#1
I went to the site of Jim's Gun Supply, whose URL appears on some of the pics. They just offer custom paint jobs. Don't know how many drug dealers are springing for the Hello Kitty AK-47 nowadays. (One of the pics at the publicintelligence link is a pink AK-47 with Hello Kitty on the stock. But in Jim's photo gallery, the Hello Kitty has been blurred out.)
They can also do a patriotic stars n stripes paint job, and they have a Beretta in a rather garish lavender.
Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Munchkin coroner in "The Wizard of Oz" and proclaimed in the movie that the Wicked Witch of the East was "really most sincerely dead," has died. He was 94.
His caregiver, Cindy Bosnyak, said Raabe pronounced RAH'-bee died Friday morning at a hospital in Orange Park, Fla. He was one of the few surviving Munchkins from the 1939 film....
Raabe was one of the 124 Munchkins in the film classic and one of only nine who had speaking parts. He was 22 years old and a show business veteran, earning money for college as a "midget" performer, as they were called then, when the movie was shot in 1938. Raabe portrayed the diminutive Munchkin official who solemnly pronounces the witch dead after Dorothy's farmhouse lands on her: "As coroner I must aver/I thoroughly examined her/And she's not only merely dead/She's really most sincerely dead."...
Raabe was about 3 1/2 feet tall when the movie was made. He eventually grew to about 4 1/2 feet. He toured the country for 30 years in the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, promoting hot dogs as "Little Oscar, the World's Smallest Chef." He also enjoyed going to Oz nostalgia events and getting fan mail. "It's an ego trip," he said. "This is our reward, the nostalgia."
In 2005, his book Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road, co-written by Daniel Kinske, was published. In later years, he lived in a retirement community in Penney Farms, Fla. In 2007, Raabe was one of seven surviving Munchkins on hand when the Munchkins were honored in Los Angeles with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....
As a fan of yours I must aver/Your film brought joy to all the world/I cannot just say merely, "thanks"/But really, most sincerely, "Thanks!"
Rest in peace. Any resemblance between the Yellow Brick Road and the Streets of Gold is anything but coincidental.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/10/2010 14:04 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid chaos and uncertainty in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, the interim government of Roza Otunbayeva has moved to freeze the national banking system as speculations run high that the ousted president might take money out of the country.
The new chief of staff for the interim Kyrgyz government, Edil Baisalov, accused President Kurmanbek Bakiev on Friday of emptying the state reserves before leaving.
"The state coffers are almost empty," Baisalov told CNN.
"Some funds have been transferred somewhere, which is why we've frozen the banking system, because we are anxious that the banks controlled by the former President Bakiev might take the funds out of the country," he added.
Meanwhile, head of the interim government Otunbayeva offered President Bakiyev safe passage out of the strategic Central Asian country.
"Bakiyev still has a chance to leave the country," Otunbayeva told reporters. She, however, set one condition for the offer, saying that "we will only guarantee his personal safety if he resigns."
The ousted president, who claims to have widespread support, has so far refused to step down and has expressed fear that those responsible for the Wednesday uprising in the capital were trying to track him down and kill him.
Insisting that he is still the legitimate president, Bakiyev said he would stay in the country to prevent a civil war that could erupt because of the deep divide between the north and the south of the country.
At least 75 people died and more than 1,500 were injured on Wednesday in the bloodshed that ended up in the fall of the Kyrgyz government.
Meanwhile, the interim government set up by the opposition has declared a national day of mourning to honor those killed in the unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Or maybe...seven. Or eight. Or ten. Or... ... Or however long Vlad says they can ...
[Dawn] Opposition leaders moved to consolidate their control over Kyrgyzstan after their victory in a bloody uprising, saying they would hold power for six months and assuring the US it can keep a strategic air base here -- at least for now.
There were signs of instability, though, as deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev refused Thursday to relinquish power after the revolt, which left at least 75 people dead and hundreds wounded. As he spoke, gunfire broke out after nightfall in the capital, Bishkek; there were no reports of casualties Friday from the nighttime shooting.
Roving bands of armed marauders trawled the streets of the capital overnight, despite warnings from the opposition leadership that looters would be shot. Newly appointed security officials warned they would use every means to restore calm.
