Zimbabwe political rivals meeting in Harare could sign a power-sharing deal tomorrow, veteran President Robert Mugabe said late Tuesday following negotiations. "We are finishing tomorrow, hopefully. We are still going to talk, there are one or two areas of disagreement," Mugabe said as he left the venue for the talks.
A government source had earlier said that there was "room for optimism that this deal would be signed tomorrow and that President Robert Mugabe will form a government anytime from tomorrow or this week."
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has faced heavy pressure to sign a deal throughout different stages of talks, and earlier in the day, all three rival parties signalled that no deal was anticipated.
However, Tsvangirai later acknowledged that there had been some positive development in the negotiations as he left the talks venue. "This is work in progress and we are hoping that tomorrow we will be able to work on the outstanding issues," said Tsvangirai, whose party holds the largest number of seats in parliament after defeating Mugabe in a March vote.
Earlier on Tuesday, a source close to the talks told AFP that Tsvangirai had held separate "positive" talks in the morning with Mbeki who flew to Harare on Monday to revive the talks.
His counterpart from the breakaway MDC faction Arthur Mutambara, also expressed optimism that a deal is in sight. "We have made tremendous progress, there are few remaining issues to be resolved and hopefully tomorrow we will bring finality and closure to this important process of dialogue," said Mutambara.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Translation. "Power Sharing" is really "Blame Sharing".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/10/2008 12:40 Comments ||
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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and top opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have both spoken positively about their talks in Harare on sharing power. After two days of discussions in a hotel, the two men both said they hoped the South Africa-brokered talks would be concluded on Wednesday. "I must say that there is a positive development," Mr Tsvangirai said.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Mugabe noted there had been "progress - and lack of it - in some areas".
South Africa's national broadcaster, the SABC, reported earlier that a fresh document had been tabled providing the opposition leader with more power, as an executive prime minister.
The powers to be shared between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai have been a key obstacle in trying to strike a deal. South African President Thabo Mbeki is mediating in the negotiations.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Be Very,Very Careful here, "Executives" can be fired. (And blamed/executed)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/10/2008 12:43 Comments ||
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JEDDAH: Three sisters who have repeatedly fled their father's home after 10 years of physical and psychological abuse and sexual molestation reached a dead end.
The girls' last escape was five months ago. Mona, Nadin and Lina took refuge in the home of their mother, who had been divorced from their father nine years ago. According to a court verdict issued in 1999, the mother can only see the girls on Fridays from the afternoon until early evening. She tried to get custody of her daughters, but all her attempts were unsuccessful. She was hesitant to speak to the press until she realized it was her final recourse.
"Five years and I've been trying to have my daughters live with me. My ex-husband is an imam and member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. He uses his religious appearance as a green light to get under people's skin and get what he wants," said the mother in anguish.
Continued on Page 49
#6
Forget for the moment that the law under which this "case" was tried is called Shariah.
I'm shocked by the cynical nature of the posts above.
The blight of these young women has absolutely nothing to do with islam. The entire affair is cultural thereby predating the advent of enlightened islam. Don't you posters have your Dem talking points and notes from islam's apologists?
#8
Mark...I respectively ask you to name one country where this sort of activity occurs that is not an islamic country.
The fact is that would not and does occur in "Western Society". The reasons (e.g., rule of law, etc.) this is so are debatable. But the fact remains: This sort of activity outlawed in the West.
Former caretaker-government adviser Justice Fazlul Huq, accused of accumulating Tk 89.81 lakh in illegal wealth and hiding information from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), submitted bail bond to the trial court yesterday.
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09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman and their daughter Jaima Rahman obtained German visas yesterday. Earlier they received British visas.
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09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Two Tu-160 Russian strategic bombers landed Wednesday at an airbase in Venezuela to take part in military exercises, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Russian defence ministry.
#1
CARACAS (AFP) - Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers were in Venezuela on Wednesday for "training flights," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, adding he would be piloting one of the aircraft.
"What's more, I'm going to take the controls of one of these monsters," boasted the president, a former paratrooper and left-wing politician who has avowed antagonism towards the United States.
Good he's a former partrooper. He knows how to use a parachute. He may need it.
Russian officials on Tuesday pledged military bases and 7,600 troops to protect the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, cementing Moscow's determinations to stand by the disputed territories. Russia plans to keep 3,800 troops in each of the regions, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Gee, school has restarted. Where are all the campus demonstrations against an 'illegal' war?
SEOUL, South Korea - A woman from North Korea charged with espionage admitted in court Wednesday that she spied for the communist country, an official said, in a spectacular case that has drawn wide attention in South Korea. Won Jeong-hwa made the admission during the first court hearing in her trial at the Suwon District Court, south of Seoul, said Judge Lim Min-sung, who serves as a court spokesman. Lim said he had no more details. Won, who is in custody, could not be reached.
It was the first time Won, 34, appeared in public since her July arrest on charges of passing classified information to her homeland. News photos showed Won dressed in a light-blue prison uniform and wearing a cap and a surgical mask.
She is the first alleged North Korean spy arrested in South Korea since 2006, and the second in a decade. If convicted, she could be sentenced to between seven years in prison and execution.
Yonhap news agency reported that Won submitted a written statement to the court, admitting to the charges. "I endured difficult training and worked hard to carry out missions as an agent, believing that rendering loyalty (to the North's leader) is everything," she said in the statement, according to Yonhap. "But while living in the South, I started to have doubts about the North Korean regime, and my mind was in emotional conflict," she said. Yonhap said Won was tearful for most of the hearing.
Prosecutors said late last month that Won had admitted she was a spy trained and commissioned by the North's intelligence agency. The information she sent to the North included the locations of key military installations, lists of North Korean defectors and personal information on South Korean military officers, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Won entered the South in 2001 after marrying a South Korean businessman in China, falsely reporting to authorities that she was a defector from the North. She and her husband immediately divorced. Prosecutors said Won dated a South Korean army captain and used "sex as a tool" for her mission. The officer knew she was a spy, but still cooperated with her, prosecutors said. He was also arrested. Doesn't sound like Captain Horny was part of a setup.
Won also confessed to having plotted to assassinate South Korean intelligence agents with poison needles provided by the North, but did not carry it out, prosecutors said earlier. Such movie-like details in the charges have drawn keen media attention, with some newspapers calling her Korea's version of "Mata Hari," the notorious dancer-turned-World War I spy.
The case has also further frayed South Korea's already troubled relations with the North, as the communist nation protested angrily that Seoul has fabricated the case to sully Pyongyang's image. Look soon for another "human scum" story...
South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler sharply attacked Sarah Palin today, saying John McCain had chosen a running mate " whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasnt had an abortion.
Palin is an opponent of abortion rights and gave birth to her fifth child, Trig, earlier this year after finding out during her pregnancy that the baby had Down syndrome.
Fowler told my colleague Alex Burns in an interview that the selection of an opponent of abortion rights would not boost McCain among many women.
Among Democratic women and even among independent women, I dont think it helped him, she said.
Told of McCain's boost in the new ABC/Washington Post among white women following the Palin pick, Fowler said: "Just anecdotally, I believe that those white women are Republican women anyway."
#3
Carol Fowler's husband Don Fowler is the one who made the "Hurricane Gustav shows that God is on our side." comment coming home from Denver.
Are they typical of Dem activists. Naw. The typical Dem activist is actually more closed minded and would never have apologized like Don Fowler did or caveated her remark like Carol Fowler did.
#9
You think a Trunk would get away with this? They would crucify him. The dhimocrats are in complete meltdown mode and alienating the majority of the independents. A 54-34% leaning toward McCain is an election winner.
Bambi is sliding in all demographic polls. McCain is up 2-5 points depending on the poll (which I still trust a little more than congress) and the gap is widening.
The fact I give some of these polls some salt is watching the dhimocrats scramble and REACT to what McCain's camp is doing. They are on the defensive, which means their internal polls are showing the same thing.
Bambi is gaff-tastic and inexperienced. Mr. Hairplugs is no change, a poster child of the establishment in Washington, and pisses everyone off while making gaffs. There is no real way to love the donk ticket this year. Kerry was Lurch, but he wasn't Bush and that rallied many. Bush isn't running this year and McCain has pretty much successfully separated himself from Bush, especially with the Palin pick.
The dhimocrats have nothing to run on besides "we ain't Bush!" this year besides "hope" since apparently there ain't much "change".
#12
Just my two cents -- I don't think it is Axelrod that is melting down... just watch The One in any of the tapes of the last two days. He's in a lot of hurt.
#15
The pig remark . . . the goon squad tearing around greater Anchorage looking for scandal* . . . the fake pregnancy smear . . . the book-banning smear . . . the alleged affair smear . . . and now this. These people are vile--and Obama is not doing anything to distance himself from the frenzied excesses of the moonbat Left.
*Our very own Alaska Paul is on the ground in Anchortown and IIRC has some direct (or at least semi-direct) experience with some of the goon squad members. If you've got a chance Paul, feel free to post about it.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/10/2008 16:38 Comments ||
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#16
Axelrod is doing what Axelrod has always done: urban agitation; racial politics; and the two Americas meme. I don't think that's a winner on a national scale, he'll be gone in a week.
