Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday for a sixth term of office as Zimbabwe president after being declared winner of a one-man election widely denounced throughout the world as an illegitimate farce. I will well and truly serve this country in the office of president, so help me God, 84-year-old Mugabe said at a ceremony at his State House residence, presided over by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. The rapidly-convened ceremony was staged barely an hour after the electoral commission declared he won a total of 2,150,269 votes against 233,000 for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who boycotted the election but whose name still appeared on ballot papers.
Turnout was announced at 42.37 percent, and 131,481 ballot papers were rejected. Tsvangirais Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) derided the announcement as a joke. This is an unbelievable joke and act of desperation on the part of the regime, the MDCs chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP.
Joke of the year: It qualifies for the Guinness Book of Records as joke of the year, he added. No African heads of state were present for the inauguration ceremony, in stark contrast to his previous election victories.
Mugabe is Africas oldest head of state and has ruled the former British colony uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1980. He was expected to fly out of Harare soon after the ceremony, headed for an African Union summit in Egypt where his countrys crisis was to feature high on the agenda.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday dismissed Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election on Friday as a sham and called for the deployment of African Union troops in the country. '(President) Mugabe is a shame to Africa and the African Union should take it soldiers to Zimbabwe to free the people in that country,' said Mr Odinga.
You and what army?
Mr Odinga said Kenya did not recognise Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe describing his expected victory in the election boycotted by the opposition candidate as 'fake'. 'President Mugabe went ahead with the fake elections in which he competed against himself. That was a fake victory and we do not recognise it,' said the prime minister in Nyando constituency during the thanksgiving ceremony for the area MP Mr Fred Outa. 'You cannot say you have won an election in which you arrest your opponents, where you beat and kill your opponents, where people cannot campaign because you have locked up them in jail.'
Mr Odinga has consistently spoken strongly against Mugabe in the recent past describing the long-serving Zimbabwean leader as a dictator, which he (Mr Odinga) says has got him into Mugabe's bad books. 'Mugabe says that Raila is his enemy number one. I do not need to go to Zimbabwe...' said Mr Odinga.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
One thing that can be said about Saudi oilmen is that they are utterly realistic and pragmatic.
It is a pity that the Saud family never decided to utterly purge the Wahabbis from Saudi, and replace them with a far less volatile faction. Though I imagine the thought has crossed their minds.
#2
Muhammed ibn Abd al Wahhab was instrumental in the rise to power of Muhammed ibn Saud in the 18th century. Wahhabism and the House of Saud are joined at the hip, although one branch of the family is attempting surgery.
#3
But what happens over the next year at Khurais, one of Saudi Arabia's last undeveloped giant oil fields, could hold the key to what drivers will pay at the pump for years to come.
Well, that's much better than having more oil rigs and refineries in this country!
Well, it must be; that's the way everyone is acting about drilling and refining...
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2008 12:26 Comments ||
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#4
Wahhabism and the House of Saud are joined at the hip, although one branch of the family is attempting surgery.
?
Do tell. Seriously?
Wait, maybe it the kook(ier) branchh?
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced detained Dhaka City Corporation Councillor, formerly ward commissioner, Chowdhury Alam to 12 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for extorting Tk 23.93 crore from 2370 shop owners of Bangabazar Complex between 2003 and 2005.
Earlier Alam was convicted for 10 years' RI for extorting Tk 20 lakh from a market owner in August 2003. He was also sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for amassing wealth worth Tk 4.97 crore illegally and concealing wealth information from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Judge Kiron Shankar Halder of the First Joint Sessions Judge's Court handed down the sentence in presence of the convict at a packed courtroom yesterday. The court fined Alam Tk 2 lakh, in default of which he has to suffer two more years of RI. The court sentenced Rahamat Ali to five years RI for committing the same offences.
One of Alam's accomplices, Haji Jamal Uddin, was acquitted, as his involvement with the extortion was not proved.
Earlier, the prosecution and defence completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 61 prosecution witnesses. According to the prosecution, Alam, also president of Bangabazar Complex, and his accomplices stopped the 2370 shop owners from depositing their trade licence fees and rents to the authorities. He demanded Tk 1.01 lakh from each shop. The shop owners paid a total of Tk 23.93 crore to Alam on different dates between 2003 and 2005.