A mourning ceremony for clash victims was planned for later Friday in Ala-Too Square near the government headquarters and security was likely to be heavy amid the intense emotions there.
The former Soviet nation is home to a key US military base supporting the fighting in Afghanistan that opposition figures have in the past said they wanted to see shut down. Kyrgyzstan also hosts a Russian military base and is the only nation where both Cold War foes have bases.
Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister now heading the interim government, said there were no plans yet to review the lease agreement for the Manas air base, which runs out in July. She said her government would meet U.S. diplomats for talks in Bishkek.
"Give us time, it will take time for us to understand and fix the situation," Otunbayeva said.
US military officials said Kyrgyzstan halted flights for 12 hours Wednesday, confining troops to the air base; they did not say if flights had resumed. Some 1,100 troops are stationed there, including contingents from Spain and France, in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Kyrgyzstan before signing an arms treaty in Prague on Thursday.
Michael McFaul, Obama's senior director for Russian affairs, emphasized that the US did not view the conflict as any kind of proxy struggle between the US and Russia.
"The people that are allegedly running Kyrgyzstan ... these are all people we've had contact with for many years," McFaul said. "This is not some anti-American coup, that we know for sure. And this is not some sponsored-by-the-Russians coup, there's just no evidence of that."
Kyrgyzstan shares a border with China and is a gateway to energy-rich Central Asian countries where the US, China and Russia are competing for dominance. China said it was "deeply concerned" about the violent uprising in its small western neighbor, echoing comments by the United States and Russia.
Otunbayeva said parliament had been dissolved and that she would head an interim government for six months before elections are called. She said the new government controlled four of the country's seven regions and called for Bakiyev to admit defeat.
"His business in Kyrgyzstan is finished," she said.
In a sign that Russia may lend its support to the opposition, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Otunbayeva on Thursday. Any suggestion that Russia is backing the new leadership would add to the pressure on Bakiyev to step down.
Russia sent in 150 paratroopers to its base to ensure the safety of the 400 military personnel and their families there, Russian state media reported.
Bakiyev, who fled the northern capital for his stronghold in the south, told a Russian radio station that "I don't admit defeat in any way." But he also said he recognized that "even though I am president, I don't have any real levers of power."
"What has taken place is a veritable orgy carried out by armed groups and I do not believe this is a defeat for me," Bakiyev said.
He spoke from southern Jalal-Abad region, where Bakiyev's popularity is said to remain high -- raising concerns he might try to secure his survival by exploiting the split between the more urban north and rural south.
Since coming to power in 2005 amid street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev had ensured a measure of stability. But the opposition said it came at the expense of democratic standards and accused Bakiyev of enriching himself and his family.
Many residents of Bishkek expressed wariness about the future.
"We have kicked out Bakiyev, the people have taken power into their own hands, but we have no plans for the future," said Abdykerim Sadykov, a 42-year-old teacher in the crowd outside the government headquarters, which is known as the White House. "We will wait until the opposition hatches a plan."
On Thursday, details emerged of the composition of the interim Cabinet, which has been drawn from a broad spectrum of opposition leaders, whose differences in the past have undermined attempts to weaken Bakiyev.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
That dog won't hunt. Inflation just gives the scoundrels a lifeline to keep spending money in factors greater than they have or can get. What they are planning to do is to hyperinflate the dollar, then re-denominate it, striking a bunch of zeroes off the end. Then hyperinflate some more. Then re-denominate, etc.
This sucks the life out of an economy like a vampire.
Right now, tax revenues are about 2 trillion dollars a year, from a height of about 2.8 trillion before the last downturn. However, the government has a national debt of $14.5 trillion, and on top of that, has already promised in excess of $150 trillion.
This means that even with *compounded* inflation of 100% (assuming 2.5T revenues average), and NO more excessive spending, it would still take seven years to pay off all their debt and promises. That is, all that debt and promises would only be paid off to the value of $2.5T
The dollar would be worthless. But of course, it would not stop their insane spending spree. By then, they would be spending and promising to spend in the quadrillions, or even quintillions of hyperinflated dollars.
