#1
We discussed this in a finance class a few weeks ago. Default risk isn't what you should be worried about with treasuries or AA/AAA bonds, its interest rate and inflation risk. Interest rate risk could discount the living daylights out of your bonds and you will be looking at >20% loss. That would suck.
The U.S. Army apologized Wednesday for sending 7,000 letters to family members of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and addressing the letters to "John Doe."
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. is sending a personal letter of apology to all the families who received the letters.
The 7,000 original letters were sent late last month by a contractor to inform survivors about private organizations that offer gifts, programs and other assistance to families of soldiers who were killed in the War on Terror.
Army spokesman Paul Boyce blamed the mistake on a faulty "mail merge" function within a high-speed printer the Army uses to send out mass mailings.
The letters were sent from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command's Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Center in Alexandria, Va, which issued a formal apology on Wednesday.
"There are no words to adequately apologize for this mistake or for the hurt it may have caused," Brig. Gen. Reuben D. Jones, the Army Adjutant General, said in a statement to be posted on the human resources Web site.
"It is important the original intent of the letter is not lost. The organizations mentioned are dedicated to honoring loved ones and recognizing their sacrifice and commitment."
According to the Washington Post, 4,829 U.S. service members have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 -- 4,204 in Operation Iraqi Freedom and 625 in Operation Enduring Freedom.
HYDERABAD/MUMBAI: The irony lies in the name - Satyam, meaning truth. The real truth is that Ramalinga Raju, the politically-connected, promoter-chairman of Hyderabad-headquartered Satyam Computers, was lying for years to shareholders, employees and the world at large, building up to India's largest-ever corporate fraud of over Rs 7,000 crore.
The country's fourth largest IT company - after TCS, Infosys and Wipro and ahead of HCL - was for several years cooking its books by inflating revenues and profits, thus boosting its cash and bank balances; showing interest income where none existed; understating liability; and overstating debtors' position (money due to it).
The 54-year-old US MBA Raju's letter of guilt and resignation to the Satyam board and Sebi on Wednesday morning sledge-hammered India Inc, dumbfounded regulators, pummelled the company's stock, knocked the bottom out of the market, and cast a long shadow over industry in general and the IT sector in particular.
It also raised disconcerting questions about corporate governance, the role of auditors (in this case Pricewaterhouse Coopers) and independent directors (Satyam has its share of luminaries such as ISB dean M Rammohan Rao, Krishna Palepu of Harvard Business School who resigned and former union cabinet secretary T R Prasad).
This wasn't some small fly-by-night operator that had been caught out. Satyam is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, boasts 185 Fortune 500 companies on its client list and employs 53,000 people - that's equal to the combined number of employees of Tata Steel and Tata Motors (30,000 and 23,000 respectively).
Within hours of the Satyam scandal hitting the headlines, its employees had flooded job portals across the world wide web in search of alternate employment. Consider that the Rs 7000-plus crore hole in Satyam's books is way more than the company's entire salary bill of Rs 5,040 crore last year. Worse still, it's running really low on cash, and once-potential suitors have turned wary - they don't know what lies beneath.
As for Satyam's shareholders, the stock had gone into freefall before they could even make a decent exit. By the end of the day, large-scale selling by foreign institutional investors, among others, had driven the stock down by almost 78% to just a shade below Rs 40 from Tuesday's close of a little over Rs 179, wiping out Rs 9,376 crore of investor wealth in the space of a day. Compared to its closing price of Rs 225 on December 15, the stock is down more than 82%.
The day after, Raju announced his ill-fated plan to shell out $1.6 billion to acquire his sons' companies, Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra. It created such a furore that Raju was forced to backtrack. But what was widely seen as a move by Raju to bail out his sons was actually aimed at covering Satyam's tracks through fictitious cash transfers (details inside).
The timing of what is being called `India's Enron' could not have come at a worse time - just when the stock market was showing signs of responding positively to the Centre and RBI's moves to stimulate the economy through interest rate cuts, duty reductions and accelerated government spending. A day after the sensex crossed the 10,000-mark, it plunged by 749 points, wiping out almost Rs 1.3 lakh crore (or trillion) of market capitalization.