After the caretaker government came to power, Mohammad Shahjahan, another president of Bangabazar complex, filed the case against Alam and others with Shahbagh Police Station on May 1 last year. The investigation officer pressed charges against Alam and two others on July 11 the same year.
Alam, an accused in a dozen other criminal cases, was sent to jail after he surrendered before the court on February 22 last year in connection with a criminal case filed with Paltan Police Station.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Colombian President Alvaro Uribe deepened his feud with the courts on Monday by going ahead with plans for a referendum aimed at rerunning the 2006 election in which he won a second term.
The popular leader reacted angrily to last week's Supreme Court ruling that said a former lawmaker was bribed by high government officials to support the constitutional amendment that allowed Uribe to seek re-election.
The judges recommended a legal review of the 2006 vote but rather than wait for that, the U.S-backed president wants to take his case directly to voters.
Uribe's move throws politics into turmoil as his long-simmering feud with Colombia's courts over his hard-line policies breaks into an open clash. After the bribery ruling was handed down Uribe said the Supreme Court was politically biased and may even be influenced by Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade.
His combative strategy opens the possibility of a special election that could give him a new mandate and allow more public debate over whether he should be allowed to try to stay in power beyond 2010 when his current term ends. 'The referendum is on the way,' presidential advisor Jose Obdulio Gaviria said as the opposition howled that Uribe is thumbing his nose at the judicial system and throwing off the constitutional checks and balances of the country.
The president's staff was busy on Monday drawing up the wording of the proposal. If it is approved by Congress the referendum will be put before the country's voters. 'If the court has doubts about my election, let's ask the people and see what they say,' Uribe said after Thursday's Supreme Court decision.
Uribe, who has about 80 percent popularity based on his fight against leftist rebels in a four-decade-old insurgency, is portrayed this week on the cover of the Colombian news magazine Semana as a Roman emperor with the caption: 'I am the power.'
The president has regularly sparred with the courts over his peace negotiations with right-wing paramilitary militias, thousands of whom have demobilized under a deal offering them reduced jail terms for crimes including mass murder.
'The face-off between Uribe and the court has brought the country to the brink of constitutional breakdown,' said the usually pro-Uribe El Tiempo newspaper in a Sunday editorial.
The legal question is whether a referendum can be called to rerun an election that has not yet been officially invalidated. The Constitutional Court is weighing whether or not to review the 2006 vote to determine if it was legal.
Colombian Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, who is in charge of negotiating with Colombia's illegal militias and also a Uribe ally, called for an investigation of the Supreme Court after jailed paramilitary chief and drug lord Salvatore Mancuso said his organization had infiltrated the court.
Dozens of members of Uribe's congressional coalition, including his cousin and former Senator Mario Uribe, are under investigation on charges that they used far-right paramilitary thugs to intimidate voters.
Interior Minister Fabio Valencia told journalists that calling a special election 'does not necessarily imply that the current presidential mandate will be extended.'
But the opposition sees the referendum as a ploy that will allow Uribe to push for a mandate that could help keep him in office past 2010, when his current term expires. 'Uribe essentially carried out a coup d'etat with the illegal approval of the bill that allowed him to stand for re-election,' said left-leaning Senator Gustavo Petro. 'The referendum would deepen that coup.'
The Supreme Court last week sentenced ex-Congress member Yidis Medina to nearly four years of house arrest for accepting illegal favors from government officials in exchange for supporting the re-election amendment in 2004 when she was a low-ranking member of Uribe's coalition. Charges are expected to be filed against the officials she says induced her vote by promising she would be able to name her friends to local government commissions in her home province of Santander.
#1
As good as he is, Uribe is missing a key fact of politics. From the very beginning you must plan for your succession. If you feel you must direct things, then you have to do so behind the scenes, like Putin. Otherwise, the odds favor much of what you have done being undone.
#1
You're right, it contains none of the elements of a quality MSM article. I had to make myself finish reading it, and when I got to the end, I couldn't remember what the headline was about when I started.
A U.S. ship carrying thousands of tons of food arrived in North Korea after the impoverished nation agreed to open up to greatly expanded international aid, the U.N. food agency said Monday. The World Food Program said the freighter arrived Sunday carrying 37,000 tons of wheat, the first installment of 500,000 tons in assistance promised by Washington.
