A weird species of rodent, totally new to science, has been discovered on sale in a southeast Asian food market. The rock rat - or kha-nyou as it is known in Laos - is unlike any rodent seen before by scientists.
"It was for sale on a table next to some vegetables," says conservation biologist Robert Timmins, "And I knew immediately it was something I had never seen before." People in the Khammouan region of Laos know of the species, and prepare it by roasting it on a skewer, says Timmins, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York City, US.
Timmins and his team have subsequently trapped the animal with the help of local people, but have never seen it alive either in the wild or in the market. Relatively little is yet known of how it lives or the full extent of its habitats.
The creature looks something like a cross between a large dark rat and a squirrel, but is actually more closely related to guinea pigs and chinchillas. The long-whiskered rodent has a thick, furry tail, large paws, stubby limbs and is around 40 centimetres from nose to tail. Initial evidence suggests it gives birth to a single young at a time. The discovery was reported in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.
What makes Laonastes aenigmamus so unusual is that it is not closely related to any other rodents. The researchers behind the find have had to create a whole new family, the Laonastidae, to accommodate it.
#3
Ha! Louisiana's finally found a market for its nutria.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/13/2005 21:08 Comments ||
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Ick. Nutria. I saw them on my swamp boat ride. Big orange teeth, nasty disposition. They were brought to LA by the McIlhenny Tabasco family for fur breeding...the original six that left Europe were 36 or so by the time they got to the US. All was well at the fur farm until a hurricane broke the cage open and Bam! nutria up to the eyeballs.
BIRMINGHAM, England, May 13 (UPI) -- Use of the private sector to carry out operations on the British National Health Service will double in the next five years, the government said Friday. Newly appointed Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told a Birmingham conference of NHS managers $5.6 billion would be spent on 1.7 million operations carried out by the private sector. The number of operations carried out by the private sector, but paid for by the NHS, will rise from the current 5 percent as high as 15 percent.
The government says using the private sector will ensure faster treatment and more choices for patients.
But, but, but I thought government run universal health care was the most efficent method? That's what Hillary said, anyway.
From the end of 2005, patients will be given the choice of five hospitals, including one from the private sector, for treatment. But opponents are concerned the move could potentially threaten the existence of the NHS.
That's not a bug, it's a feature
Vincent Marks, professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Surrey, told the BBC: "This is really the destruction of the NHS. "Once you start farming it off into private enterprises the NHS as we understood it will gradually disintegrate."
One of our best friends living in Britain needed her gall bladder removed. NHS told here she'd have to wait 6 months to a year. She went to a private hospital, on her own dime, and had it done within a week.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2005 8:29:16 AM ||
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And if you go to Washington Monthly (and no, I'm not providing a link to those harlots) you'll find Kevin Drum waxing on about how good European health care compared to ours. He makes a few obligatory noises about how the British NHS "may not be the model" for us, but he prefers even that to ours.
Fools.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2005 9:01 Comments ||
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Once you allow private enterprise to compete with NHS, NHS will die off. Now, why do you suppose that is? Could it *possibly* be the *same* reason that *every* other socialist programme dies off in the face of private enterprise? Every...single...one? Does that not register? Do they not have any pattern recognition whatsoever? Should they be in a position of leadership without having a functioning judgement center in their brains?
Cuban President Fidel Castro charged that Washington has organized all terrorist actions unleashed against the island since the triumph of the revolution in 1959, employing war criminals who fled from Cuba to find shelter in the United States. In a nationally televised speech Thursday evening, the Cuban leader delivered his accusation with the support of solid evidence: CIA and FBI documents that have been declassified over the past few days. These documents reveal that US intelligence services were well aware of the terrorist nature of actions carried out by Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, Felix Rodriguez and other individuals — but nothing was done to stop them. "They couldn't," said the head of state, "because those terrorist groups were hatched by the CIA to defeat the Cuban Revolution. The United States filled the western hemisphere with terrorists and used them as mercenaries against Latin American peoples as well."
