I can't really feel sorry for law enforcement here having been reamed by them for just this sort of thing. They should do better to protect witness identities when they promise to instead of rolling on them because they think they may have nothing more to offer. Now me and my family may be in danger when the guy's prison term is up. I suspect half of law enforcement's angst here is that they may not be able to run roughshod over informants in the future. Most people learn by example. You reap what you sow, sometimes in ways that you don't expect.
Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web site claiming to identify more than 4,000 informants and undercover agents will cripple investigations and hang targets on witnesses.
The Web site, WhosaRat.com, first caught the attention of authorities after a Massachusetts man put it online and named a few dozen people as turncoats in 2004. Since then, it has grown into a clearinghouse for mug shots, court papers and rumors.
A German company plans to launch a spray-on condom tailor-made for all sizes.
The Institute for Condom Consultancy is developing a type of spray can into which the man inserts his penis first.
At the push of a button it is then coated in a rubber condom.
"We're trying to develop the perfect condom for men that's suited to every size of penis," spokesman Jan Vinzenz Krause said.
"We're very serious."
Mr Krause says the product aims to help people enjoy better and safer sex lives.
"It works by spraying on latex from nozzles on all sides," he said.
"We call it the '360-degree procedure' - once round and from top to bottom.
"It's a bit like a car wash."
He says the plan is to make the product ready for use in about five seconds.
Mr Krause says the spray-on condom would function more effectively as a contraceptive because it would fit better and not slip.
But before the new condom can be sold in shops, the firm must ensure the latex is evenly spread when sprayed, as well as optimise the vulcanisation process.
The company hopes the high-tech condom, which will be available in different strengths and colours, will be on the market by 2008.
Mr Krause says the spray would probably cost about $30 as a one-off purchase.
He says the latex cartridges, which are sufficient for up to 20 applications, would cost about $17.
Mr Krause says he hit upon the idea when considering the difficulties some people faced using condoms and drew inspiration from spray-on plasters now used in medicine.
#4
... as well as optimise the vulcanisation process.
Isn't vulcanization accomplished by application of extreme heat and pressure? If that's so, the user of said product may have no need to get back to his partner after applying the product.
#6
Isn't vulcanization accomplished by application of extreme heat and pressure?
Yes, that is my understanding. Just WHAT does this devilish device does to your naughty bits? Is it permanent? Is there any kind of plastic surgery available to try and salvage the remains? I'm not even sure I want to know.
#12
1)I have a visual of this process being licensed. I would not want to buy the device from Firestone, lest i suffer from ply separation at an inopportune moment.....
2) And the michelin man grphic would need a re-do.
3) Is that a 205-R14 in your pocket or are you glad to see me?
#15
Hey GORT: what with the bad weather going on all over the country, shouldn't there be something in here about putting on studs and all? This would remedy .com's problem about lack of ribbing..
I think the Goodyear people are working on a redesign of the Blimp...
Pardon the NASCAR metaphor, but if you are going to race at more than one track, I hope these guys have different compunds available for the different conditions encountered (big difference between Talledage and Bristol.....)
and think of the spin off business opportunities: for that annoying slow leak: the SLIME people could even get involved.
and Viagra would be in competition with the Fix-a-Flat folks...
#20
Due to Bernoulli's law, most pressurized aerosol propellants exhibit pronounced endothermic properties upon release. While this might assist in congealing the latex veneer, the underlying *ahem* substrate is well-known for responding to cold conditions in a distinctly unwelcome fashion.
#24
Well, if yah don't wanna have kids, just get a vasectomy for cryin' out loud. And in other news, I bet the latex spray really stinks, literally. Blech. And in other news after that, would anyone really want to use something that can irritate or plug the urethra? If it don't dissolve in water, that's what you've got.
HT African Crisis; a couple of week old, but still relevant, as european peacekeepers are leaving congo. Another feel good story from africa. The atrocity reports from eastern Congo were so hellish that Western medical experts refused to believe themat first.
By Rod Nordland
Warning: do not read this story if you are easily disturbed by graphic information, or are under age, or are easily upset by accounts of gruesome sexual violence. Rest at link.
#3
I hope the moderators will not sink trap this. If they do, obviously, that is their perogative. I do not post this to be offensive or hateful. This position of mine is one that I have maintained for some time now and the above article merely confirms it.
Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in particular is plagued by patriarchal tribalism to such a degree that there are few ways for women to escape out from underneath the grinding boot heel of such preferentially granted advantage. For over a decade I have advocated the distribution of subdermal longterm female contraceptives (Norplant) to all pubescent African females so that there might be hope of being released from a cycle of near-constant pregnancy and childbearing. Only something of this magnitude can even remotely begin to break the vicious pattern of subjugation and abject poverty that the vast majority of African women go through.
Now for the nasty part. Even though a huge, if not disproportionate number of womens' lives are claimed by this scourge, the AIDS epidemic that ravages Africa may be one of its only hopes to finally eliminate enough of the male population whereby this beleaguered continent can make something even slightly resembling a new start.
The constant genocide and gruesome mistreatment of prisoners and civilians, coupled with a spectrum of child abuse that starts with sexual molestation of infants and ends with conscienceless killers in the form of seven year-old soldiers, all point towards generation after generation of crippled minds and almost pathologically amoral or asocial individuals being liberally larded throughout the population. Much as it has been for a large portion of Africa's history. It is the advent of modern weapons and transportation that has managed to exacerbate this situation from its already extent state to the horrific levels that we witness today.
I continue to wonder if there is any combination of education and medical treatment that can possibly overcome this monstrous degree of inhumanity. Such benign influence over this ongoing epidemic of physical and spiritual trauma would, of course, represent the best alternative. All signs lead me to believe that nothing of the sort can overcome the leverage provided by prerogatives of power and male privilege that continue to decimate innocent life throughout the African continent.
Due to male infideleity and prostitution there are regions of Africa where the HIV/AIDS infection rate is on the order of 50% or greater. Africa is dying. From where I stand and especially after reading the linked article, it almost seems a mercy. Be it Mugabe's self-imposed catastrophe in Zimbabwe or the institution of reverse racism in South Africa, all of this indicates a degree of social mayhem that ordinary human life simply cannot survive with an unmarred spirit. I have spent most of my life longing for some sort of intervention against this insanity that besets Africa. It now appears that the only release from this moribund and entrenched patriarchal tribalism is death itself. However inhumane it sounds, depopulation of Africa through the HIV/AIDS epidemic may be more of a blessing than a curse.
I can only hope that one day Africa will arise as the resource-rich and environmental treasure that it has historically been. It is unimaginable that it will ever do so until patriarchal tribalism is cast aside or naturally deselected. The HIV/AIDS plague seems to be one of the few natural mechanisms that will perform that loathsome task.
No they shouldn't sinktrap your comment. They should post it permanently on page 1.
My brother was in the Peace Corps in Africa for 5+ years in the early to mid '90's. Your comments could have come from his mouth, or the mouths of any of his Peace Corps buddies (male or female).
They used to say AIDS stood for Africa Is Dying Slowly.
Much as Europe had to go through a horrific religious/tribal conflict (Reformation culminating in the 30 Years War) and undergo the ravages of a slow killing disease passed on by promiscuity (syphilis, which, adjusting fo the technology of the day was the equivalent of HIV) to end up with the largely good and successful Victorian set of morals, so too, it seems, must Africa go through a time of many generations of horror to eliminate whichever genes and memes result in these types of self destructive cultures.
It's sad, and the Christian in me wishes there was some other way not involving such death and destruction, but I fear that humans ultimately only learn the hard way. All the education in the world by well-meaning lefty NGO's will not end this. Only those cultural practices dying out and being replaced by something more enlightened can effect the change Africa needs to move beyond this. The left will no doubt scream "Racist!" at your comment and mine, but the left has also failed to realize that the diversity industry and evangelical multiculturalism have ALREADY failed - when this you fear to criticize this behavior for fear of being "judgemental", you have gone from being naive to being an accomplice.