The U.S. aid was not directly related to the ongoing nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang, and U.S. officials have repeatedly claimed they do not use food for diplomatic coercion.
But the shipment arrived just days after the North delivered a long-delayed atomic declaration and blew up the cooling tower at its main reactor site, in a sign of its commitment not to make more plutonium for bombs. In exchange, Washington lifted some economic sanctions against the North and said it would remove the country from a U.S. State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The North's government agreed to the new aid program Friday, the WFP said, the same day Pyongyang blew up the reactor tower following the U.S. concessions.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Monday that there was 'zero linkage' between progress on nuclear talks and the timing of the food delivery. He said the U.S. has spent months working with the World Food Program on making sure the delivery of the food could be properly monitored. 'We do not link food assistance, whether that's to North Korea or Zimbabwe or any other country, to political considerations. We do that based on humanitarian concerns,' Casey said.
The American food supplies will help the WFP expand its operations to feed more than 5 million people, up from the current 1.2 million North Koreans helped by outside handouts, the organization said in a statement. American relief groups will distribute 100,000 tons of the food in two northwestern provinces, and the WFP the rest.
The U.S. is the largest donor to the WFP's current aid program in North Korea, having pledged $38.9 million.
The increased aid comes as the WFP and other groups have issued increasingly dire warnings about the food situation in the North. The country's regular annual shortages were expected to worsen this year because of floods last summer that decimated the North's agricultural heartland. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization has said North Korea's cereal crop will fall more than 1.5 million tons short this year, the largest food deficit since 2001.
Prices at the country's limited marketswhere North Koreans who can afford it shop when public rations fall shorthave skyrocketed due to shortages.
U.N. agencies are conducting a food survey expected to be complete mid-July to determine where to distribute the aid, but the WFP said preliminary reports 'indicate a high level of food insecurity.' Jean-Pierre de Margerie, North Korea country director for the WFP, said observers had not yet seen evidence of a renewed famine. The North's food shortages in the 1990safter it lost Soviet aid and poor harvests due to natural disasters and mismanaged farmingare believed to have killed as many as 2 million people.
'Even if the situation is not dramatic right now, it could continue to deteriorate in the months to come so that's why we need to address the situation as quickly as possible,' he told The Associated Press from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
The WFP hopes to start distributing the U.S.-provided food within two weeks, de Margerie said.
The North has long bristled at the monitoring requirements of international donors to make sure that the food reaches the needy. In 2005, the government sharply scaled back what foreign aid it would allow and requested only development assistance, saying there was no longer an emergency situation.
The new aid agreement marks a return by the WFP to its earlier levels of assistance, but also with greater access to parts of the country where the agency has not previously worked, de Margerie said.
North Korea also has allowed the WFP to send some 50 more international workers to the country for monitoring, its largest staff presence since starting operations there in 1996.
Thousands of rioters torched police cars and government office buildings in the south-western province of Guizhou after allegations that local officials covered up a teenage girl's death.
It started with the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. The story that flashed around Weng'an county was that three men were responsible, two of them with great "guangxi", or local connections. One of them was reportedly the son of the deputy mayor. When the police report said she had killed herself, tensions really began to simmer. When her popular schoolteacher uncle went to the police to seek justice, he was beaten into a coma and subsequently died. The tensions turned into rioting.
Lacking formal means to vent their anger, the people of Weng'an turned the town upside down, and the YouTube website carried shocking pictures of burning police cars and local government offices.
The scenes of mayhem and anarchy are the ones the Communist Party fears most as it is always worried that dissent could spread nationwide. Corruption at local level is something the Chinese government has vowed to wipe out, and last week it introduced a five-year plan to combat it.
Eyewitnesses reported one death and many injuries in the riots. At around 4am yesterday morning, police used megaphones to urge people to leave the area, and local television stations broadcast notices asking people who participated in the protest to turn themselves in. The riots even made it on to the official Xinhua news agency, which ran a brief story and blamed the riots on unhappiness about the official ruling over the girl's death.
#1
These sorts of stories happen in China regularly. I've seen this particular story many times. It always ends with the arrests of the rioters. Harmony is most important, it trumps all other considerations, including meting justice to wrongdoers. The moment the government admits that it's wrong, that's the crack that opens a huge flood of problems (for the government).
