Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
The married ex-senator from North Carolina - whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer -- met with his mistress, blonde divorcée Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 - and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn't leave until early the next morning.
So they say, anyway.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Well we post articles from the New York Times here all the time - this source is a step up! Next I guess we'll be seeing the Weekly World News.....
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/23/2008 8:02 Comments ||
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#4
here is something from Roger Simon's blog
"I want to start by bragging to you about how discreet Pajamas Media is. Over six months ago, we had wind of the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter love affair and love child and did not run with it. Most of this information was hearsay from people here in Hollywood, people who know Rielle. She was a long time hanger on in Hollywood circles before heading East to do political promo videos and, yes, I had met her myself on a couple of occasions at parties. She was not particularly notable, of the tedious sort that bore you to death about their yoga instructor."
#5
I loved how the National Enquirer guys managed to tree Edwards like a raccoon in a public toilet, until hotel security arrived to hustle him to safety.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/23/2008 9:25 Comments ||
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#6
Nothing says "leadership" like hiding in the bathroom.
#9
Don't slam The National Enquirer over accuracy. They are extremely lawsuit conscious, and carefully document everything they publish far more than all but academic journals. They are almost unique in that their legal department reviews the paper, and the sources, prior to publication.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/23/2008 12:18 Comments ||
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A neighbor kid once asked me why my Pit Bull dog was licking his butt. I said, "He just ate a Lawyer and is trying to get the taste out of his mouth". My apologies to all of the fine people here at Rantburg who are Lawyers.
#16
It gets even more fun! Y'all may want to check out:
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/categories/rielle-hunter/ : "The visibly pregnant blonde relocated from New York to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she's living in an upscale gated community near political operative Andrew Young, who's been extremely close to John Edwards for years.
And, in a bizarre twist, Andrew Young " a 41-year-old married man with young children himself" now claims HE is the father of Rielle's baby!
Others are skeptical, wondering if Young's paternity claim over Rielle Hunter's alleged offspring is a cover-up to protect John Edwards."
#18
It wasn't really him. He was just channeling the guy that knocked her up. Also that guy lives in the Other America, the one he doesn't live in, whichever one that is.
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Dolly strengthening as it approaches the southern Texas coast...
a Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi....At 800 am CDT...1300z...the center of Hurricane Dolly was located
near latitude 25.9 north...longitude 96.9 west or about 40 miles ...east of Brownsville Texas....Dolly is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches...with isolated amounts of 15 inches...over portions of south Texas and northeastern Mexico over the next few days.
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1. the link is to the long range Brownsville radar
2. the Rio Grande valley will get a huge dump of rain... probably a few areas (most in Mexico where drainage is unimproved) will get flooded to 2nd story window level
#3
"100 mph winds blew semi tractors off the road while hail knocked out the windows of vehicles caught in the storm." Last night, south of Wichita as global warming comes to Kansas.
#6
at 700 pm CDT it was well inland, almost certainly will be downgraded to a tropical storm by 1000pm CDT
also velocity has picked up slightly
still, this will dump over 10 million acre-feet of rain into the lower Rio Grande river basin and while some of this area is in a drought, that much water will do some bad things to houses, roads, etc.
BRUSSELS - The European Union widened sanctions against Zimbabwe Tuesday despite a deal between hardline President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai aimed at ending the political crisis.
EU foreign ministers, at a meeting in Brussels, added 37 more people to a list of individuals under a visa ban and whose assets have been frozen, as well as four "legal entities", or companies. The list -- which had already included Mugabe, his wife and other senior officials -- now totals 168 people and four companies, and sees the EU for the first time target business people and companies in Zimbabwe. The new names were not immediately released so as not to alert those concerned and allow them to transfer their assets to safety.
The move came despite the signing Monday of a deal between the veteran president and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai on a framework for talks on a future government. Despite the deal, ministers said it was important to keep up the pressure.
"We decided to go for sanctions, because sanctions weigh heavily," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the year. He said the ministers took the decision "not for the pleasure of imposing sanctions, but because it is a political weight and because we want to play a positive role alongside the African Union."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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During these turbulent economic times, Gordon Brown is keen for the country to stick by him. However, this probably wasn't quite what he had in mind. Dan Glass, of the climate change pressure group Plane Stupid, today tried to superglue himself to the Prime Minister at a Downing Street reception. Plane Stupid?
As Mr Glass, 24, was introduced to the Premier, he laid a glue-covered hand on his sleeve. Maggie Thatcher would've beat the piss out of him.
He also took the opportunity to urge Mr Brown to change his mind on the Heathrow airport expansion. Well, I was gonna, but, since you're an asshole, I think we'll double the size.
Mr Glass told the assembled guests: 'Do not worry - this is a non-violent protest. We cannot shake away climate change like you can just shake away my arm.' ...whereupon the PM's security detail beat him to a pulp. Nah. You just wish that happened.
Mr Glass, who had smuggled pouches of glue into the event in his underwear, added later that Mr Brown laughed off the protest. 'He was just grinning about it,' he said. 'He didn't seem to take me seriously.' Ha ha ha. What if had a gun down his shorts? Ha ha ha...
Mr Glass, an invited guest, was allowed to stay at the reception for 40 minutes after the stunt. When he left, he tried to glue himself to the gates of Downing Street - but had his hand detached by a police officer. 'I didn't have much glue left by that point,' he said. I'd have let him stay there. For a coupla days. I would've bought him more glue to make sure.