#18
Our great leader, President G W Bush (May Jesus Walk With Him) is never wrong. This hillbilly agrees with him, McCain and Palin on abortion. Abortion is murder. Evolution is deceit. Offensive books should not be in our libraries. Leftists should not be allowed to teach. The Bill of Rights must conform to the Bible.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 17:44 Comments ||
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#20
Words escape me regarding this latest comment from the donk chair in SC. It is just simply astounding. This is not the fringe of the donk party; this is the mainstream donk party. They drank the kool-aid and are just goofy. They are not qualified to run the country.
#21
the goon squad tearing around greater Anchorage looking for scandal*
Is it true Palin is a muslim? And gay?
. . . the fake pregnancy smear . . . the book-banning smear
The book thing aint all that clear. the list floating around is bogus, but the librarian says she did come in to discuss removing books. Palin says it was routine asking of what the policy was. IIUC someone else who was present dispute the wording. The librarian cant be reached for comment. alleged affair smear
#23
I came down with a cold today so headed to my doctors. Just as I was leaving this Fox report came on TV. I almost forgot to go to the docs... My mouth was definitely in the floor.
At the doc's I apologized for being a min. late and explained what happened to the office staff, nurses and doc. These are mainly good democrats. Their faces went white with shock. I told them Obama needed to regroup and figure out a saner strategy. They agreed. They hadn't heard the "pig" comment either. I am betting the whole office votes for Sarah.
#25
Note that even Newsweek says that no books were ever banned. They also say the list circulating on the internet includes books that weren't even published yet when Palin became mayor.
#26
LH, here is the incident according to According to the Anchorage Daily News: Around the time Sarah Palin first assumed the mayorship of Wasilla back in 1996, she initiated some speculative discussions with the city's librarian about the possibility of removing some "objectionable" books from the public library:
In December 1996, [city librarian Mary Ellen] Emmons told her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman, that Palin three times asked her starting before
she was sworn in about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose.
When the matter came up for the second time in October 1996, during a City Council meeting, Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla housewife who often attends council meetings, was there.
Like many Alaskans, Kilkenny calls the governor by her first name.
"Sarah said to Mary Ellen, 'What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?" Kilkenny said.
"I was shocked. Mary Ellen sat up straight and said something along the line of, 'The books in the Wasilla Library collection were selected on the basis of national selection criteria for libraries of this size, and I would absolutely resist all efforts to ban books.'"
Palin didn't mention specific books at that meeting, Kilkenny said.
Palin herself, questioned at the time, called her inquiries rhetorical and simply part of a policy discussion with a department head "about understanding and following administration agendas," according to the Frontiersman article.
According to that same article, no evidence has been uncovered that any books were actually censored or removed from Wasilla's library as a result of these discussions:
Were any books censored [or] banned? June Pinell-Stephens, chairwoman of the Alaska Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee since 1984, checked her files and came up empty-handed.
Pinell-Stephens also had no record of any phone conversations with Emmons about the issue back then. Emmons was president of the Alaska Library Association at the time.
Given that, as yet, there is no documentation of any books having been banished from the Wasilla library by Mayor Palin, or even of which books she may have had in mind when she broached the subject, whence comes the considerable register of tomes now being circulated as "the list of books Palin tried to have banned"? The purging of the selections enumerated here from a public library would surely outrage any educator or book lover, with the listing including classics of literature by authors from William Shakespeare to William Faulkner, works by popular contemporary writers such as Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, and even such seemingly bland reference works as Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/10/2008 18:45 Comments ||
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#28
The left is really clinging to Ann K email. I got it with a personal note attached that said, I know you are a conservative and since you I know that you don't want to be are a bad mother or person who hates bunnies you should know this about Sarah... or something like that.
She hid her pregnancy for 7 months
seeing the bull she's put up with in the last week it seems like that was a good decision on her part.
She threw things out to see what sticks.
Isn't she is a politician. Isn't that what they do?
She fired a trooper
yeah, and he physically abused her sister in law, threatened to kill her father in law and who tazed his son. Seems prudent to me. Besides, if I recall correctly libs were none too upset when Hillary fired Billy Dale, an honest man after trumping up charges of embezzelment and then fired all of the travel office staff.
Seriously, if this is the best they have got, Obama is really in trouble.
#29
"apology" from Mrs. Fow (HT to Gateway/Hotair):
I personally admire and respect the difficult choices that women make everyday, and I apologize to anyone who finds my comment offensive. I clumsily was making a point about people in South Carolina who may vote based on a single issue. Whether it's the environment, the economy, the war or a woman's right to choose, there are people who will cast their vote based on a single issue. That was the only point I was attempting to make.
Ummmmm no. That doesn't cut it. ou and your husband are exiled to asshole island, population: 2
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 19:49 Comments ||
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#30
hmmmmm what happened to the Fowler name? Perhaps Mr already filed for divorce?
/I like that better than a keyboard FUBAR story, which is actually the truth. PIMF
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 19:51 Comments ||
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#31
meltdown? A friggin two point lead for McCAin right after his convention bounce?
President Dukakis says "hi".
-------
At this point LH - McCain shouldn't be in the lead at all..........
Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Obama took a few moments to address what he calls "the made-up controversy" of the day, Amie Parnes reports.
Obama said the McCain campaign moved to "seize an innocent remark and take it out of context because they knew it's catnip for the news media."
"See, it would be funny, but the news media decided that would be the lead story yesterday. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about...Enough!" he said.
Obama called the attacks "lies, outrage and swift boat politics."
"These are serious times and they call for a serious debate...spare me all the phony outrage. Spare me all the phony talk about change," he said.
UPDATE: McCain spokesman Brian Rogers responds: "Barack Obama can't campaign with schoolyard insults and then try to claim outrage at the tone of the campaign. His talk of new politics is as empty as his campaign trail promises, and his record of bucking his party and reaching across the aisle simply doesn't exist."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 12:48 ||
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#1
If Hillary had been getting upset about something this silly, youd all be digging into Hillary for victimization politics, PCness, etc.
#4
Macaca, whether it was meant as a racial insult or simply as a non-racial insult, was clearly directed at a particular individual, IIRC. Do you want me to dig up the details?
Lipstick on a pig was a reference to the GOP, not to Palin in particular from what I understand. Its a common American phrase.
What I say above still stands, if this were Hillary you guys would be all over how silly this is.
#5
...and if McCain did something this boneheaded, Obama's people would be shouting from the rooftops. Sauce, goose, gander.
I don't think the remark shows that Obama is a sexist pig. I think it shows that Obama is incredibly un-careful with words when he's working without a Teleprompter, that Sarah Palin has him rattled and flailing, and that he has no class.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/10/2008 13:12 Comments ||
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#6
These silly women are in a tizzy over nothing. They don't need to worry their pretty little heads over this.
/B.O.
Yeah, THAT'L work. ROTFLMAO
Women heard what women heard. Women voters. B.O. is making serial unforced errors. Not ready to lead indeed.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/10/2008 13:13 Comments ||
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#7
I think it shows that Obama is incredibly un-careful with words when he's working without a Teleprompter
When is Palin going to be interviewed by someone other than Us magazine?
#10
Counting down to explosive diva moment from The One. Ten......nine......eight......
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/10/2008 13:42 Comments ||
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#11
Both sides are firing at each other, hot and heavy. Personally, I think it was just a poorly chosen phrase that a lawyer would think was pretty cleaver but completely blind to how other people would see it. But it is what it is.
This is nothing compared to what we will see in 30 days.
#12
LH
If NoBama had just used the lipstick on a pig analogy, notwithstanding the Palin Hockeymom-pitbull-lipstick comment, your reasoning might fly. But he followed the lipstick comment with the old fish comment...so clearly, they were swipes at Palin and McCain on a personal level. The outrage is justified. After years of enduring democrats playing the race, card, the republicans played the girl card. See how it works.....
#13
The One really knows how to keep these silly gaffes alive. If he were a trunk, he'dve apologized by now and moved on even if the MSM didn't. But he wants to give it legs. And lips. For lipstick. He's going to fold in the debates. McGovernesque.
he said a fish still stinks after 8 years. Has Palin been governor for 8 years? I dont think so.
Whose been in office for eight years that Obama might think has caused stink, whose policies are a pig that cant be prettifed with lipstick. Hmm, who could it be. Could it be someone the GOP hardly mentioned at their convention? Someone McCain and Palin avoid mentioning? I wonder who could it be? Any guesses?
Yes, I've heard it. I've also heard older men in conversation address younger men as 'My, boy......' And if you can think you can sell a pile that the MSM and left wouldn't castigate and fill the air with 'racist' if John McCain gaffed that during a debate or exchange, then you can sell that bridge in San Francisco. We have made certain words and contexts forbidden by the PC police. Now it's "coming home to roost". Like I said, they dish it out, but can't take it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 14:19 Comments ||
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#23
Obama knocks press on 'made-up controversy'
It's not nice Obama, to take a swipe at your most ardent and loyal Base.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/10/2008 14:41 Comments ||
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#24
#21 LH - Obama's comment proves conclusively that he's either: a) and idiot; b) a misogynist; or c) both an idiot and a misogynist. Take your pick. Posted by AzCat 2008-09-10 14:14|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
#25
I don't agree with him much (well, at all...) but I will say he comes back with his point of view without screaming as most on the left seem to do. Got to give him at least a gold star for that.
