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Peshawar blast kills 10, injures 45
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Today's Idiot
A man was arrested for throwing tomatoes at Sarah Palin during her book signing on Monday at the Mall of America.

Jeremy Olson, 33, allegedly threw two tomatoes from the second balcony, however did not come close to hitting Palin.

Bloomington Police report that Bloomington Commander Mark Stehlik was struck in the face with one of the tomatoes and may face charges for assaulting a police officer. Olson was booked at the Bloomington jail. He was arrested for suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct.
Whatta Minnesota Maroon!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/08/2009 12:08 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At least he wasn't throwing shoes - they'd hurt more than a squishy tomato.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/08/2009 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2  "Bloomington Police report that Bloomington Commander Mark Stehlik was struck in the face with one of the tomatoes and may face charges for assaulting a police officer."

May?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 12/08/2009 13:07 Comments || Top||

#3  It was an accident. He meant to hit Palin, and she's fair game. So may not press charges.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/08/2009 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  I suspect that the Police Commander might not feel so lenient towards that idiot. Unless that tomato was really ripe it would have hurt like he11.
Posted by: tipover || 12/08/2009 16:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Definition of a nancy-boy: toss a tomato at a girl. Miss girl. Hit police officer 10 feet away.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/08/2009 16:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Jeremy forgot to account for windage...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/08/2009 17:14 Comments || Top||

#7  trained at Hek's Jihad-R-Us camp
Posted by: Frank G || 12/08/2009 18:24 Comments || Top||

#8  One less Frankin voter in MN.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/08/2009 20:43 Comments || Top||


Survival celebrity chefs roasted after serving rat risotto
The snakes and crocodiles that are supposed to infest the Australian set of a British "survival" show might not have bitten its celebrities, but reality has.

Italian-born television chef Gino D'Acampo and UK soap star Stuart Manning have been arrested and charged with animal cruelty after killing a rat and serving it with risotto to fellow members of the cast of I'm a celebrity ... get me out of here.

The show is set around a forested camp at Dungay, inland from Coolangatta. It is portrayed in the series as a remote and dangerous jungle, inhabited by venomous and deadly spiders, snakes and reptiles.

Many do thrive there, but the show went too far when it claimed crocodiles infested rivers well south of their actual range.

And Dungay is within an easy drive of Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, and just 8km north of Murwillumbah, noted for its affluence, art deco buildings and its rating in one survey as one of the 10 most desirable places to live in Australia.

D'Acampo, 34, and Manning, 30 - formerly a star of the long-running college TV soap Hollyoaks - were nabbed after adding their own touch to the show's colour. They had been filmed displaying the dead rat to fellow celebrities who had until then been living mainly on rice and beans, and describing how they had caught, killed and skinned the rodent with a kitchen knife.

D'Acampo, who besides appearing regularly on BBC's Ready Steady Cook show runs his own ingredients' supply company and develops ready-cooked meals for the Tesco chain, served it up with his own recipe.

"It was the best recipe I ever did," he was reported as saying. "It was beautiful."

D'Acampo won this year's series, decided by the votes of the show's audience of millions.

The RSPCA, which monitors the treatment of animals on the show, was not impressed. The animal welfare watchdog's New South Wales chief inspector, David O'Shannessy, told BBC radio that the rat's fate was outside the code of practice governing the use of animals in theatrical productions and films.

"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable," he said. "The concern is this was done purely for the cameras."

Unconfirmed reports said the rat, supposedly caught in the bush, was, in fact, tame.

O'Shannessy said production staff were required to formally notify the RSPCA or the Animal Welfare League of the intention to use animals in a scene. But he said no notice had been given and as a result no RSPCA officer had been present when the segment was filmed.

Murwillumbah police issued a statement confirming that D'Acampo and Manning had been charged with the offence of animal cruelty and would appear in court on February 2. The offence carries a maximum penalty of three years' jail.

The show's producers have been ordered to surrender film showing the death of the rat and its British distributor, ITV, may also be charged.
Posted by: Beavis || 12/08/2009 08:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rats - a fine delicacy about day 90 during any historical siege of a city.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/08/2009 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't a discussion of fine rat cuisine come up before, here at the 'Burg, or was it somewhere else? IIRC, basically, your average feral city garbage-scavenging rat would not taste all that great, since it's diet would adversely affect the taste of it's flesh. But an out-in-the-woods country rat, or perhaps a rat that lived in a granary, eating seeds and berries and all ... that rat would be quite tasty, rather like squirrel or rabbit.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 12/08/2009 11:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I find it hard to believe the RSPCA would protect Rats, don't they have other better things to do than worry about prolofic birthrate vermin?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/08/2009 13:23 Comments || Top||

#4  swedishchef460
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/08/2009 15:21 Comments || Top||


Tiger Woods Now Linked To 10 Women Who Are Not His Wife
Less than two weeks after Tiger Woods' Thanksgiving weekend car crash outside his home, 10 women have been alleged to have had affairs with the married golf legend.
I'm wondering when he found time to golf...
Woods may be laying low -- even skipping out on his own charity golf tournament this weekend -- but it has not slowed the tarnishing of his once spotless public image, as bikini models, pancake house waitresses and reality show contestants come forward to reveal what they say are details of Woods' infidelities.