Why not a 'Jirga' or some form of conflict resolution from the Quran? (Oh wait, that might get too bloody for the nice carpets at Canterbury)
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/23/2008 9:49 Comments ||
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#2
The African concept when you do an indaba is you talk, talk, talk until you agree. In these indaba groups, they talk a little and then someone changes the subject if they dont like it. The Americans (Conservatives) are feeling railroaded and manipulated. Even the Africans are saying, 'This is not indaba'. None of the bishops asked by The Times had yet been given a chance to discuss the one thing that they are all desperate to address: how can the Anglican Communion survive the consecration of Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire. The Archbishop of Sudan, Dr Daniel Deng, heightened tensions yesterday by saying that Bishop Robinson ought to step down.
That's what the issue is, not "pandering" to African bishops.
Do they, the Anglican Church, allow open homosexual conduct from their clergy and do they therefore endorse homosexual marriage?
If they do, then the Anglican Church will shatter. Its already doing so with many US congregations switching to follow African bishops, who are orthodox and conservative in belief, over the Rowan Williams and his allied lefty bishops who preach an ignore-the-bible dont-offend-anyone feel-good anything-goes theology.
#3
The Americans (Conservatives) are feeling railroaded and manipulated.
The US TEC bishops are the wild-eyed rads at the conference. It's the traditionalist Anglo-Catholics that are getting the stick, which was was made clear in a series of votes at the Anglican Communion's Synod (held a few weeks ago).
For a conservative British Catholic's viewpoint, Daily Telegraph blogger Damian Thompson's perspective on the Lambreth conference makes for some interesting reading LINK
An odd one, this. Kunming is quite distant from any Olympic venue - Yunnan province is in the middle of nowhere. Why would anyone bomb an ordinary city bus? If it was terrorism, then why no claim of responsibility? If it was some farmer who got screwed out of his farm, then why would he bomb a bus?
In the wake of yesterday's bomb attacks on two buses on Renmin Xi Lu, some new bits of information are trickling out through local media. Here are some of the latest developments:
A criminal investigation unit dispatched from Beijing arrived in Kunming yesterday afternoon. By 7:45 pm all on-site investigation for both explosions had basically concluded, with traffic returning to normal. Investigators have identified the explosive in both explosions as ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer that is often used in homemade bombs.
As early as 5:00 am on Monday, some Kunming residents received what is being treated by police as possibly being a text message warning from the bomber(s), which reads: "I hope the city residents who receive this text message don't take the 54, 64 or 84 buses..."
The sender, whose number displayed as anonymous, referred to him/herself as "the mobilizer of nobodies". Police have confirmed that numerous people received this message the morning of the explosions.
Kunming vice mayor Du Min has been quoted by Xinhua as saying that there was no text message prior to Monday's explosions, according to a Reuters report. "In fact, there was no such message," Xinhua news agency quoted Du as saying on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Hard to say, fakes of this kind are common in China, people will want to make something true so they say it's true. On the other hand, the government is well-known for coverups.
Thirteen of the 14 injured in yesterday's explosion are in stable condition, with one victim, a woman, still in the intensive care unit at Kunming First Affiliated Hospital in critical condition. One of the injured is a pregnant woman who herself is fine but her fetus is still undergoing tests. Most of the injured suffered at least one broken eardrum and some skin damage.
Russia will soon return 174 sq km of territory on the northeast border to China, ending more than 40 years of negotiations. Putin making nice? Eh?
The area to be returned is half of the Chinese territory the former Soviet Union occupied during a 1929 border skirmish. In Chinese, the area is collectively referred to as the Heixiazi Islands.
The two countries will sign an agreement to this effect during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's two-day visit to Beijing that starts today. What did they stand to gain by this? Russian territory is inviolate...
According to the agreement to be signed, Russia will return Yinlong Island (Tarabarov Island) and half of Heixiazi Island (Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island).
The islands are at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and the Wusulijiang rivers that serve as the natural border between the two countries.
"This will end the boundary demarcation work (between China and Russia), for which the two countries have been negotiating for more than 40 years," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
#1
It's business. Who has power, who can help who. Meanwhile, Puty has no problem threatening and territorially posturing with Poland and the Baltic States. I think the analysis back in the Kremlin is that China is going to be the economic bully boy on the Eurasian continent while Russia stagnates. No need to provide provocation which might end up with the loss of the Siberian resource region.
#2
I think you're partly correct P2K. China is an economic powerhouse who benefits Putie immensely. They have a whole new round of military technology to sell the Chicoms, who can now easily afford the payments. Putie is willing to give a little to stay in their good graces. They are both growing and puffing their chests together. Back to harmony for the commies.
#3
I'm still waiting for the Russians and Japanese to get together and work out the transfer of those islands the Russkies grabbed at the end of WW2. It seems Japanese know-how and need of raw materials would go well with Russia's possession of the islands and raw materials.
#4
PUTIN now VLADVEDEV appears to also be trying to get CHINA + JAPAN involved in various joint dev projects as per SAKHALIN ISLAND, which IMO is causing a maritime border ripple/domino effect bwtn JAPAN + SOKOR as per minor islets???
#5
Lest we fergit, RUSSIA + IRAN are also pres engaged in ongoing diplo-talks over the establishment of a INTER-NATION TRADE CORRIDOR, which as per OWG FREE TRADE ZONES will prob be linked to to SAKHALIN, etc. + Russia's proposed RUSSO-JAPAN-ALCAN [Arctic?] NORTH PACIFIC CORRIDOR into NORAM.
JAPAN per se is starting talks over dev of another super-corridor linking "the DRAGON ISLE" wid SOKOR, and which in LT will prob also link wid the PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, + SE ASIA.