The only way to stop this madness is to get control over Washington's spending. To stop the hemorrhaging of dollars and debt.
And like a gutter junkie prostitute, Washington cannot stop itself, so it has to be stopped by the States, most of whom are confronting reality right now.
#3
This time around they're not looking towards secession and they have the Constitutional means alter the system if they motivate 38 states to make it so. The more they mandate in the Beltway in effect make the states simply another layer/department of the central government, the sooner the states will realize that they must act or disappear. There's a lot of administrative savings in doing away with redundant governmental units and bureaucracies that they'll become.
#4
With increased GDP and inflation, yes it would work like the article says.
One minor problem.
GDP is still shrinking.
You get inflation with GDP shrinking or flat-lining.... you get deflation. Definitely NOT what the government is looking for. If the feds are looking to inflate their way out of their self inflicted mess.... they will fail. And bring down the Union with them.
Pray For Inflation -- It's The Government's Only Hope
Inflation transfers income and wealth from individuals to the government.
Deflation does the reverse (relatively speaking). Which is why governments are terrified of deflation. It transfers wealth and income to individuals. Just look at Japan over the last 20 years.
Poland' state news agency PAP says there are no survivors from the crash of a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski today to the western Russian city of Smolensk.
The report of deaths has not yet been officially confirmed by the Polish Foreign Ministry.
Russian news agencies quote the Smolensk governor and emergency officials as saying 87 people were killed as the plane crashed while on approaching Smolensk airport for landing.
The governor, Sergei Antufiev, said the plane "clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces."
Kaczynski had been expected for a memorial service in Katyn. Who's the veep?
#1
No Veep there. The head of the government (PM) is Donald Tusk, who was not on the plane. As for president, Komorowski, Marshal of the Sejm (e.g. something like speaker of parliament), may be a temporary president before elections are held.
Looks like he's dead...
A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski has crashed near a Russian airport, officials say. Russian media reported that 87 people were killed in the crash, but it is not yet known if anyone survived. The plane was reportedly heading to an airport in the western city of Smolensk when it crashed.
Mr Kaczynski was due to visit Smolensk to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviet troops killed thousands of Poles. Under non-WOT for now, but a lot of Russians will regard this as Good News, Well Timed.
#1
Well, looks like they got themselves another Pole just in time for the remembrance. Remembrance, KGB-style.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/10/2010 4:30 Comments ||
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The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, announced that he has created a special commission for the investigation of the plane crash. The commission will be supervised by the Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin.
#3
According to Auntie Beeb, there were some other high-ranking Polish government officials on the flight with him (army chief of staff, deputy foreign minister, a central bank governor). This could get interesting....
#4
Let's see... Putin gets Kyrgyzstan and Poland all in one week. I am willing to bet Turkmenistan is next...
A weak US means they regain their old soviet sphere.
MR "just punch me in the face" obama has no clue. They just laugh at him.
The Russians sent more fuel to the bushir facility in Iran on the same day they signed a nuke treaty.
Russians also said that there can be only one military base in Kyrgyzstan - also on the same day, Russian troops moved in to Kyrgyzstan.
#9
No, it doesn't. If I were Pooty and wanted to put Polaks in their "right" place, this would be the exact way to do it. What would Buraq do, vote present?
#10
After further facts, this does pass the smell test. Its an accident. And very much a tragedy for the people of Poland.
From The Economist:
Polish historical sensitivies about Russia mean that many see the coincidence as sinister rather than tragic. But the plane tried to land four times, in bad weather. Accident is the overwhelmingly likely cause.
Yet like Katyn, which eliminated the flower of the pre-war Polish elite, the plane crash also seems like a decapitation of Polish society. Among the 96 people who died were the chief of the Polish general staff, the head of the central bank, the director of the Institute of National Remembrance (which investigates and documents crimes such as Katyn) and many other of the countrys top public figures. Many politicians from the opposition Law and Justice Party, which is led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late presidents twin brother, were among the delegation.
A growing pile of flowers outside the presidential palace in Warsaw attested to the publics stunning sense of loss. Radek Sikorski, the foreign minister, who broke the news to the prime minister Donald Tusk this morning and said that the head of government wept on hearing it. Both men had been at Katyn earlier in the week, at a ceremony attended by the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.