SLIDESHOW: Tiger Woods' latest alleged mistresses.

On Sunday, the New York Daily News outed who they say is one of Woods' former mistresses, 31-year-old divorced mom Cori Rist. According to the News, the two met at the New York club Butter last year.

Meanwhile, a 26-year-old former cocktail waitress from Orlando, Fla. has hired Florida lawyer Michael O'Quinn for representation. The woman was reportedly bragging about her alleged two-year affair with Woods before and during his marriage to Elin Nordengren. O'Quinn claims his still-unidentified client does not want to be named yet in light of her current "corporate job."

SLIDESHOW: From bikini model to billionaire's wife, Elin Nordengren.

Two more alleged mistresses have been fingered by the British press. The Sun reports one is a television broadcaster, and another is a mysterious "sex-addicted cougar."

Meanwhile, the Daily News says that one positive female figure in Woods' life could be talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, who reportedly phoned the embattled star to offer him advice, and a chance to share his side of the story on her show.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/08/2009 00:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope five to ten years from now we find them all toothless, still single, and working for minimum wage at a Waffle House.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 6:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Hes just getting into the swing of things.

Posted by: Oscar || 12/08/2009 6:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Tiger made the turn and is playing the Back Nine. Eight to go?
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/08/2009 6:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Well one is a shoe in for the Waffle House since she worked at the local Perkin's severing Tiger breakfast. Just hope these girls took this advice.

Posted by: Don Vito Anginegum8261 || 12/08/2009 7:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Woods is +10 after the first round?!
Posted by: Spot || 12/08/2009 8:07 Comments || Top||

#6  ...I admire an overachiever as much as the next guy, but....


Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/08/2009 8:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Boy!! Is Bill Clinton jealous!!
Posted by: AlanC || 12/08/2009 8:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry to everyone offended by this but genetically, successful men are "supposed" to have >1 females.

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/08/2009 11:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Hittin' the links.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/08/2009 11:16 Comments || Top||

#10  another is a mysterious "sex-addicted cougar."

No phone number?
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/08/2009 11:17 Comments || Top||

#11  new record: 10 straight hole-in-one's...

(We can probably keep this up all day.)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/08/2009 11:17 Comments || Top||

#12  No way
Only Kimmie can achieve this
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/08/2009 11:19 Comments || Top||

#13  Um...possibly you are right, Bright Pebbles, in regards to comment #8.

But it's considered bad taste to have them all at one time, especially when one's official mate is going to give birth at any moment.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 12/08/2009 11:32 Comments || Top||

#14  CrazyFool

Maybe he thought the goal was to get a Ho-in-one?

P.S. The picture is of T-Mates at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas. They are Forecaddies and will fix your ball marks and divots and also "clean your clubs and balls".
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/08/2009 11:35 Comments || Top||

#15  Personality demolition strategy (or is it tactic?)

1.- Predators
2.- Scavengers
3.- Cockroaches and Sarcophagidae

Posted by: Willy || 12/08/2009 12:03 Comments || Top||

#16  T-Mates
Guests of Rio Secco golf club in Las Vegas can reserve a T-Mate who will serve as your personal golf concierge and host/hostess during your round.
What is a T-Mate...


Fun
Outgoing
Physically Fit
Reliable
Attractive
Great Personality
Entertaining
Supportive
Great Communicator
A T-Mate...

Greets the guest at the front door
Provides concierge services
Accompanies golfers throughout their round
Maintains scorecard
Registers guests in proshop
Assists in proshop purchases
Assists players on the green
Provides information
Creates a fun and exciting environment
Provides beverages
Calls in lunch orders
Replaces divots
Indicates yardages
Moves carts as needed
Supplies extra tees/ball markers/towels
Informs Players of obstacles
Posted by: Beavis || 12/08/2009 12:06 Comments || Top||

#17  Skins tournament.