Sorry, leftists - there ARE objective standards by which you can declare one culture superior to another, and all the wishing in the world can't change that.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/01/2006 16:00 Comments ||
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#5
no mo uro, I really appreciate your casting some light on this topic from more seasoned sources. While I cannot be overjoyed about it, there is still some cold comfort in knowing that my position is not mine alone.
For anyone to decry the abject gender apartheid that goes on in the MME (Muslim Middle East) and not raise even more of a ruckus over the fate of African women is pure hipocrisy. The sheer fact of how FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is far more common in Africa only serves to emphasize the truth of this.
The entire global culture of tribally entrenched male privilege has to be eradicated, root and branch. It is the source of so much misery that simple words cannot possibly convey the horrors perpetrated by this long outmoded historical artifact.
Among old Africa hands, we have a saying, usually accompanied by a shrug: "Africa wins again." This is usually said after an incident such as:
* a beloved missionary is butchered by his congregation, for no apparent reason
* a tribal chief prefers to let his tribe starve to death rather than accepting food from the Red Cross (would mean he wasnt all-powerful, you see)
* an entire nation starves to death, while its ruler accumulates wealth in foreign banks
* a new government comes into power, promising democracy, free elections etc., provided that the freedom doesnt extend to the other tribe
* the other tribe comes to power in a bloody coup, then promptly sets about slaughtering the first tribe
etc, etc, etc, ad nauseam, ad infinitum.
The prognosis is bleak, because none of this mayhem shows any sign of ending. The conclusions are equally bleak, because, quite frankly, there is no answer to Africas problems, no solution that hasnt been tried before, and failed.
Just go to the CIA World Fact Book, pick any of the African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi etc.), and compare the statistics to any Western country (eg. Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland). The disparities are appalling--and its going to get worse, not better. It has certainly got worse since 1960, when most African countries achieved independence. We, and by this I mean the West, have tried many ways to help Africa. All such attempts have failed.
Charity is no answer. Money simply gets appropriated by the first, or second, or third person to touch it (17 countries saw a decline in real per capita GNP between 1970 and 1999, despite receiving well over $100 billion in World Bank assistance).
Food isnt distributed. This happens either because there is no transportation infrastructure (bad), or the local leader deliberately withholds the supplies to starve people into submission (worse).
Materiel is broken, stolen or sold off for a fraction of its worth. The result of decades of "foreign aid" has resulted in a continental infrastructure which, if one excludes South Africa, couldnt support Pittsburgh.
Add to this, as I mentioned above, the endless cycle of Natures little bag of tricks--persistent drought followed by violent flooding, a plethora of animals, reptiles and insects so dangerous that life is already cheap before Man starts playing his little reindeer games with his fellow Man--and what you are left with is: catastrophe.
The inescapable conclusion is simply one of resignation. This goes against the grain of our humanity--we are accustomed to ridding the world of this or that problem (smallpox, polio, whatever), and accepting failure is anathema to us. But, to give a classic African scenario, a polio vaccine wont work if the kids are prevented from getting the vaccine by a venal overlord, or a frightened chieftain, or a lack of roads, or by criminals who steal the vaccine and sell it to someone else. If a cure for AIDS was found tomorrow, and offered to every African nation free of charge, the growth of the disease would scarcely be checked, let alone reversed. Basically, youd have to try to inoculate as many two-year old children as possible, and write off the two older generations.
So that is the only one response, and its a brutal one: accept that we are powerless to change Africa, and leave them to sink or swim, by themselves.
It sounds dreadful to say it, but if the entire African continent dissolves into a seething maelstrom of disease, famine and brutality, thats just too damn bad. We have better things to do--sometimes, you just have to say, "Cant do anything about it.
The viciousness, the cruelty, the corruption, the duplicity, the savagery, and the incompetence is endemic to the entire continent, and is so much of an anathema to any right-thinking person that the civilized imagination simply stalls when faced with its ubiquity, and with the enormity of trying to fix it. The Western media shouldnt even bother reporting on it. All that does is arouse our feelings of horror, and the instinctive need to do something, anything--but everything has been tried before, and failed. Everything, of course, except self-reliance.
All we should do is make sure that none of Africa gets transplanted over to the U.S., because the danger to our society is dire if it does. I note that several U.S. churches are attempting to bring groups of African refugees over to the United States, European churches the same for Europe. Mistake. Mark my words, this misplaced charity will turn around and bite us, big time.
Even worse would be to think that the simplicity of Africa holds some kind of answers for Western society: remember Mrs. Clintons little book, "It Takes A Village"? Trust me on this: there is not one thing that Africa can give the West which hasnt been tried before and failed, not one thing that isnt a step backwards, and not one thing which is worse than, or that contradicts, what we have already.
So heres my (tongue-in-cheek) solution for the African fiasco: a high wall around the whole continent, all the guns and bombs in the world for everyone inside, and at the end, the last one alive should do us all a favor and kill himself.
So, how about all those Somalis we're shipping into Minnesota? Lots of good news there, right? Looks like I'm not the only one who feels this way. This is the grimmest possible outcome of people getting the government they deserve. Stalin could barely imagine such a nightmare.
Until the outside world gathers up the courage to go in and cap such blood-ticks as Robert Mugabe, Sudan's new Islamist court, the Mogadishu war lords and their ilk, we have no business squawking about "how terrible things are in Africa." There have to be measures taken against those who would starve, rape, maim and kill for the sheer sport of it. Until that time, we have no business doing squat for the Africans.
#10
Thank you, CF. I've been sinktrapped for saying this same thing before (less diplomatically, admittedly). I'll say it again whenever I'm able. Africa is the poster child for why poorly targeted foreign aid does more harm than good.
(SomaliNet) In a dramatic move, the Burundian government has decided to support Rwanda, following Rwandans termination of diplomatic ties with France.
A Burundian official told journalists shortly after meeting Rwandan President, Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro yesterday, that Burundis backing was aimed at preserving security in the Great Lakes Region. I am here to assure the President (Kagame) of our governments support at this time when relations (between Rwanda and France) are not good, said Rajab Hussein, the Chairman of CNDD-FDD, the ruling party in Burundi.
The Burundian official said that despite the evidence of Frances complicity in the 1994 genocide, the world had remained indifferent. Rwanda has continued to produce evidence about France and other foreign countries involvement in the 1994 genocide but the world has always remained silent. We are prepared to support this government until justice prevails, Hussein said.
France is biased; justice cannot work on one side, he said, adding that Frances legal undertaking must first focus on her role in the massacre of Rwandans in 1994.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
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KUWAIT CITY: A Sri Lankan national who was executed in Kuwait for murdering an Asian woman during a robbery remained alive five hours after he was hanged and pronounced dead, newspapers reported yesterday. Sanjaya Rowan Kumara was pronounced dead by doctors eight minutes after he was hanged but medics who transported his body to a morgue said they noticed he was still moving, Al-Qabas daily reported. hey Muhamed, see hes making that choking sign again
Forensic experts were immediately called to examine the body and they confirmed that "there was some weak pulse in his heart," the daily said. forensically speaking that's not gas and I'm an expert btw
The examination was repeated several times and each time "the dead body showed some signs of life," Al-Qabas quoted unnamed medical sources as saying. holy krap It's ALIVE!
"They eventually pronounced him completely dead at 1400 hours local time," five hours after his hanging, the sources said. 'completely dead', humm.. that's much more serious
The justice ministry refused to comment on the report but head of the criminal execution department, Najeeb al-Mulla, who supervised the hanging, told Al-Watan newspaper the report was "baseless." i tells ya he's stiff as board
Kumara was sentenced to death by Kuwaits three courts for killing the woman while he was attempting to burgle her house. Four accomplices were sentenced to various terms in jail.