This is a sad sad day for our brave allies, the Poles. Stop and pray for them.
#11
The presidential Tu-154 was at least 20 years old. Polish officials have long discussed replacing the planes that carry the country's leaders but said they lacked the funds.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s, including six in the past five years. The Russian carrier Aeroflot recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2010 11:30 Comments ||
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#12
hopefully they'll sell the fleet "cheap" to the Iranian military
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 11:44 Comments ||
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#13
My heartfelt sympathies go out to the Polish people.
As Old Spook has said this definitely was an accident. If anything Russian is to blame it's the aged Tupolev.
Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/10/2010 16:06 Comments ||
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#14
Landing a reasonably modern airplane at a reasonably modern airport by a reasonably competent crew should be possible even in heavy fog. They aborted the landing attempt 3 times and crashed the 4th time around. The crew knew by then the fog was a big problem and yet they were optimistic enough about their ability to make a good landing that they kept trying. Why? Were the airport instruments giving inconsistent signals? Pro pilots help me out, but my understanding is that full instrument landing requires both aircraft and ground signals. If the ground signals were 'glitchy', could it have been on purpose? Just saying that this works too perfectly for the Russians for me to accept the obvious story, and it is tough thinking God is on Putin's side.
#15
They attempted to land the aircraft in spite of repeated requests from ATC that it was unsafe due to zero visibility, and ignored repeated requests that they divert:
Kaczynski, whose body was also said to have been found, was a former anti-communist campaigner with a penchant for taunting the Kremlin. He had every reason to believe he was not welcome in Russia. Polish observers said he may have interpreted an order to divert to Moscow as an attempt to sabotage his big day in Katyn, where he was due to attend a mass and give a speech.
Russian media reports said he had once become angry with a pilot who refused to land in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, on the grounds that it was unsafe. The same thing may have happened at Smolensk, aviation experts claimed. They suggested he may have pressed the pilot to make at least two attempts to land.
#16
When my instrument instructor taught me to shoot the ILS approach, he said to try it no more than three times, if it looked favorable. That means minimum ceiling and runway visual range published for the approach and for the approach speed of the aircraft. After three attempts, you will start bridging things in your mind and you will "bust" minimums. Besides you are burning fuel up and could be getting into your fuel to go to your alternate.
If you want to play in the fog to the deck, you better be Catagory III equipped and trained, and so should the approach be at the airport. I doubt that the Tupelov was Cat III or even II, and neither was the crew.
Very tragic and unnecessary. Plus they NEVER should have concentrated so much leadership on one plane. US corporations learned that lessons the hard way years ago after a few crashes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/10/2010 23:27 Comments ||
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In a move that is bound to be opposed bitterly, the government has set in motion a proposal aimed at phasing out the subsidy for Haj pilgrims, which worked out to Rs 826 crore in 2008.
A note for cabinet made by the Ministry of External Affairs, the nodal agency for Haj, has been sent to stakeholder ministries such as civil aviation, finance and minority affairs for their response.
The note proposes to cut the number of pilgrims being sent on subsidised airfare by 10 per cent every year.
Over 1.60 lakh Indians made the Haj pilgrimage -- to Mecca, Medina and Mina in Saudi Arabia -- in 2009. The government subsidised the trip for 1.15 lakh who went through the Haj committee.
The rest went on their own using private tour operators.
The government subsidises the airfare, which has been rising, pushing up the subsidy bill from Rs 367 crore in 2006 to Rs 390 crore in 2007 to Rs 826 in 2008.
"The Government is striving to reduce such expenditu-re," minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor told Lok Sabha last year.
Around that time the airfare chargeable -- over the subsidised amount -- was raised from Rs 12,000 per person to Rs 16,000.
And now, the move to do away with it completely, but in a staggered fashion.
"This proposal of doing away with Haj subsidy is being discussed at the stakeholders level," said a senior official, adding, "Other than this, the government also has many ideas to address the issue of airfare subsidy."
There have been some cost-cutting initiatives such as the one suggested by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan and some Muslim MPs in 2008, urging the government to follow the Malyasian model.