Scratch game.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/08/2009 12:28 Comments || Top||

#18  I like the idea of BeaverTainment
Posted by: 746 || 12/08/2009 12:34 Comments || Top||

#19  Informs Players of obstacles

"Your Wife is downstairs"
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/08/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#20  I got no problem with a guy swapping blondes in and out of his bed like golf clubs in and out of his bag, but if you're married and get the most of your money from endorsements, you are just asking for it. As ye reap...
Posted by: Dar || 12/08/2009 14:50 Comments || Top||

#21  I got no problem with a guy swapping blondes in and out of his bed like golf clubs in and out of his bag, but if you're married and get the most of your money from endorsements, you are just asking for it. As ye reap...
Posted by: Dar || 12/08/2009 14:50 Comments || Top||

#22  Whoops--got some kind of error when trying to post 1st comment and didn't think it went through--
Posted by: Dar || 12/08/2009 14:50 Comments || Top||

#23  He's got one heckuva putter.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/08/2009 15:04 Comments || Top||

#24  ...and get the most of your money from endorsements

Well, if you're Bob, you'd be worried about Tiger taking your gig.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/08/2009 15:50 Comments || Top||

#25  Who knew Tiger is really a Cheetah..
Posted by: Tom- Pa || 12/08/2009 15:59 Comments || Top||

#26  I got no problem with a guy swapping blondes in and out of his bed like golf clubs in and out of his bag,

You might not Dar but WaPo's Eugene Robinson does:

Here's my real question, though: What's with the whole Barbie thing?

No offense to anyone who actually looks like Barbie, but it really is striking how much the women who've been linked to Woods resemble one another. I'm talking about the long hair, the specific body type, even the facial features. Mattel could sue for trademark infringement.

This may be the most interesting aspect of the whole Tiger Woods story -- and one of the most disappointing. He seems to have been bent on proving to himself that he could have any woman he wanted. But from the evidence, his aim wasn't variety but some kind of validation.

I'm making a big assumption here that the attraction for Woods was mostly physical, but there's no evidence thus far that he had a lot of time for deep conversation. If adultery is really about the power and satisfaction of conquest, Woods's self-esteem was apparently only boosted by bedding the kind of woman he thought other men lusted after -- the "Playmate of the Month" type that Hugh Hefner turned into the American gold standard.

But the world is full of beautiful women of all colors, shapes and sizes -- some with short hair or almond eyes, some with broad noses, some with yellow or brown skin. Woods appears to have bought into an "official" standard of beauty that is so conventional as to be almost oppressive.
Posted by: Beavis || 12/08/2009 16:05 Comments || Top||

#27  /sillinous
Have to agree with Dar on this. Bet there are ton of parents out there who now have to explain this to their kids who want(ed) to be Tiger. It really does exemplify letting celebrity be the infallable teacher for our children. Now Tiger, whose passion to play golf is tainted - hows he going to play without an announcer snickering about him - is going to as a dad have to explain himself to his family, his kids.

Then there are the media whores who do not think this is a big deal except for the lack of diversity or want his exclusive. Nobody said Tiger was a good person, it was just assumed as much because of a well crafted image effort.
sillinous on

Every time his putters out, he's assured a gimmie.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/08/2009 16:17 Comments || Top||

#28  So...Tiger is Racist against black because he didn't cheat with Black Women? Quick, Somebody warn all black males, you can't cheat with White Women!
Posted by: Charles || 12/08/2009 16:21 Comments || Top||

#29  That's a good point, Beavis. Really, why would one restrict himself to just one particular look when there has to be a whole range of hair colors, skin colors, and eye colors--not to mention body types--throwing themselves at him? If I were in that position, I'd be looking to be the first kid on the block to collect the whole set!

I can't help but wonder if Tiger is exercising any domestic or sexual frustrations with his wife "by proxy"--or if he just looks at blue-eyed blondes as trophies given his mixed heritage. In any case, I'd say "more power to him" if he were single.

From the sounds of it, though, he soon will be!
Posted by: Dar || 12/08/2009 16:26 Comments || Top||

#30  As said on FARK.COM > THE SUN [UK] IS THERE!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/08/2009 18:09 Comments || Top||

#31  Gatorade pulled their sponsorship today (HUGE!) and most other marketers with Tiger ads are pulling them. Mister $1 Billion will be down by half after Elin and the economy get to him. Seldom has anyone fallen farther faster. As a local radio guy, Cookie Chainsaw Randolph, said this AM: "He makes John Daley look good"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/08/2009 18:23 Comments || Top||

#32  Bimbo Eruption Alert

Number 11?

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/08/2009 18:42 Comments || Top||

#33  #31

He'll be able to buy Ramen noodles, like others of us.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 12/08/2009 19:46 Comments || Top||

#34 

And what about me? That SOB breezed through here and didn't even leave a couple of lines!
Posted by: KBK || 12/08/2009 19:57 Comments || Top||


Tiger's wife packs her bags and moves out
Posted by: tipper || 12/08/2009 00:16 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One of the news lines had a woman taken to the hospital from the Woods residence at 2:30 this morning. I hope and pray this isn't getting d ev even more ugly.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 6:51 Comments || Top||

#2  breaking news
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 14 minutes ago
WINDERMERE, Fla. - A woman was transported to hospital from Tiger Woods' Florida home after firefighters responded to a medical call early Tuesday, NBC News reported.