The Labour Party is at the center of the new controversy, and in an awkward position. Its members within the city government now want to re-zone an undeveloped site earlier granted to the US Embassy at Huseby, just northwest of downtown, back to open space.
The Labour-dominated state government, however, is obligated to offer an acceptable site for a US Embassy, and wants construction of an embassy at Huseby to move forward. Political forces within the Foreign Ministry entered the fray this week, mostly on the side of the US Embassy, and Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called in Oslo Labour officials on Friday, asking them to explain their rezoning offensive.
Construction of the embassy at Huseby has been vigorously opposed by local residents, who argue it will ruin the last bit of open space they have in their area, boost traffic along an already-busy road and create a terrorist target within their midst.
The latter is the real issue, one suspects. After all, their dhimmi attitude has mostly held off major attacks within the country. So far, anyway ....
Seventeen people have been injured, including a child left in a critical condition, after French soldiers fired live bullets instead of blanks during an open day display.
Fifteen civilians and two soldiers were injured in the incident which involved a demonstration by members of a marines parachute regiment of hostage liberation exercises. Four of the 17 were seriously injured, with two described as critical, following 'incomprehensible' scenes at the barracks near Carcassone, in the country's south-west.
According to local authorities, five children who were watching the display were among those hurt. Five helicopters, 11 fire brigade first-aid vehicles and two ambulances rushed to the scene and ferried the injured to at least five hospitals.
One soldier had been detained last night. Although no explanation was immediately forthcoming for why the wrong ammunition was loaded into weapons, police said there was no suggestion it was a deliberate act. No information was available about what sort of weapons had been used. 'All hypotheses are being considered,' said a national police spokesman, adding that the weapons had been 'seized and placed under lock and key.'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he urgently awaited the results of a top-level military probe into the incident, adding that he 'shares with the families the pain caused by this drama.'
'My first thoughts are with the victims. Everything will be put in place to care for them,' Mr Sarkozy said.
Herve Morin, France's defence minister, went 'immediately' to Carcassone after being told of the incident, he said in a statement.
Colonel Benoit Royal, head of the army's information unit, said a number among the injured were from military families.
Bernard Lemaire, the chief of the regional administration in Aude, said that investigators believed the deadly ammunition was loaded by mistake. 'The question being asked is 'Did the soldier engage in a criminal act or not?',' Mr Lemaire said. 'For now, no one can answer that, but the theory being worked on is one of error.'
#2
Very bizarre that nobody took a look at the buillets when he received the ammo: they are color coded.
In a lighter way according to poppular legend at one point British and French had blank grenades teh same same color than the other side live grenades. It made for some soiled pants when during joint maneuvers a French grenade landed near a British soldier or the opposite.
#3
If they used the wrong color of seal tape on the mags I can see how it might have happened. It's still a biggie that someone should fess up to, as if they didn't feel bad enough already. This sort of thing carries its own punishment.
#4
Gas-operated weapons can't work with blanks unless there is a blank adapter on the muzzle. Without the bullet, the gas pressure is not high enough to operate the system. Nor is there enough recoil to work a recoil system.
So blank adapters constrict the muzzle opening to allow for sufficiently high velocity. Which means a bullet coming out would blow up the weapon.
Hollywood puts constrictions inside the barrels so the gas will operate the weapon without bullets. But that ruins the weapon, so the removable adapter is used by the military.
In order to feed properly, blanks have elongated cases to take the place of the protruding round. IOW, they look different. They feel different.
So my question is how a weapon adapted temporarily for the use of blanks could actually fire a live round.
How could somebody loading a magazine not see the difference between live rounds and blanks?
If the ammo point got mixed up and issued magazines with live ammo, we still have the problem of how a live round didn't blow up a weapon temporarily adapted for blanks.
There may be new technology to allow the use of blanks without needing to adapt the weapon at all. Can you imagine a weapon which could, theoretically, fire alternative blanks and live rounds, operate as designed? Me neither.
IMO, this was deliberate. Hard to figure out how it happened by accident.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/30/2008 9:48 Comments ||
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#5
The soldier who fired the shots from his FAMAS assault rifle, a sergeant described as experienced with no history of behavioural or psychological problems, was detained following the incident.