#7
Somebody screwed up and knotted the rope wrong or placed the knot in the rope at the wrong location.
Clasic hangman's nooses, reputedly, have that knot placed on the back left side of the neck so that the sudden drop will break the victim's neck and he'll either die instantly or will not suffer too long at the end of the rope.
While it might be appropriate for someone like Saddam to suffer and linger for awhile, it would be inhuman and barbaric to sink to his level in ridding the world of such scum (for example, I'd pay for the ammunition to put a bullet in child molester's skulls and then take the carcass out to the nearest field and plow it under thereby making the individual of some use to the world, but I would not feed them slowly into an industrial grinder - I don't have the stomach for prolonged torture).
#9
I think the reason this guy didn't die is that (it's my understanding} that when these Islamic guys hang somebody - it doesn't include a short drop.
They tie a rope around your neck and haul you into the air. You die from strangulation, not a broken neck.
#1
Mexico is teetering on the brink of a minor league civil war. Wait for the 25 million "refugee" applicants. Build the wall. NOW
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/01/2006 12:58 Comments ||
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#2
it's about time for that corrupt oligarchy/State called Mexico to collapse from the accumulated rot and sure as HELL our pols will not miss the opportunity to inflict more Mortification on us [sic US Citizens] because of it!
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- President-elect Felipe Calderon vowed Thursday to be sworn in before Congress, despite leftist lawmakers' efforts to block his inauguration, and said he would have little patience for political protests and drug violence.
Calderon insisted Friday's swearing-in ceremony must be held in Congress, where opposition legislators have been camped for three days. "This is what the constitution calls for," he said. "I'm not ignoring the complexity of the political moment or our differences, but I'm convinced that tomorrow we should put an end to our disagreements and begin a new era."
Calderon named military and security veterans as his top law enforcement aides. In a departure from the hands-off approach of outgoing President Vicente Fox, he said he would crack down on criminals who "challenge the authority of the state. We have to confront crime with vigorous action," Calderon said.
A wave of drug-related violence has claimed more than 2,000 lives this year, many in execution-style killings and decapitations, and at least nine people have died in Oaxaca state in demonstrations calling for the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz. Along with security, the Harvard-educated Calderon has said that creating jobs and reducing poverty are his priorities.
But on the eve of the inauguration, it still wasn't clear where he would receive the presidential sash.
For the third day in a row, legislators from the ruling National Action Party and the Democratic Revolution Party were camped Thursday on the stage where Calderon was to be sworn in, with Calderon's leftist opponents trying to spoil a ceremony that will be attended by dignitaries from around the world, including former President George H.W. Bush. Continued on Page 49
The post mortem into Mr Litvinenko's death opened today in London.
Anti-terrorist detectives are following a radioactive trail that they hope will lead them to the former Russian agent's assassins.
What the killers may not have reckoned with is that the polonium 210 that killed Mr Litvinenko, believed to be the only man ever killed with a nuclear poison, left a powerful radioactive "scent" as it was brought to London and inflicted on him.
Developments in the fast-moving tale, which has echoes of a spy thriller, include the revelations that:
The assassins were so bungling that they dropped the polonium on the floor of a London hotel room, a senior government source told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
Scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston are believed to have already identified the nuclear plant which made the polonium.
Anti-terrorist officers at Scotland Yard believe the polonium was brought into London on a British Airways flight from Moscow on Oct 25, a week before Mr Litvinenko fell ill.
The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that 12 sites had shown traces of radioactivity and four aircraft were being searched by scientists with sophisticated tracing equipment.
Aides to Yegor Gaidar, a former prime minister of Russia who fell ill in Ireland last week, claimed he too had been poisoned.
And detectives are investigating letters smuggled out of Russia which purport to show the existence of a secret squad set up to target Mr Litvinenko and others. Scotland Yard has been passed copies of two letters apparently written in jail by former Russian spy Mikhail Trepashkin, one of which warns Mr Litvinenko that both he and his family are at risk.
The trail of the alpha-radiation was so strong that detectives have been able to follow it across London.
The trail
The senior government source, who is aware of the discussions of the Cabinets emergency committee, Cobra, said the picture of the killers that was emerging was closer to bungling assassins than cool James Bond-type killers.
Clear traces of the radiation were found on the floor of a room, thought to be in the Millennium hotel in central London, the source said, as well as on a light switch in the same room. The traces were so strong that they indicated the actual source of the radiation was present, not a secondary source such as excretions from Mr Litvinenkos contaminated body.
Friends of Mr Litvinenko say that he did not visit the rooms in either of the hotels.
The potential political fall-out from the affair grew as it emerged that the Atomic Weapons Establishment can identify the plant at which the radioactive element was made and are in fact thought to have done so. If that is, as many suspect, in Russia, it could cause acute embarrassment to President Vladimir Putins government because its head of nuclear security said recently that no similar material had gone missing in the country.
So new is this type of killing that the murderers may not have known how clearly their weapon of choice would show up, like a glowing trail of footprints around London, followed by Aldermaston scientists with machines called scintillation detectors.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, told the Commons yesterday that traces of radiation had been found at 12 out of 24 sites inspected by experts and that a fourth aircraft was being studied in addition to the three BA flights already grounded and searched. One of those planes, BA Flight 875 from Moscow on Oct 25, is believed to have carried the polonium to London, with traces found on seats and overhead luggage space in both economy and business class.
Last night British Airways announced that one of its three Boeing 767s removed from service following the discovery of low traces of a radioactive substance was given the all-clear by UK government agencies.
Mr Reid said a further Russian plane was "of interest" to police and radiation experts. The studies were all related to the death from radiation poisoning of Mr Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence officer, in a London hospital last week.
By last night about 5,500 of the 33,000 people who had flown in the affected planes on 221 flights between Oct 25 and Nov 29 had contacted BA. It was later confirmed that Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, and Lord Coe were on the cleared jet.
Mr Reid confirmed that the risk to air passengers was "very low indeed", but said the Government was exercising great caution.
He said that of the 1,700 people who had called to express concern about contamination by 11pm last night, none had so far tested positive for signs of radioactivity.
#1
Scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston are believed to have already identified the nuclear plant which made the polonium.
Whoops!
One of those planes, BA Flight 875 from Moscow on Oct 25, is believed to have carried the polonium to London, with traces found on seats and overhead luggage space in both economy and business class.
#3
Clear traces of the radiation were found on the floor of a room
So many clues, it's positivley Holmesian. Let's start at the hotel. Guest register please? All the various security cams around London, next, please. The present discussion probably revolves around deciding to release the suspects photos and resumes - hell, at this point why bother with arresting anyone, simply release the photos of all the individuals and addresses where the stuff glows.
This article fairly screams that the case is closed, it's merely a case of diplomatic/prosecution discretion.
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press Imaginary Friend Writer
MOSCOW - A former Russian security service officer said he warned a former KGB agent who was fatally poisoned in London about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.
In a letter released Friday, the former officer for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said he refused to cooperate with the team, whose task was to kill Alexander Litvinenko and others. The FSB is the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB.
Litvinenko, the former spy turned Kremlin critic who lived in Britain, died Nov. 23 at a London hospital, where doctors found traces of the rare radioactive element polonium-210 in his body. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday and doctors carrying out the examination planned safety precautions to protect themselves against radiation.
In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning -- charges the Kremlin rejected as "sheer nonsense." "Back in 2002, I warned Alexander Litvinenko that they set up a special team to kill him," the former security services officer, Mikhail Trepashkin, wrote in the letter dated Nov. 23 _ the day of Litvinenko's death. The letter was released Friday by rights activists in Yekaterinburg, the center of the Ural Mountains province where he is serving his four-year sentence.
een poisoned.
Continued on Page 49
#3
Sky News: Radiation Hits Second Man Mario Scaramella was found to have isotope Polonium-210 in his body.