The Malaysian Tabung Haji involves investment in an "Islamic, Shariat-compliant" way from the prospective pilgrims. They put in whatever amount they can afford in a kitty for a period of time. And they can withdraw the money whenever they want to go for Haj.
But the new proposal will not be acceptable to many.
"That's the wrong way of looking at making Haj efficient," said S.Q.R. Ilyasi, spokesperson of the All India Personal Law Board. He argued that the airfare subsidy was actually used to subsidize Air India. The amount can be drastically cut if private airlines are allowed to fly subsidized pilgrims.
Abdus Sattar, minority affairs minister in West Bengal, wants more transparency in the subsidy system. "The state Haj committees are kept in the dark. We have been taking up this issue at the Central Haj Committee."
Others asked the government to stay away from sensitive issues. "Why doesn't the government look at ways to improve Haj facilities rather than think of something that's politically so sensitive," asked Anwar Ali, Rajya Sabha MP.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
cut em off completely
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 10:47 Comments ||
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In December 2009, Ukrainian officials announced a 2.5 billion dollar arms sale to Iraq but, only provided limited details of the first 550 million dollars of the sale. Speculation pieces were written as to where the weapons would be distributed and what the rest of the 1.95 billion would buy.
Then the wait began for more details. After 4 months, there have been no more details. Iraq appears to be classifying their arms purchases and the Ukrainians quit talking after their two announcements in December 2009.
The initial speculation was that the follow on orders would focus on other weapons like tanks. But, there are other factors to consider.
-The Ukrainian announcements said they hope' to sell Iraq some Oplot tanks. In other words, the tanks were not part of any deals then on the table.
- Iraq has no real credit. The Government of Iraq tends to break arms purchases into separate deals that they can pay for within their existing annual budget. 550 million is apparently the first of five annual purchases adding up to a total of 2.5 billion.
- The reports contradicted with one saying 6 and the other saying 10 AN32 transport aircraft were ordered. That is not enough to fill a squadron. This means that more AN32s are to be ordered in the follow on contracts. This makes it likely that the purchase of these aircraft is being spread among all five contracts.
- The order for 420 BTR4 armored personnel carriers did not provide details on the variant-mix and is too many for just the planned Strike Team' battalions and too few for the Strike Teams and a brigade per heavy Division. That indicates that there are more BTR4-variants also being purchased and that this is just the first increment of 5 purchases.
If the initial 550 million dollar order is just the first increment of 5 annual similar-sized buys of AN32 aircraft and BTR4-varients of armored vehicles, then the total planned purchase looks like 40 AN32s [2 squadrons] and 2,100 BTR4-varients [50-70 battalions at 30-42 per battalion]. Factoring in production, delivery, and training time, this would fit for these units being made operational by 2020.
Based on 42 BTR4-varient vehicles per battalion, the purchases are 10 battalions per buy but, neither the Strike Teams or the 37/9 Light Mechanized Brigade are organized with battalions that large.
- The initial forming Karkh Area Command Strike Team is to have just over 400 personnel. This means that they are only going to require 30-35 BTR4s in each Strike Team Battalion.
- The 37/9 Light Mechanized Brigade is the test-bed for the Iraqi Army Light Mechanized [reconnaissance] Brigade structure. The brigade's 3 battalions are about 30 BTR80s each [98 total] and a battalion of 35 EE9 90mm-gun armed scout cars.
Those battalion size-structures indicate that each annual purchase is for 12-14 battalions worth [total of 60-70]. Since the BTR80s are being replaced because they are not heavily enough armed for the role', this also indicates that the BTR4s ordered will have the Grom turret with its 30mm gun and anti-tank missiles.
The structure of the 37/9 LMB also suggests that part of those orders of BTR4-variant vehicles will be for MOP-4K 120mm-gun armed Fire Support Vehicles, sometimes called Tank Destroyers.
Each of the 10 planned heavy divisions [4 armored/6 mechanized] of the Iraqi Army are planned to have a Light Mechanized Reconnaissance Brigade. This accounts for half of the 2,100 BTR4-variants ordered or to be ordered.