"I cannot rule out anything because we don't know what might be going on in a man's head," Defence Minister Herve Morin told France Info radio.
He said the shooter had first fired a magazine of blanks and then loaded a fresh magazine but this time with live bullets.
"Why did he have it in his pocket?" asked Morin, who accompanied Sarkozy on his visit to the Carcassonne hospital.
He said an experienced soldier would not confuse blanks and real bullets, noting that the two munitions are packed into different-coloured magazines.
#6
Richard Aubrey is spot on about blanks-firing guns; the Famas I was issued during my time as a draftee could fire blanks and cycle only when fitted with a special muzzle device screwed onto the barrel, no way to miss it; plus, blanks do not look at all like regular ammo, and not even like grenade-firing ammo... possibly, for such demonstrations, they use simulation ammo that allows the weapon to cycle without that device. Weird screw-up anyway, if that is an accident, someone dropped the ball seriously, probably the armorer, mags are loaded by the firer just before range shooting, but I don't know how it's done for displays?.
#7
He said the shooter had first fired a magazine of blanks and then loaded a fresh magazine but this time with live bullets.
'Why did he have it in his pocket?' asked Morin, who accompanied Sarkozy on his visit to the Carcassonne hospital.
A criminal act would be somehow easier to explain than a major mistake like that; did he remove that blank-firing device? If not, how did the live bullets got through the muzzle? Punching through it? Could that be missed by the shooter?
#8
If they used the wrong color of seal tape on the mags I can see how it might have happened.
It is not the seal tape. It is the bullet themselves who, in the French army, are color coded. And you see them when they give you the magazines. Alspo as told by others you need to remove the blank adapter to fire live ammo.
#9
anon.
You'd think the weapon would blow up. The adapter, however it was designed, would be smashed, pieces flying, what remained hooked to the muzzle bent like pretzels. Some of the bullet jacket might even fly backwards, hitting the shooter.
I can't think of what simulation ammo would be, unless it had so much propellant that even without the restriction of a blank adapter, the back pressure would be sufficient to operate the system. That would be a hell of a load. And the rounds would look much different from a live round.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/30/2008 11:50 Comments ||
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#10
Why are they firing AT spectators in the first place ? Getting ready for EU elections ?
These are blank rounds. They look completely different than live rounds since they have the tapered tip. The blank adapter is a big red thing on the end of your rifle to give pressure blowback for the bolt to operate. Unless the French do things completely different from the rest of the world, the would have to be extreme incompetence on the shooter, or a deliberate shooting.
#12
I can't think of what simulation ammo would be, unless it had so much propellant that even without the restriction of a blank adapter, the back pressure would be sufficient to operate the system. That would be a hell of a load.
Also when the army we were told to never, never, never fire a blank when under a yard (or was it two?) from the target as it would cause serious burns. That was with our lightly loaded blanks not the ones needed for operating without adpaterr (BTW, when you see them fired at night you understand why of the prohibition)
#13
There was a very successful TV actor in the US who accidentally killed himself while playing with a gun loaded with blanks. (It was many years ago). Those things can be deadly at "point blank" range.
Us neither. It was those clowns from some other company.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/30/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#16
Anyway, all of which means either he didn't have his blank adapter on, or he took it off. But he fired a mag of blanks, presumably succesfully, first.
Some kind of change would have had to be made to fire more than one round of live ammo. Which is to say, between mags.
He could change mags, close the action to pick up the first round, fire it, and then....zilch.
Curiouser.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/30/2008 13:10 Comments ||
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#17
Also he was on full automatic. Not the smartes thing to do when the goal is to release not kill hostages.
#18
It is probable that since normal ammo would go cleanly throgh tyhe bad guy and strike the hostage behind that thse FAMAS were modified in order to fire ammo with lighter powder loads than normal. It possible those modified FAMASses would not need adapters for firing blank ammo.
However there is still the unaswered question about why he was on full automatics.
#19
#13 - Scooter, it was Jon-Erik Hexum, in 1984.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
06/30/2008 14:53 Comments ||
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#20
I think the first few rounds fragmented until the blank firing adapter was destroyed and then intact bullets exited the muzzle. Explains the why only 5 had serious wounds.
