conservatives and many liberals support it, while socialists, greens and a communist-led group want changes, one EU official said.
The 18-month limit is higher than the maximum detention in two-thirds of the 27 EU states. Although EU states can keep a lower limit if they want, rights groups say it will encourage authorities to lock up more illegal migrants. The new law also allows children to be detained while saying that should be for the shortest appropriate period of time.
Currently, illegal migrants cannot be detained for more than 40 days in Spain and a year in Hungary, according to European Commission data. Germany already has an 18-month detention cap, while eight EU countries, who have higher caps or none at all would need to introduce the new EU limit.
The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million illegal migrants in the bloc. More than 200,000 illegal migrants were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007, and less than 90,000 were expelled.
The rest of the article features utterly predictable whinging from Amnesty International.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Turkey's top court ruled Thursday that Islamic head scarves cannot be allowed at university because that would violate secularism.
The decision is a defeat for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-oriented government, which tried to allow the scarves at universities as a matter of personal and religious freedom. But the Constitutional Court verdict issued Thursday said constitutional amendments that were passed by Parliament in February violated secular principles.
The head scarf issue is an explosive one Turkey, where the government is locked in a power struggle with secular groups that have support from the military and other state institutions.
The verdict is likely to bode ill for the government. Turkey's chief prosecutor is seeking to disband the ruling party because it is "the focal point of anti-secular activities" in a separate case at the Constitutional Court. He has cited attempts to allow head scarves at universities as a case in point.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, no, how will those poor guys study / pay attention with all the hair rays flooding the room?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/06/2008 8:05 Comments ||
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#2
ION WAFF.com > THE NEO-IRANIANS: THE AZERI TURKS; + AZERIS BUY ISRAELI.
And now you know, VIRGINA, AGAIN,why BRAD PITT = ACHILLES ["TROY"] fell in love wid a captive TROJAN Princess-Priestess Babe of Apollo PARSEUS [Trojan Greek/"Polish" = Turko-Iranian]!
#1
This isn't going to end well, and the people who instituted Canada's gun registration laws knew it early on. Another example of the fact that anyone who wants to disarm the populace intends to do something the majority of the populace won't like as soon as they've rendered the intended victims helpless.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
06/06/2008 5:57 Comments ||
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#2
If one, because of ones sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered hate?
Now, that's a very silly question. Everybody knows that.
(a) Whatever Muslims do, it's not a hate crime.
(b) Judaism is a hate crime (cause Jews are so hateful---7 billion people cannot be wrong.)
#3
Following the example of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XV, Father has stated on several occasions that we must love homosexuals and treat them with the dignity due every human person. The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner, Father told me during an interview. Opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons. This is the deeply-held belief of orthodox Christians that is now considered a possible hate act warranting state intervention. This is what happens when government agencies broadly define homophobia as opposition to any homosexual act.
This is horrifying! YEt it is also the very sort of "speech code" that fascists liberals have imposed on many a college campus here in the US. The Dem control of Congress combined with the election of Obama, the most liberal Senator (more liberal than Kenney!), to the presidency, combined with thier being beholden to the far left homosexual movement, portends the introduction of horrors of these sorts to us here in the US.
#4
Imagine that! Canadas human rights tribunals are now attempting to prosecute a case against an American resident, based upon what an American citizen allegedly posted to a mainstream American Catholic website. What passes for mainstream Catholic discussion in America is now the basis for a hate complaint in Canada
This crap has got to stop. The leftist Gestapo and thier kangroo court have gone too far.
Leftists by their own definition can't hate. Only those who disagree with Leftists can hate. And boy, do Leftists hate them.
Do try to keep up.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/06/2008 11:21 Comments ||
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#7
If there was any question that this type of speech control could find its way into American law consider that the US Senate has already passed the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. If this legislation is signed into law, speech that is based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability would be subject to criminal charges. Just so were clear on that it only has to be perceived to be hate speech. In other words...hurtful could be redefined as hateful. And consider this. Had Senator Obama been President this would already be signed into law. Scary shit considering he still has refused to describe his former Pastors words as racist.
#8
Clearly the people that populate the Canadian Human Rights Commission are highly uneducated.