#26
I think it shows that Obama is incredibly un-careful with words when he's working without a Teleprompter
I heard it was, in fact, on a TelePrompTer. Not off the cuff at all.
His audience, after he said it, sure reacted like it was a direct reference to Palin. Would an audience find that particularly funny had it not been for Sarah Palin's joke about hockey mom's and pit bulls?
Whether she is "the lipstick" on McCain's campaign pig or she is a pig-with-lipstick in THEIR UNDERSTANDING is really neither here nor there. I think the reaction show's they were taking it as a statement by Barack Obama that she is little more than window dressing.
Do I think Governor Palin is having a snit about it? Nope. Not for a moment. Am I having a snit about it? Nope. But it is funny to watch Democrats play this kind of "No I did not beat my wife" defense for once.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
09/10/2008 14:58 Comments ||
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#27
I have no doubt there were lots of sophomoric snickers when they figured out how to get back at the Hockey mom.
#28
If the left can claim that community organizer is racist, the right can claim the lipstick remark is sexist.
Unfortunately, donks get so worked up over politics that they can't see it as tit-for-tat. They get all foamed at the mouth and throw bags of piss.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/10/2008 15:25 Comments ||
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#29
Whether she is "the lipstick" on McCain's campaign pig or she is a pig-with-lipstick in THEIR UNDERSTANDING is really neither here nor there. I think the reaction show's they were taking it as a statement by Barack Obama that she is little more than window dressing.
I personally ment she is no more than windo dressing but it still was a personal attack that people will remember.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/10/2008 15:28 Comments ||
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#30
I concur w/LH on this.
I can't stand obomba but I really don't think the lipstick on a pig remark was meant for Palin. It's a common phrase. The right should let this one go. We look as dumb as the left for prattering on about this.
We need to stick to his tangible established f*ckups like Ayers & Rezko. Also, if obama is all about transparent gov't why won't he release his birth cert? I don't think it's because of the muslim or citizenship angle. I think it's because it will show he was illegit.
#35
Blacks are not gonna vote Republican so if they are offended by the 'code word' Community Organizer they've got nowhere to go.
Women are equally divided between parties so Obama has a lot to lose if his words are taken to mean (either accidentally or not) that he's slamming Palin as a pig.
#36
My take: the McCain camp understands that it was just a clumsy snark on Obama's part. But they're happy to keep the issue alive for a news cycle or two because it keeps Obama off his message.
That's been the Unicorn Rider's problem these last few weeks: time and again he's been knocked off message. The McCain has been exploiting this nicely, and Obama isn't experienced enough to understand what's happening to him.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/10/2008 16:35 Comments ||
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#37
"but..but...but...uh uh uh uh... you just..you just...uh...hope-n-change!"
/Harvard trained sooper-smart guy
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 16:42 Comments ||
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#38
Also LH, the left is constantly hold McCain for anything any rightie says, so whining that Patterson isn't on Obama's campaign is disingenuous at best if not hypocritical, no?
#40
My take: the McCain camp understands that it was just a clumsy snark on Obama's part. But they're happy to keep the issue alive for a news cycle or two because it keeps Obama off his message.
I'd say that's about right Steve but I'd substitute "clumsy attempt to gin up an issue" for "clumsy snark". Obama today is going after the media for talking about his comment and whining that they're intentionally helping McCain.
In light of this new information I see Obama's "lipstick on a pig" double entendre as a straw man that he intentionally set up in order to draw a McCain response so he could: a) whine about McCain not discussing issues; and b) whine about the media bein biased in favor of McCain.
I know how outrageous that second bit is but that's what he's trying to do. IMHO it just shows how tone-deaf Axelrod really is to the national electorate.
#41
38 any dems who do that and then complain are hypocritical, yes.
39 - desperate? not at all. I do think Obama is reacting weakly these last few weeks, and Axelrod is mishandling things. You WILL recall Obama was not my preferred candidate, and I never bought that he would win in a landslide, or even that he would do better than hillary. I still think he can recover, and is likely to. he can improve his chances if he takes on some of the clintonista professionals to his campaign
and of course even if McCain wins, im not desperate. I STILL have alot of respect for McCain, despite the last couple of weeks. It could well be that hes still moderate McCain underneath, and he just realizes hes stuck with the GOP as it is, and he will govern from the center.
#42
Well, since the donks haven't run an ad about it, I guess they might as well go back to throwing bags of piss. Or dropping rocks from bridges down onto passing busses.
These fucking cocksucking motherfucking shit slingers entertain me.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/10/2008 17:34 Comments ||
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#44
you keep trying the same lame talking points, which is really depreciating your status in my mind - it was clear he was referring to HRC's health care plan. HRC had not used the lipstick reference to herself the prior week in a speech watched by...what was it? 38 million people (including your beloved Obama)? Did McCain use the old fish ref too? Pick up your game, you used to better than this
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 17:39 Comments ||
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#45
TW explained that Palin owns the word lipstick cause shes a woman. As is Hillary. I really dont see that using the line in a speech gives her ownership of the word.
Im also not getting the fish reference. A fish kept to long stinks (theres an old phrase about guests, I think) Thats not about Palin either. Its about the Bush admin.
#46
That's one of the Democrats' problems, LH, they are still running ahainst Bush, trying to say a McCain-Palin administration would be the same as Bush-Cheney. Other than National Security issues, McCain is not Bush. Palin certainly isn't Cheney. Here is a quote from an Alaskan.
Steven Wells writes: I've lived in Wasilla for several years and in Alaska for longer than that. I appreciate your focus on Palin's record and the political comments. Politically, I am libertarian and I don't always vote. I did not vote for Sarah Palin because one of the big issues in the 2006 was the gas pipeline. I figured that Tony Knowles had better experience for handling such matters. Palin so far has handled the matter fairly well to my opinion. It is very dangerous to underestimate her. She has handled the Alaska legislature (which is rather like herding cats) and Big Oil deftly and capably.
One matter that has not gotten a great deal of coverage has been Palin's judicial selections. Alaska follows the Missouri plan, so Palin's picks for judges are not on a blank slate. Nonetheless, she has appointed a number of women to the bench, including some current and former public defenders. She has not seemed to really push a strong conservative agenda regarding her judicial appointments.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/10/2008 18:03 Comments ||
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#47
You gotta love it. Obama refers to lipstick on a pig and old fish and unless he is too stupid to be President, clearly knew what he was doing.
So instead of coming out and saying he chose his words poorly he further insults us by pretending it wasn't at all what he meant.
Then he asks his surrogates to go out in the media and blame McCain/Palin/TheNewsMedia and anyone and everyone who made the obvious connection for being upset over his poor choice of words. It's all their fault, ya see, because THEY are the ones who are distracting from the key subjects Obama wants to focus on.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 18:14 Comments ||
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#49
Liberalhawk - re-fish smell - Its a slander that results in the sale of lots of feminine hygiene products. Its as vulgar as you can get without entering seriously demented fetish land.
They way he's talking in a less PC-Correct age used to get a lot more colorful response. One even remembers hints of that in a "blue suede shoes"/"warm place.." joke that once cost a cabinet member a job - oh so many decades ago.
Earl L. Butz - Sec Ag - Nixon Cab
Butz started by telling a dirty joke involving intercourse between a dog and a skunk. When the conversation turned to politics, Boone, a right-wing Republican, asked Butz why the party of Lincoln was not able to attract more blacks. The Secretary responded with a line so obscene and insulting to blacks that it forced him out of the Cabinet last week and jolted the whole Ford campaign. Butz said that "the only thing the coloreds are looking for in life are tight p - - - - , loose shoes and a warm place to s - - -."
So why are Obama and his followers repeating Earl Butz's stupidity of insulting whole classes and groups of people with vile stuff?
If you can cite a reliable source that directly ties McCain's use of the phrase to a political attack on a specific woman I'll consider the issue. Hint: you can't.
#52
The fish thing? Even I know that one. 3dc is right.
Again, it isn't about exactly what Obama said or what he meant, it's about how it was taken by female voters. Obama and his various supporters keep saying and writing things that resonate negatively with that demographic. Each thing, while in itself small, recalls the ones that came before, adding impact. The key phrases this time are "lipstick on a pig" and "old fish"; the rest of Obama's statement gets lost, I'm afraid.
#53
So why are Obama and his followers repeating Earl Butz's stupidity of insulting whole classes and groups of people with vile stuff?
Easy: because it's what David Axelrod does. His campaigns are about racial politics, urban elitism, and a divided America. Period. He simply doesn't know any other tricks.
#56
LH blew it big time IMHO. He's built cautious respect here over many years, with his: "Foreign Policy- strong, Libertarian/Socialist Dem Domestic Policy -strong" comments and stance. I respected that, although I didn't agree with that stance. I could understand where he was coming from. Today was spin-control all the way. I sense a lot of panic among the Donks. Prepare for the everyday/multiple.. "I was a lifetime Republican until the McCain/Palin ticket did...." Moby's (i.e.: "bushlover") as well as the repeating of debunked lies.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 20:00 Comments ||
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#57
LOL - thx Bad...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 20:01 Comments ||
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#58
Obama says enough is enough and now I'm real curious to see how the press reacts. Will they get back in line?