One other factor to be considered is that the 10 Operational Commands and Area Commands receiving Strike Team Battalions are the basis of Iraqi Army, Federal Police, and Joint Corps headquarters.
The forming Strike Teams are probably the start of the Corps-subordinate Light Mechanized Reconnaissance Brigades. Those 10 Commando' Brigades probably account for the other half of the BTR4-variants ordered or to be ordered.
This is not the only option; Just a very likely probability. Other options include some or all of the BTR4s going to the planned Federal Police Light Mechanized Division(s) [2-4 planned] or being organized into Iraqi Army Light Mechanized Division(s).
Which service or services were to receive these vehicles was not specified. If the initial deliveries go to Ministry of Defense, then it is unlikely any will go to Ministry of Interior [and vice-versa]. ISOF and its new Strike Teams are still under Ministry of Defense, since the Counter Terrorism Service Law has not been passed.
The initial BTR4-variants are to start arriving this year.
The concept of a Light Mechanized Reconnaissance Brigade or Commando' Brigade per corps headquarters is not new. The corps structure in the old Iraqi Army had 2 commando' brigades each. They were equipped with BTR60s to fill the role of reconnaissance/quick reaction Force and rear-area security. US corps' uses Stryker and Armored Cavalry Regiments [brigades in all but name] for recon/QRF and Military Police Brigades for rear-area security.
It appears that the Iraqi Special Operations Force and Ministry of Interior's Emergency Response Force brigades are going to fill the wartime corps subordinate commando' brigade role in the new joint structure.
The initial Strike Team Battalions are probably just the start of corps' subordinate brigades, along with the rest of ISOF's battalions. Most of the ISOF battalions are already co-located with the Operational Commands. Arming them with BTR4-varients would fit their corps' role as QRF/Recon. The ERF Brigades will probably fill the wartime Military Police duties [rear-area security] since they are paramilitary police Special Forces.
[Iraqi Forces tend to use the word commando' where the US Army would use Cavalry or the US Marines would use Reconnaissance.]
A US nuclear sub rammed another ship causing nearly £60MILLION damage - while its navigator was listening to his iPod.
Sailors aboard the USS Hartford had also rigged up loudspeakers so they could play MUSIC on duty, an official report found last night. Sonar operators and radio men were missing from their posts. Others drove the attack sub while "with one hand on the controls and their shoes off", it said.
The report slammed the navigator, who was listening to his iPod in his cabin while revising for an exam at the time.
The captain, Commander Ryan Brookhart, was relieved of his duties after the Navy found that more than 30 errors, - including "an informal atmosphere" and "a weak command" - led to the "avoidable accident".
Fifteen sailors on the Hartford were injured when it hit the transport ship USS New Orleans in the Persian Gulf in March 2009.
Navy chiefs approved a whopping £57million repair bill for the Hartford and another £1.5million for the New Orleans.
#3
Sailors aboard the USS Hartford had also rigged up loudspeakers so they could play MUSIC on duty, an official report found last night.
Outrager! This shit must stop nao! It's unheard of, I mean wtf? MUSIC? On a sub? Damn someones needs to be admonished severely. Got it, no smoking from nao on. That'll teach 'em.
#6
That will be career ender for virtually anyone in a command position on that boat, officer or enlisted. Even if the officers are slackers, the chiefs should be maintaining discipline. That's assuming they're not court-martialed for derelection of duty.
#7
retards. I'm actually fairly laidback for a jarhead but this is beyond idiocy. Beer on the pier, do crazy shit after you break ice on the polar caps are all good to go in my book. Your navO listening to John Mayer or whatever while negotiating the straits of hormuz is Idiocracy Level stupidity.
#8
But wait, there's more! Womyn soon to be allowed to volunteer for duty on US submarines. Forget the iPod and tunes, we've got some REAL maritime distraction coming your way sailors!
Two Indonesians were paraded nude through their village in a province dominated by Islam, following a beating by mob angered when it was alleged that the pair had been caught having extramarital sex. Bus is a 36 year-old man who is an official with the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs in the province of Aceh Barat. He and Yus, a 28 year-old woman, were caught on April 7 in the woman's home by a mob. Guess we won't be seeing Tiger teeing off in the Aceh Barat Open anytime soon...