"ALL [OWG?] ROADS LEAD TO ROME" = CORSICANT = USA/USSA-USR, at least for time being.
The foreign ministry has formally complained to Libya against retaliatory measures following the arrest last week in Geneva of one of Moammar Gaddafi's sons.
It said that since last Thursday Gaddafi's government had detained Swiss citizens in Libya, demanded the closure of Swiss firms present in the country and recalled some of its diplomatic representatives to Switzerland.
Libya has also stopped processing visa requests from Swiss, and on Wednesday announced that the airline, Swiss, would have to reduce its flights to Tripoli from three to one a week.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey protested against the moves in a telephone call with her Libyan counterpart on Tuesday. A Swiss delegation is expected to hold talks in Tripoli later on Wednesday with the Libyan authorities.
The moves against Swiss interests came a week after "Hannibal" Gaddafi was arrested with his wife, Aline, at a Geneva five-star hotel last week and spent two nights in a court cell.
The couple, who were released on bail and have left the country, were charged by a magistrate with inflicting physical injuries and using threats and force against two of their staff, who lodged a formal complaint.
ANKARA - Turkey's highest court will begin deliberating in a case to close the governing AK Party for suspected Islamist activities on July 28, a court official said on Tuesday. The Islamist-rooted AK Party is on trial on charges of trying to introduce Islamic rule in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular state.
A chief prosecutor also wants to bar Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and 69 leading AK Party figures from party membership for five years on charges of seeking to introduce Islamic sharia law in Turkey.
"We will begin the discussions on Monday. Will it take three days, five days or 10 days? That we don't know," Constitutional Court Chairman Hasim Kilic told reporters on leaving the court. Traditionally the court's 11 judges have moved swiftly to rule on high-profile cases, usually within the same day.
If the AK Party is closed and Erdogan -- seen as key to the survival of a reformist political movement he helped create in 2001 -- removed from power, analysts expect an early parliamentary election will follow.
Political analysts and senior AK Party sources have long believed the governing party would be shut down and have viewed the court case as politically-driven, but in the past week have become more cautious and now say it might not be closed.
A closure case comes amid a separate potentially explosive case involving what a prosecutor says is a shadowy, ultra-nationalist group suspected of seeking to overthrown the government by launching a series of violent actions that would force the army to step in. More than 80 people, including two senior retired army generals have been arrested in the expanding investigation.
The 11 judges -- most of them known for their strict interpretation of Turkey's constitution -- will vote and seven votes in favour are needed to shut down the ruling party. More than 20 parties have been banned for Islamist or Kurdish separatist activities in the past few decades, but none has had as much popular support as Erdogan's AK Party.
"This is not a regular closure case and this is not a trivial party but one in power that won a landslide re-election last year," Dogu Ergil, an expert on Turkish politics. "The court has responsibilities, there are divisions among the judges and shifting opinions. Any verdict is possible."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Jonah Goldberg presents a nice chart summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of several people who have been mentioned as potential running mates (including a few that don't really belong there, like Huckabee). Click through and read it all.
I still like Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal best of all--but where is Michael Steele?
Posted by: Mike ||
07/23/2008 08:54 ||
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#1
In a box labeled "can't even be expected to carry his own state"? Nice guy and all, but he's A)from the defeatist wing of the Republican Party and B)a former one-term lieutenant governor of a decidedly non-swing state.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/23/2008 9:23 Comments ||
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Some months ago someone mentionned another Black republican but I don't remember his name. It wasn't this guy Steele.
He is chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group. He is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002.
Why is Watts not even being considered? His bio looks good and a Black VP witrh potential to be Republican nominee in 2012 would cut a loot of grass under the feet of the Obamessiah.
#6
Few people outside of The Movement remember who J.C. Watts was, and he hasn't exactly kept a high profile since retiring from Congress like, oh say, Newt Gingrich. He's not really a public face, nor has he run for office in the last six years. Oklahoma is as solidly red as Maryland is solidly blue, so his Favorite Son status would be largely wasted.
Also, I'd be willing to bet that he's a registered lobbyist.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/23/2008 14:29 Comments ||
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#7
I should have thought of J.C. Watts myself. He may not want to get back into politics--if so, his gain and our loss. he's one of the good ones.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/23/2008 14:34 Comments ||
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#8
Re: J.C Watts: he's been publicly hinting at voting for Obama. And I used to admire the guy *sigh* ...
#10
OldSpook: sorry for the delay in getting a cite, but I had to wade through a lot of fog. It's not cut-and-dried, hence my use of "hinting," but IMO Watts is being coy about it, and others have inferred things and put words into his mouth. As this article makes clear, though, he's pissed at the Republicans - partly on the things we take them to task for here at the 'burg and partly on racial grounds.
So, further research has softened my disappointment a bit, but he is definitely being coy about it.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants Barack Obama to take away one message from their meeting Wednesday - he should focus immediately on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if elected, or any apaprent, vaperous, vacous gains made in peace talks could vanish.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, made time in his jam-packed Mideast schedule for what is to be a 45-minute meeting with Abbas. During a stop in Jordan on Tuesday, Obama suggested that he was open to the Palestinians' request, saying that he'd do his best to bring Israelis and Palestinians together, "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office." However, he also cautioned that it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
The candidate's visit in the West Bank generated some goodwill here, particularly since his Republican rival, John McCain, did not visit the Palestinians in a Mideast trip earlier in the summer. A Ramallah baker said he's named a bagel after Obama, to thank him for not ignoring the Palestinians. Bagel O'Bama?