He had lunch with ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko, at the Itsu sushi restaurant in London's Picadilly, shortly before he fell ill.
Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said Mr Scaramella has not shown the same symptoms as Mr Litvinenko, 43, who suffered vomiting and loss of hair.
The Health Protection Agency confirmed the Italian has a "significant quantity" isotope in his body.
#8
a not entirely unexpected development. my only question was why did Scaramella even make any public appearance / comment re: Litvinenko?
not that it probably would have made any difference to the final outcome, but as soon as he started talking he was already a dead man.
THE mystery surrounding the death of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko deepened today when it emerged that doctors treating Yegor Gaidar, the former Russian prime minister, believe he also was poisoned. One of Mr Gaidar's aides, Valery Natarov, said today that doctors treating the ex-PM at a Moscow hospital, where he appears to be making a recovery, believe the poisoning was deliberate. "Doctors dont see a natural reason for the poisoning and they have not been able to detect any natural substance known to them," he said. "So obviously were talking about poisoning (and) it was not natural poisoning." Iocaine powder. I'd bet my life on it!
Litvinenko, a longstanding critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a London hospital last week. Doctors revealed that he had been poisoned with the radioactive isotope polonium-210, traces of which since been found at about a dozen locations in the UK and on two British Airways aircraft used on the London-Moscow route. Mr Gaidar, Russia's first post-Soviet premier under Boris Yeltsin who is still ciritical of Mr Putin, fell ill last Friday, the day after Litvinenko's death, during a trip to Dublin to promote a new book. His daughter, Maria, told the Noviye Izvestia newspaper that he had had a simple breakfast of fruit salad and tea shortly before he collapsed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
PRAVDA.ru > Over 33,000 people in britain may had been exposed to Polon 210 prior to London ordering the [post-Litvinenko]grounding of civ airliners for testing.
[More at link]
Computer and e-mail systems are off-line at the Naval War College following a network intrusion Nov. 15. After the attack, the Defense Department raised its information warfare awareness level to Information Condition (Infocon) 4.
I'm guessing it's a Windows-based system. We've been having mysterious connection problems all week where I work.
Navy officials declined to comment on the source of the attack. The nature and extent of the intrusion are operational issues and I cant discuss them further, said Cmdr. Doug Gabos, spokesman for Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command, which ordered the shutdown. The colleges site remains down pending an investigation.
We're bringing a new server online -- should be up today or Monday. I made the suggestion that they install Linux or Solaris or some other *nix on it and the network powers that be looked at me like I was stoopid. As far as I know, and I know better and in more detail than I did when we were running Windoze, the worst we've been hit with has been the occasional DoS.
The attack was an insolated incident and has not affected other parts of DOD, Gabos said.
They probe continually. I ban Chinamen from our server near daily.
Meanwhile, the colleges systems have been removed from DODs Global Information Grid so that investigators can examine the extent of the intrusion and upgrade firewalls and other security measures, he said.
With Linux, Google, and four or five Rantburg readers they could make that site a lot more secure.
According to a news report, Chinese hackers are responsible for the attack.
They're military exercises.
One professor told his class Nov. 27 that they took down the entire college network, the report states. There is no official confirmation that the attacks on the college networks came from China.
It was there or Korea. The crap we throw out from Europe and Russia and even the Gulf are pretty much all spammers. And they're outnumbered two or three to one by the Chinese.
The college will probably have to replace all the computers affected by the attack, Paller said. Thats the only confidence-building measure step you can take, he said. When very professional people get through your defenses, their ability to hide is much greater than your ability to find them. The Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security replaced hundreds of computers after recent network attacks. The bureau is responsible for deciding which technologies should be available for export to countries such as China. Chinese attacks on DOD systems are far more widespread than is publicly known, Paller said, but almost all attacks remain classified. The problem is thousands of times bigger than what you hear, he said.
The Chinese attacks against all computers represents a problem more widespread than is publicly known.
#2
I've kept this Rantburg computer security discussion in my Favorites for some time now, and refer to it whenever anyone I know gets a new computer. Thank you, Rantburg!
#6
The college will probably have to replace all the computers affected by the attack, Paller said. Thats the only confidence-building measure step you can take,
Replace the WinDoze server software with the CIA's SecureLinux (SELinux) running in a XEN config with SELinux on each virtual machine running server apps one to a virtual machine.
(Be Paranoid not STUPID Like MGMT TYPES. Copy Groves old Intel viewpoint - they are out to get you stupid.)
Put debian on the generic desktops but SELinux on the other desktops.
Don't allow Microsoft to exist anywhere but in a virtual machine on one of the XEN servers that can only access particular internal sites nothing external.
If the DOD can't do that they need to start executing Microsoft Propagandists as 5 columnist traitors....
There! I said it. I am already blacklisted by MS-cheerleaders so I am now free not to shut up.
FIJI'S capital Suva is bracing for an imminent takeover by the military with no signs that the government will capitulate before the noon deadline to a series of demands by the military.
Fijian Prime Laisenia Qarase said today that he was uncertain of exactly what the military wanted after giving into most of their demands yesterday. This morning military commander Frank Bainimarama briefed the country's president Ratu Josefa Iloilo on his plans. Commodore Bainimarama's meeting with Mr Iloilo lasted about 30 minutes and he left without commenting.
It is understood that if the Government fails to make further concessions Commodore Bainimarama may ask for a state of emergency to be declared, allowing the military to begin securing the city. Commodore Bainimarama's forces were confined to barracks this morning and have been told they will not be able to attend an annual police versus army rugby union match this afternoon which is an important fixture in the Fiji's sporting calendar.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Commodore says to put the war canoes on standby!
#1
More of a "distortion by omission" than the real deal.
"Levi says that while it isn't easy to obtain a deadly amount of polonium online, it also isn't prohibitively difficult." Getting a sufficient quantity online still looks nearly impossible. Getting a deadly amount of Polonium into a form that could be surreptitiously given to a potential victim, without access to a very sophisticated nuclear lab, also very unlikely.
Polonium 210, a highly toxic radioactive substance found in the body of an ex-KGB spy who died in London last week, cannot be obtained illegally in Russia, its nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Friday....The head of Russia's state atomic energy agency Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, told the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta that Russia produces only 8 grams of Polonium 210 a month.
"All this amount goes to U.S. companies through a single authorized supplier, Tekhsnabexport company," the newspaper quoted Kiriyenko as saying
Only enough to kill a few thousand people. If it's that tightly controlled and hard to make, a government almost certainly had to be involved.
About two dozen Muslim women protested Thursday outside the Dutch parliament against a proposed ban on the burqa, the head-to-toe Islamic robe. Several protesters wore long robes and veils exposing only their eyes, known as a niqab. "We live in a free country and the government cannot tell us what to do with our religion," protest organizer Ayse Bayrak told The Associated Press. "We don't live in a dictatorship. We don't live under the Taliban, which oppresses women."
Hardline Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk is drawing up legislation banning the burqa and other clothes that cover the face in public places. AoS note at 0940 CST: classic flag set to 'yes' for the comments. Thanks Zen and ex-JAG.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Under Vatican leadership, Islam must be degraded from any mention as religion to cult status only. It can then be dealt with properly, like the KKK was in US.
#2
Sounds like a good filter to me. Radicals can just leave if they don't like it. Otherwise you might find you like walking around without a bag over your head.
#3
I actually oppose burqa bans. Their primary purpose is to shield women from the unwanted advances of Muslim men, many of whom who regard it as their Islamic duty to rape or beat anything without one.
Alas, guns are certainly no option in the EU, so denying women the one means available to protect themselves only increases the risk that they'll be raped or beaten for their immodesty at home, where the government can't and won't help them.
Banning burqas treats only the symptoms, not the cause -- which is Muslim men's Allah-given right to reject responsibility for their own conduct, and to exempt themselves from learning any impulse control.