There's intense speculation as to what finally triggered Raju's confession of wrongdoing. It's clearly more than coincidence that it came hot on the heels of investment banker DSP Merrill Lynch's letter to the company on Tuesday evening (followed by another to Sebi this morning) terminating its 10-day-old agreement with Satyam to advise it on strategic options because of ``material accounting irregularities''. But the beginning of the end came when furious investors forced Raju to reverse his decision to acquire the two group companies (Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra), robbing him of his last chance to wriggle out of a very tight corner.
By the end of Wednesday, the knives were out with Sebi, the stock exchanges, the Indian Chartered Accountants Institute, the department of company affairs and institutional investors announcing/considering a flurry of probes/actions against Raju, Satyam and its auditors. NYSE has halted trading in Satyam ADRs (American Depository Receipts).
Fearing violence, the Hyderabad police threw a cordon around Satyam's offices and Raju's residence in upmarket Jubilee Hills even as the company's wholetime director-now-interim CEO Ram Mynampati, after expressing ``shock'', swung into damage control mode.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/07/2009
19:20 ||
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The parents of a six-year-old boy in the US have been charged with neglect after the boy drove their car for 10km in an attempt to get to school on time.
Police in Virginia said the boy, who was not named, took the keys to the car after he missed the school bus. He drove for six miles (10km) on major roads, weaving through traffic and overtaking slower cars, before losing control and going off the road. The boy told police he learned to drive by playing video games.
Police said the boy was so intent on getting to school after failing to make the bus, that he got the keys to his father's Ford Taurus and took the wheel himself. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. His road trip came to an end only after he ran off the road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole. He was not, police said, wearing a seat belt. He was treated for minor injuries at a hospital before police took him to school.
It happened at 0740 on Monday, while the boy's mother was still asleep. Both of his parents have been charged with endangering their child. He and his four-year-old brother are now in protective custody.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/07/2009
19:06 ||
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#1
The Washington Post story explained that the father was under a court order not to leave the two children alone with the mother. He did, and the mother was still asleep when the boy went on his journey.
Oh, and he learned how to drive by playing Grand Theft Auto.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/07/2009 20:56
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It's been a nine days' wonder down here - Sheriff's been all over the news.
"He did not want to miss breakfast"
Says a LOT about that family....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/07/2009 21:36
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#3
Gotta admire his determination to get to school, though.
The British Government is contemplating the third-party construction of a super database containing the identities and location of every person in Britain. The 'super database,' which comes at the hefty cost of 12 billion British pounds, would be run by one or a number of private companies and would track every citizen's Internet usage, every phone call, every text message, as well as many other transactions.
The government claims the database is necessary to fight terrorism and serious crime.
#3
If I trusted the government I might not have a problem with this - mught even favor it. But I will NEVER trust ANY government that much (or much at all.)
The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is having some problems in the Med, and we are only getting partial details...
The fire, lasting about two hours, was caused by a short circuit in the ship's wiring and the sailor died from smoke inhalation late on Tuesday, RIA news agency reported.
The accident occurred while the ship was docked in the Turkish port of Aksaz Karagac. It will stay in Turkey until Jan. 8 before continuing maneuvers in the region, RIA reported.
On Jan. 2, the Greek Defense Ministry said the carrier was due to carry out a series of military exercises near the islands of Rhodes and Crete from Jan. 3-11.
#1
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > US: ONCE FULLY OPERATIONAL, CHINA's PROPOSED NEW AIRCRAFT CARRIERS [ten years dev = post-2019/2020?] WILL DRAMATICALLY ALTER THE BALANCE OF POWER IN ASIA, ESPEC IN EAST-SOUTH CHINA SEAS.
* MAJOR PLAN SUB/CARRIER? NAVBASE in HAINAN.
* PLAN, Other PLA use of CAM RANH BAY [negotiations-in-progress wid VIETNAM].
* Proposed constux of SU-30 capable "unsinkable aircraft carrier" = ARTIFICIAL AIR-NAV ISLAND BASE on YONGXING ISLET.
* Taiwan thru Straits of Malacca = "CHINESE LAKE"
THE USA WILL BE FORCED TO UPGRADE AND DEPLOY SIZABLE POTENT MIL ASSETS TO GUAM IN RESPONSE.