According to Orlando-based WESH, the adult female was taken from the $2.6 million masnion "on advanced life support" after firefighters received a call at 2:36 a.m.

A radio log showed an adult female was transported to Health Central Hospital, WESH reported
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 6:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder if this will put a stop to his chase for the Golden Bear's record. Somehow I can't picture Jack or Arnie carrying on like this, nor Phil for that matter.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/08/2009 8:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Fox carried the hospital story this morning. Looked like an older woman in the clip, possibly domestic help. I hope it ends well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 8:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Noon News reports it's his mother-in-law going to the Hospital.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/08/2009 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Tiger will undoubtedly pick up the hospital tab for the mother-in-law. Smart women, sticking around for a while. Plenty of time to pack up and leave after the dust settles.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 13:40 Comments || Top||

#7  the "mother in law" is a high powered swedish politican
Posted by: 746 || 12/08/2009 15:46 Comments || Top||


Donald Trump irked at Salahi's Miss USA claims
Add this to the growing list of reasons NBC Universal might want to hold off on splashing Michaele and Tareq Salahi all over their Bravo network's new reality series "Real Housewives of DC."

Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants with NBC Universal, has learned the couple submitted pictures for a December 2008 article in a polo magazine identifying Michaele Salahi as a "former Miss USA."

No record exists of her winning that beauty crown,The Post's Neely Tucker reported Friday.

And Trump takes a very dim view of women who pretend to be winners of his beauty pageants.

"She couldn't have been a former Miss USA if she'd tried," Trump told The TV Column Friday.

We wondered why that was.

"Because she doesn't' have It ," he responded.

"Generally speaking," he explained, "you can look at [imposters] and say 'no way'" because actual winners are "all very beautiful."

Oh, snap!

"This is disgusting," Trump said when he learned of the Salahi Miss Universe ruse. He also called it an affront to all the women who work so hard through the "huge process" it takes to become Miss USA.

"This tells us they are total phonies," he said of the Salahis.

Trump said his people "come down very hard" on anyone who tries to pass themselves off as a winner of one of his pageants, in order to protect the franchise.

Friday afternoon, the president of the Miss Universe Organization, Paula Shugart called and told told The TV Column that yes, in fact, they are investigating Michaele Salahis.
Posted by: Fred || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Doubling Down - Copenhagen summit: decade is world's warmest on record
This decade has been the warmest on record and this year is likely to be the fifth warmest, according to the World Meteorological Organisations’s (WMO) assessment of global average temperatures.

There were sharp differences between regions, with central Africa and parts of southern Asia having their warmest year but the United States and Canada experiencing cooler than average conditions.

The WMO released the preliminary data at the Copenhagen climate summit in what the Met Office, which contributed to the figures, admitted was an attempt to influence the negotiations over cutting greenhouse gases.

The WMO is also anxious to quell doubts about the scientific analysis of temperature records raised by the publication of stolen e-mails in the “Climategate” scandal.

The WMO and the Met Office base their reports partly on data and analysis supplied by the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit.

Phil Jones, the unit’s director, has stood down while an investigation takes place into allegations that he manipulated data, attempted to block publication of alternative scientific views and tried to delete information requested by climate change sceptics.

The WMO, which has data going back to 1850, said that the ten years from 2000 to 2009 were 0.44C warmer than the annual average of 14C between 1961 to 1990.

The Met Office, one of three main sources for the WMO figures, said its records showed that each of the last six decades had been warmer than the previous one.

Since the 18th century, the global temperature has risen just over 0.7C.

The Copenhagen summit is trying to agree global action to prevent the temperature rising more than 2C above the pre-industrial average.

The Met Office said: “These figures highlight that the world continues to see global temperature rise most of which is due to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and clearly shows that the argument that global warming has stopped is flawed.
.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/08/2009 11:14 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Since the 18th century, the global temperature has risen just over 0.7C."

We're doomed
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/08/2009 12:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, I'm seeing all that "global warming" coming down right outside my window. We're supposed to get about six inches total of that, too.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 12/08/2009 15:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope that is a gas filled, fully thermal insulated, enviro-friendly, US Gov't, EPA approved and inspected window and your thermostat is set to the US Gov't approved temp CB. Inquiring minds might wish to know....
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 15:38 Comments || Top||

#4  value added data?
Posted by: john frum || 12/08/2009 17:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Meanwhile, a giant iceberg is heading for Australia.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/08/2009 20:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Besoeker, nope, not at all. And to make it even better...my sweetie used a gas powered snowblower to push some of it off the driveway.

I'm waiting for eco-criminal charges to be brought against us by the Goracle any moment now.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 12/08/2009 21:05 Comments || Top||

#7  value added data?