Originally, I was going to write "Obama cracks the whip..." but I didn't want to be accused of subliminal racism.
#59
A friend of mine, a black woman, says the pig remark is primarily a racial slur. I couldn't wrap my head around her explanation, but she said take my word for it. So I am.
She also taken it as a somewhat sexist remark, but still maintaining the racial aspect.
Anyway, she later asked what is the diff between Obama getting elected and Obama not getting elected...
#60
I have to agree with Frank G, re LH. Actually, a while ago in one thread, LH claimed something about liberal "compassion". What a cowpie! If LH said "I am a statist by conviction", I would not have a beef as he'd be honest. But the compassion thing... fuggedaboudit. Lost any respect right then.
#63
late to this discussion; while the lipstick on a pig comment has been used in past speeches, the fact that it was used by Obama so soon after Palin used the lipstick comment, and listening to the video, the timing of the laughter by the crowd, it was understood IMO who it was directed at.
It'll be interesting to see how the media react to BO's anger at them over this report.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/10/2008 23:20 Comments ||
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McCain Campaign Fumes Over Paterson's Racism Claim
N.Y. Governor Says Palin's Repeated Use Of 'Community Organizer' Is Another Way Of Saying 'Black'
ALBANY (CBS) ― On Monday, Gov. David Paterson angered some state lawmakers by comparing them to vampires, calling them a bunch of "blood suckers." On Tuesday, he raised eyebrows again, and tempers, by accusing the John McCain campaign of veiled racism.
At the Crain's Business Forum this morning, Paterson drew attention to a phrase used numerous times by speakers at the Republican National Convention to describe Barack Obama's leadership experience: community organizer. "I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative. But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican Convention -- a 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing," he said.
Paterson referred to McCain's running mate Sarah Palin who compared her work experience to Obama's. "So I suppose a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except with real responsibilities," she said at the convention.
Paterson sees the repeated use of the words "community organizer" as Republican code for "black". "I think where there are overtones is when there are uses of language that are designed to inhibit other people's progress with a subtle reference to their race," he said.
But the McCain/Palin campaign quickly fired back in a statement, saying: "It is disappointing that Governor Paterson would launch accusations of racism. ... Governor Palin's remarks about Barack Obama's work as a community organizer was in response to the Obama campaign's belittling of her executive experience."
The statement goes on to point out Sarah Palin's own experience of civic involvement and says Paterson's comments are "a sure sign of a flailing campaign that is bordering on desperation".
Paterson raises the question of whether the Presidential race has become desperate or devious. "At this point, Americans wouldn't tolerate a racial appeal. What I'm saying is that there are sneaky ways to try to hurt someone," he said.
Paterson does say he's not certain that's happening.
But that didn't stop him from mouthing off ...
But what disturbed him was what seemed like derisive laughter on the part of the Republicans at Obama's choice of helping his community rather than getting rich on Wall Street.
Paterson is New York state's first black governor.
#1
This is the most fluffy nonsense the Obama people have floated. Since Obama used the term first as part of his resume the word is fair game. The only people this might get traction with have already decided to vote Obama and that McCain is racist for even going up against The ONE.
#2
That's about the silliest thing said this election season. It seems to me Barack Obama's community organizing hero Alinsky was white, and his community organizer friend and backer Ayers is also white.
#3
Are we sure Gov. Paterson isn't a muslim? He's got this "everything the Repugs say offends me" pattern down pat. The Donks just can't seem to get the idea that people usually vote for something other than socialist ideology.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/10/2008 11:49 Comments ||
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#4
I'm very confused, I thought "community organizer" was code for "goatse" - that's what I was led to believe with the obama hand sign, anyway. Looked pretty self-evident for me.
#6
I need a copy of the "code" book, doesn't anyone have a link?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 12:26 Comments ||
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#7
Hmm. Based on my previous experience working for city government, I thought "community activist" was code for "someone who manages to get federal grants year after year without producing one damn thing of note" or "some idjit who spends more time issuing press releases than providing actual change".
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/10/2008 12:27 Comments ||
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#13
At a dinner last night, one of my very good friends (truly) pointed out that while Sarah Palin has lived an interesting life, we shouldn't elect just because she had served on a PTA and as mayor.
To which I replied, "using the same logic, we shouldn't elect Barack Obama just because he was a community organizer."
My good friend was at a loss for words for a few moments :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/10/2008 12:59 Comments ||
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#14
To which I replied, "using the same logic, we shouldn't elect Barack Obama just because he was a community organizer."
Has obama said we SHOULD elect him because he was a community organizer? Didnt he leave community organizing and go to law school precisely because he thought comm org didnt have a big enough impact?
Community organizing is irrelevant, as is whatever Palin did at the same age (sportscasting?)
#15
"Didnt he leave community organizing and go to law school precisely because he thought comm org didnt have a big enough impact?"
That's the problem: he wasn't very good at community organizing but he thinks he'll be good at country organizing.
#17
I agree with TW and Spot. A "community organizer"
is just that neither black nor white.
Highly edited:Community organizing is most identified with the (WHITE) left-wing Chicago activist Saul Alinsky (1909-72), who pretty much defined the profession. Jerry Kellman, (WHITE), a follower of Alinsky, who had gotten into organizing in the 1960s, was trying to help laid-off factory workers on the far South Side of Chicago during the mid 1980s. He led a group, the Calumet Community Religious Conference, that had been created by several local Catholic churches. The Calumet region was an industrial area that had been hard hit by the closings of Wisconsin Steel and other industries. Kellman and the churches hoped to get some of those jobs back. But there was a problem. The area around the Altgeld Gardens housing project and the neighborhood of Roseland in Chicago was nearly 100 percent black. Kellman as well as the others who worked for CCRC were WHITE. The people didnt open up to him like they would to somebody who was black and really understood what was going on in their lives. Kellman decided to hire a black organizer for a new spinoff from CCRC to be called the Developing Communities Project, which would focus solely on the Chicago part of the area. So Kellman set out to find a black organizer. He ran an ad in some trade publications, and Obama responded from Hawaii. Once Kellman learned he was BLACK, and not a Japanese American he hired him in 1985. So why should "community organizer" be a code for "Black" and not "Left Wing" or anything else.?
Source: Byron York's What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer?
#18
Okay LH, to be intellectually honest - I thought Obama's lipstick remark was not intended as slander toward Palin. Do you think McCain's use of community organizer is slander code for "black" against obama?
No not really, I think Patterson is over the top on this one. Esp as most community organizers Im aware of are white, and the godfather of the whole modern (im excluding dorothy day and all that otehr old stuff) movement, Saul Alinsky, was not only white but Jewish.
I think the attack is ignorant on several levels- it ignore what Community organizers actually do - it ignores why Obama moved on from that - and it equates something Obama did early in his adult life with Palins next to last job before being nominated to Veep - but no, its not racist.
And guess what, I havent seen the Obama-Biden campaign say it was. Just Patterson. In contrast to the stink over lipstick.
#22
im not going to venture a guess. the game here is when someone on your side goes over the top, you distance, but when someone on the other side does you explain how its all coordinated and denials of coordination are cynical. You see that right here all the time, when Obama is held responsible for anything the Kossacks say, but McCain is held innocent of anything from the rightwings blogs.
So, no I dont know. Im going to hold each campaign responsible for what that campaign officialy says.
#23
No one cares about Patterson. Patterson only digs the hole deeper for the "code word" tactic at a time when people's patience with it has run thin and The One himself has aggravated it.
The problem is the lipstick comment came from The One. And there's no way you can't avoid him looking stupid.
#24
Liberalhawk says: !it equates something Obama did early in his adult life with Palins next to last job before being nominated to Veep .
Too funny!! You are so scared of her you can't even say it! I'll say it for you: "Governor of Alaska". Despite the hype, even her mayor experience is more valuable as it does require balancing needs and having the buck stop here. Obama's Community Organizer experience is more in line with Palin's PTA days.
#25
heck, I think Obama looks bad any time he's w/out a teleprompter. Honestly though, I see nothing sexist in this latest so-called gaffe. Neither does some of the talk show hosts on Sirius Patriot - Wilkow for one.
As another poster said - I wasn't planning on voting for him anyways. I'm barely planning on voting for mccain....however, since the Corps has issued me a gas mask I'll be able to vote for Mr. Strong on the War but useless on the borders.
#2
Women just love being called pigs. They also love it when a man calls another woman a pig. Almost as much as as they love a man showing how big and strong he is by slapping a woman around.
"Now get back in the kitchen and make me some pie!"
#5
The hilarious thing here is that there is no way out.
Either
1)he meant what he said (as I believe) and is a male chauvinist sexist pig who insulted virtually all women.
or
2) he shows that a Havard Law graduate trained to use words etc. etc. who's main claim to fame is his speaking ability had not a clue in the world that this would go over with a key demographic like the proverbial lead balloon.
So, take your pick:
1) mean spirited, vile chauvinist, or
2) clueless buffoon.