Like people elsewhere in the region, Palestinians are fascinated with the U.S. campaign. The success of a black candidate may also have helped improve the tarnished U.S. image in the eyes of some. Wael Hamad, a 35-year-old mechanic from Ramallah, said he expected Obama, who is black, to be more understanding of Palestinian suffering because of the hardships suffered by blacks in the United States.
However, deep skepticism about U.S. policy prevailed. Most Palestinians believe the U.S. is so irrevocably biased toward Israel that it will make little difference whether Obama or McCain is elected U.S. president, said pollster Jamil Rabbah. "The American interest has always been with Israel, not with us," said 22-year-old college student Mohammed Hatem. "We have seen a lot of (U.S.) leaders who say they are going to work to get the Palestinian people an independent state, and they end up serving Israel."
Obama deepened those fears in a speech to American Jewish leaders in June when he said Jerusalem must remain Israel's undivided capital - even though no U.S. government has recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem, the sector claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital.
Obama later changed his mind, speaking to a different audience clarified that he believes the future of Jerusalem is to be determined in negotiations - Washington's longstanding policy. The fate of the city is currently on the table in U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Kadoura Fares, a legislator in Abbas' Fatah movement, said Obama's slip-up on such a key issue caused serious damage. "His correction was not enough," Fares added. "He should have said he recognizes the Palestinian right to freedom."
The Islamic militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip, said Obama was not welcome and criticized Abbas, a bitter rival, for receiving him. "Obama wants to go to the White House through Tel Aviv, at the expense of the Palestinians," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman. It's all about meeeee!
Abbas aides insist the Palestinian leader's meeting with Obama offers an important opportunity. Abbas will list the same old Palestinian grievances, including Israel's continued settlement construction and refusal to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank, Foreign Minister Riad Malki said.
Abbas will also tell Obama that, if elected president, he must not waste time and must immediately turn his attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser.
Abdullah Abdullah, a former Palestinian deputy foreign minister, said he thinks Obama's visit to Ramallah is a positive sign. "It means that if elected president, the Mideast file will be on his (Obama's) desk from day one," Abdullah said hopefully.
President Bush, like President Bill Clinton before him, had largely stayed clear of the messy Mideast conflict during their first years in office.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/23/2008 05:55 ||
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Haste makes waste. I wish to 'clarify' my posting. This belongs in 'Non WOT - Home Front: Politix'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/23/2008 6:03 Comments ||
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Obama deepened those fears in a speech to American Jewish leaders in June when he said Jerusalem must remain Israel's undivided capital - even though no U.S. government has recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of east Jerusalem, the sector claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital.
Congress ordered the moving of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but it's been delayed by State Department maneuvering.
I've always loved IBD's op-ed page. They just plain don't take prisoners. Signs Of The Times
If you doubt the media are in the tank for Obama, doubt no more. The refusal of the New York Times to print McCain's op-ed on Obama after an Obama piece was published has nothing to do with editorial judgment and everything to do with protecting the media's heartthrob.
Times op-ed editor David Shipley, who served in the Clinton administration from 1995 to 1997, insists it was just a request for a rewrite, as is frequently done with other writers. But McCain isn't a freelance writer or NYT staffer. He's a candidate for president of the United States and ought to be able to express his views -- unedited and unfiltered.
Shipley wanted McCain to define what he meant by victory and submit a timetable for achieving both victory and total withdrawal. He wanted McCain to write his editorial on Obama's terms. We suspect the Times was trying to protect Obama, at least during his trip, from reminders that he opposed the surge and the war and was wrong on both counts.
Obama, whose foreign policy consists of talking to our enemies while bombing our allies, Reason #42,658 why I love IBD's op-eds. Even the WSJ doesn't have the cojones to be THIS blunt
told the assembled veterans at the VFW Convention in Kansas City last year, "All our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq."
But there was a military solution in Iraq in Gen. David Petraeus' brilliant anti-terrorism strategy that paved the way for Iraqi political and religious reconciliation. If things are heating up in Afghanistan, it's because al-Qaida and its jihadist brethren, having been defeated in Iraq, have fled there to make a last stand. Okay...in fairness, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the Afghanistan part...
The Times spiked McCain's op-ed, which will now receive wider circulation, because it reminds voters of Obama's dangerous and naive foreign policy that only starts with being wrong on Iraq and the surge. The judgment of both Obama and his sycophants at the Times is open to question.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/23/2008 01:43 ||
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I had no idea they were that f*cked up over this guy. I don't get it, I simply don't get it.
NO human being could possibly live up to this kind of hype. They are approaching the point of mental illness with this. What's going to happen if he loses? Mass suicide?
#8
One of my favorite comments from the piece:
WFT? I mean WFT! Last I looked, most of the world either envies or hates us. A gift? What kind of gift? An STD? Elect this man and youre fucked.
The MSM shouldn't be allowed to embellish and be fined for false reporting that's all there is to it. They need to report real news not what they want to spin. I want to see real fines and jail time, the damage these 'reporters' are doing to our country alone is frightening. It's hard to admit that many Americans actually believe this crap they're being fed because they want to believe it.
I do hope for a rather large scale wake up call to America or we truly are f**ked.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/23/2008 14:27 Comments ||
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#9
No, but if this bugger is elected I'll 'feel' a warm one running down it!
The Indian government last night survived a knife-edge parliamentary vote of confidence, clearing the way for a landmark nuclear deal with the US which marks the end of India's international isolation as a rogue nuclear weapons state.