Fidel Castro emphasized that the United States was the architect behind terrorism and that it trained the organizers of horrendous criminal acts in which even thousands of US citizens were killed, alluding to the attack on the World Trade Center. He also recalled that George Bush Sr. had been linked to terrorist actions, as he was the CIA's director when a Cuban airliner was bombed in 1976 off Barbados and when former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier was assassinated in Washington. "The current US government is an accomplice to the terrorist Miami-based mafia to whom George W. Bush owes his presidency," he said Citing US media sources, Fidel Castro referred to an interview with Eduardo Soto, Luis Posada Carriles' lawyer, who said that the White House cannot act against his client because they trained him to plant bombs and assassinate the Cuban president.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2005 11:09:11 AM ||
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EWING -- Indignant New Jersey troopers blasted Cuban leader Fidel Castro yesterday for calling convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard a "political prisonerââ and victim of American racism. "We want the rest of the world to know what sheâs about and to make sure they do not receive her as anything but a murderer," said Sgt. Stephen Jones, state police spokesman.
...Chesimard, sitting in the right front passenger seat, opened fire first and the others followed, said state police detective Kevin Torme, lead investigator in the Chesimardâs case.After a hail of bullets, Foerster, 34, and Coston were mortally wounded.
"One of the them executed Trooper Foerster with his own service revolver -- by shooting him twice in the head. On the pavement by Trooper Foersterâs hip was Chesimardâs gun that was jammed," Torme said.
Chesimard, who now calls herself Assata Shakur and is a professor in Havana under the protection of Castro, was sent to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County."She escaped in a well-orchestrated prison break on Nov. 2, 1979," Jones said.The escapee fled to Cuba where she is being given political asylum.
On Tuesday, Castro appeared to call Chesimard, now 57, a victim of "the fierce repression against the Black movement in the United States and has been a true political prisoner."
President Vicente Fox said Thursday his government will formally protest recent U.S. immigration reforms, including the decision to extend walls along the border and make it harder for illegal migrants to get driver's licenses.
Fox didn't give details of Mexico's plan, but officials in his administration have raised the possibility of taking their case to the United Nations or other international organizations. Rest at link.
Build the wall high along all the border and catapult all illegal crossers back to Mexico. Or copy what the humanitarian Mexicans do on the Mexico-Guatemala border, i.e. rob and rape the crossers. Fox can FOAD.
Posted by: ed ||
05/13/2005 08:07 ||
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Excluding illegals! Yes, by all means, take it to the U.N. It's called sovereignty. Passport, please.
Refusing illegals driving priviledges! Knowingly failing to report an illegal to the INS should get the driver's license department clerk 30 days in jail.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/13/2005 8:31 Comments ||
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Article 33 of the Mexican Constitution - Article 33. Foreigners are those who do not possess the qualifications set forth in Article 30. They are entitled to the guarantees granted by Chapter I, Title I, of the present Constitution; but the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.
#5
When I tell people this they don't believe me, but it's true. An illegal immigrant from Mexico is permitted to OWN real estate (the land and all improvments) in the USA. However, a US citizen is NOT permitted to OWN real estate in Mexico. Oh, you might "own" the house ON the land, but a non-Mexican can't "own" the ground the house sits on. It's against the law. Let that sink it for a minute...think about it.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
05/13/2005 10:46 Comments ||
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Sounds suspiciously like the ultimate case of meddling in another country's internal affairs. Anyone in Washington care to answer appropriately, or are y'all going to just bend over and spread your ass cheeks even wider?
#7
Fox is gonna be voted out of office. This is a desperate attempt to stir up anti-Yankee voters.
We're gonna end up with a little socialist down there. I don't know his politics but most of the entrenched scumbag politicians in Mexico are afraid so maybe he won't be too bad. Then again maybe he's another idiot Chavez. Only time will tell but Mexico needs an enema and Fox has been unwilling or unable to do it.
#9
Mark Z.: When you consider the implications of property tax, nobody in the US - citizens or otherwise - can be considered to own the land. Let that sink it for a minute.
"Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and their appurtenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters. The State may grant the same right to foreigners, provided they agree before the Ministry of Foreign Relations to consider themselves as nationals in respect to such property, and bind themselves not to invoke the protection of their governments in matters relating thereto; under penalty, in case of noncompliance with this agreement, of forfeiture of the property acquired to the Nation. Under no circumstances may foreigners acquire direct ownership of lands or waters within a zone of one hundred kilometers along the frontiers and of fifty kilometers along the shores of the country."
Their own national document is full of xenophobic intolerance. One of the major contributions to the vibrant American economy is the investment by English, Dutch, Japanses, etc individuals and corporations in the property and commerce in the US. That is why there will never be effective economic reform in Mexico until a new revolution occurs. Don't send back the illegals, instead start forming the Ejercito de Liberation de Mexico from the tired, the poor, the unwanted. When the ultra corrupt pols start to see their necks in the rope, then they'll close the border.
#11
I thought passports were a good idea until I read about all the Iraqis with UN passports in NZ, including full diplomatic immunity to its holder. The diverted KLM flight with Soddy's going to visit their diplomat father, a resident guest of Fox's, shows exactly where their loyalties are. The Spanish aristocrats slaughter the indigenous Indians and deliberately export their social problems north so they can enjoy their large haciendas without the poor peasants begging at the door.
#12
I guess we now know exactly where we stand vis-a-vis Mr. Fox's Mexico. This protest would indicate that the border needs to be secured immediately and illegals, especially Mexicans, be sought out and deported with all possible speed. Sure, we can consider special legal accomodations for guest workers but only after we get the basics down and the situation under control.
#16
He can't really do much. If he stop NorteAmericanas from traveling in Mexico he will put his country in DIRE economic peril. This was his best card to play and now he will retreat to the Presidential Palace and count the bribe money that he takes. Build a wall, build it high, and build it long but just build the damn thing!
May 13, 2005: Taiwan will begin mass production of its new Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile next year. The project has been kept secret, or as secret as possible, but details have leaked out. The Hsiung Feng III is apparently a one ton missile, with a range of 300 kilometers and a top speed about 2,200 kilometers an hour. Low flying and using a highly effective guidance and targeting system, the missile is meant to take out Chinese warships and transports while they are still far from Taiwan.
The Hsiung Feng missiles are based on the American Harpoon design, but have been expanded considerably since the Hsiung Feng I. The missiles can also hit land targets, but until the latest version, this was not very practical because of the short range of the missiles. There is believed to be a slower, but longer range Hsiung Feng (the IIE), with a range of 500 kilometers, and cluster bomb warheads for destroying military targets on land. The Hsiung Feng III can also be launched from land, and mobile launchers for these missiles may end up being added to Taiwan's defenses.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2005 9:07:33 AM ||
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The only way the Reds will land on Taiwan will be as tourists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/13/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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"these missiles will fail against our mighty kayak zodiac fleet!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/13/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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Hmmm... 5-6 years ago a company I worked for sent quite a bit of electronic testing equipment to Tiawan. The engineer said it was for testing missles, big missles. I at first thought it was the anti-aircraft ones, but know I'm not so sure.
Go Tiawan!
#5
Last I read China had about 200 batteries of ground attack missiles, based near the sea. These would undoubtedly be the first Chinese targets to go.
#6
Interesting... it has a longer range than the standard Harpoon, and has a speed about twice as fast.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
05/13/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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A good option for Taiwan might be to create a new class of missile, SCUD-sized, that delivers just-below-surface floating cluster munitions out to sea. The bomblets would need to be just large enough to open a canteloupe-sized hole in a hull. Then sink harmlessly after 96 hours if they don't go off. One such missile could probably deliver 750-1000 such munitions, covering several square miles of ocean.
#8
Hopefully they're not averse to licensing that missile's design to us.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/13/2005 12:01 Comments ||
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I was telling you guys a while back that the Taiwanese have stuff they are holding back on in terms of publicity, but are manufacturing in numbers enough to be effective. And its sophisticated stuff too. They have great engineers over there, and a ton of chip-fab capacity. And they are very aware of the threat posed by mainland China.