Self-restraint is an essential foundation of civilized society, and until Muslim men accept this, banning burqas only provides them with yet another excuse to rape, torture, burn, pillage, and kill.
#4
exJAG: Rest assured they will wear one in the home even if they don't outside. I've seen it. I doubt any country could legislate that, but maybe they can.
Perhaps if the women would oppose the menfolk's teachings they might stand a better chance of moderating their religion.
In an ideal world, they would be shipped off to some Islamic country where they could be truly happy, but obviously this world is far from ideal. So I still think a burqa ban has more good in it than bad.
#6
exJAG, banning the burqa, niqab and hijab is one of the few ways to immediately start the process of making America Muslim unfriendly. There are numerous well-founded security reasons for implementing this ban. While I understand your opposition to increasing any risk for Muslim women due to Islamic male orientation towards uncovered meat unveiled female adults, the ban is one of the few ready starting places we have.
I fully concur that deportation of all radical Muslims needs to begin right away. However, that is going to take a lot more public education and retraining of our politicians, not to mention extensive legislation, before any progress will be made in that quarter.
As you are a person who is well acquainted with law, I'd really enjoy the opportunity to walk through all of these legal nuances in order to better identify what sort of measures really are available for ready enaction. I concur with you that Muslim women probably equate to about 5% of the threat that young adult Muslim males represent to our society.
My focus is not on punishing these Muslim women but in making all of the extremists who insist upon such stringent adherence to doctrine know that they are officially unwelcome in America. What other legal channels are as readily available?
We need to make America as Muslim unfriendly as possible in the shortest amount of time. This is why I continue to advocate revoking the official religious status of Islam in America until distinct advances towards reformation are made both here and abroad. For the sake of discussion I'll post the major points of dispute:
1.) Issuing death fatwas for advocacy of any and all forms of violent jihad.
2.) Installing universal suffrage and general equal rights for women in all Muslim majority countries.
3.) Elimination of the death sentence for apostasy or conversion.
4.) Legal protection and genuine enforcement of religious freedom in all Muslim majority nations.
5.) Ending amputation and stoning as legal forms of criminal punishment.
6.) Declaring taqqiya to be haram.
It is more than obvious that Islam will be less than likely to EVER accept these reforms. While that is Islam's privilege, it must be penalized by having all First Amendment protections stripped from it due to its role as a political ideology.
Unwillingness to embrace reformation must be a key event that signals the onset of civilizational clash. Islam has already declared war upon the West. Recognizing this fact and initiating measures designed to cripple the ease of movement, spread and financial support of terrorism must be our main goal.
Should taqqiya remain a central tenet for Islam, it must automatically void the citizenship applications for all Muslims who have immigrated to America. Perhaps there might be established some sort of reformed Islamic doctrine in America for naturalized Muslims to begin practicing, but taqqiya has such a corrosive effect on all other vital layers of trust and security that it is difficult to imagine how Muslims can EVER be trusted without genuine and authentic reformation of Islam.
exJAG, if you have the time or inclination, let's all of us here have a go at it and try to assemble some sort of feasible schematic of legal actions that can begin crippling the influence of Islam in America. All of us need these critical talking points in order to better persuade those around us in daily life regarding how our country can actively deal with this ominous threat.
#7
Zenster, I totally agree with you about making America as Muslim-unfriendly as possible. But I see few legal measures of the sort you describe that would be feasible in the near term.
A federal law outlawing Islam, or even the more limited subset of "political" Islam, would conflict with the core of First Amendment jurisprudence, and it would never survive Supreme Court review, even with nine law-and-order judges. Such a law might survive a 14th Amendment equal protection challenge, if the security situation was bad enough -- but it's unlikely that anything short of full-out blood-and-guts civil war would justify it. Not after Korematsu.
The only possibility along these lines would be to amend the Constitution -- and fat chance of that. It's a cultural issue, one our legal system is totally unequipped to deal with. Never in our nation's history have we been confronted with such a problem, nor can it be easily adapted to.
At the same time, plenty of "content-neutral" legal avenues already exist to make America Muslim-unfriendly, but there is little interest in enforcing them. Much progress could be made if state and federal prosecutors engaged in serious efforts to enforce laws already on the books, such as sedition, incitement to violence, immigration violations, communicating threats, obstruction of justice, hate crimes, money laundering, tax evasion, polygamy, statutory rape, etc. etc.
But again, it's a cultural and political problem: few public officials would be willing to subject themselves to the scrutiny they would necessarily bring upon themselves by engaging in such a crackdown.
One thing I've advocated for several years now is to block the entry of any national of any country on the State Department's list of terrorist-sponsoring nations, for any reason. There were 26 the last time I checked, and most of them were Muslim countries. The Constitution does may not allow viewpoint discrimination, but it certainly does allow exercising control over who we let in.
In general, provisions like this that reinforce US sovereignty would help a lot, without running afoul of First or Fourteenth Amendment considerations.
For Europe, I maintain that burqa-bans aren't the answer. They give the public the illusion of addressing a problem, without actually accomplishing anything toward that end, further entrenching Europe's suicidal complacency.
#10
"block the entry of any national of any country on the State Department's list of terrorist-sponsoring nations" is a no-brainer, yet somehow is completely out of bounds as far as national policy goes, along with real border security.
"cutting off the oil money" -- will need a lot more brains than seem to be in existence at the moment. Islamic terrorists need our money as much as we need Islamic oil, a marriage made in Hell.
#11
Yes, impressive, exJAG. And, actually I agree with both you (about the burqua-ban being a bad thing, but not for the reasons stated, but for religious freedom) and Zen (about the need to make America unfriendly to Islamics).
Here's where I draw the line on the TAH (topic at hand). I don't agree at all with an outright ban, but if your chattle wummin-folk don't want to wear it, you can't force them to. If you try to "force" them to, you get busted. I don't know how a law like that would be written, much less enforced (gets into "thought crimes", which I abhor anyways, like the so-called "hate crimes" wave we now see). So, no outright ban, but (like the case a few years ago in FL), if you refuse to "unmask" yourself for public security reasons and/or your men try and force you to wear it, THEN you can enforce a "semi-ban". The FL case was the one where the woman refused to take off her headcovering for a FL Drivers License photo, stating religious beliefs. Now, I believe that's a big public safety no-no...what if she committed a crime and needed her photo up for a lookout in the City? Or (and this may be stretching it), what if her head garb gets in the way of seeing clearly and causes a wreck? I know there are other numerous nuances to this, and again, I don't know how you'd write the "semi-ban", but it needs to be dealt with.
Posted by: BA ||
12/01/2006 10:43 Comments ||
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#12
Meant to add, exJAG's proposal of mandating Rantburg to be common reading and the getting a big dog/gun thingy is a GREAT idea! In fact, so much so, I'll now say:
JOE M/exJAG for Pres/V.P. 2008!
Posted by: BA ||
12/01/2006 10:45 Comments ||
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#13
No, exJAG is a lawyer (as well as a chemistry teacher, right? A fascinating career change, and I look forward to hearing the story thereof). Let's make her Attorney General, or legal council for Homeland Security ("We can, too, do that; in fact, the stated responsibilities of this department mandate it. Get moving, sir or madam. Schnell machen!*")
*exJAG, if you haven't already, find a copy of the 1960s film One Two Three with James Cagney, set in post-War, pre-Wall Berlin. It's about the travails of a Coca Cola expat executive... the melodic theme is the Russian Saber Dance. Cagney was so exhausted by the experience that he didn't act again for two decades.