This is the definition of HATE from any basic dictionary.
hate Pronunciation verb, hat·ed, hat·ing, noun
verb (used with object) 1. to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.
2. to be unwilling; dislike: I hate to do it.
verb (used without object) 3. to feel intense dislike, or extreme aversion or hostility.
noun 4. intense dislike; extreme aversion or hostility.
5. the object of extreme aversion or hostility.
#10
Are free speech and freedom of religion guaranteed in the Canadian constitution? Does Canada have a constitution? Aw forget it -- I don't really care about Canada. I withdraw the questions.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/06/2008 13:31 Comments ||
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#11
Guess again. Islam trumps homosexuality in the hierarchy of grievance. Plus there are all sorts of gay people dumb enough to protest against Israel despite the fact in Israel they could get married and serve in the armed forces whereas in "Palestine" they would be thrown into a cesspit to die.
The left cannot learn. Leftism is a form of brain disease.
Wouldn't the lefties have to have a brain for it to be diseased, Excal?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/06/2008 13:42 Comments ||
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#13
Islamic rules and liberal "tolerance" (their version, not yours or Webber's) mean you are a hateful, spiteful little being that needs jailed and fined until you admit you are wrong and think like they do.
Jim Geraghty, "The Campaign Spot" @ National Review
Sometimes, this rumor of this alleged tape of Michelle Obama denouncing "whitey" sounds like something out of a cliched political thriller novel. Actually, it sounds exactly like something out of a cliched political thriller novel. Specifically, Stephen Frey's The Power Broker, published in 2006 by Ballantine Books.
A major plot line of the novel is the presidential campaign of Democrat Jesse Wood, aiming to be the country's first African American president -- "Wood was handsome, smart, charismatic, and being mentioned increasingly often in the press as someone who could unite a twenty-first century America growing more, not less, racially and economically divided." (p.35) He's a U.S. Senator from New York and former senior partner at a prestigious law firm. His backers include "some of the old Black Panthers." He wants to make Puerto Rico a state, and a recurring figure in his campaign is a controversial minister from Philadelphia called "Jefferson Roundtree." Reverened Roundtree is described as "the cat who won't cop out when there's danger all about." He's portrayed as a complicated man who is understood only by his woman.
And by page 130, his opponents find a videotape that could ruin his candidacy...
The camera focused on Wood, who was standing with Clarence Osgood, Stephanie Childress, and another man. . . .
"Shh! Here it is, here it is." Forte picked up the remote and turned up the volume.
The camera panned in on Wood's handsome face as he turned to Roundtree. "Yeah, that Jew from CNN was such a pr***," Wood said, smirking, "asking me about my voting record on civil rights."
"You got it, brother," Roundtree agreed heartily. "Like any cracker should have the nerve to ask you about that."
Osgood and Stephanie nodded. Then there were a few muffled words, but nothing audible...
There was more muffled chatter, then Wood held his hands up.
He said, "You know, I had to put up with so much crap from Whitey when I was playing tennis back in the day, it was ridiculous. Real b****** stuff, too. Tennis racquets busted while I was in the shower, no towels, the worst locker, called n***** all the time, even by the help." He looked over at Osgood. "I'm telling you, Clarence, if I get elected president, I'm gonna act the way I'm supposed to act in front of the camera. Smile and dance like a good black man, do what I'm expected to do like a good boy. But behind the scenes, I'll f*** Whitey, and I'll f*** him good, I really will."
Later the tape is used for blackmail by an ally, and then the real badguy -- a Texan who owns a giant oil company named Hewitt (sorry, Hugh) -- gets his hands on the tape. The description of the appropriate timing of the release of the videotape on p. 237 will sound familiar to those tracking the rumors of the alleged Michelle Obama tape.
Hewitt thought for a second. "I'm going to let Jesse win the nomination and let the public get used to him as the Democratic candidate. Give the country some time to get to know Jesse Wood, to start to like him. And they will because he's a very likeable guy. Then I'm going to drop the bomb, after everyone's started to like him. That way the clip will have maximum effect and people will be as angry as they can be. Whites and blacks. Whites for the obvious reason, blacks because they'll feel like he let 'em down."