#10
Personally I'm hoping they are holding back some (Three Gorges) dam busting missiles, to be unveiled the moment China starts to look serious about giving it a go.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/13/2005 13:34 Comments ||
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The real strategic weapon they should have is one with which they can blockade Chinese ports, particularly Shanghai and Hong Kong/Canton. China's best strategy vs Taiwan is the threat of a blockade, not an invasion, and Taiwans best counter is a counter-blockade. This missile does not seem to have sufficient range for that, something on the order of 1000 km would be needed. Submarines would be the best weapon for this purpose.
May 13, 2005: Police records have been leaked, showing a large and rapid increase in the number of public demonstrations against the government. There were only 8,700 such incidents in 1993, but the number increased to 32,000 in 1999, 50,000 in 2002 and some 60,000 last year. Most of the unrest has to do with unemployment and corruption among government officials. Chinese law does not allow citizens to freely assemble and demonstrate for anything. While the police will often tolerate irate people making a racket about no jobs or high taxes, they will crack down, and make arrests, if there is property damage or injuries, or the local police commander feels like it.
Not only have the outburst been growing in number, but also in size. In the late 1990s, the average demonstration had ten or fewer people. By 2003, the average demonstration contained 53 people. Groups numbering in the hundreds and thousands are becoming more common (more than ten percent now involve over a hundred people.) Demonstrators have also developed tactics (which are shared via the Internet) that make it more difficult for the police to use violence or arrests to break up the protest. For example, the front ranks of the demonstrators often contain women, children and, most importantly, retired soldiers and local elders. Foreign journalists are particularly favored as protection from police violence. Worst of all, the police know that if they play rough, their actions, often accompanied by digital pictures, will quickly appear on the Internet. As a result, the police have their own new tactics, which involve minimal use of violence, and any actions that might inflame the mob, and make it grow. The police photograph and videotape the crowds, trying to identify the leaders for later arrest. Local officials are also under increasing pressure to address the causes of the demonstrations, and do whatever is necessary to make them not happen. This involves bribing, threatening, arresting or killing local organizers of the demonstrations. So far, however, the demonstrators are winning, and growing.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2005 9:05:16 AM ||
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China starting to crumble from the inside? Shades of 1989? Hm.....
#2
My bets are on a tight race between the internal collapse of the current Empire phase and the potential for dangerous adventurism [like Taiwan] which regimes in the last stage grasp for in order to distract rising discontent.
#4
Taiwan would not be 'adventurism' but 'diversion'. When/if the Chinese people get too fed up with the government and actually threaten to overthrow it (legally or otherwise) look for the government to push harder on Taiwan, even to the point of invading it. It is similar to tactics used elsewhere to reunite a people behind the government against an 'enemy' of both.
FOR the first time in 30 years, the majestic humpback whales Sydneysiders now call their own face slaughter for restaurant menus in Japan.
The Japanese Government has lodged a secret application to extend its annual cull of whales - for "scientific purposes" - to include humpbacks.
While the Federal Government last night denounced the plan as grotesque, it admitted Australian patrol boats would refuse to board Japanese vessels to stop the slaughter.
Instead, Canberra hopes the matter can be resolved at the diplomatic level - but the Japanese have stacked the whaling authority with small island nations who rely on Japanese support.
A decision will be made in a matter of weeks at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission, which could see Japanese whaling ships enter Australian waters off Antarctica to hunt humpbacks.
At the same time, the annual migration of humpback and southern right whales will start appearing off Sydney's beaches.
Last night Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said the idea of hunting humpbacks was "grotesque" and any move to bring it back could cause an international outrage.
The still secret proposal by Japan will be the first time since 1966, when the harpooning of humpback whales was first banned, that a commercial take - under the guise of scientific research - could be allowed.
The State Government yesterday called for an urgent intervention by Canberra, claiming the humpback population which migrate along the NSW coastline annually will be hunted.
It is also concerned the multi-million-dollar whale watching industry could be threatened.
Humpback whales have only just recovered from a critically low number of 100 in 1962 to back around 4000.
However, Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock is trying to block a Federal Court action launched by the Humane Society International to stop a Japanese whaling company entering the Australian Whale Sanctuary in Antarctica set up in 2000 and protected under Australian law.
It fears that any attempts to stop Japan entering Australian waters for whaling could spark a diplomatic row because Japan does not recognise Australia's claim to this territory.
A submission by Mr Ruddock reveals that the Government will refuse to board or prevent Japanese whaling vessels operating in Australian waters.
Japan, which still takes 400 minke whales a year, has threatened to withdraw from the IWC if it does not get its way in broadening its annual harvest.
However, it may not have to. It has managed to lobby enough of the 55 member countries to undermine - for the first time in 20 years - the majority that anti-whaling nations have had on the commission.
This means it may get approval for its plans without needing to withdraw.
Japan is attempting to use a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on all whaling - which already allows it to take 400 minke whales for research - to resume the taking of humpbacks and sperm whales.
#1
which could see Japanese whaling ships enter Australian waters off Antarctica to hunt humpbacks.
Australian waters? I can understand if they hunt the whales in International waters, but why on earth would Australia let Japan into their territory to do something that Australia is against?
Posted by: Charles ||
05/13/2005 20:05 Comments ||
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Somewhat tangentially related, one of the funniest ads I ever seen ran about 10 days ago and seems to have been immediately pulled as to politically incorrect. Its a Victoria Bitter ad and starts out fairly typically for the genre - bunch of guys around the BBQ beers in hand. The voice over goes something like this 'What a great country when you can get together with your mates, grill chunks of meat and drink cold beer. You can even throw a piece of the national animal on the BBQ and it's all tastes great.' Sorry, I can't find a link.
#4
The solution for this seems straightforward. Get some otherwise unharmful bacteria or chemical that makes whale meat taste revolting, and start innoculating the critters. Imagine how the Japanese would freak out when they found out. I remember the story of early settlers in Texas who discovered to their disgust that the local wild turkeys ate chinaberries, which made their meat as tasty as a lemon with a healthy dollop of alum on it. For years afterwards they lived in peaceful coexistence, surrounded by wild turkeys, and nobody dreamed of eating one.
An incident of bullying, threats and violence on a basketball court at Jakarta's top school for expatriate children has brought Southeast Asia's biggest economy firmly back into the international spotlight, for all the wrong reasons. Widespread media exposure of the violent rampage was a major embarrassment to the government, since the alleged perpetrator in the April 17 incident at the Jakarta International School was not some wayward, unruly foreign teenager but Theo Toemion, chairman of the powerful Investment Coordinating Board.
Toemion reportedly attacked a 14-year-old student referee, and parents of other children, over a dispute involving his seven-year-old son. The assault left an American oil company executive - a parent of one of the children in the game - with a broken nose. The executive, fearing violence, has since left Indonesia with his family. Another oil company employee was hit in the back of the head, requiring several stitches. Toemion has claimed his outbreak was an act of nationalism because he believes his son was treated unfairly due to racism and discrimination.
Executives from major US multinationals - ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Unocal and Nike - were among those trying to stem the violence, which probably partly explains the response from the US Embassy's deputy chief of mission, W. Lewis Amselem: "We are thinking of forbidding him from visiting America."
Toemion, who has held the post since June 2001, has since told the local media that he was resigning, but added that he was "very irritated" by media reports on the incident. A recent report in the International Herald Tribune cited Indonesian officials as confirming that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had already planned to replace Toemion, an appointee of previous president Megawati Sukarnoputri, with his own appointee before the incident occurred...
The government also looks eager to try put the Toemion embarrassment behind it as quickly as possible. Presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng, announcing that the president had issued a decree on the appointment of Mohammad Luthfi as the new chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, said the change was based on professional concerns and also to give a "new spirit to the investment environment".
#1
Unfortunately, there is a history of powerful locals throwing their weight around at International schools. A girlfriend of mine was raped by a local lad, and was told that nothing could be done about it because his daddy was part of the ruling oligarchy, just like the ass in this story. I won't go so far as to say this kind of thing is common, but only because my children were too young when we were abroad for me to have been in the gossip loop. Perhaps Sgt. Mom could clarify that better -- she was out there longer than I.