#14
As for the burqa and the niqab, I thought US laws, at least, forbid covering the face to conceal identification, which was originally aimed at the KKK. The abaya and hijab are to me fashion statements in particularly poor taste, particularly the hijab being a political statement. Laws against all such things, particularly in Europe, are the only cover non-consenting Muslim women have that would enable them to refuse community pressure, as became clear when France was in an uproar about forbidding headcoverings for schoolgirls. And to be sure, any enforced legislation that makes the general atmosphere overtly less welcoming to Muslim extremists, whether religious or conquest-oriented (and I'll hear no arguments that they are one and the same -- they are merely mostly-intersecting sets) is at least a step in the right direction. What Europe wants is leadership on this war we're all in; but the peepul ar more likely to demand that kind of leadership if they see the slightest gleam of possibility that the natives can retake control from the Eurabianist allies of the Caliphatist Muslims.
#16
Ack! I'd rather be Joe M's speechwriter than hold public office!
The abridged version: temporary career detour. Biochemist + lawyer = patent attorney. Married my studly NCO + overseas assignment = chemistry professor for now.
I'll look for that movie . . . maybe once I'm back in the US and feeling nostalgic for impatient Germans hassling me and extorting a tax for the privilege.
#17
Let's see:
Reading Rantburg: check
Big Gun: 30-06 and .50 cal Hawkins...check!
Big Dog: Eskipoo and Chihuahua ...uhhhhhh ah well does 2 out of 3 get me in the club?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/01/2006 18:28 Comments ||
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Attorney General, or legal council for Homeland Security, speechwriter, Biochemist, patent attorney, former Officer Armed Services...
#19
A federal law outlawing Islam, or even the more limited subset of "political" Islam, would conflict with the core of First Amendment jurisprudence, and it would never survive Supreme Court review, even with nine law-and-order judges.
I realize this and that is the exact reason why I am trying to highlight more feasible ways of making America Muslim unfriendly. For that reason, the burqa ban is one of the easiest to impose and needs to be implemented right away.
What's really a pity is that there is no way to take the Koran's declaration of taqqiya as halal and pose it as a betrayal of sworn allegiance on the admission forms of all Muslim immigrants.
Short of declaring Islam illegal, we need to designate Saudi Wahabbism along with CAIR as terrorist fronts and begin dismantling all of the Saudi funded mosques in America. These two are a huge component of radical Islam in America and must be eradicated post haste.
I honestly think that for the most part we are violently agreeing. Something that goes on a wee bit here at good old Rantburg. Thank you for your own analysis of this nettlesome issue.
The $165 million lawsuit filed against WND and two freelance writers who wrote a comprehensive series exposing Al Gore's record of corruption in Tennessee during the 2000 presidential campaign would smash any judgment that has ever held up in such a court proceeding.
WND was named as defendant in the action, along with the two journalists who wrote a series of 18 investigative reports during the 2000 presidential race, most of them documenting allegations of corruption involving then-Vice President Gore and others in Gore's home state.
Some Tennessee observers believe the series had such impact that it was responsible for Gore losing the state and thus the presidential election. Had Gore won his home state, the disputed Florida vote would have been meaningless and Gore would have had enough electoral votes to become president.
The lawsuit stems from the reports, which ran from September to December 2000, that included information about a Savannah, Tenn., auto dealer, friend of Al Gore and Democrat activist named Clark Jones.
Jones, who raised more than $100,000 for Gore's presidential campaign, alleges personal embarrassment and humiliation from the articles, which said he reportedly intervened in a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe into narcotics trafficking in Hardin County in 1999. The car dealer also alleges the articles implicated him in the 1980 arson of his own business, the Jones Motor Company, and also pegged him as a suspected drug dealer.
In his lawsuit against WND, Jones is demanding the record-breaking $165 million in damages....
#2
As I remember from that far back, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence against Jones but not enough to get an indictment. It was the articles that implicated him, it was the investigation. He'll most probably lose this one.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2006 9:27 Comments ||
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Sorry , "It wasn't the articles that implicated him"
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/01/2006 9:28 Comments ||
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#4
It's not about winning or losing. It's about bankrupting a small thorn in their sides.
Posted by: ed ||
12/01/2006 9:43 Comments ||
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Looking at today's example with Mexico and previous ones all dating to bad looser behaivor of Al Gore...
This retard should have some shame. He has ruined the practice of democracy.
Congresswoman rejected for key post tells South Bay business leaders she'll continue to fight for aerospace firms.
Rep. Jane Harman on Wednesday told a group of South Bay business leaders that "losing with honor ain't bad," a day after Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi's office confirmed that the South Bay congresswoman would not be named chair of the House Intelligence Committee. "I'm disappointed because it's a committee I love and work I'm passionate about," Harman told the audience, which included executives from aerospace firms Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Raytheon. "I will stay in the game. Security is my passion, and security is my priority in my congressional district."
The audience of about 200 business leaders, who gathered at the Torrance Hilton for Harman's annual "State of the Region" address, showed its support by giving her two extended standing ovations.
In an interview after the speech, the El Segundo Democrat said Pelosi has not yet spoken with her to confirm her decision. "Like Yogi says, 'It ain't over till it's over,' " Harman said. But she also said she expected Pelosi would name her replacement on the committee next week, and said that she looked forward to helping that person with the transition. Harman said she would continue to work on security issues on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.
Four towns in western India are under curfew and over 1,500 people were arrested as authorities sought to avert more violence after riots by low-caste Hindus claimed four lives. Rampaging low-caste Hindu mobs, angered by damage to a statue of their leader, set two passenger trains on fire Thursday after asking passengers to alight, damaged more than 100 state-run buses and clashed with police in several cities and towns of Maharashtra state.
Police put the number of people injured at 60 but ambulance personnel and volunteers said more than 150 were injured in the rioting. "We arrested 1,500 people (Thursday) for the violence. Some were caught red-handed rioting while others were arrested as a preventive measure," state police chief P.S. Pasricha said.
The curfew was imposed late Thursday in four towns in Maharashtra state of which India's financial hub, Mumbai, is the capital. There were no reports of violence Friday and police said they would consider lifting the curfew later in the day.
Police arrested the man who allegedly damaged the statue of the late B.R. Ambedkar -- a political leader and scholar who fought for the rights of low-caste Hindus -- in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. "We arrested a man called Arun Balmiki. He was drunk when he pelted stones at the statue, breaking an arm and damaging its head. He has confessed to the crime," P.C. Meena, police chief of Kanpur city, told AFP.
The Maharashtra police have also asked the state government to declare a holiday next Wednesday, because it marks the anniversary of Ambedkar's death, to avert any fresh violence. "We are taking precautionary steps to maintain order in Mumbai on December 6, when thousands of Ambedkar's followers will gather in the city for the leader's death anniversary," deputy chief minister Patil said.
Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.
A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.
He's not going to do anything about it, mind you, but it's 'credible'.
The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo.
The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread. "We've had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping - problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations," Jane Holl Lute told the BBC. "My operating presumption is that this is either a problem or a potential problem in every single one of our missions." And you won't do anything about it because ...
The UN is scheduled to hold a special conference in New York on Monday 4 December, to address the issue. Oh. Sorry. My bad. A conference. No -- a 'special' conference. Whew.
In Haiti, the BBC's Mike Williams spoke to a street girl as young as 11 who had reported sexual abuse by peacekeepers outside the gates of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. A 14-year-old described her abduction and rape inside a UN naval base in the country two years ago. Despite detailed medical and circumstantial evidence, the allegation was dismissed by the UN for lack of evidence - and the alleged attacker returned to his home country.
A lack of evidence other than a victim and medical proof.
In May this year, another BBC investigation discovered systematic abuse in Liberia, involving food being given out to teenage refugees in return for sex.
The UN responded by heightening policing measures, appointing 500 monitors across the country, and introducing mandatory training of all personnel on appropriate conduct. A local NGO worker said reports of sexual abuse involving peacekeepers were "still rampant, despite pronouncements that they have been curbed".
UN chief Kofi Annan has pledged a policy of "zero tolerance". Which is worth what every pledge from Kofi is worth.