#6
Interesting how Palin's ad overtly co-ops Katie Couric in her cause.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/10/2008 11:20 Comments ||
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#7
AlanC - you forgot
3) all of the above, and more.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/10/2008 11:51 Comments ||
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#8
This is like the last 2 minutes of a basketball game. One team is ahead and the other knows it will lose so they start intentionally fouling the other side. It is desperate and poor sportsmanship, and they know it. But it's the only chance they have, no matter how long the odds, at winning. So they do it.
#10
Is it just my imagination or is the O-man wiping flop sweat off his brow? Poor guy. All he ever had was charisma and now he's up against someone who has even more of it than he does.
#11
Just saw McCains second ad today on Fox, declaring Obama sent 30 lawyers to dig up dirt on Palin... show as wolves running through a field.
I think this is a nice one-two set up combo punch.
Now that O has declared he was just being oh so clever, and yelled "Enough!" he will now have to respond to the "sending in the wolves" after saying families were off limits.
He HAS to respond, everyone is watching...
#12
we need bumper stickers saying" ANOTHER LIPSTICK PIG HOCKEY MOM FOR MCCAIN PALIN"If you know ehere I can buy them I ll take a dozen rightnow"
Posted by: john e morrissey ||
09/10/2008 12:53 Comments ||
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#13
I'm rather impressed that the stodgy Republicans and the "I don't know the internet" McCain is counterpunching on YouTube like this. Somebody in that campaign gets it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/10/2008 13:01 Comments ||
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#14
so from now on every reference to lipstick is about Palin? Did she like copyright the word?
#15
#13 I'm rather impressed that the stodgy Republicans and the "I don't know the internet" McCain is counterpunching on YouTube like this. Somebody in that campaign gets it.
#18
AlanC, I'll take choice #1, especially when combined with some of his cute little remarks about Hillary during primary season ("I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal." and "You challenge the status quo and suddenly the claws come out,"), and calling a female reporter "sweetie".
One remark, probably no. Two remarks that are that nasty....well...starting to see a pattern here. We're now up to four remarks. What do you think?
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/10/2008 13:17 Comments ||
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#19
The other three are men, liberalhawk. So yes, she owns the word
I dont get that. Millions of people who arent running for Pres or Veep use lipstick. Its a common object. Its use to 'prettify' something is part of the culture, and thats where the phrase comes from. And its EXACTLY what the GOP is doing. Another phrase is "making a silk purse from a sows ear" = would that be antifeminist cause women carry purses?
#25
LH, he got called on the carpet by female journalists for that "periodically" remark. (I guess you have never had some doofus tell you to go take a Midol or ask you if you are on the rag when you get upset about something....) Throw in the couple of guys yukking it up after he said it and it was damn obvious what he was trying to imply.
It sure as hell wasn't the meaning of "from time to time".
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/10/2008 13:34 Comments ||
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#26
Even though I despise Bambi, I think he didn't intentionally make the remark as a put down. He was at a "common man" meeting and I think he made the statement to appeal to them while playing on the lipstick theme.
Not meant to be a put-down on women, but a really, really, really bad choice of phrase to a group that already feels like he has treated them badly because of Hillary.
Bambi is showing is complete lack of understanding when it comes to having a strategy that appeals to the majority. Seems he just wants to do targeted speeches to the audience, and while that might have been fine 10 years ago, with the internet and video recorders everywhere he just looks like a flip-flopper right now and completely insensitive to statements and facts as they are at the current news cycle.
#27
What a remarkable coincidence. Palin makes a lipstick comment. Bammo makes a lipstick comment. Just what are the odds, LH? If Bammo's comment had been a zinger rather than a pathetic flop then maybe it would have been on purpose, is that it?
Or was Bammo just addressing the critical national issue of cosmetics on farm animals?
#29
Or was Bammo just addressing the critical national issue of cosmetics on farm animals?
Fawning NYT editorial praising Obambi for cleverly raising the staggeringly important issue of animal testing by cosmetics manufacturers in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ....
#30
Obama has a long history of using contemptuous body language, intonation and schoolyard smirks when he's crossed. His body language during the Dem primary debates was noted here by pretty much every female regular at Rantburg. His physical domineering of Joe Lieberman in the Senate hallway got a lot of video airplay on the Net. So did his high school flipping off of Hillary, which was accompanied not only by the same smirk as the pig/lipstick comment but also preceeded by the same wiping his forehead gesture.
In fact, that gesture tends to preceed many things he says to defend against serious criticism. Watch the last installment of him with gasbag O'Reilly - the forehead gesture comes when he tries to deflect the conversation away from his long-standing and sympathetic association with Ayers.
Now look at his body language and movement and listen to how he slides into just enough quasi-streetalk intonation as he preps up for the pig/lipstick/stinking fish zing. This is adolescent swagger, this is "I'm a bad mutha" boasting.
IOW this is an indication of what the man is like when things don't go his way. It's not mature (and this is a man who's nearly 50,, not 20). It's not pretty and it doesn't belong in the White House.
#32
so from now on every reference to lipstick is about Palin? Did she like copyright the word?
Just read #5 by AlanC, liberalhawk. Select option 1 or option 2 or all of the above. Doesn't matter. Bambi blew it. And I do believe that is flop sweat he's wiping off his brow.
#35
Zero's whining to the media today about this gaffe,
See, it would be funny, but the news media decided that would be the lead story yesterday. This happens every election cycle. Every four years, this is what we do. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about Enough!
Reminds me of nothing so much as the little dork on the play ground that sucker punches someone and then yells Mommy as soon as he is grabbed.
Obama is more and more showing himself to be the emotional equivalent of a 4th grader.
#36
Obama has a long history of using contemptuous body language, intonation and schoolyard smirks when he's crossed.
I don't think he's ever admitted to being wrong about anything, either.
These are all the things that the left has whined about George W. Bush for the last 8 years. Now they have their very own.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
09/10/2008 15:05 Comments ||
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#37
So .... all over the office here women have been using 'lipstick' in conversation today and exchanging steely smiles. I think O lost at least two secretary votes in this blue state with that smart&ss adolescent jab. Keep it up, Obaby. Keep it up and there will be a lot more PUMAs prowling the streets come November.
#40
I don't normally agree w/LH on social policy but I think he's right on this one. I disdain the zero but I don't think he meant any sexist remarks against Palin or even the Hildabeast for that matter. There's so much more to flay him on and we're wasting our time w/this non-issue.
#41
What a remarkable coincidence. Palin makes a lipstick comment. Bammo makes a lipstick comment. Just what are the odds, LH?
Considering the amount of verbiage spilled in a campaign, yes, the odds are good enough.
"Or was Bammo just addressing the critical national issue of cosmetics on farm animals?"
He was addressing the issue of prettifying something that stinks. Which is what that TRADITIONAL AMERICAN PHRASE refers to. Its pretty clear what the Dems think stinks, and what they want to make this election about - the Bush admins record. Its also pretty clear McCain wants to run away from that. With Lieberman he really could have. With Palin, hes stuck, so he can only try to change the subject.
#42
Okay, Liberalhawk, let me spell it out to you, since you obviously forgot the background for obama's "comeback".
Firstly, Palin had made a comparison between herself and a pit bull. HERSELF and a Pit Bull. In that comparison, WHO'S WEARING THE LIPSTICK? Why Palin, NOT THE PIT BULL. Also, the joke is told by herself on herself.
In Obama's comeback, the pit bull is replaced by a Pig (Dog, pig, same thing to a MUSLIM, I might point out). The lipstick goes on the Pig. The guy tells the joke on a woman of a different race.
Mix in lots of "deconstructionist interpretation", and is there any other than a accustation that Palin was a Pig for opposing, OPPOSING, HIM?
#43
A whole lot of women disagree with you LH. A *whole* lot of women seem to have independently assessed that body language, intonation and smirk and taken it as a snide condescending putdown of Palin. And they aren't amused, or tolerant, or rationalizing it away. You aren't going to argue them out of that reaction, especially since he has a track record of such reponses whenever he wants to put down a woman who is pressing him on some issue. The defense just isn't washing, boys.
#44
In Obama's comeback, the pit bull is replaced by a Pig (Dog, pig, same thing to a MUSLIM, I might point out). The lipstick goes on the Pig. The guy tells the joke on a woman of a different race.
1. Except its not a comeback. Its a statement about the Bush administration.
2. Obama isnt a muslim. Can you stop with that shit already?
3. Hes telling the joke on someone of a different race all right - George W Bush
Mix in lots of "deconstructionist interpretation", and is there any other than a accustation that Palin was a Pig for opposing, OPPOSING, HIM
well there you are right, youd have to be a full on deconstructionist to read it that way. Congrats, you get a PhD in literarcy criticism from Duke University. Now can we common sense people discuss it?
#45
A whole lot of women disagree with you LH. A *whole* lot of women seem to have independently assessed that body language, intonation and smirk and taken it as a snide condescending putdown of Palin.
I will confess I have only read it, not watched the video.
And they aren't amused, or tolerant, or rationalizing it away.
I dont consider women the automatic interpretors of any remarke claimed to be sexist, just as I dont hold blacks the automatic interpretors of any remark claimed to be racist. I guess I couldnt get a Phd degree in literature at a top flight US university for my lack of post-structuralist semiotics, huh? Thats ok, I dont want a lit PhD anyway.
You aren't going to argue them out of that reaction, especially since he has a track record of such reponses whenever he wants to put down a woman who is pressing him on some issue. The defense just isn't washing, boys.