Still doesn't explain why in the world a professional could not tell from sight or weight that he was loading a live ammo mag or would point a weapon into a crowd. Even the wadding can cause injury.
Posted by: ed ||
06/30/2008 14:59 Comments ||
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#21
JFM.
It's been a long time since I was in. I get the impression that most HRT-types are equipped with something in 9mm. That would take care of the penetration problem and the weapons designed for them don't have to be jiggered, or rejiggered. If a standard auto or semi-auto weapon is modified to work with less gas pressure (can it be done?), what happens if you switch to standard loads? IOW, have you taken them out of the general inventory absent a re-mod?
Why re-invent the wheel?
I've never seen, in person or on television, any kind of demo where the backstop was the audience.
Usually, there's a berm or something. It's generally in the other direction and looks different from the audience. I could always tell which was which....
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/30/2008 15:26 Comments ||
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#22
Tragically, Murphy always has a way of turning up at demos, live-fire exercises and bombing ranges. Whatever happened, my prayers go out to the injured and the families.
Gen. Weasley Wesley Clark, acting as a disreputable surrogate for Barack Obamas campaign, invoked John McCains military service against him in one of the more personal attacks on the Republican presidential nominee this election cycle.
For some strange reason Obama and Axelrod think they can do a reverse-Swift-Boat on John McCain. It's not going to work, and it's just going to drive the center away from them.
Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him untested and untried on CBS Face the Nation. And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCains military service. After saying, "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war," he added that these experiences in no way qualify McCain to be president in his view:
Being a goof-ball general doesn't qualify you to be president, either ...
He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded that wasn't a wartime squadron, Clark said.
It's hard to hold executive responsibility in preparation to be president. Being a governor is being an executive, but Bill Clinton proved it wasn't sufficient. Being a big-city mayor likewise isn't the same. There's really no one job that prepares you to be president other than the job of life. Say what you want about McCain, he's done a number of things in his life, and added together pro'ly make him ready to do the job. At least compared to someone who was a 'community organizer', lawyer, state senator, and partial-one-term US senator.
I dont think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.
I wonder if he says that around other military people. It was McCain's bad luck to be shot down, just as for every other fellow who was wounded or killed. You'd think a general would understand that and not impugn the sacrifice of another military person. You'd think.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh - so I guess being a mumbling, misinformed, cowardly, inexperienced part-term senator with no executive experience and an SUV full of bizarre and distasteful mentors/friends/allies prepares you to be prez? Does the Lion of Pristina Airport realize what the obvious logical implication is here for his own pathetic candidate? So long as McCain stomps the twink from Chicago and then avoids causing too much damage in his own right, this election could be even funnier than the last one.
#2
I've never landed a jet - at night - during a rainstorm - onto the deck of an air craft carrier underway. I probably can't imagine the actual complexity and pucker-factor involved in doing that. But - if I need someone to handle serious responsibilities in a crisis (or handle an in-flight malfunction that threatens my commercial airliner) - I think I'll take the decorated naval carrier pilot over the "community organizer."
There are certainly experience profiles that could beat John McCain's in terms of executive experience. George H.W. Bush probably had about the best conceivable resume. But - Obamaa's resume is utterly embarrassing in its astonishingly thin content with respect to anything even remotely approaching relevant experience for running the world's lone Superpower.
I loathe General Clark (despite sharing the same undergraduate Alma Mater), but I would put his experience profile light years ahead of Obama.
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
I relish the thought of the election coming down to comparing the relevant leadership and executive experience of the two candidates. Hussein isn't even in the same ballpark.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2008 5:53 Comments ||
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#5
He is responsible for our mess in the Balskans, the crappy ops there, etc.
I know people who served under this jerk.
They didn't call him "Weasel-y" for nothing.
And any vet that would attack a brother in this fashion is showing just the kind of Buddy F'er he was in the service.
Dishonest, untrustworthy, arrogant and ignorant are all terms that come to mind when you mention this asshat to me.
What a scumbag.
On top of that Clark is such a f-up that he got fired by CLINTON! This guy was relieved for INCOMPETENCE, and yet Obama the idiot uses him for a military advisor.
If what McCain went through as a unit commander, and as a combat pilot and a POW isnt good enough, then where the hell does it leave Obama, who has never held a REAL job?