#2
I really couldn't, TW. There were two international schools in Athens that drew students from military and diplomatic families. My daughter was preschool-age at the time, so I just wasn't in the gossip loop. When she was old enough to start school it was to a DOD school for the rest of the time we were in Europe, and they were mercifully free of local national big-shots throwing their weight around.
Sri Lanka's efforts to legally ban induced or forced religious conversions may result in the persecution of minorities, a visiting United Nations official warned on Thursday. Sri Lanka has a Buddhist majority, and monks here complain that Christian missionaries offer money and jobs to entice poor Buddhists to change their religion. The Buddhist monks have been pressing the government to stop such practices, and the government is already discussing two draft laws. However, a UN official balked at such a step.
"In my opinion, the provisions of both draft bills could result in the persecution of religious minorities rather than protection and promotion of religious tolerance," Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion, said at a news conference in Colombo. Jahangir said the proposed legislation may contravene human rights laws and the right to freedom of religion, and that people might use the laws for personal revenge in disputes. She didn't elaborate.
Jahangir said the government failed to act against those responsible for attacks on Christian churches since the death in 2003 of prominent Buddhist cleric Gangodawila Soma, who worked against religious conversions. Some Buddhists claim Christian missionaries were responsible for Soma's death, which occurred while he was touring Russia. Jahangir also said however that some religious groups helping thousands of Sri Lankan victims of the Dec 26 Indian Ocean tsunami have been "exploiting the vulnerability of the population." She urged non-governmental and religious charity organisations to respect a UN resolution calling such groups to provide aid without asking recipients to espouse particular religious opinions.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2005 00:00 ||
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Barely a week after National Assembly members concern with women and child rights called on the Supreme Islamic Council, to make their stand know on the controversial FGM issue, Alhaji Banding Drammeh, president of SIC has broken his silence over the impasse saying that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice carries no sin.
"Yeah, sure! Lop their gennies off! No problem!"
"FGM is a recommendation of the hadiths of the Prophet. It is an honour for a lady to undergo the practice of FGM,'' Drammeh said. Pressed on the specific Hadith (teachings of the Prophet) that permits FGM, the SIC boss replied: " The practice is not compulsory in Islam. If you want to do, do it. If you do not want to do it leave it. It is an ordinary thing. We were not consulted by the NAMs on the issue. They went to Tendaba without inviting us."
Oh, that specific hadith...
Asked about the health implications of the practice on women and the girl child, Drammeh said: "It is just today that the practice is harmful. For me it is just an ordinary thing,'' he concluded.
"It didn't used to be harmful, y'know. Why, back in my day..."
During their tour of the provinces, the National Assembly Select Committee on Women and Children had described the "menace" as harmful to the health of the girl child. According to Nyimasata Sanneh Bojang, nominated member of the NA and member of the committee, the practice has brought about confusion as some link it to tradition, while other scholars link it to religion. The practice has been the subject of rancour and impasse between conservative religious scholars and the women and child rights activists in the country. The practice has been abrogated in some African countries, especially Senegal, after years of struggle. But in The Gambia, activists continued to face hurdles in their quest to enlighten the masses about the health implications of the practice.
"Hurdles" appears to be a synonym for a liking for brutality and the sight of blood...
They have arguing that there is no injunction in the Qur'an or the "authentic Hadiths" of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recommending the practice. They have been arguing that the practice is detrimental to the health or women as it impinges on their sexual rights, with severe consequences, especially during child delivery. But conservative religious scholars and traditionalists on the other hand see it differently despite the mass public awareness by health workers and human rights activist in the country.
On the other hand, the conservatives religious scholars and traditionalists aren't having the juicy parts of their equipment lopped off on achieving puberty.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2005 16:45 ||
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Neither are they being handed a sack to wear for the rest of their days...
I'll bet Ward Churchill will be sooooooo pissed when he hears this...
Portland schoolchildren will continue to celebrate Columbus Day rather than "Columbus/Indigenous People's Day" or "Indigenous People's Day/Columbus Day." I'd be betting on the second option...