This is based on your anecdotal evidence? We'll see how it plays in the polls. I think eventually most women will vote on issues and not on this junk.
#46
I agree mostly with LH.
However, my wife, who at one point was thinking about voting for Obama before the Wright thing came out, is absolutely steamed by the remark. I told her the same argument that it really wasn't a slam on woman as pigs and she agrees, but it still really pisses her off considering what Palin said. It just seems sexist.
And, as I said before, I think it was meant to be a slick and clever twist on what Palin said to be directed at Bush, but Bambi seriously underestimated the reaction it would get. Women and pigs. Never, ever, EVAH make a statement that combine the two.
#47
I just love the way Obama keeps stepping in it. His actions, either by design or by default, continue to compare and link him to Palin rather than McCain. McCain remains above it all. Obama is in full reaction mode and he clearly does not do that well. The more he, along with his media friends, lashes out, the more desperate and weak he appears. Spiraling downward at this point. The polls later this week will show that. And this continues a long, long decline. It is getting more precipitous now.
#49
Point of information: semiotics really is a branch of linguistics, however much the littrachaw types may try to claim it.
liberalhawk, et al, back when I was interpreting consumer research, we used to say that perception is as real as reality. In other words, it doesn't matter what Obama meant, it doesn't even matter what Obama said. What matters is how women, who are not only a slight majority of American voters, but are also a group that is in play in this election because of Hillary Clinton's campaign, interpret it. And you have anecdotal evidence from not only several Rantburg women, but also women known to several Rantburg men, that this statement was a tactical error on Obama's part, that is going to drive away voters he needs in what at this point appears to be a tight election. It doesn't even matter whether these annoyed women vote for McCain or simply stay home, these are votes that Obama and the Democrats will have lost... and possibly lost permanently.
Off topic, based on things I've read since it was last discussed, it looks like current statistics support you with regard to the Democrats taking both houses of Congress.
#50
"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down...
The nice thing about remarks like this is you get plausible deniability. Hey, it's just a common expression! Why is everyone so upset?
Either the man is tone-deaf to his own words or he is making thinly veiled, sophomoric insults. Neither interpretation speaks well of Him. Like the Spinal Tap boys say, there is a fine line between clever and stupid.
#51
TW if we're talking horse race, youre right. If we're talking what the man really meant, or what any reasonable person could have interpreted them as, thats something different. When Repubs have their words unfairly twisted, the usual response here is outrage, not horse race talk. But whatever. I wonder if those women will change their minds when they see videos of McCain using the exact same phrase about Hillarys health care plan.
#52
unfairly twisted.... apparently misunderstood by the wildly applauding Donk voters behind him in the video, huh? Are they too stooopid to understand they're "just words"? Keep digging
Genius
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 17:25 Comments ||
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#53
that Genius snark was aimed at O, not you, LH. I actually respect your motivation, but not your argument
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 17:30 Comments ||
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#54
Except its not a comeback. Its a statement about the Bush administration.
No! Wait! It was a statement about post-modern agrarian policy! Yeah, that's the ticket.
#57
Whatever Obama said makes little difference to me, wasn't planning on voting for him anyway, and that's based on his policies. My wife wasn't either, again based on his policies. But now she is not only not voting for Obama, she is pretty ticked off and willing to tell everyone and anyone she meets why.
Obama is a pretty good speaker with prepared remarks and a teleprompter, but his campaign needs to limit his extemporaneous remarks, he tends to bury himself. 57 states (is it true there are 57 muslim states?) ... my muslim faith ... pigs and lipstick etc.
Everybody mispeaks from time to time though, so not a big deal to me. Then again, the dems as I recall, have never cut George W. Bush much slack in that regard, or in any regard. Payback is indeed a ... well Obama can finish that line I am sure.
#59
I will confess I have only read it, not watched the video.
Obama's remark wasn't written - it was delivered in a personal performance in front of an audience he was walking among. It was, in other words, as much delivered by intonation, body posture, the knowing smile at the edge of his mouth during the brief pause before he actually said the lipstick phrase, as by the words themselves. Watch his audience - they know what's coming and are already starting to laugh before the words get out.
He meant it as a barely-deniable personal zing at Palin. And the stinky fish follow on, delivered with more of a street intonation and accent, was indeed intended to invoke exactly the meaning 3dc called out above.
#61
ironic too, since Adlai was cutting edge hisownbadself
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 18:55 Comments ||
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#62
lotp - your catch on the forehead-scratch "thang" is on the spot. When he's gonna do a lying slam, he does it
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2008 19:03 Comments ||
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#63
I heard it on the radio, and it was clear to me he was referring to Palin as a pig, and the audience tittered when he siad the word pig, and busted up when he finished. He knew, and they knew. And I know.
But the O campaign said it was OK, because Johnny Mac referred to Hilly's plan as a pig with lipstick.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/10/2008 19:40 Comments ||
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#64
"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down...
The nice thing about remarks like this is you get plausible deniability. Hey, it's just a common expression! Why is everyone so upset?
----
Oh, Good Lord! This was in a Dr. Who ep - he wanted the useless female PM out and said he knows 6 words to do that - something along the lines of, "Doesn't the PM look fatigued?"
----------
darn it - it's gone - it was the crowd's reaction to the comment which was enlightening - they thought he was talking about Sarah.
#66
It's pretty obvious Obama and his Campaign people are trying to equate McCain with Bush. That's what they've been doing for quite some time, now, no matter who the front-running Republican was. By bringing up "the last 8 years" he was basically saying that McCain=Bush. It just won't play with Independants.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/10/2008 20:32 Comments ||
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#67
PS: Even if he did mean the pig is McCain's policies that would make Palin the lipstick. Isn't that just as (or maybe more) insulting to Palin?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/10/2008 20:44 Comments ||
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#68
The most obvious conclusion I can draw is that Obama is a dolt. Only a dolt would be either mean enough to think he can throw that as an insult and get away with it, or stupied enouhg to say it without realizing the kind of asociation it would garner.
All in all, its a big "black mark" (punintended) against Obama's qualifications to be President - it show him either to be stupid or else lacking in judgement.
Can you imagine such a blunder while sitting opposite of Vladimir Putin, or Amahdi-nejad?
Obama just gave us further proof that he is not ready nor fit for the office, and that he would be a mistake of huge proportions as the President.
Saying that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "scares the hell out of me," former New York Mayor Ed Koch endorsed fellow Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday. In 2004, Koch backed President Bush for re-election saying the Republican incumbent was better equipped to combat "Islamic terrorists" than Democratic candidate John Kerry. So, see? Ed's fair and balanced, not a democratic operative.
Koch, who was mayor of New York from 1977 to 1989, said he has concluded that the country would be safer in the hands of Obama and running mate Joe Biden than presidential candidate John McCain and Palin. "Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks," Koch said, citing such concerns as civil liberties, abortion rights, gay rights and access to health insurance. Right, Ed, Sarah wants to take away all good things.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/10/2008 06:49 ||
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#2
I believe him when he says, "scares the hell out of me" what with the way the polls have been going for the last 10 days. lol
The ONLY reason Obama has been competitive to this point is the fawning media coverage. That is changing. Media outlets motivated by selling copy with compelling narratives have switched to Palin. Others have simply been in the tank for Democrats, profit be damned. (as long as they thought that they could change the outcome) But as Obama/Biden look more and more to be certain losers, many of these media will need to backtrack and adjust to the political reality of the next 4 years. Look for them also to throw these losers under the bus.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/10/2008 7:44 Comments ||
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#3
Koch enters the Testicle Free Zone.
His "Girly Men for Obama" scares the hell out of me.
#4
"Others have simply been in the tank for Democrats, profit be damned."
Looking at the P&L statements from the major MSM outlets lately shows they don't have much more money to throw away. The word "Profits", just like "Duty", "Honor", "Country" are things of which the MSM is unacquainted.
Posted by: Scott R ||
09/10/2008 7:51 Comments ||
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#7
I just so enjoy watching the press be so in the tank for the dhimocrats, and then watching their profits and what very little respect they have go down the toilet.
So when US magazine's ad revenue and circulation drops 30-50%, who are they gonna blame? The dhimocrat editor and writers? Nah, the VRW conspiracy and us stupid people that don't understand how the world works.
#8
Basically, this is to keep the Palm Beach County vote from going all wiggly. The old New York expatriate Jewish population in South Florida is very much "capital" supporters of Israel and the great diaspora that it represents. Obama, middle named Hussein, has some shaky old men and ladies in Palm Beach. Koch is one of them and this is a endorsement to keep them in line.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/10/2008 9:59 Comments ||
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#9
I always thought Koch was a Clinton guy, and that's why he endorsed GWB in 2004... guess not.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/10/2008 10:21 Comments ||
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#10
If you discount foriegn policy (which would be McCain's bag anyway) everything else Palin stands for is directly opposite what Koch stands for. He's a big time lib and she's a Reagan conservative. And she's exceedingly popular. I imagine that really does scare him as a Democrat.
#11
Obama the friend of every terrorist does not scare him, but a woman with a strong head, yes, it is very scary to him. Well, now we know better the self proclaimed "voice of reason" of the Democrats.