I hope the weasel is ready to join the body count under the Obama bus, because that's where he is going to be thrown. Getting crowded down there.
#10
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
Which at least qualifies him for New Orleans doesn't it? How would the locals be able to tell the difference?
Mr. Clark demonstrates the problem of our systems, their ability to be played and gamed in the climb up the executive ladder. It's damn hard to discern managers from leaders in peacetime. When something other than peacetime is involved, the reluctance of adjusting the system to identify leaders and to ruthlessly sack all others from positions of leadership responsibility is a chronic organizational shortcoming.
But farther to the leftand among some of McCain's conservative enemies as wellharsher attacks are circulating. Critics have accused McCain of war crimes for bombing targets in Hanoi in the 1960s.
Then there is this classic invocation of the Myth:
The newsletter CounterPunch published this April an article by Doug Valentine headed "Meet the Real John McCain: North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator."
Valentine suggested McCain contemplated suicidesomething the candidate has written about, and attributed in part to his guilt at not withstanding torturebecause he was a "war criminal" whose bombs fell on civilians.
Finally, some undiluted Radio Hanoi propaganda from that period:
"I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero," said Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the theatrical anti-war group Code Pink. "In 23 bombing sorties, there must have been civilians that were killed and there's no heroism to that."
"Anyone who can't look back and admit how wrong it was to be in Vietnam and be killing civilians deserves to be challenged," she said, though she stressed that her group is more focused on McCain's present support for the war in Iraq than on his past.
Noam Chomsky, the linguist and activist, said in an email that he thought Americans should question the relevance of McCain's torture in an unjust war to his campaign.
"The questions could scarcely even be understood within the reigning intellectual and moral culturethough I don't doubt that much of the population would understand," Chomsky said.
You're right, Choms - very few people do understand you.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#14
BTW,
"'I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero,' said Medea Benjamin"
I wouldn't spit on this pig if her ass were on fire.
There is still time to settle accounts with many of the Vietnam era traitors, though probably not Kennedy (we know about), Chomsky (age 78), or Cronkite(90).
In ten years, maybe less, the power of the media-industrial complex and its stereotyped 60s cultural paradigm will have declined to the point at which real action is possible.
#15
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider Obama for mayor of a large city - he has shown me nothing that suggests executive competence.
Don't know about that, if you were one of his cronies, you would be on a nice little earner, especially if your credentials were that of former civil rights activist - a bit like being a community organiser.
Contrast John McCain's conduct to that of Wesley Clark. During the 1990s, Clark and other Clinton Administration envoys envoys met with notorious Serbian leaders, including General Ratko Mladic, leader of the Bosnia Serb Army, and a wanted war criminal. By various accounts, Mladic was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muslims and Croat civilians.
During one highly-publicized meeting Mladic and Clark, all smiles, gladly exchanged hats, and posed for photographers. It was a particularly shameful moment, one that General Clark never mentions. Making matters worse (if that's possible), the infamous "hat-swap" meeting, which occurred in 1994, was not officially authorized. "It's like cavorting with Hermann Goering" one U.S. official complained at the time.
To our knowledge, General Clark has never apologized for that meeting--or his feckless conduct. And, quite predictably, Clark's friends in the MSM have never called him on it.
#21
The absolutely hilarious point of this incident is that ANY 'bambi supporter has the chutzpah to criticize ANYONE as being too lacking in executive experience.
Jeez Louise on a shingle 'bambi is the DEFINITION of inexperienced!!!!!!! (I looked up "inexperienced" in the OED and there was 'bambi's picture, honestly)
#25
Obama said that patriotism "must, if it is to mean anything, involve the willingness to sacrifice" and sought to distance himself from Clark's remarks without mentioning them."For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary," Obama said. "And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides."
#31
I find it interesting that BO has Clark make this comment allowing it to soak in with folks before he comes out and speaks against it making himself appear a real stand up guy, yes throwing Clark under the bus. What an A**hole.
Obama will have to have a fleet of buses with his antics.
We are so very screwed with either choice this coming election, God save us all. It'll be interesting who the VP candidates will be.
I'm usually a very positive person, but have been feeling so sulky and feeling OMG scared actually.