The vote came after weeks of political horse-trading saw allegations of MPs being offered million-pound bribes, others being assured of cabinet posts and bizarre claims that some had been kidnapped.
Just hours before the vote, opposition MPs brought 10m rupees (£117,750) in cash into the parliament to highlight the corruption claims, which will now be investigated by the parliamentary authorities.
In the end the vote was won with a majority of 19. This was partly owing to sick MPs being brought on hospital trolleys and others convicted for murder being freed from jail to vote. General elections can now take place in May, when the government's five-year term expires.
The crisis was precipitated when the coalition government, led by the Congress party, lost the support of the 59 MPs of the communist parties. Those parties said they could not back a government that announced it would go ahead with the long-stalled nuclear accord.
India exists outside of the non-proliferation treaty, which allows the US, Russia, the UK, France and China to keep atomic weapons. Under the treaty, other countries can have atomic energy for civilian use but not nuclear weapons.
In 2006, George Bush offered Delhi a nuclear pact, which allows India to keep its nuclear bombs and access nuclear technology and material in return for separating its military and civilian reactors and accepting international inspections. It is an exceptional offer. Brazil and South Africa had to give up their nuclear weapons programmes before export controls were lifted.
"This is a big move. It signals India coming out of international isolation and that it can be part of the community of nations. This is important for a country that aspires to be on the G8," said K Subrahmanyam, a defence analyst.
Communist parties had blocked the deal, saying it would make India little more than a US pawn. Last night in a statement posted on his official website, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said that those parties "wanted a veto over every single step of [nuclear] negotiations which is not acceptable. They wanted me to behave as their bonded slave".
The deal has to be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which monitors sales of nuclear technology. Most big powers have backed the deal, although Pakistan has raised objections.
The news of the vote was welcomed by the White House. US officials had been openly saying that time was running out for the deal. The US Congress also has to vote on the accord, which Bush had hailed as one of his major policy achievements.
Singh, an economist who was the architect of India's economic reforms in the 1990s, has emerged as a skilful political operator after being installed by the Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi, following India's 2004 elections.
In the past two weeks, he not only saw off Bharatiya Janata, the main opposition Hindu nationalist party, but also outmanoeuvred Kumari Mayawati, the chief minister of India's biggest state, Uttar Pradesh. She had convinced two minor parties that were expected to vote with the government to switch sides.
"He's proven to be a risk-taker and it's paid off. He believed in [the nuclear deal] intellectually, morally, philosophically and politically. That's a good thing," Shekar Gupta, the editor of the Indian Express newspaper, told New Delhi TV.
Seeds of a US nuclear rapprochement with India began in 2005 when the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, visited Washington. The Bush administration, determined to make history, announced it would reverse three decades of policies designed to deter nations from developing nuclear weapons - and aid India's civilian nuclear power programme. It was another year before George Bush arrived in Delhi, laying out a deal which both countries signed. Since then the accord had been repeatedly blocked by India's communists until Singh met Bush at the G8 summit this month in Japan and told him he would risk his government and make a last-ditch attempt to rescue it. India now faces a tight timetable: the deal must make it past the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in time to get it to the US Congress before Bush leaves office in January to guarantee the deal.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is actually hugely important to both countries, and is a major victory for President W. Bush.
H.W. Bush had a huge victory by continuing China's MFN trading status after Tiananmen Square, in exchange for them signing on to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement after 40 years of US presidents trying to get them to sign despite their absolute refusal.
And this is just as important, as India is just as capable, or more so, of making nuclear weapons.
By keeping everything low-key, even the dumbass US senate will quietly vote for this, unless they have gone mad.
But as with his father, there will be no public celebration or even extraordinary mention, as part of the deal.
Nuclear non-proliferation should be added as a symbol to the Bush family crest.
Let us hope that both Jeb Bush is as good as his father and brother, and is given the opportunity in the near future to show it.
#3
President H.W. Bush's non-proliferation treaty with China has gone very well indeed, from what I understand, Anonymoose. Dare we even think of hoping for better from India with his son?
/I'm not quite sure what, but this is most certainly the end of it.
#4
From a non-proliferation perspective, I think India has been very good with not spreading nuclear weapons to other countries, on its own accord. So, that wouldn't necessarily be a Bush success story. Also, note that india has never signed the NPT (one of just 4 countries in the world not to do so), and has no intention of doing so in the future, regardless of what happens with this deal.
What this nuclear deal will accomplish is that India will be able to get more energy, and we will get a share of an estimated $100 billion in future nuclear power plant work in India (by 2027).
This deal will also potentially free up some uranium for India to make nukes. We are just seizing a good economic opportunity for both nations with this deal, and there's nothing wrong with that.
One last thing... it's only a matter of time before we figure out how to harness Thorium as an alternative to Uranium in nuclear power plants... and India has a third of the world's Thorium deposits. They have been studying thorium-based nuclear technology very aggressively of late.
A record 450 French olim were to arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport Wednesday, on three special flights sponsored by the Jewish Agency and the AMI immigration association. The immigrants were to be welcomed in an official ceremony, where they were to be addressed by Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski, Immigration and Absorptiion Minister Eli Aflalo and AMI founder Pierre Besnainou.
France has one of the largest Jewish communities outside of Israel, totaling nearly half a million people. Its population is second only to America's Jewish population, which has now exceeded 5 million.