Is there any other way, when it comes to gerbil wormening?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/08/2009 21:36 Comments || Top||

#8  The last sentence:

B17B calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf nearly 10 years ago.
Posted by: KBK || 12/08/2009 22:55 Comments || Top||

#9  The last sentence:

B17B calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf nearly 10 years ago.
Posted by: KBK || 12/08/2009 22:55 Comments || Top||

#10  The last sentence:

B17B calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf nearly 10 years ago.
Posted by: KBK || 12/08/2009 22:55 Comments || Top||

#11  Wow, a triple from one click!
Posted by: KBK || 12/08/2009 22:56 Comments || Top||


Alaska Solves Warming Problems
While the world debates the causes of climate change and what, if anything, to do about it, Alaskans are busy dealing with its consequences.
Can the left blame Sarah?
Permafrost, the frozen ground that lies just beneath the surface in most of the state, has become less stable in many areas, thanks in part to higher average air temperatures. It has begun to thaw in the warmer months and refreeze in the winter, causing shifts that wreak havoc on the structural integrity of the pipelines, railways, roads and buildings that sit on top of it.
This is not the first time I've read about this problem. Alaska Paul?
"If we're going to build on frozen ground, we want to keep it frozen," says Dan White, director of the Institute of Northern Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

That's where thermosiphons come in. The device essentially is a tube filled with gas that can't escape. Part of the tube is buried in the ground, with the top exposed in the air. As temperatures plunge in the winter, the gas condenses into a liquid and falls to the bottom of the tube.

The relative warmth of the ground then causes the liquid to evaporate back into gas that rises to the top of the tube, where the heat it carries is dissipated into the air. The cycle keeps repeating itself, with no need for any kind of power source or any intervention other than maintenance. Scientists say the process cools the ground around a tube so much during the winter that it stays frozen even in summer.

Thermosiphons have been around in the Arctic for about 50 years. For most of that time they weren't used much outside of large infrastructure projects like the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which is outfitted with about 120,000 of them.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/08/2009 10:31 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent local solution, or as Al Franken's alter ego, Stuart Smalley, would say "It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the entire world."
Posted by: tipper || 12/08/2009 10:59 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela Takes Greater Control of Banks
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- The government of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, facing a crisis at several banks acquired by his supporters, moved over the weekend to assert greater financial control by detaining one of the country's most powerful financiers and forcing the resignation of the banker's brother, who is a minister and a top Chavez aide.
The crisis is called, 'the banks are insolvent.' Soon to be in your own home town ...
The arrest on Saturday of the financier, Arné Chacón, and the removal of his brother, Jesse, as science minister, which Mr. Chavez announced Sunday, points to a broadening purge of a group of magnates known as Boligarchs, who built immense fortunes this decade on the back of close government ties. Their nickname is derived from the combination of Russian-style oligarchs and Simón Bolívar, the historical icon of Mr. Chavez's political movement.
Socialist fat cats. You'd think that's a contradiction but no, we've seen plenty of them over the decades ...
Fat, and getting fatter, busily feeding the crocodile while fondly believing that would make it eat them last... instead of realizing it would eat the closest fattie.
Besides Arné Chacón, Venezuelan authorities have detained several other bankers, including Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco, a billionaire who went into finance after assembling a business empire that sold food to state-controlled supermarkets. All the bankers are believed to be under questioning by the Disip, Venezuela's intelligence secret police.

"We have been watching in awe at everything that has gone on over the past week, from the collapse and runs on the banks to the revolution eating its own," said Russell M. Dallen Jr., who oversees capital markets operations at BBO, a Caracas investment bank.

The crisis in the banking system began unfolding last Monday when the government seized control of four troubled banks, including those with ties to Mr. Fernandez Barrueco, and then seized three other banks on Friday. Mr. Fernandez Barrueco was arrested after he could not explain the origins of money used to buy the banks.

Together, all the seized banks are estimated to account for less than 20 percent of the country's banking system, dimming some fear that the crisis could infect other areas of Venezuela's oil-based economy and easing concern of a Dubai-like debt crisis's happening in Venezuela.

Still, Venezuelan markets were temporarily gripped by fear last week after Mr. Chavez threatened to nationalize the entire banking system if bankers did not obey the law. Capital flight fueled a plunge in the black-market value of the currency, the bolívar, and traders unloaded Venezuelan bonds before a reverse of panic selling on Friday.

Mr. Chavez, seeking to calm the population, said he was simply seeking to protect depositors. In his Sunday newspaper column, he reserved some vitriol for the arrested bankers, calling them "vulgar thieves, white-collar robbers, pickpockets."

Mr. Chavez's government still faces questions about the quick accumulation of fortunes by the arrested bankers, who drew deposits to their banks from deals with regional governments controlled by the president's followers, leaving open the possibility that the purge could spread.
Remember guys, it's okay to grab at the boodle, but always pay your 10% and never, ever embarrass the head cheese ...
Bankers and economists in Venezuela also said it was not clear whether underlying financial problems at the banks had pushed the government to act. Depositors nervously lined up at some financial institutions in Venezuela last week in attempts to withdraw money, heightening concern over possible bank runs.