The UN's own figures show 316 peacekeeping personnel in all missions have been investigated, resulting in the summary dismissal of 18 civilians, repatriation of 17 members of Formed Police Units and 144 repatriations or rotations home on disciplinary grounds. After which .. nothing happens to them.
However allegations remain that measures to police and curb misconduct are nowhere near as strong as they should be. Refugees International says there remains a "culture of silence" in some military deployments, and fear of punishment is not enough to ensure compliance with UN rules.
"They may be military men but they are also humanitarian workers," Sarah Martin told the BBC. "To prey upon the very populations that you are sent to protect is one of the worst forms of violation and betrayal that there is."
Under UN regulations, military personnel cannot be prosecuted in the country where they are serving, and it is up to the courts in their home countries to prosecute crimes committed. The UN said it had firm knowledge of only two concrete examples of sex offenders being sent to jail, although it believed there could be others it did not know about.
Not that it bothers to keep track, you understand.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Seems to be a cause and effect thing: without being snarky, every time the UN sends in peacekeepers, chile abuse breaks out. and koffee just wrings his hands looks the other way and then has the audacity to ( earlier this week) start the drum beat for 'humanitarian relief for 2007 crisis' that haven't even (by definition of the calendar) even started. evidently he considers children in the same category muslims consider women: less than human i.e. property, and not worthy of any sort of proper respect, care, etc.
has any profiling of the alleged child abusers been done to see which nation(s) are responsible?
willing to bet that the perps do not come from one of the G-8 countries....
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27 (JTA) A Turkish film featuring a venal, bloodstained Jewish doctor has been mysteriously withdrawn from screening in the United States. In Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, American actor Gary Busey portrays a Jewish U.S. Army doctor who cuts out the organs of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and sells them to wealthy clients in New York, London and Tel Aviv. Who needs proof that actors are whores? Busey has been peddling himself as a born again Christian. Now he's a twirling dervish.
A blockbuster hit in its native country, the film had been scheduled to open last Friday at two theaters in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco. However, in early November, Valley of the Wolves was quietly dropped from the theaters advance schedules.
Gregory Gardner of Luminous Velocity Releasing, a company involved in distributing the film in the United States, said the Turkish producer, Pana Films, had withdrawn the movie without explanation. Attempts to obtain further information from American or Turkish sources were unsuccessful, but a protest filed by the Anti-Defamation League may have played a role in the cancellation.
In an Oct. 19 letter to Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy in Washington, ADL leaders expressed concern at the incendiary anti-Jewish and anti-American themes and characters in the film and pointed to previous inquiries about the wide availability of anti-Semitic publications in Turkey. The letter was signed by ADL National Chairwoman Barbara Balser and National Director Abraham Foxman, who did not receive a reply from the ambassador.
The Busey character, listed only as The Doctor but clearly identified as Jewish, isnt even the chief villain. The distinction goes to another American actor, Billy Zane, who plays a rogue American officer and self-professed peacekeeper sent by God. In one scene, the officer and his men shoot up an Iraqi wedding party, killing the groom in the presence of the bride and a little boy in front of his mother.
Valley of the Wolves was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and has played in theaters in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Bosnia.
According to one Turkish diplomat, who spoke unofficially and requested anonymity, the film became such a hit in Turkey because it is a spinoff from the countrys top-rated TV series of the same title, though the series villains are local mafiosos and militant ultranationalists.
The movie is also seen by Turks as payback for the 1978 film Midnight Express, in which some Americans and Britons are caught trying to leave Turkey with a stash of hashish, thrown into a hellish prison and viciously mistreated.
#3
And uh, the fact that Midnight Express was based on a true story where as this film is pure garbage. Turks can go "stuff" themselves. God Bless folks.....try the veal.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/01/2006 13:39 Comments ||
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#4
It could be McCarthyism. Or the chilling spectre of the blacklist. Or Bushitler censorship.
Or maybe it just sucked...
#5
Busey's people admitted he did it for the paycheck and barely read the script. Billy Zane on the other hand thinks any depiction of war being brutal and cruel is a good thing as it shows war is bad. At least that's what I remember of his angle on things.
Just gotta raise taxes. Seems it's in their genes. Who do you think will pay for this? I've got plenty of liberal friends, and to a man they think that big oil is evil, and they all think that eliminating any tax breaks they get cut into their bottom lines and prices won't go up. Maybe it will cut into their profits a bit, but I think the lion's share will be shouldered by the consumer, and it will a bonus of impacting the economy. I see no value in taxing the oil companies at all except to encourage alternative energy sources. Big oil feeds our economy. If I've got this wrong please let me know in the usual no uncertain terms!
Proposals by congressional Democrats to eliminate oil industry tax breaks and subsidies would set a bad example overseas and discourage new industry investments, Exxon Mobil's top executive said Thursday.
Rex W. Tillerson said moves suggested by leaders of the incoming Democratic congressional majority would encourage similar steps by governments abroad, where Exxon Mobil Corp. generates the bulk of its profit. "I think the bigger concern I have is not so much the economic direct effect of the fact that they want to take a tax break off here or there. But it's the message it sends the rest of the world that you don't have to provide stable (regulatory) frameworks," Tillerson told reporters after a speech to the Boston College Chief Executives' Club.
"And if that happens, none of us are going to be able to take the risk in this business."
#2
Big oil imports feed and employ Americans one way or the other. Punishing the companies is self-defeating, a practice the Democrats are very good at. Taxing or restricting oil company profits will do ZIP toward decreasing US dependence on imported oil, which is what really needs to be done. I have no good answers for that, but the cited hare-brained ideas are foolish.
#3
It's political, not economic. Oil companies are evil - didn't you watch Dallas? And they gouge the consumer - gasoline prices have gone up by $2.00 since 1960 (from 30 cents to $2.30 per gallon), while postage stamps have only gone up by 34 cents (how do you like my dumbocrat statisticizing?)
Seriously, oil taxes will go up, for two reasons; 1) it's where the money is, and 2) the people won't mind paying it (because they don't know they are) - they'll be happy the greedy rich are paying 'their share'.
It may even be a good idea, for a different reason. We really could be a more energy efficient nation, and less vulnerable to supply disruption; perhaps higher prices (through taxes) would encourage that. 'You get less of what you tax'.
#4
That truism is so true. If only we could convince the Donks followers that the evil Big Oil companies will NOT pay the tax increases, but the customers will.
Let's put this "windfall tax" thingy in the ground for good. To put it into perspective, the biggest offshore rig in the Gulf cost something like $5 billion to build. And that's just one of 100's of offshore rigs. That's half of Exxon-Mobil's quarterly profits in 1 rig! Granted, it was a joint venture to build over many years, but, you get the "perspective" of it all. And, to boot, the thing was knocked sideways by Katrina. So, I'm sure another few $100 million-$1 billion will be eaten up fixing the thing.
I'm all for the pursuit of alternative sources of energy. But, in the short term, you've gotta realize this could very well drag our economy to a grinding hault if taxed too heavily. And, again, the "fat cats" won't be the ones paying the IRS, but us Joe and Jane consumers. Basic market fluctuations, that's all.
One final note: We are still WAY below the price spikes of the 70's. Adjusted for inflation, I believe those spikes were akin to the low $3/gallon range, which we're still about 50% below. You've got to put this all in perspective.
Posted by: BA ||
12/01/2006 10:56 Comments ||
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#5
I believe adjusting oil prices for inflation is an unfair way to present the issue -- isn't modern inflation in part due to the increase in oil costs since 1973? Looking at myself in the mirror and adjusting for increases in age and weight, I'm every bit as good looking and thin as I was when I was 20! Riiight.