Since 2000, there has been a marked increase in the number of French citizens immigrating to Israel, arguably due to the waves of growing anti-Semitism in the European state. Many French Jews say that they no longer feel comfortable or welcome in France, particularly within the working-class suburbs of Paris, where much of the tension has been focused.
Last month, a Jewish teenager was brutally attacked in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris. That neighborhood, which has been the site of ongoing scuffles between North African Jews and Muslims living in Paris, was the same suburb in which 23-year-old Ilan Halimi was beaten and left to die a year before.
#3
The people killed at Oradour were not jews, they were your average forties french rural folks, and the actual killers were not germans, IIRC, but french soldiers from Alsace who had been forcibly enlisted in the german army (the only germans involved were the officers).
#4
Moose, you have a reference that the SS were composed of draftees?
In the days leading up to the Allied D-Day landings at Normandy, the local French Resistance increased its activities in order to disrupt local German forces and to hinder communications. 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was ordered to make its way across the country to the anticipated fighting in Normandy. Along the way, the Germans killed many French citizens and, in turn, came under attack and sabotage from the French Resistance.
Early on the morning of June 10, 1944, Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann, commanding the I battalion of the 4th Waffen-SS ("Der Führer") Panzer-Grenadier Regiment, informed Sturmbannführer Otto Weidinger at regimental headquarters that he had been approached by two French civilians who claimed that a German officer was being held by the Resistance in Oradour-sur-Vayres, a nearby town. The captured German was alleged to be Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe, commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, who may have been captured by the Maquis the day before.
On June 10, Diekmann's battalion sealed off the town of Oradour-sur-Glane, having confused it with nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres, and ordered all the townspeople â and anyone who happened to be in or nearby the town â to assemble in the village square, ostensibly to have their papers examined. In addition to the residents of the village, the SS also apprehended six people who did not live there but had the misfortune of riding their bikes through town when the Germans arrived.
All the women and children were then taken to and locked in the church while the village itself was looted. Meanwhile, the men were led to six barns and sheds where machine-gun nests were already in place. According to the account of a survivor, the soldiers began shooting at them, aiming for their legs so that they would die more slowly. Once the victims were no longer able to move, the soldiers covered their bodies with kindling and set the barns on fire. Only five men escaped; 190 men died.
The soldiers then proceeded to the church and put an incendiary device in place there. After it was ignited, women and children tried to flee from the doors and windows of the church, but were met with machine-gun fire. Two-hundred and forty-seven women and two-hundred and five children died in the mayhem. Only one woman survived, 47-year-old local housewife Marguerite Rouffanche. She had managed to slide out of a small window at the back of the church, and hid in the bushes overnight until the Germans had moved on. Another small group of about twenty villagers had fled Oradour-sur-Glane as soon as the soldiers had appeared. That night, the remainder of the village was razed.
A few days later, survivors were allowed to bury the dead. It was found that six-hundred and forty-two inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane had been brutally murdered in a matter of hours.
#6
Moose, you have a reference that the SS were composed of draftees?
That was something I remembered out of the fact the killers were actually pardoned by the french justice in the early 50's. I went to french wikipedia, and it sez that out of 21 killers, 14 were alsacians 'malgré-nous', IE forcibly-enlisted into the german army, as they were seen as ethnically and culturally german (which they are, though they have their own distinct regional identity).
look hard again. It was a battalion. That's far more than 21. I'm aware of SS impressment, but that doesn't kick in till late '44, early '45. And the SS were not the 'German Army' but a separate organization directly under Himmler. It's like us mixing our Army and Marine Corps, two distinct organizations with different chain of command till you get to the JCS. As far as the French government dropping the issue, it seems to have had more in line with relations with the new Germany rather than the individuals involved. Remember the French had no problem offing their own people who collaborated with the Germans during the occupation. Petain survived only because of his WWI stature.
Lawyers for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert screened a video of key witness Morris Talansky in Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday in which the American businessman is seen talking about cash he once gave to the late Yitzhak Rabin.
On the last day of the cross-examination of the key witness in the graft probe against Olmert, the attorneys questioned Talansky over statements he made to police about contributing money to Rabin, despite his denial in court that he had any connection with other Israeli politicians. Talansky said his remarks about Rabin were meant to be confidential.
At this stage, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador interceded in the exchange. "He had no idea that he was being filmed," Lador said of Talansky. "This whole exercise, where the attorneys are taking an interest in what he said about Rabin, is so transparent." Legal experts say Olmert's lawyers are trying to manufacture "spin" by diverting public attention away from the investigation into Olmert's alleged financial improprieties.
Despite the state prosecutor's attempt to suppress the footage, it was played in court. Talansky is seen in the clip remarking that Rabin received money from American Jewish businessman Leon Charney during one of his trips he took to the U.S. as a member of Knesset. Talansky is seen in the video saying he paid for Rabin's airline ticket, and that he wagered $100,000 in a tennis match together with Rabin, a match they would eventually won. Talansky is also heard saying he paid for Rabin's hotel room.
After screening the clip, Olmert's lawyers asked Talansky about his statements. Talansky replied that he and Rabin won $100,000 which would then be donated to Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
Tel-Zur then offered Talansky a chance to apologize for the story. Talansky replied that he was sorry, that he regretted making the statements, and that he wished to apologize before the Rabin family.
"Talansky didn't say whether the story was true or false," Lador said afterwards. "This remains an open question."