The bankers embroiled in the scandal kept low profiles while expanding their empires. Arné Chacón, a former lowly army lieutenant, worked as a government tax official earlier this decade before quietly emerging as one of Venezuela's top magnates, embarking on acquisition sprees that included banks, insurers and race horses.
That doesn't sound 'low profile' to me ...
Jesse Chacón, 44, also has a military background. He took part in Mr. Chavez's unsuccessful 1992 coup attempt. Since Mr. Chavez's rise to power 11 years ago, he has served as communications minister, justice minister and the president's private secretary, before his most recent appointment as science minister.

Mr. Fernandez Barrueco, 44, forged ties with the government during a 2002 general strike by refusing to stop supplying food to grocery stores. Expanding into trucking and banking, his fortune reached $1.6 billion by 2005, according to an assessment by the Venezuelan affiliate of KPMG, the accounting firm.

The rise of these magnates had become a vulnerability for Mr. Chavez, who faced criticism from within his political movement over the seemingly unfettered operations of these decidedly capitalistic businessmen.
It's not capitalism, it's fascism ...
For scholars of Venezuela's economy, the emergence of such magnates has been a recurring feature of the country's political evolution since oil became the dominant industry during the last century, with bureaucrats managing oil revenue and businessmen seeking lucrative government contracts.

This intermingling of state and private interests did not stop during Mr. Chavez's government. Despite his efforts to assert greater state control over the economy, corruption in Venezuela is thriving by various measures. Transparency International, a Germany-based group that compiles a global corruption perception index, ranked Venezuela 162 out of 180 countries.

"We're now seeing a replay of this sudden-wealth mechanism, in which bureaucrats and businessmen become allies to capture oil revenues," said Pavel Gómez, an economist at the Institute of Superior Administrative Studies, a Caracas business school. "Some of these players are now falling, but the system will allow other beneficiaries to emerge."
Posted by: Steve White || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  shame if news/analysis of the NK "revaluing" of their currency was flooded through Venezuela. Might cause a twist in El Jefe's Panties™
Posted by: Frank G || 12/08/2009 19:36 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia to teach Arabic culture in schools
[Al Arabiya Latest] Russia's Ministry of Education has added Arabic language and culture to next year's school curriculum in an unprecedented move welcomed by families who said they look forward to introducing their children to Arab culture.
What's the Arabic for "Mohammad lived, lives, will live"?
The move was a response to requests by Arabs in Russia
I wouldn't have thought there'd be that many Arabs in Russia. It gets awfully cold there.
and although learning Arabic was previously linked to people interested in Islam, the second largest religion in the country, it is now being seen as a move that is likely to create several job prospects.
It's not like Mat' Rossiya has any culture to displace...
"The majority of our students are either Russian or from other ethnicities that are not Arab"
School headmistress
Native Russians welcomed the initiative and expressed their admiration for Arab culture. "The number of orientalists is very limited and I want to be one," said Sasha, explaining the reason for his keenness to learn Arabic.
Commissars didn't work out for Sasha, so maybe the holy men will do the trick.
His colleague Vadim said his admiration for Arab culture encouraged him to learn the language. "I want to be able to speak to the Arab people when I get the chance to visit the Arab world," he told Al Arabiya.
That sound you just heard is Dutch Kate turning over in her grave.
According to the new government resolution Arabic classes will be introduced as early as elementary school, said Sieda Golinian, headmistress of a school in southern Moscow. "The majority of our students are either Russian or from other ethnicities that are not Arab," she told Al Arabiya. "They want to learn Arabic to work as translators or in other financial, political and cultural fields."
I have visions of Chapaev rising from his grave and chasing Putin and Medvedev out of Moscow with a horsewhip. Perhaps the ghost of Suvarov will slam the gate behind them when their riddance is good.
In addition to offering job opportunities, including Arabic in Russian schools will also be of great help to mixed Russian-Arab families, said Selim al-Ali, member of the Council for Arab Expatriates. "Teaching Arabic in schools will solve many problems faced by children of mixed marriages as they will be able to get in touch with the culture that constitutes half their heritages," he told Al Arabiya.
My father hired a Hebrew tutor for us until we were old enough for Hebrew school, where we learnt Jewish history, literature, religion, and Israeli folk dancing. Had they wanted us to learn German, my mother would have handled it. Are Arab speakers in Russia so numerous that they must be accommodated by the state? Actually, I suspect there will in the end be only Headmistress Golinian's Arabic school in southern Moscow for the Al Arabiya reporter to fuss over.
Posted by: Fred || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I remember studying English in Russia 40 years ago. All the examples dealt with the iniquities of capitalism. Just saying.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/08/2009 4:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Russia to teach Arabic culture in schools

Hopefully they will use bombed railroads and elementary schools as teaching points.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 6:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Just pick up the lessons plans from the NEA.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/08/2009 7:53 Comments || Top||

#4  ION FREEREPUBLIC > RUSSIAN GENERAL [LTG Sergey Skokov]: CHINA IS A POTENTIAL ENEMY. RUSS faces threats from its strategic Western [US-NATO], SOuthern [Islamist-Ethnic "irregular" Militias], + Eastern directions [unspecified, but read CHINA + PLA].