A measure that would have renamed the national holiday in October to honor both the explorer and American Indians failed to gain majority support of the Portland School Committee Wednesday. But the 4-4 vote on the proposal was encouraging to committee member Jason Toothaker, the original proponent, who said he may introduce it again next year. Got your foot in the door, right, Jason? That's the first step. Eventually you'll get it, and then shitcan the Columbus part a few years down the road.
"A lot of the people who voted against it spoke in support of the idea," said Toothaker, one of three Green Party members on the committee who backed the proposal. Portland has changed, and not for the better. That's Maine, not Oregon...
Toothaker said he proposed the name change because Christopher Columbus exploited and spread disease among the American Indians he encountered during his 1492 voyage. Today, many Indians view his arrival in the Americas as a tragedy. Schoolchildren at the Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Indian Reservation, for example, do not observe the holiday. Evil, bad Columbus!
School districts in other parts of the country, such as Berkeley, Calif., have removed Columbus Day from their calendars or renamed the holiday to acknowledge that indigenous peoples inhabited the New World long before Columbus' arrival. South Dakota also has renamed the holiday. Berkeley? There's a shock...
In addition to Toothaker, those voting in favor of the change were Stephen Spring, Ben Meiklejohn and Tae Chong. Voting against it were Jonathan Radtke, Otis Thompson, Ellen Alcorn and James DiMillo. Toothaker said some Portland residents complained that his proposal was a frivolous distraction from more important matters facing the School Committee. He said he was buoyed by the 20 percent who supported a holiday name change on a school-calendar questionnaire that went out to all teachers."I was really surprised we had gotten one-fifth to completely support this," said Toothaker. I'm surprised you only got twenty percent. Run it by the union next time. They'll change it to "Whitey Sucks Day" if you want. All they care is that they still get it off.
Some committee members said they voted against the measure because they believe that deciding which national holidays to celebrate is outside of the committee's purview."The struggle that happened for the indigenous people when the European settlers arrived was difficult and certainly a topic that needs to be addressed and considered at school, " said Thompson. Just make sure the "indigenous people" win this time...
Committee member James DiMillo, who is of Italian descent, said while there should be time set aside in schools to study American Indian history and heritage, renaming the holiday was ill-considered. "We have other holidays celebrating people who are not perfect, such as Presidents Day. We still celebrate them," he said. That'll be renamed "Bill Clinton Day". One thing at a time...
#1
"Toothaker said he proposed the name change because Christopher Columbus exploited and spread disease among the American Indians he encountered during his 1492 voyage."
Oh, for cryin' out loud, that was over FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Get over it, you blubbering twit.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/13/2005 16:06 Comments ||
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I've never understood why we celebrate Columbustein Day, the Santa Maria was full of Zionists ready to plunder the Carib Peoples.
Posted by: Abu Shipman ||
05/13/2005 16:10 Comments ||
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Toothaker said he proposed the name change because Christopher Columbus exploited and spread disease among the American Indians he encountered during his 1492 voyage.
#4
"Toothaker said he proposed the name change because Christopher Columbus exploited and spread disease among the American Indians he encountered during his 1492 voyage."
And he's got the whistle-blowing memo to prove it. Not to mention, firsthand accounts of how Columbus was a bully and chased the Indians all across the lobby of their Casino.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/13/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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#7
And he's got the whistle-blowing memo to prove it. Not to mention, firsthand accounts of how Columbus was a bully and chased the Indians all across the lobby of their Casino.
Note to self: Gotta go seach Google cache for Columbus' blog archives...
The United Nations says a Bangladeshi peacekeeper has died in an attack in the eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A UN spokesman said several other Bangladeshi troops were injured when their convoy was ambushed in an area south-east of the town of Bunia. The official said the UN contingent had responded strongly to the attackers. In April, the UN lost some Bangladeshi troops in the area, and killed around 50 militiamen during ensuing fighting.