Now. Either author Stephen Frey is clairvoyant, writing this book in 2006. Or this is one of the all time amazing coincidences. Or whoever started this rumor got the idea from a novel. . . . This unimaginable coincidence, coupled with Larry Johnson's unnecessarily profane and unresponsive answer to David Weigel when he asked about contradictions in the description of what's on the tape, ought to drive a stake into the heart of this rumor.
Why is a conservative blogger putting this much effort into dispelling a rumor that, on paper at least, would hurt Obama? Because those who prefer a president besides Obama should not go through the summer and fall convinced that a magic-bullet devastating tape is going to appear as an October surprise to save the day. Also, there are a lot of good reasons to vote against Barack Obama; but what people claim Michelle Obama says on a tape that no one can produce and no one has seen isn't one of them.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/06/2008 11:13 ||
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Waitaminute. Let me inroduce you guys to "Goodfacts". They're much more interesting the "Truefacts".
Posted by: Dan Rather ||
06/06/2008 12:33 Comments ||
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#2
I'm a little confused by the rush to discount the existence of a Michelle Obama tape. Of course, fair-minded and critically thinking people are not buying into it hook, line, and sinker, and for good reason. But I think part of the reason why people are even contemplating the rumor is because as shocking as it would be if true, would people really be all that surprised by it? Given her past comments about being "proud of America for the first time" in her adult life, along with her campaign speeches laced with subtle anger and bitterness about the injustices and inequities or American society, I'm of the mindset that the existence of such a tape is not only possible, it's plausible.
That's not to say I'm going to get my hopes up about it or hold my breath until it comes out. Rather, it's to say that I think there's a very good chance such a tape exists and if it does, the Republicans, if they have it, would be wise to wait before releasing it to the public. After all, patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait.
#3
Maybe it's being discounted because so many people don't have the ability to shut up and be patient. Or maybe it doesn't exist. Be patient and we'll all find out.
#4
"there's a very good chance such a tape exists and if it does, the Republicans, if they have it, would be wise to wait before releasing it to the public"
More likely Shrillery has it, Señor Green Bull, and - in light of Obamalamadingdong seeming to steal her destiny win the nomination race for now - is keeping her powder dry until the correct moment in the fall when she can release it, blame the Republicans, and take her revenge.
I'll order more popcorn. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/06/2008 14:50 Comments ||
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The correct moment for Shrillery was as soon as she had it. If she had it, sat on it, and releases now, she will have made fools of all the superdelegates who committed to bo after she got it. And if she releases it now, it will make Chicago '68 seem like a picnic.
I believe we will never see it because the rumors were originally from shrillery's camp to try to freeze the superdelegate endorsement stampede for bo. It didn't work. The donks have drunk so much Kool-aid or hate the Clintons so much they nominated the unelectable candidate, even without the tape.
#6
Larry Johnson is a clown. Does no one remember his role in Plame? Does no one remember his association with destructive idiots like Ray McGovern and the Wilsons. Does no one remember his creepy threats and cyber stalking of blogger Seixon? Didn't he write an appalling op-ed a few months before 9-11 in a major media outlet (NYT?) about how radical Islamic terrorism was not a real threat? (That was while he was still working in intelligence - scary.) Have you heard him spew venom at conservatives and any political opponent?! Wasn't he deep in that Truthout.com fiasco about a pending Rove indictment? Frankly, I'm flabbergasted that people are even considering his claims - even with a pinch of salt. Please ignore this dirt bag, no matter how hard he swings against Obama. In the end, he'd only hurt the anti-Obama cause.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
06/06/2008 22:13 Comments ||
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Greg Pollowitz, National Review "Media Blog" Posted at 9:27 PM last night.
It's about 9:30 and Dan Abrams of MSNBC has "Breaking News" of a secret meeting between Senators Obama and Clinton at Clintons' mansion in D.C. He said the Obama press corps is "in the air" right now and was somehow tricked into leaving Obama in D.C. without press coverage.
Way to go, guys! What did they offer you to get on the plane? Free twinkies?