FREEP POSTERS > RUSSIA is facing DE-POPULATION [demographic crisis], CHINA facing OVER-POPULATION, hence very good chance of future conflict. RUSS most dangerous potens enemies are CHINA + ISLAM, not the US-NATO/West.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/08/2009 18:16 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China executes rogue trader, millions still missing
Tue Dec 8, 6:29 am ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Tuesday executed a former securities trader for embezzlement, the first person in the industry to be put to death, but millions of yuan are still missing, a state newspaper said.

Yang Yanming was sentenced to death in late 2005 and took the secret of the whereabouts of 65 million yuan ($9.52 million) of the misappropriated funds to his grave, the Beijing Evening News said.

The report added that Yang was the first person working in China's securities sector to be executed.

"Preserve your moral integrity and don't set too much store by business results," Yang told the newspaper before the sentence was carried out.

He was the general manager of the Beijing securities trading department of the China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp., which became Galaxy Securities, from 1997 to 2003.

Conscious that the growing gap between rich and poor could generate resentment, China is battling corruption and stock trading abuses. It has used the death penalty as a deterrent in serious cases.

($1=6.828 Yuan)
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 16:50 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Securities fraud & embezzlement as capital crimes, THAT'S something that would shake up Wall St.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/08/2009 20:07 Comments || Top||

#2  ION SINA WMF > FORMER USDOD OFFCIALS CALL FOR ADDITIONAL CONSTRUCTION OF DDG-1000 "ZUMWALT" CLASS COSTLY SUPER WARSHIPS TO INTERCEPT CHINA'S CRUISE MISSLES, ANTI-CARRIER ASBMS, IRBMS.

* WORLD AFFAIRS BOARD > CHINA'S "MARSHALL PLAN" EYES INDUSTRIAL BASES IN AFRICA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/08/2009 20:41 Comments || Top||

#3  THAT'S something that would shake up Wall St.

If you compute the average income generated over a life time by the average American and divide the amount of money 'we the people' have been hammered for to refinance the gamblers on Wall Street et al with that average, you can consider that as the number of 'lives' they've destroyed in their games. Seems a fitting punishment.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/08/2009 21:55 Comments || Top||

#4  ken lay had it easy
Posted by: 746 || 12/08/2009 23:14 Comments || Top||


Europe
Russia in talks to buy more Israeli-made spy drones for $100m
It seems the Russian army needs to catch up with Georgia.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/08/2009 23:35 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Follow the Money
Posted by: tipper || 12/08/2009 09:53 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stock is currently rising, up from 6 bucks o $11.15 Up 0.35 today.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/08/2009 13:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Now look at H1N1. Follow the money. Looks like Dr. Flu made some interesting decisions. Now look at Climate change, Cap and trade, Health care and the Obama team. Looks like major attack to control everything. Major weapon of choice , FEAR !. Logic will not move people to make a quick decision but rather emotion will.
Posted by: Dale || 12/08/2009 17:49 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US to build 12 N-plants in AP, Gujarat
New Delhi, Dec. 8: Operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal has cleared the way for the setting up of a minimum of 12 new nuclear plants in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, which would generate between 10,000MW and 15,200MW, members of a visiting US commercial nuclear mission told reporters here Monday.

India’s Nuclear Power Corporation has already zeroed in on coastal Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to set up these plants.

GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Daniel Roderick said MOUs are expected to be signed by 2010.

He added: “With these behind us, we will start licensing companies to do site engineering and other work on site preparation by 2011.”

GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse Electric are in negotiations with Indian companies, including Bhel and Larsen and Toubro, to provide 50-70 per cent of the nuclear equipment to be made in India.

The first unit will get operational by 2018 and an additional one every two years after that, US team members said.

The Americans see the Indian nuclear pie as a $150 billion business.
Posted by: john frum || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But not in USA itself---cause USA don't need no dirty old energy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/08/2009 4:12 Comments || Top||

#2  More likely because it's easier to get through the regulatory paperwork in *India* than it is in the States. Given the regulatory hangover from the old socialist Nehru/Gandhi days, that says a hell of a lot about US NIMBY/BANANAism.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/08/2009 10:34 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Yudhoyono fears plot
[Straits Times] INDONESIA'S top brass met on Monday to discuss a supposed threat to the country after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that unnamed forces were planning to use an anti-graft rally to topple him.