This has gone way beyond blood pressure medicine, with so much hanging in the balance and our future looking at these choices is so unbelievable. Bourbon helps, f*** the blood pressure medicine.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2008 23:41 Comments ||
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Congress voted Thursday night to remove Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who helped end apartheid, from a watch list of potential terrorists that had precluded his unencumbered travel into the US.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate, praised Congress's actions Friday. 'In recognition of his ninetieth birthday this summer, Nelson Mandela is again honored as one of the worlds strongest voices for human dignity and courage in the face of oppression. Today the United States moved closer at last to removing the great shame of dishonoring this great leader by including him on our governments terror watch list,' Kerry said.
Mandela turned 90 on Friday.
The activist was on the watch list because of activities he undertook with the African National Congress against South Africa's apartheid regime many decades ago. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years before being released in 1990. He became South Africa's president in 1994, the first year in which black South Africans could vote.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently said it was 'embarrassing' to still have Mandela's name on the watch list. The bill to de-list him is now headed to President Bush's desk.
Nelson Mandela served as a beacon for freedom and democracy during a dark time in the history of South Africa. I am pleased that we have finally passed legislation that will honor his commitment and sacrifices by lifting dishonorable travel restrictions imposed upon him and other members of the African National Congress,' said Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), another co-sponsor of the Senate bill. 'What we have done today is the right and just thing to do.'
Posted by: john frum ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate...
So, Jawn, now that you've learned how to do it, how about you sponsor some legislation that does something that benefits your constituents?
#2
We've been limiting how much farmers can farm for well over 70 years. And how much food (or Brazilian ethanol) can be brought in. Maybe we should just try harder and let more starve. And the Argentines might be willing to sell their beef for $50/lb.
Malaysias de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge at the Turkish embassy on Sunday over concerns for his safety after being accused of sodomy, a claim he dismissed as being politically motivated.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This isn't the first time the government of Malaysia has used this tactic.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/30/2008 0:13 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Twenty thousand foreign students have graduated from the theological schools in the holy Iranian city of Qom, which is considered the cradle of Shia Islam.
Mahommad Kabiri, a representative at the Mostafa al Alamieh University in Qom released the data on Friday and said that the foreign students represented 104 different ethnicities. "Currently, we host 10,000 students who are not Iranian nationals, including 2,000 women, who are studying theology in the city of Qom," said Kabiri.
The Mostafa al-Alamieh University manages 13 theological schools for young foreigners. One of these schools, known as Bent al Hoda, accepts only female foreign students.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The MMs version of the Pak Madarassas. All target rich environments, turning out Jihad-Bots. Looks like a site for covert opes, better ask Seymour Hersch what he thinks about it....heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/30/2008 11:18 Comments ||
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#1
THe African churches and the more orhtodox ones in the US have been splitting from the liberls for the past 4-5 years. Its only now coming to a head. Many US churches are removing themselves form the US pro-gay anti-Christian bishops, and are joining the African bishops. This is resulting in lawsuits over property, splitting congregations, etc.
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.
Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday for a sixth term of office as Zimbabwe president after being declared winner of a one-man election widely denounced throughout the world as an illegitimate farce. I will well and truly serve this country in the office of president, so help me God, 84-year-old Mugabe said at a ceremony at his State House residence, presided over by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. The rapidly-convened ceremony was staged barely an hour after the electoral commission declared he won a total of 2,150,269 votes against 233,000 for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who boycotted the election but whose name still appeared on ballot papers.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday dismissed Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election on Friday as a sham and called for the deployment of African Union troops in the country. '(President) Mugabe is a shame to Africa and the African Union should take it soldiers to Zimbabwe to free the people in that country,' said Mr Odinga.
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced detained Dhaka City Corporation Councillor, formerly ward commissioner, Chowdhury Alam to 12 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for extorting Tk 23.93 crore from 2370 shop owners of Bangabazar Complex between 2003 and 2005. 
A U.S. ship carrying thousands of tons of food arrived in North Korea after the impoverished nation agreed to open up to greatly expanded international aid, the U.N. food agency said Monday. The World Food Program said the freighter arrived Sunday carrying 37,000 tons of wheat, the first installment of 500,000 tons in assistance promised by Washington. 
Seventeen people have been injured, including a child left in a critical condition, after French soldiers fired live bullets instead of blanks during an open day display.
Gen. 