The exact words used by Dan Abrams to describe how Sen. Obama ditched his press corps:
...the Obama press corps is in the air, as we speak...as I mentioned before a bit of a bait and switch on that press team. They did not know that Senator Obama would not be on the plane. The next thing they hear is that Senator Obama is actually staying behind to meet with Senator Clinton.
If this Abrams report is true, I wonder how the Obama press people feel to have their guy lie to them and steal their stories? I imagine they're sounding a little like a character in one of those Lifetime battered-woman-of-the-week movies: "He's a good provider. . . . He just gets a little upset now and then. He really didn't mean to hurt me. . . . Of course we still love each other. . . ."
FWIW, Fox News is saying the meeting is not at Clintons' house, as MSNBC is reporting, but at an undisclosed location. Maybe Dick Cheney is moderating the discussion?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/06/2008 09:02 ||
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Is it at one of those seedy waterfront bars or abandoned warehouses, like in a batman episode?
Posted by: ed ||
06/06/2008 13:29 Comments ||
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#6
A5089 ain't kidding. We're having a Tinfoil DefCon Infinity Emergency!!!!!!eleven!!1! in DC 'cos the Bilderbergs are meeting to put the next phase of their evil plans in motion...from the Marriott in Chantilly Virginia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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HMMMMM, Obama's "DIVERSITY", etc. agenda in America at the same time that NUCLEAR IRAN, NUCLEAR ISLAMISM-JIHADISM-TERRORISM, + possibly even ISLAMIST CENASIA/ASIA riseth.
D *** NG IT, HELLUVA TIME FOR THE US-WORLD TO HAVE AN ANTI-POPCORN BUTTER CRISIS!
#2
Very interesting. Hill has bills of $21 million for primary she wants to be paid by Magic Man for her to back off. He has agreed. His little pimp Daschle said as much late last nite. Why not ? He has unlimited funding, maybe funneled in from ME. She didn't and does not want anything to do with Barry. Now even Miss Goldilocks has said from Spain he will not be V.P. Opens the door for Rev. AL as the consensus pick at the convention. Meanwhile, Billery was so confident of winning that she segregated $24 million into a "general election " fund which apparently must not be intermixed with the primary money. So Hill walks away with big mounds of cash she can apply to any future campaign she runs or to dish out in largesse (bribes) to any Dummo she favors. What a joke. A continuing farce. If Hill is smart, she tries to consolidate her power center in the Senate where she can generate some real havoc.
Barack Obama is turning his attention to winning over traditionally Republican-voting US states in his campaign to be the next US president.
Days after gaining enough delegates to win the Democratic Party nomination, Mr Obama is holding rallies in Virginia - last won by a Democrat nominee in 1964. Mr Obama is holding two rallies in Virginia on Thursday. In Bristol, he told a crowd of about 20,000: "I'm proud of America for giving me this opportunity, but we've still got work to do," AP reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Targeting them with the thugs he had watching everything at the central committee meeting when he got the Florida and Michigan votes his way?
Yes they did look like thugs. Look at the folks in the background watching the whole thing...
#5
McPain has Caleephornea, NY and Pennsy in play. He needs to work these hard. With all the illegals + Ahlnold he could pull Cali upset. Pennsylvania is definitely possible. With Hilly "helping" Hussein in NY, it also could be a winner. Winning any one of these puts the lights out for the Magic Man.
#6
I agree w/WE 2700 - mcccpain shouldn't write off any traditional dem states (minus Ill.) - the hispanic vote will likely split or maybe even go to mcccpain. Young folks don't usually vote - that's a big negative for obomba. The elderly do - that could be a plus for mcccpain.
#8
The worse the economy gets, the more likely Mich., Oh., and Pa. tend to McCain - unbelievable but likely true. That's where HRC had running room, but BO has to use all the teflon and misdirection he's got - bitter clingers are the least likely to swoon, even though the MSM will use all the tools available.
If McCain campaigns in Cal., he'll probably be going after coattail congressional races as well - doubly unbelievable.
#9
In the rust belt the result is going to depend on the turnout of dead people. If they show up, bo has a chance, otherwise, enjoy being a footnote, bo. I'm not sure how many corpses Rendell is going to raise. Can't speak for the other states, but I wou8ldn't be surprised if he can't carry Ill.
Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday batted down rumors circulating on the Internet and mentioned on some cable news shows of the existence of a video of his wife using a derogatory term for white people, and criticized a reporter for asking him about the rumor, which has not a shred of evidence to support it. We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it, Obama said to the McClatchy reporter during a press conference aboard his campaign plane. That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it.
Asked whether he knew it not to be true, Obama said he had answered the question. Frankly, my hope is people dont play this game, Obama said. It is a destructive aspect of our politics. Simply because something appears in an e-mail, that should lend it no more credence than if you heard it on the corner. Presumably the job of the press is to not to go around and spread scurrilous rumors like this until there is actually anything, an iota, of substance or evidence that would substantiate it.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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In her circle of friends, "white" is a four letter word.
The US military says it has intercepted a ballistic missile near Hawaii in a test. The sea-based test Thursday was the military's first since an errant satellite was shot down earlier this year. A target was fired from a decommissioned amphibious assault ship about 160 kilometers off the island of Kauai. It was a Scud-like missile with a range of a few hundred kilometers.
The USS Lake Erie fired two interceptor missiles at the target. It was shot down in its final seconds of flight about 19 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean. The Lake Erie is a Navy cruiser based at Pearl Harbor. In February, the ship shot down a US spy satellite in the Aegis defense program's first real-world mission.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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I support ABM development against ICBMs, but not in Europe. In that venue, an enemy could target the launchers, with cruise missiles, and deployment would hand a launch-on-warning pretext to same. And Euro-polls suggest the public is lukewarm on being targeted. Spending billions of systems that locals will likely reject, makes no sense. Who the hell is fixated on Euro-ABMs? Smack them on the head, please. This is 2008, not 1948.
#2
This would be a test of the SM-2 Block IV, not SM-3, missile.
Posted by: ed ||
06/06/2008 7:06 Comments ||
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AMD is fully functioning and is ready to see your modified nuclear/chemical SCUDs Iran and will raise bombing you back into the stone age while you can't hit us.
#4
"In that venue, an enemy could target the launchers"
Do you recall how difficult it was to even find the launchers during the first gulf war? Finding those launchers most often happens AFTER a missile launch and if the airspace is hostile, it is difficult to loiter around waiting for one to be fired. But even if you can, what happens to the missile that is on its way? So you just tell the people that they need to sacrifice their lives but you will get the launcher eventually if enough missiles are fired from it to locate it?
Better to knock down the missile AND get the launcher.
In its first major defence export to the country, India has inked a $100-million deal to sell composite materials to Israel for its future generation of mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Under the recently signed contract, Indian aviation giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will export lightweight composite materials, manufactured from carbon fibers, to Israel. While the composites are primarily intended for a new Israeli mini UAV project, they will also be used for space applications, Government sources said.
"Israel has outsourced its composite requirements for UAVs to India. The materials will be used for a mini UAV that will fly at an altitude of 10,000 feet," a top MoD official said. The official added that HAL will manufacture the composites from raw material imported from Japan and France.
The composites, similar to the ones being used on India's Advanced Light Helicopters and the Light Combat Aircraft, will significantly reduce the weight of the UAV to give it a longer range and an increased payload.
"There are deficiencies in the field of engines (when it comes to indigenous research and development) but the deal underlines that India is emerging as a leader as far as composite materials are concerned," the official said.
While the export contract comes with no strings attached, the Indian Army is looking at inducting a significant number of mini UAVs for its infantry units in the near future. The Army will soon be floating a global tender to acquire the mini UAVs that can be carried by a single soldier and used for tactical real time battlefield reconnaissance.
Numbers have not been disclosed but the contract is expected to run into thousands of UAVs and is being eyed by several leading manufacturers of Israel, US and Europe. Indian defence giants, including Tata Industries, have also tied up with global players to manufacture the mini UAVs in the country.
The $100-million contract reflects a change in the defence relation with Israel, which till now has been a one-way street with Tel Aviv emerging as India's second largest defence supplier after Russia. Indian military imports from Israel crossed the $1-billion mark for the first time in 2006.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/06/2008 06:47 ||
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Good news. I want Israeli investments in India, not China. The more advanced India's military becomes, the more worried the Chicoms.