The heads of the armed forces, the police and the intelligence agency were called to the security ministry to examine the alleged threat to the government surrounding the anti-corruption march scheduled on Wednesday, officials said.

The meeting came after Dr Yudhoyono cryptically told a gathering of his Democratic party on Sunday that the rally was a front for a 'hidden political scenario'. 'I've prayed in the middle of the night with my wife and family to find out what is going on behind this slander and character assassination,' he said.

'My common sense says that such political behaviour will at least in the short term shake, discredit or if possible topple SBY,' he added, using his nickname to refer to himself in the third person.

Dr Yudhoyono is under mounting pressure over corruption allegations that have besieged the administration since his landslide election victory in July on the back of promises of good governance and economic growth.

The softly-spoken ex-general has been slow to discipline the officials involved and has seemed out of touch with public anger over the endless stream of corruption scandals.
Posted by: Fred || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Philippine police clash with massacre suspects
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Philippines National Police have clashed with members of a local clan in the southern province of Maguindanao allegedly responsible for the killing of 57 people.

The firefight occurred in the town of Datu Unsay late Sunday when about 20 to 30 armed followers of the Ampatuan clan -- the main suspect in last month's massacre in Maguindanao -- opened fire on police commandos, National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa said. There has been no immediate report of any casualties from either side.

Government negotiators are trying to persuade about 2,400 gunmen to surrender peacefully to avoid bloodshed, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno told reporters in Manila.

Martial law has been in place in the province following the massacre.

On November 23, gunmen attacked a convoy of the wife, sisters and relatives of a politician planning to run against the province's governor in elections next year. Fifty-seven bodies were later found off the highway, some on a grassy hillside and some buried in a hastily dug pit, all bearing gunshot wounds.

The town's mayor has already been arrested over the killings. The military says it is hunting down the mayor's followers, who fled before martial law was declared on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Science
Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leak
Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol
Read the Danish Text here.
This is absolutely, positively delicious. Go read the whole thing.
Posted by: tipper || 12/08/2009 10:42 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dueling pistols! Issue them all pistols!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/08/2009 15:50 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL, "the circle of commitment jerk"
Sez it would weaken the UN's role, so it can't be all bad;)
Posted by: Spot || 12/08/2009 15:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Dopenhagen
Posted by: Chereting Untervehr9582 || 12/08/2009 16:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Carbonhagen
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/08/2009 16:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, the irony. The United Nations wa never going to be trusted with anything really important.

Convince people climate change is really important, and the consequence is, it taken away from the UN.

And the point of this whole scam in the first place was to give power and a bucket load of money to third world kleptocrats and the army of activist hangers on at the UN.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/08/2009 21:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Hopenchangen
Posted by: Skunky Glins**** || 12/08/2009 22:05 Comments || Top||


A Very Enlightening Series of Graphs Regarding Temperature.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/08/2009 05:40 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mods, please correct the spelling of temperature in the title. Thanks.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 12/08/2009 7:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Very good find! This is getting bookmarked and sent to idiots that still send me crap about global warming.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/08/2009 7:52 Comments || Top||

#3  The late Michael Crichton: Aliens Cause Global Warming.

I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.
Posted by: Black Bart Ebberens7700 || 12/08/2009 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Check out this article on how climate data was manipulated.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/08/2009 10:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Climate Research Unit (CRU)=Watermelon, i.e. green on the outside, red inside.

(Just like some politicians are radishes, i.e., red on the outside, white and hollow inside.)
Posted by: Willy || 12/08/2009 12:18 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2009-12-08
  Peshawar blast kills 10, injures 45
Mon 2009-12-07
  Explosions rock market in Lahore
Sun 2009-12-06
  Little resistance on day 2 of US-Afghan offensive
Sat 2009-12-05
  Attack temporarily shuts Herat airport
Fri 2009-12-04
  Russian Police find car packed with explosives near train station
Thu 2009-12-03
  14 dead in suicide bomber attack in Somalia
Wed 2009-12-02
  Obama: 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan by summer
Tue 2009-12-01
  At least 61 militants killed in Khyber tribal region
Mon 2009-11-30
  Air strike kills 30 Taliban in Khost
Sun 2009-11-29
  Russia train disaster was terrorist attack
Sat 2009-11-28
  IAEA votes to censure Iran
Fri 2009-11-27
  Lebanon gives Hezbollah right to use arms against Israel
Thu 2009-11-26
  Afghan police commander jailed for having 40 tonnes of hashish
Wed 2009-11-25
  Belgian pleads guilty in US jet parts sale to Iran
Tue 2009-11-24
  20 turbans toe-tagged in Hangu


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