I would like to see concrete proposals on Rantburg for making the US import less Islamic oil, but have seen very little here so far. Some of my ideas: (1) Certainly the US could drill more wells in areas previously off limits, but the cost would be high, the benefit delayed for years, and the payoff doubtful, remember the oil rig still disabled so long after Katrina. (2) Building many more nuclear power plants for electricity is also a no-brainer, but the electorate and MSM seem to be suffering from drain bamage at the moment. (3) Perhaps a nice stiff import tax on oil would help promote efficiency and support investment in and development of alternatives, but any interference with the abundance and cost of imported oil would definitely hit every American in the pocket book, and perhaps cause a recession.
--- Our vulnerability: If the Iranians sank a oil tanker or two in the Persian Gulf, oil consumers would all suffer right quick -- I am getting the impression that is the real reason W is going easy on Iran, we may have very little choice in the matter.
#6
It appears that Democrats are trying to get rid of big-oil tax breaks out of anger, not out of trying to encourage development of other sources of energy. They may end up accompishing something good by accident, which in my mind doesn't really count. If they want to encourage development of other sources of energy, they should just say so. But given their rhetoric and the rhetoric of my liberal friends, that's not what they're thinking. And if it is, then they think that voters are mindless and have to fool them into doing the right thing through subversive means, which is not a good thing to be caught doing. Ask Jon Karry.
If this were an honest attempt to develop other sources of energy, I would say remove the tax breaks and put every penny of the new taxes into that development, and not into pet projects. But you know that won't happen, so it's not sincere.
#7
AH, how is that presentation unfair? Everything else in this nation has risen at 3+%/year since the 70s. Yes, I'll agree that part of that inflation could very well be because of the rise in crude oil prices. A lot of us here also believe that a lot of inflation is due to tax increases like this hair-brained idea.
Put another way, WHY shouldn't we present gas prices vs. inflation? When virtually any other good in this country has skyrocketed in price (again, possibly because of oil prices), why shouldn't we look at ANY of those goods in terms of inflation. Heck, I make 10x as much money now than I did in the 70s, so I'd venture to guess that gas is now a LOT lower part of the hit in my pocketbook than it was in the 70s (% wise). Of course, oil is the one commodity/good that affects the prices of ALL other goods. That's why the Donk plan of taxing it (which, again the corporations don't pay, but pass on to the consumer) is going to RAISE the price of EVERYTHING in this country. He!!, I've already seen plenty of goods skyrocket the last few years (my garbage company's easily doubled their fees, milk has gone through the roof, diapers have jumped in price, etc.), all because of those specific companies' fuel/transportation costs. About the only things that have dropped in price are electronics, and that's only because we've shipped that overseas to China.
/soapbox
Posted by: BA ||
12/01/2006 13:33 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I would like to see concrete proposals on Rantburg for making the US import less Islamic oil, but have seen very little here so far.
We've been around it a few times. The options are coal and nuclear. That's it. All the rest is pointless hand waving that mostly make the problem worse, with precious few exceptions.
Although, I did come across one good idea recently, a natural gas unit that functions as both a home electricity generator and heater(saves the very substantial energy wastage in centrally generated and distributed electricity).
#9
People DO know what taxes they pay on oil. Lots of stations here in Tenn put little stickers on the pumps that tell you just how much Federal and State taxes you are paying PER Gallon. Always lovely to see just how badly the government is gouging you;)
#10
I wish other states had that system, Silentbrick. I've never seen it in any of my travels. I guess the other states are too embarrassed to fess up.
#11
Those pump stickers only show the taxes paid at the pump, and do not include all the other taxes hidden in the cost - such as corporate income tax, employer social security 'contribution', etc. Not to mention royalties, which aren't really a tax, but on oil produced from government lands or water are money paid to the government.
The US economy grew at a rate of 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, faster than previously thought, while wage growth earlier this year was revised down on Wednesday, adding to evidence that the economy is on track for a soft landing. This picture was reinforced by the latest Fed Beige Book survey of economic conditions, which offered little sign of a deterioration in the US economy during October and early November.
Most regional Fed districts reported continued moderate growth. In spite of continuing softness in automobile and housing-related sales, most districts said customer spending increased over the period. Demand for services was seen as healthy, according to most reports while even manufacturing activity which data suggests has seen some weakness was generally positive in most districts.
The Beige Book highlighted continued pressure in the jobs market, with a number of districts continuing to report that labour markets were tight, especially for high-skilled occupations. Wage growth, though, was characterised as still generally moderate.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Wis several Amer cities still expanding and taking up enuff land space to qualify as de facto CITY-STATES/MEGALOPOLISes, in by and for themselves alone, methinks some re-definition is in order for traditional econ formulas.
Sweetwater man bruised but home as search for 3 companions goes on in Mexico
HARLINGEN Texas businessman David Mueller arrived home in Sweetwater late Wednesday bruised and battered but alive after kidnappers freed him and another man abducted during a hunting trip in Mexico, authorities said.
The search continued for three men who were still missing after more than two dozen heavily armed men staged a commando-style raid Sunday night on a private hunting ranch across the border from Laredo.
#2
My brother hunts on the US side in that area now and then. There are javalina (wild boar) and deer in plenty. I'd assume the other side of the border has the same.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/01/2006 23:28 Comments ||
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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.
(SomaliNet) In a dramatic move, the Burundian government has decided to support Rwanda, following Rwandans termination of diplomatic ties with France. 
KUWAIT CITY: A Sri Lankan national who was executed in Kuwait for murdering an Asian woman during a robbery remained alive five hours after he was hanged and pronounced dead, newspapers reported yesterday. Sanjaya Rowan Kumara was pronounced dead by doctors eight minutes after he was hanged but medics who transported his body to a morgue said they noticed he was still moving, Al-Qabas daily reported.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- President-elect Felipe Calderon vowed Thursday to be sworn in before Congress, despite leftist lawmakers' efforts to block his inauguration, and said he would have little patience for political protests and drug violence.
The post mortem into Mr Litvinenko's death opened today in London.
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
THE mystery surrounding the death of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko deepened today when it emerged that doctors treating Yegor Gaidar, the former Russian prime minister, believe he also was poisoned. One of Mr Gaidar's aides, Valery Natarov, said today that doctors treating the ex-PM at a Moscow hospital, where he appears to be making a recovery, believe the poisoning was deliberate. "Doctors dont see a natural reason for the poisoning and they have not been able to detect any natural substance known to them," he said. "So obviously were talking about poisoning (and) it was not natural poisoning." 
FIJI'S capital Suva is bracing for an imminent takeover by the military with no signs that the government will capitulate before the noon deadline to a series of demands by the military.
About two dozen Muslim women protested Thursday outside the Dutch parliament against a proposed ban on the burqa, the head-to-toe Islamic robe. Several protesters wore long robes and veils exposing only their eyes, known as a niqab. "We live in a free country and the government cannot tell us what to do with our religion," protest organizer Ayse Bayrak told The Associated Press. "We don't live in a dictatorship. We don't live under the Taliban, which oppresses women." 
Congresswoman rejected for key post tells South Bay business leaders she'll continue to fight for aerospace firms.
Four towns in western India are under curfew and over 1,500 people were arrested as authorities sought to avert more violence after riots by low-caste Hindus claimed four lives. Rampaging low-caste Hindu mobs, angered by damage to a statue of their leader, set two passenger trains on fire Thursday after asking passengers to alight, damaged more than 100 state-run buses and clashed with police in several cities and towns of Maharashtra state. 
Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found. Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27 (JTA) A Turkish film featuring a venal, bloodstained Jewish doctor has been mysteriously withdrawn from screening in the United States. In Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, American actor Gary Busey portrays a Jewish U.S. Army doctor who cuts out the organs of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and sells them to wealthy clients in New York, London and Tel Aviv. 
The US economy grew at a rate of 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, faster than previously thought, while wage growth earlier this year was revised down on Wednesday, adding to evidence that the economy is on track for a soft landing. This picture was reinforced by the latest Fed Beige Book survey of economic conditions, which offered little sign of a deterioration in the US economy during October and early November.
Sweetwater man bruised but home as search for 3 companions goes on in Mexico