BAGHDAD - Iraq is to take tougher action against oil smugglers under a new law passed on Thursday aimed at plugging leaks in its oil industry that cost it billions of dollars every year in lost revenue. The Oil Derivatives Smuggling Law will give authorities the power to seize smugglers' assets, including tankers and other vessels, impose fines and jail offenders for up to five years.
"This law is essential to fight the smuggling of oil which costs the country billions of dollars every year," the head of parliament's oil and gas committee, Ali Hussain Balu, told Reuters. He said current legislation was seen as too weak to deter oil smuggling, a criminal activity that has flourished in the security vacuum that followed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
But enforcement of the new law may be difficult. A report by the Pentagon in June 2007 said members of the Oil Ministry's own Oil Protection Force, responsible for guarding oil infrastructure, were suspected of collusion in smuggling.
Fancy that ...
Iraq is hoping to boost oil revenues after oil production and exports reached a post-war high in May. Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told Reuters on Sunday he expected oil revenue to reach $70 billion this year if crude prices stayed high. Iraq, whose main source of revenue is oil, needs huge investment after decades of sanctions and war. But sabotage and oil smugglng have robbed it of billions of dollars and hampered reconstruction.
"According to official reports handed to parliament, Iraq is losing roughly 105,000 oil barrels a day from the southern fields in smuggling operations," Balu said. "Smuggling is a flourishing industry in the south, and parliament is taking this action to put an end to such a dangerous crime that could undermine the economy," he said.
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2007 said that inadequate metering, reinjection, corruption, theft and sabotage robbed Iraq, which has the world's third-biggest oil reserves, of 100,000-300,000 barrels per day. The GAO said U.S. State Department officials and other reports estimated that about 10 to 30 percent of refined fuel was diverted to the black market or smuggled out of Iraq.
As much as 70 percent of the fuel processed at Iraq's main refinery of Baiji, worth about $2 billion, was lost to the black market before the Iraqi army assumed control of the refinery, the Pentagon said in its June 2007 report on Iraq. It said smugglers were a variety of criminal, insurgent, and militia groups who "engage in the theft and illicit sale of oil to fund their activities."
Government forces took control of the southern oil city of Basra in March in an effort to reassert Baghdad's authority over an area that is home to the country's largest oilfields.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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"We will rule the country for a very, very long time," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday in a phone call from Washington to a Kadima rally in Tirat Carmel. "I know that your backing is the basis of Kadima's strength. Not the pressures and not the intimidation but the real power of Kadima members, whose strength is spread across the country and who want a united and unified party that will lead Israel," he told supporters.
They usually say stoopid stuff like that just before getting bounced.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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" Sharon! Wake up! Olmert is in a coma!"
- Israeli graffiti
The National Fraud Unit is examining Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Israeli bank accounts in the investigation into the illicit funding allegations against him, Channel 1 reported on Thursday night.
Also according to the television channel, Olmert's former bureau chief Shula Zaken recorded a transfer of NIS 100,000 made to former finance minister Avraham Hirchson, who, incidentally, was charged Wednesday with stealing NIS 2.5 million from the National Federation of Workers (NFW) and its subsidiary, Nili.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Looks like BS to me, with all those apple logos, and hosted at some comsept artist site. Notn engineer. Far too many rounded things and wasted space.
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.
Jim Geraghty, "The Campaign Spot" @ National Review
The US military says it has intercepted a ballistic missile near Hawaii in a test. The sea-based test Thursday was the military's first since an errant satellite was shot down earlier this year. A target was fired from a decommissioned amphibious assault ship about 160 kilometers off the island of Kauai. It was a Scud-like missile with a range of a few hundred kilometers. 
BAGHDAD - Iraq is to take tougher action against oil smugglers under a new law passed on Thursday aimed at plugging leaks in its oil industry that cost it billions of dollars every year in lost revenue. The Oil Derivatives Smuggling Law will give authorities the power to seize smugglers' assets, including tankers and other vessels, impose fines and jail offenders for up to five years.