Posted by: lena ||
09/10/2008 12:38 Comments ||
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#12
Koh, a way left liberal on everythign except the GWOT?
#14
I find it a little disappointing that most of what Koch cites as evidence that Sarah is "scary" is urban legends stuff that's already been debunked. Frankly, I expected better of him.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/10/2008 13:14 Comments ||
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#15
Sarah has already cost the Republicans the PETA vote. She has also probably lost additional groups like NOW, SNCC, ADA, Code Pink, NAACP, CORE, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, ACLU, Sierra Club, Black Panthers, Move On, CAIR, Nation of Islam, Global Exchange, ACORN, Feminist Majority, National Council of Churches, Raging Grannies, NEA, World Can't Wait, and NAMBLA.
The only people left are two good old boys in South Georgia and come election day they'll probably be too drunk to vote.
#16
How many of those groups were going to vote anything but the a Democratic ticket anyway? They are not 'lost' since the Republicans never had a chance with them anyway.
And that is a small number compared to the multitudes who see Sara as a 'real' person (and not just a polished image like Zero)
"Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks," Koch said, citing such concerns as civil liberties, abortion rights, gay rights and access to health insurance."
I think its pretty clear shes against Roe v Wade, and thats what Koch meant. Any evidence otherwise? Gay rights, is she against the federal marriage amendment? Is it just a rumor? Didnt she actually cast a veto of a law for gay rights? Health insurance - well shes against the Dem plans to extend health insurance, or does she not support the McCain position?
Thats three out of four. Civil Liberties includes alot of complex issues, and if he was referring to the statement on Habeus, well habeus is a complex issue, and it was more the tone of her statement than actual substance that was a problem, IMHO.
#20
Didnt she actually cast a veto of a law for gay rights?
She cast a veto of a law AGAINST gay rights, specifically one that would forbid granting some kind of benefits to gay 'domestic partnerships' or the equivalent of marriage.
#22
Sarah has already cost the Republicans the PETA vote. She has also probably lost additional groups like NOW, SNCC, ADA, Code Pink, NAACP, CORE, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, ACLU, Sierra Club, Black Panthers, Move On, CAIR, Nation of Islam, Global Exchange, ACORN, Feminist Majority, National Council of Churches, Raging Grannies, NEA, World Can't Wait, and NAMBLA.
And the leadership of the Democratic Party but I repeat myself.
#23
She has also probably lost additional groups like NOW, SNCC, ADA, Code Pink, NAACP, CORE, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, ACLU, Sierra Club, Black Panthers, Move On, CAIR, Nation of Islam, Global Exchange, ACORN, Feminist Majority, National Council of Churches, Raging Grannies, NEA, World Can't Wait, and NAMBLA.
Ok, fair enough. But if you draw a Venn diagram of these groups, I'd wager you get a ton of overlay among members. A few million unique individuals maybe?
#24
My dad's in for chemo and radiation - while waiting last week - an 88 y.o woman talked to my mom about Sarah - the older lady brought her up - mom did not ID herself in the Peoples' Republic of IL as a pubbie......
The woman said she's voting for Sarah.
I'm still thinking 55/45 The One, but ya never know, it could be closer - I'm just pulling those figures out of my backside.
If Obama had any class--or just a modicum of common sense--he'd apologize for saying something stupid, follow it up with something nice about Sarah, condemn the KKKos KKKiddies for their excesses, promise to talk about the issues, and then never mention Sarah Palin again.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/10/2008 14:04 ||
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#1
This is well played. The lawyers began landing in Alaska less than a day after Palin's announcement so I'd imagine they've had this one in the can for a while and have been waiting for the proper spot to launch it.
#5
If Obama had any class--or just a modicum of common sense--
he'd stfu and let Biden deal with the trunk veep. But instead, he lets her get under his skin and reacts like an adolescent.
So far, Sarah has done nothing but repeat her best hits from the convention. But Obama has gone non-linear over something new every day. What is he going to do when she opens up on him with something new on Charlie Gibson?
#7
Who cares what "they" claim. The theys of the MSM have been claiming crap about trunks for years and they manage to win some in spite of it. The One should leave the gutter game for the veeps and try to look above it and presidential. And he's not and it's diminishing his charisma which was all he ever had. Toast.
the they in this instance isnt the MSM, its the McCain campaign. When Obama says, CLEARLY referring to the Bush record, that you put lipstick on a pig, its still a pig, the MCCAIN campaign says its about Palin, even when the phrase, so appropos about Bush, makes no sense about Palin.
Heres what I dont say. McCain denying that its appropos about the bush record.
#10
What Bush and McCain have in common is that they have run at the top of the GOP ticket mainly through the weakness of their competitors. It's not McCain's job to defend anything about Bush.
Obama said something that looks stupid. He should apologize and move on, not pick a fight and prolong the embarrassment, no matter how ill-deserved. He hasn't. That is dumb. It's not presidential to look dumb repeatedly.
#12
...the they in this instance isnt the MSM, its the McCain campaign. When Obama says, CLEARLY referring to the Bush record, that you put lipstick on a pig, its still a pig, the MCCAIN campaign says its about Palin, even when the phrase, so appropos about Bush, makes no sense about Palin.
OK, LH, and I suppose the "Old Fish" comment made by the Obamessiah immediately after the "Lipstick" comment (at the same gathering) had nothing to do McCain's age, eh?
#13
Then he is going to have to say what about Bushs policies he thinks are mistaken.
No he's not. He's not running against Bush. Nobody's running against Bush. He's running against Obama and he should say what about Obama's policies he thinks are mistaken. Except that Obama is doing such a good job of self-destruction it's unnecessary.
#14
He has to speak to the state of the country. After 8 years of Bush. Hes running as a Republican. One of the advantages of a two party system is accountability.
On economic policy, social policy, etc, hes basically presenting the same policies as Bush. Hes got to either answer why that will succeed now, when it failed before, or else explain how its different.
Now granted, he doesnt HAVE to. He can keep trying to change the subject. I dont think it will work, but you can never tell.
#17
The VP job is to be a lightening rod and take heat away from the President. Seems Palin is especially good at that as the world has talked about her and the opposition has obessessed on her when they should ignore her, laughed at her jibes and kept on message.
#18
McCain opposed Bush on numerous issues over the last 7 years. I didn't like what he was doing most of the time, but there can be no question that McCain represents a different outlook than what we had with GWB.
And LH: It's clear from the audience reaction that O's peeps thought he was talking about Palin with the lipstick comment. Listen to them ROAR. Not even Obama fans get that animated about a (yawn) comment about some GWB policy they dislike.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/10/2008 16:36 Comments ||
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#19
And tonight Obama chats with Dave Letterma, where he will again have to reaffirm he was being clever, and the media will again be showing it tomorrow. Obama really hasn't gotten much campaign work done today.
Also, in the O'Reilly interview, even Bill is saying he see's a certain toughness in Barry... all of that is lost when he gets tied up like a pretzel self justifying why he tried to dunk on a girl.
#20
One of the advantages of a two party system is accountability
So, this would imply that 'throw the rascals out' type of accountability should be in play this fall. Except the MSM keeps missing to point out that little (D) thingy after who runs the Congress these days. That's known as controlling the message. That's also why all the whining now, someone else is massaging the message.
NEW DELHI: Though it eventually refrained from back-stabbing India during the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting at Vienna, China continues to needle Indian forces all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In the latest set of incursions across the LAC, Chinese patrols once again "transgressed" into the Indian side at the strategically located Pangong Tso lake as well as Trig Heights in eastern Ladakh on September 2-3, said sources.
There were both boat and vehicle-mounted People's Liberation Army (PLA) patrols on the north bank of Pangong Tso, two-third of which is controlled by China as it extends from India to Tibet at an altitude of 4,218 metres, on September 2.
A day later, a vehicle-mounted PLA patrol crossed over at the Trig Heights. "The patrol was on our side for quite some time before it went back. PLA has really stepped up incursions into our side in eastern Ladakh region this year, with well over 100 transgressions being recorded there since January," said a source.
Pangong Tso and Trig Heights have become quite contentious since the 1999 Kargil conflict, with China even constructing a "track" right up to the lake's southern bank during that time to demonstrate its support to Pakistan. China, it's assessed, wants the border to be drawn in a straight line on the lake to gain strategic advantage. It seeks similar gains in Trig Heights and Demchok areas in the western sector.
But eastern Ladakh is not the only region where Chinese patrols have been flexing their muscles in an "aggressive" border management policy to put pressure on India and lay claim to disputed areas along the LAC.
Similar Chinese moves have been witnessed in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in recent months. In fact, perturbed by the incursions into Sikkim, "a settled matter" as far as India is concerned, the government in June had made some strong public statements about taking up the matter with China.
With over 80 incursions across the 206-km Sikkim-Tibet border being recorded since January, the Indian establishment is especially worried about the so-called 2.1 sq km "finger area", the northern-most tip of Sikkim, which China is claiming as its own territory.
The government, incidentally, is now conducting a fresh survey of the northern plateau in Sikkim to counter claims by China. The survey is using latest technology to chart out the watershed in the area, which is usually used to demarcate boundaries in mountainous areas.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > CHINA STRENGHTHENS ITS ROLE [population] IN KRGYZSTAN. In 15 years the Chin community in Krgyzstan has grown from 100,000 to 5.0Milyuhn, and is likely to continue. Every 50th Krgyz is CHINESE - in time the Chinese influence on local politics and economy will change and dominate Krgyz Society + Traditions.