Islamic police, who impose Islam's Sharia religious laws, said that the pair were dragged out of the woman's home, stripped nude and paraded through the streets of the town. They were then manacled and tied to a post were they were beaten with sticks until black and blue. Police intervened before a summary execution by the mob could be carried out. Even so, the offending man and woman may still face further corporal punishment that is required by Sharia: nine lashes each in public if they are found guilty of adultery.
The province of Aceh Barat adopted Sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy package from the central government of Indonesia that was intended to quell separatist Islamists.
[Straits Times] THAILAND'S security forces maintained a heavy presence in Bangkok on Saturday as mass anti-government protests approach the one-month mark with no end in sight to the turmoil.
Tens of thousands of police and soldiers have been mobilised to restore order in the capital, where 'Red Shirt' demonstrators have occupied the main commercial district, causing traffic gridlock and prompting stores to close.
Tensions escalated on Friday when forces used tear gas and water cannon as thousands of protesters stormed a television broadcaster in the city's outskirts to try to put an anti-government channel back on air. Top leaders of the movement face arrest for defying a state of emergency announced on Wednesday by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who remained holed up at an army barracks.
The rallies, which began on March 12, are the latest chapter in years of political turmoil in Thailand pitting Bangkok's ruling elite against the mainly poor and rural Reds, who support ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The country has been riven by political tensions since a bloodless coup ousted telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin in 2006.
On Friday about 12,000 demonstrators massed outside Thaicom, a day after the government pulled the plug on their People Television (PTV) under emergency rule aimed at quelling the turmoil. A tense stand-off ensued with thousands of security personnel at the site on the outskirts of Bangkok. Some protesters managed to force their way into the compound of the broadcaster, which was protected by barbed wire.
Security personnel used tear gas and water cannon for first time since the mass demonstrations began in mid-March, but the stand-off later ended without any serious clashes between the two sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] ANTI-GOVERNMENT protesters on Friday battled past water cannons, tear gas and riot troops, then climbed over rolls of razor wire to occupy the grounds of Thailand's communications nerve centre.
The move forced the government to allow their People's Television (PTV) station back on the air.
Later in the day, 'red shirts' stormed a police building at the upscale Ratchaprasong intersection - their main rally site in the Thai capital - to warn off forces there reportedly preparing to disperse them.
Friday's riot at Thaicom, a private firm that is the country's communications office, in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok, was the first real clash between red shirts and security forces in nearly four weeks of protests.
It came after the government invoked a state of emergency in Bangkok and its surroundings on Wednesday.
Soldiers first used a water cannon truck to hold off protesters, but police switched to tear gas after they swarmed around the truck.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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With the partial results of Sri Lanka's election announced, President Mahinda Rajapakse' has thanked the public for giving a mandate to his ruling party through a 'resounding' victory in the parliamentary elections.
The Elections Commissioner on Friday said President Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has 117 seats in the 225-member assembly, AFP reported.
"I sincerely thank you for giving me an unprecedented majority that will help make Sri Lanka an example to the rest of the world," Rajapakse said on Friday.
The fate of 45 seats has yet to be determined. At least 24 of these seats are expected to be secured by the president's party, Rajapakse's spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage predicted.
Should the predictions come true, the party would be only nine seats short of a two-thirds majority.
Rajapakse led Colombo to victory over The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, thus ending the separatists' 25-year-long armed campaign for an independent state.
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) was reduced to 46 seats, AFP added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
Raabe was one of the 124 Munchkins in the film classic and one of only nine who had speaking parts. He was 22 years old and a show business veteran, earning money for college as a "midget" performer, as they were called then, when the movie was shot in 1938. Raabe portrayed the diminutive Munchkin official who solemnly pronounces the witch dead after Dorothy's farmhouse lands on her: "As coroner I must aver/I thoroughly examined her/And she's not only merely dead/She's really most sincerely dead."...
In a move that is bound to be opposed bitterly, the government has set in motion a proposal aimed at phasing out the subsidy for Haj pilgrims, which worked out to Rs 826 crore in 2008.