During the questioning, an argument erupted between Talansky and Olmert's attorneys over a $15,000 loan the premier once received from Talansky during his stay in New York. Talansky claimed that Olmert called him three times in the morning, which meant that he needed something. Talansky then said he went to the bank to retrieve the money for Olmert. Olmert's lawyers then showed Talansky an excerpt from his previous questioning in which he denied being near the telephone when Olmert called.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Launching her campaign for the Kadima primary in September, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared Tuesday that after winning the race, she will immediately work to form a national unity government with Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor's Ehud Barak.
Speaking at a gathering of activists at the Kadima branch in Hadera, Livni said that a unity government is the best thing for Israel at a time of internal disputes and external threats, and promised there would be room for members from Meretz to Yisrael Beiteinu.
"I think that out of this swamp it is possible to generate a very broad common denominator: a unity government that will advance the peace process," Livni told Haaretz. "Bibi, too, understands now that the concept of economic peace is not enough. He also says so. The same goes for investing in education and changing the government within the framework of a unity government."
Livni commented on the negative publicity she has received in the past few days, including attacks attributed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert implying that she is not cut out to function under pressure, as well as a Channel 1 television report Tuesday night about her past service in the Mossad.
"I know they'll be gunning for me," she told Haaretz. "I knew it from Day 1, but I made a decision from the start not to get hung up on other people and not to deal with what others say about me. I'm coming from a place where any question is legitimate, and I know they'll keep trying to go after me, but I don't get into that. My life story is open to everyone, including my political and security experience. In recent years I was a partner in the government to reaching significant political and security decisions, including Resolution 1701, and I wish to be judged on the basis of those decisions."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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New York Times Co. says its second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from the year-ago quarter boosted by a one-time gain. Meanwhile, print advertising revenue continued to shrink.
The New York-based newspaper publisher says its quarterly net income dropped to $21.1 million, or 15 cents per share, which included 11 cents per share in buyout costs.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected income of 22 cents per share in the latest quarter. Analyst estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue dropped 6 percent to $741.9 million, missing the average Wall Street estimate for $754 million. Ad revenue slipped down 11 percent, hurt mostly by fewer classified ads.
Chief Executive Janet Robinson says business was hurt by the "U.S. economic slowdown and secular forces playing out across the media industry."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If you are making somehting that few people want, you will sell less of it.
Coke was smart enough to reverse "New Coke".
But the NYT keeps on accelerating to the bottom, with their idealogical blinders making them oblivious to the reasons why few trust them any more and therefore fewer read them.
Sacrificing truth and objectivity for liberal spin and partisanship is what killed the NYT.
#10
You mean their web advertising isn't making up for their loss of paper advertising? I thought the Internet was the problem causing the paper to lose circulation ... their website should make up for all that, right?
#11
Secular here might mean long-term, nonperiodic changes, as in astronomy. In that case, she'd be write.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/23/2008 21:37 Comments ||
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#12
Right, not write. Darn it!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/23/2008 21:38 Comments ||
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#13
Pay-Per-View Times Select Op-Eds worked out sooooo well for them. I hope they end up in layoffs determined by who loses in caged death-matches with sharpened back-stabbers (anti-American versions, of course)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/23/2008 21:38 Comments ||
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In Norway, many motorists are up in arms over why they have to pay the highest petrol (gasoline) prices in Europe when the country is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a recent tax hike has done little to cool tempers.
"It is really strange: we have lots of oil and we're a rich country. Why do we have to pay so much?" asks Per-Arne Skjerpingstad, a 38-year-old hospital porter as he fills up the tank of his Peugeot 307 at an Oslo gas station for 750 kroner (94 euros, 148 dollars).
Diesel costs 14.23 kroner (1.78 euros, 2.82 dollars) a litre (quarter gallon) and 95 unleaded 13.84 kroner, putting it at the top of the European league, EU figures show.
And while many countries are discussing how to soften the blow of skyrocketing oil prices on consumers, Norway on July 1 increased its already heavy tax take by 0.05 kroner per litre on petrol and 0.10 kroner (0.1 euro cent, 0.2 dollar cent) on diesel.
Seven out of 10 Norwegians oppose the tax increase, according to a July poll by the daily VG.
"It's not the way to go. In a country like Norway, people need to have cars. I bought this car because I'm going to be a father soon," Skjerpingstad said.
Critics argue it is meaningless to increase taxation when oil prices have risen so much in the past months. And as the new tax increase is low, it won't significantly change drivers' behaviour.
Instead "we should lower tax because we are so fortunate to be an oil exporter," said Siv Jensen, the leader of the far-right Progress Party, the leading opposition group in Norway.
"We should give the money back to the people so they can enjoy it," she told AFP.
The tax increase is part of a wider government strategy to fight climate change by pushing Norwegians to leave their car at home.
"At a time when climate change is beginning to seriously impact the planet, and when Norway's carbon dioxide emissions are increasing, we politicians must take steps to meet these challenges," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said.
The tax was agreed by all political parties, apart from the Progress Party, as part of the country's overall climate change policy.
But now supporters of the centre-left coalition government fear the tax increase will cost them dearly in the next elections, in September 2009.
"It's a very unwise political decision. The only thing it will accomplish is that the Progress Party will get even more votes," Labour MP Karita Bekkemellem told the daily VG in June.
A third of the population expect fuel prices to be the most important issue in the polls, according to a survey in Aftenposten, Norway's paper of reference.
Speculation has been rife over whether the far-right could come to power for the first time in the next election. Even Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has acknowledged that the Progress Party could get into government.
Those living in rural and remote areas are particularly incensed about the tax increase as they are more dependent on cars than city dwellers who have access to public transport.