OTOH, also from TOPIX > RUSSIA"S AND CENTRAL ASIA'S MUSLIMS FEAR GROWING REGIONAL ISLAMIST MILITANCY.
#2
FREEREPUBLIC > THE PAKISTAN-CHINA ALLIANCE AGZ INDIA. The good news is that the Sino-Pakland love fest may not last forever - the bad news is that ITS NOT GOOD FOR INDIA no matter iff the lovefest lasts or not.
#8
IRNA.com > CHINA FAVORS A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO TACKLE/SETTLE ITS BORDER DISPUTE [India].
Also from IRNA > INDIA - LEFT-WING REBELS [Maoists] APPROACH LTTE,ULFA GROUPS [India/Delhi Govt-Banned Militant Groups] FOR ARMS PROCUREMENT.
BULLET POINTS > INDIAN MAOISTS are:
* AIMING TO "LIBERATE" APPROXI 35% OF INDIAN TERRITORY by EOY 2009
* 50,000 Registered Members + approxi 20,000 Covert/Underground Members. Activ-Sympathz, etc.
* Spreading their influence and activities to 22 States.
* in 39 Left-Wing Extremist groups.
* Established in 15 States wid both ARMED CADRES AND UDERGOUND/COVERT ACTIVISTS-SYMPATHIZERS.
* OVERT/PUBLIC SYMPATHIZERS in 7 States
* There is NO MAOIST PRESENCE - MEMBERS ANDOR GROUPS - IN ONLY 6 STATES.
Asif Ali Zardari was sworn in as Pakistan's president on Tuesday, and immediately pledged subservience to parliament. "The president will only carry forward the brief of the government and bow before the parliament," he said while addressing his first press conference after taking oath as president. But he parried direct questions on the abolishment of the 17th Amendment.
Musharraf: To another question, Zardari said the parliament would decide whether former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf would be given an indemnity from any prosecution. He said he would continue his policy of reconciliation. "We do not seek revenge. We forgive and move forward and our message is of reconciliation." Asked if he would reinstate all the sacked judges, he said he had no grudge against any of them.
Kashmir: The new president said Pakistanis would hear 'good news' about the Kashmir dispute with India soon. "[Because of] back-channel diplomacy, there will be good news before the Congress-led government in India goes for the election [next year]," he said. Zardari said he had the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Kashmir and referred to a bipartisan committee that will devise a joint policy on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So , sweepstakes on how long till he gets popped ?
My work is done here...
International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed El Baradei plans to leave office after his third term expires in November 2009, according to an IAEA memo released on Wednesday. Is he taking his seeing eye dog with him, or will the UN need it for the next guy?
El Baradei who has presided over politically volatile IAEA investigations into nuclear activities of North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria since becoming director in 1997, "is not available for a further term in office", the memo said.
The 66-year-old Egyptian and the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 just months after the United States tried in vain to foil his election to a third term by the IAEA's 35-nation board of directors.
El Baradei, who has clashed with the United States and allies over alleged soft treatment of Iran, accusations he rejected, had been expected to leave at the end of his current mandate, diplomats accredited to the IAEA said. I guess ya figure they got enough of a head start so you can hang it up, huh, Mo?
The IAEA memo, sent to IAEA board members on Friday, said the deadline for nominations of candidates to succeed El Baradei was Dec. 31, and informal consultations would ensue in search of board agreement on the next agency director. So long, Mo. Don't let the door...well, you know.
A Thai court yesterday ordered Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign for accepting payments for hosting TV cooking shows, but the governing coalition said it was ready to vote him back into office.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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An Iranian parliamentary committee has thrown out a government proposal which women's rights activists feared would have encouraged polygamy in the Islamic Republic, media reported on Tuesday.
"It is a very positive move," campaigner Sussan Tahmasebi said of the decision by the legal and judicial committee to change the bill on families. "We think it is great that parliament listened to women's voices," she told Reuters.
Activists had lobbied against the measure, which they said would have allowed a man to take a new wife without the consent of the first one. The bill also covered other family issues and parliament is now expected to vote on the amended version.
The conservative-controlled legislature was originally due to debate the "Family Support Bill" last week, but it was sent back to the committee for more work after it caused controversy.
Newspapers quoted committee chairman Ali Shahrokhi as saying it had removed two articles which had angered activists and others -- one dealing with polygamy and another on taxing money the husband agrees to pay his wife under a marriage contract.
Under Iran's Islamic law, men can have up to four wives but many Iranians see polygamy as unacceptable and it is not common.
Shahrokhi said families would have been "exposed to collapse" under the proposal on polygamy, which critics say would only require a man to get a court decision showing he has the financial means in order to take a second wife.
Taboo
The government rejects allegations that Iran discriminates against women. Its spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, this week warned that if the bill was rejected polygamy would "be implemented without any rule or regulation."
Tehran sociology professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour said the draft law had proved controversial also among conservatives, who form the most powerful faction in Iranian politics after hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2005.
Polygamy is socially taboo for many middle class people in urban areas, Jalaiepour said. The practice is not widespread in cities but more accepted in some rural areas, he added.
Tahmasebi described the move to amend the bill as a major victory but said campaigners still had problems with other aspects of it, for example on women marrying non-Iranians.
Tahmasebi is involved in a campaign to collect one million signatures in support of improving women's rights in Iran.
Campaigners say dozens of them have been detained since the drive began in 2006 in what Western diplomats see as part of a wider clampdown on dissent.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
ION TOPIX > HADRON COLLIDER KNOWLEDGE MAY AID HUMAN SURVIVAL IN DEEP SPACE.
POST/AFTER-EARTH [movie], that is??? First things first, and that is making sure Mankind can effec control and manage the HADRON-INDUCED BLACK/WORM-HOLES WIDOUT DESTROYING EVERY HUMAN'S FAV BLUE-GREEN SPACE ROCK IN THE PROCESS!?
INTERESTING > TODAY > Noted Perts are still OFFICIALLY DENYING THAT HADRON COLLIDER OPERATIONS WILL CAUSE THE FORMATION OF ANY EARTH-THREATENING BLACK-HOLES.
#4
Lest we fergit, ANUTHER REASON FOR HADRON > RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS = EARTH AT RISK FOR POTENTIAL IMPACTS + DANGEROUS CLOSE FLYBYS OF SEVERAL RUSSIAN-DISCOVERED/ALLEGED ASTEROIDS-COMETS 2013-2022 [2025 ro].
Since the Net came into being in the 1990's, RUSSIA'S WARNINGS HAVE BEEN DEAD-ON THE MONEY.
Its been RUSSIA, NOT OUR OWN US GOVT + PERTS, THATS BEEN RELIABLY WARNING US + WORLD FOR A WHILE NOW.
NO REASON AT THIS TIME TO DOUBT RUSSIA'S WARNINGS ON THESE NEW SPACE ROCKS, regardless of the politics.
#5
The funny thing is that those trees were even naturally growing there. They had been landscaping trees put there for decoration. It isn't like they were some last remaining vestige of some forest or something.
#13
Oh, yeah. It wasn't pretty. I drove by the site almost every day going to and coming from Berkeley Lab when I was working there. At first the protestors were good enough to keep mostly out of site and keep the place clean. As more and more climbed aboard the bandwagon and they received more and more news coverage the area around them became progressively more and more dirty and litter-strewn.
Vehicles, appearing as if they'd been abandoned or as if people were living out of them started to appear on the street and the area began to emit an odor reeking of urine and feces.
Normal college students coming from or going to International House started to cross to the other side of the street to avoid the area, presumably to avoid the reek, the panhandlers, and the annoyance of those protesting.
When I last went by, the place looked more like a homeless encampment than a group of peaceful protestors trying to prevent a few dozen trees from being chopped down. I had to roll up my windows to avoid the reek.
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.
Zimbabwe political rivals meeting in Harare could sign a power-sharing deal tomorrow, veteran President Robert Mugabe said late Tuesday following negotiations. "We are finishing tomorrow, hopefully. We are still going to talk, there are one or two areas of disagreement," Mugabe said as he left the venue for the talks.
JEDDAH: Three sisters who have repeatedly fled their father's home after 10 years of physical and psychological abuse and sexual molestation reached a dead end. 
SEOUL, South Korea - A woman from North Korea charged with espionage admitted in court Wednesday that she spied for the communist country, an official said, in a spectacular case that has drawn wide attention in South Korea. Won Jeong-hwa made the admission during the first court hearing in her trial at the Suwon District Court, south of Seoul, said Judge Lim Min-sung, who serves as a court spokesman. Lim said he had no more details. Won, who is in custody, could not be reached.
Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Obama took a few moments to address what he calls "the made-up controversy" of the day, Amie Parnes reports.
Asif Ali Zardari was sworn in as Pakistan's president on Tuesday, and immediately pledged subservience to parliament. "The president will only carry forward the brief of the government and bow before the parliament," he said while addressing his first press conference after taking oath as president. But he parried direct questions on the abolishment of the 17th Amendment. 