In the latest incident, four UN vehicles were patrolling 55km (34 miles) from Bunia when the gunmen opened fire on them. At least three Bangladeshis were injured when one jeep overturned. One died and two were wounded in the crossfire. A UN attack helicopter fired on the militiamen but there are no reports of casualties, AFP news agency said.
Various militia groups have continuously fought over the Ituri region of the Congo, with backing from Uganda, Rwanda and the Congolese authorities in a struggle to control the gold and other minerals in the area. Around 50,000 people have died in the clashes in the region since 1999. The UN mission has more than 15,000 peacekeepers in the country, but has struggled to keep a lid on violence in the east. More than 9,000 militamen have been disarmed in Ituri under a UN programme launched in September last year and planned for completion in June.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/13/2005 8:00:28 AM ||
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#1
Yeah, and how long before the UN demands the US send troops cause their band of rapists, child molesters and drug dealers can't fight.
A research team from Purdue University and the University of California, San Diego has found that the Earth's atmosphere may be more effective at cleansing itself of smog and other damaging hydrocarbons than was once thought. Scientists, including Joseph S. Francisco, have learned that some naturally occurring atmospheric chemicals react with sunlight more effectively than previously thought to produce substances that "scrub" the air of smog. This group of chemicals, after absorbing energy from sunlight, is able to break down smog and other pollutants into far less harmful components.
While many such chemicals have long been known to behave in this way — producing natural air cleaners called OH radicals — the chemicals the team studied have for the first time been observed to produce air-scrubbing OH radicals at low ultraviolet wavelengths. This observation has eluded science primarily because photochemistry at these wavelengths has been difficult to study. "Thanks to an innovative laser technique that at last allows us to observe these chemicals in action, we now theorize that the atmosphere may produce up to 20 percent more OH radicals from these chemicals than we once thought," said Francisco, who is a professor of both earth and atmospheric sciences and chemistry in Purdue's College of Science. "We now have a better understanding of an atmospheric process that could be giving our pollution-weary lungs more breathing room."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/13/2005 14:03 Comments ||
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#3
Sinha cautioned, however, that the results do not mean we can now safely ignore atmospheric pollution."This study in no way implies that we are out of the woods with regard to atmospheric pollution," he said.
That's right, Amithaba. Don't kill the job. Keep that grant money rolling in.
Coming up next: Pollution worse then we could possibly imagine...
JARANWALA: At least five people were killed and two were injured on Wednesday night in a clash between two rival groups in Chak 380 GB, in Landiyanwala police precincts, sources told Daily Times. Reports said that the Waryam and Khan Muhammad groups had an old enmity. On the day of the incident, Ashraf and Nazim Khan of the Khan group gunned down Zulfiqar Ali, 24, his brother Akmal, 20, uncle Waryam, 54, and mother Sahiba Bibi, 45. Another family member, Bashiran Bibi, was injured. One hour later, the Waryam group retaliated, Zulfiqar Ali's father and seven armed accomplices going to Ashraf's house and opening fire, killing Ashraf instantly and injuring Nazim Khan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2005 00:00 ||
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Sounds like the Khan still owe the Waryam a few to even up the score.
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.
uban President 
The United Nations says a Bangladeshi peacekeeper has died in an attack in the eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A UN spokesman said several other Bangladeshi troops were injured when their convoy was ambushed in an area south-east of the town of Bunia. The official said the UN contingent had responded strongly to the attackers. In April, the UN lost some Bangladeshi troops in the area, and killed around 50 militiamen during ensuing fighting. 
JARANWALA: At least five people were killed and two were injured on Wednesday night in a clash between two rival groups in Chak 380 GB, in Landiyanwala police precincts, sources told Daily Times. Reports said that the Waryam and Khan Muhammad groups had an old enmity. On the day of the incident, Ashraf and Nazim Khan of the Khan group gunned down Zulfiqar Ali, 24, his brother Akmal, 20, uncle Waryam, 54, and mother Sahiba Bibi, 45. Another family member, Bashiran Bibi, was injured. One hour later, the Waryam group retaliated, Zulfiqar Ali's father and seven armed accomplices going to Ashraf's house and opening fire, killing Ashraf instantly and injuring Nazim Khan.