"This is a serious issue with many people I have spoken to and met in my region, (rural) Moere and Romsdal. Much more serious than for those who live in a small circle in Oslo and Gruenerloekka (a fashionable area in the capital) think," Bekkemellem told VG.
At the same time, there are those who think the protests are overdone since Norway is a rich country and should be able to afford high fuel prices in the service of a good cause.
Norwegian salaries are among the highest in the world and the government estimates an average industry worker here can buy twice as much petrol as his Spanish counterpart after working an hour.
"Of course petrol is expensive but it's okay. The standard of living is good here and salaries are high," said Stine Nore, a 28-year-old logistics manager as she filled up her black BMW estate.
"There have to be incentives for people to drive less. Driving is a luxury. People should only drive a car when it really is necessary," she told AFP. Hopefully the Progress Party will kick seven bells out of the tax hikers, sending a strong message to the US Democrat party
#1
"The Progress Party is officially a liberalistic party committed to tax reductions, free market economics and deregulation of the economy, stricter limits on immigration, closer cooperation with NATO, the United States and also Israel in foreign policy, a more controlled state aid to developing countries, social and cultural conservatism, and the decentralization of government.
#3
At the same time, there are those who think the protests are overdone since Norway is a rich country and should be able to afford high fuel prices in the service of a good cause.
Remember, our ancestors either left or were thrown out because unlike their stay behind blood, they believed government works for the people, the people don't work for the government.
#4
"At a time when climate change is beginning to seriously impact the planet, and when Norway's carbon dioxide emissions are increasing, we politicians must take steps to meet these challenges," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said.
I have relatives named Halvorsen. They, however, are not Kool-Aid drinkers....
#5
"Of course petrol is expensive but it's okay. The standard of living is good here and salaries are high," said Stine Nore, a 28-year-old logistics manager as she filled up her black BMW estate."There have to be incentives for people to drive less. Driving is a luxury. People should only drive a car when it really is necessary," she told AFP.
#6
A place like Norway ought to be FOR global warming! It would make the place a lot more comfortable for most of the year. And they might even be able to grow more than cabbages.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) | Returning home after three tours of duty in Afghanistan, Derek Blumke was eager to return to college. But the Air Force veteran felt unwelcome at the University of Michigan as he tried alone to manage the transition from warrior to student. During one of his initial calls to the school, employees told him they couldn't answer his questions because he wasn't yet a student. Later, he found himself wandering around the Ann Arbor campus, trying to figure out how to use his military benefits to pay tuition and feeling like no one would help.
"I was frustrated and angry and disappointed," said the 26-year-old former gunship maintenance supervisor who's now a senior studying political science and psychology at Michigan. "That frustration and anger turned into motivation. You don't want me here? OK, fine. I WILL come here."
As veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return to campus, many are finding that colleges and universities are only beginning to figure out how to help them transition back to civilian, social and academic life. Many need help with paperwork. Others seek emotional and psychological support, and some struggle to fit in with classmates who are often much younger.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Most of the Vet's are adults, most of the others are children.. No Surprise, no great analysis required.
#4
My son is a former US Marine, and currently an AF ROTC candidate. (He served 4 years in the Corp 1996-2000, so he missed the current unpleasantness.) At age 30, he is quite a bit older - and more motivated - than many of his classmates. He looks down on them as being undisciplined and immature.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/23/2008 1:09 Comments ||
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#5
veteran felt unwelcome at the University
At a lot of universities the veteran IS unwelcome. By administration, staff and other students. There are others though. The hard part is knowing which ones.
#6
The irony is that the great expansion of universities (and accompanying jobs for professors and administrators) in the second half of the 20th century was due to WWII vets attending on the GI bill. The "Ivory Tower" is not against biting the hand that created it.
#7
I had issues going back to college after my first enlistment, when I was in the reserves.
A lot of it is that the students and teachers are so ignorant when it comes to the real world, and are childish as a result.
The faculty, in particular, doesn't like being called on it, the way veterans call bullshit when they see it (in general).
#8
But like with the post-WWII era, the ivory tower is soon to learn that veterans have little tolerance for b.s. Schools take advantage of and abuse kids because they can.
But veterans have a tendency to be either an irresistible force or an unmovable object.
I remember the story of a Vietnam Vet gunship pilot who, when attending the first day of class, got an earful from a leftist professor ranting at his class about how the military was fascist and killed babies.
Halfway through the lecture he stood up, which got everyone's attention, and loudly stated, "I do not have to listen to this shit!", in a loud voice, then walked out.
Other students later told him that it just pulled the rug out from underneath the lefty professor, and that several other students followed suit, leaving the class looking half empty. For the rest of the semester, the lefty held his tongue and just taught the class.
#9
I went back to school at the age of 30 and I wanted to stomp the shit out of most of those little turds that sat around me. Not until the last year on Engineering school had all the dipshits been weeded out and I started getting along with them.
They are ignorant of the workings of the real world, they have never been in it. Straight from high school to college and none of the fun stuff in between. They are miserable little brats because they are being fast tracked to a career and a house and probably a family that they don't even really want. They should require a 3 year work period or make the min. age 21 to go to a university, unless you have a pretty good reason to go straight in.
#10
having worked and working at a ROTC gig I can tell you how true this is. Although where I work we take care of any veterans that seek us out - whether they're part of the program or not. A lot of professors are fairly ignorant - I know them on a faculty/staff level and I'm often amazed at how much commonsense they do not possess.
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.
Launching her campaign for the Kadima primary in September, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared Tuesday that after winning the race, she will immediately work to form a national unity government with Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor's Ehud Barak. 