ALso from WMF > NEW ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN/HAMAS FIGHT IN GAZA BODES ILL IN LONG-TERM FOR TAIWAN. TAIWAN's ARMED FORCES REMAINS SERIOUSLY DEFICIENT IN MANY IMPORTANT TECH, OPERATIONAL AREAS COMPARED TO CHINA'S PLA. [Powerful Israel = China, Paleos = Taiwan]. Author - CHINA [Israel] can easily attack and overwhelm Taiwan iff it really Really REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y REEEEEEEEELLLLLLLYYYYYY..... WANTED TO!?
#3
As per GUAM, POSTERS > China's best protection agz the USN and its Aircraft Carriers is to PROCEED WID ITS "CHAIN OF PEARLS/ISLAND TIERS" STRATEGY OF ESTABLISHING EVER-EXPANDING ANTI-US BOUNDARIES OF CONFRONTATION IN THE PACIFIC [OTH force projection] CHINESE CONTROL OR DOMINATION OF THE MARIANAS [ + even HAWAIIAN CHAINS, ETC.] WILL ASSURE CHINESE SECURITY AND STRATEGIC VICTORY OVER THE US NAVY IN A MAJOR SINO-AMER ASIA-PACIFIC WAR.
#4
WORLD MIL FORUM > PAPUA NEW GUINEA IS NOW A PART OF CHINA's NEW "OVERSEAS EMPIRE" OF PACIFIC NATIONS [RESOURCE MINING = ECONOMIC, for now].
* SAME > RISING CHINA MUST BE KEEN TO PROTECT ITSELF FROM PRE-WW2-STYLE REGIONAL OR GEOPOL CHAOSES WHICH CAN RESULT IN "PEARL HARBOR" MIL ATTACKS AGZ CHINA.
YJCMTSU!
A man whose home was so full of rubbish that he had to build an intricate network of tunnels to get around may have died after losing his way in the labyrinth.
Investigators believe Gordon Stewart, 74, died as a result of dehydration, after becoming unable to find his way out of the mass of carrier bags, boxes, old furniture and other junk.
Police had to call in a specialist diving team because the smell from the house, Broughton, Buckinghamshire, was so overpowering.
Neighbours had become concerned that they had not seen Mr Stewart for several days and raised the alarm.
According to witnesses, the officers were faced with mounds of foul-smelling garbage which he had used to construct tunnels around his home.
The smell was so over-powering police had to call in a specialist team - equipped with breathing apparatus - to search the two-storey house. They discovered a confusing system of tunnels networking around the interior of the building, with Mr Stewart lying dead inside.
Locals say Mr Stewart, who wore a pony-tail, was often spotted riding his bike around the streets. When he was not tunneling.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "He was slightly eccentric, but very clever. He was just a collector. He came home with a load of cardboard boxes and lived in his own world." A second described his death as a "tragedy". Tragedy, stupidity, and other adjectives come to mind.
Neighbours said Mr Stewart's home had been accumulating rubbish for at least 10 years.
A car dating back to the 1950s stands in the garage believed to have been left untouched for years as garbage built up around it.
A spokesman from Thames Valley Police, said: "Police were called on Friday at 12.26pm by a member of public who was concerned for welfare of a resident on Narbeth Drive. Police forced entry where they found a man's body. "There are no suspicious circumstances." No question about it. The old codger got lost in his tunnel world and died.
Police also confirmed that officers had to call on the help of the Thames Valley Police Specialist Search and Recovery team to find the body. The team specialises in diving rescue operations, but is equally well equipped and trained in recovering bodies during land searches.
With the use of protective equipment, breathing apparatus, gas detectors, analysers and remote cameras, SSRT officers can enter and search confined and contaminated spaces, where the atmosphere may be noxious or poisonous, with out putting their own safety at risk. Thank you for the lecture on confined space entry.
It is believed Mr Stewart lived alone and has no next of kin. A post mortem examination is due to be carried out at a later date." Call Dr. G., Medical Examiner. And bring the cool skull saw. She will get to the bottom of this.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2009
17:59 ||
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Police had to call in a specialist diving team because the smell from the house, Broughton, Buckinghamshire, was so overpowering.
#7
Laugh all you want, sometimes I wonder if a family member of mine is going to end up like this. Wish I knew what kind of crazy makes someone do this kind of thing, and what kind of treatment (if any) can fight it.
Swedish-based company Nordic Leisure says it expects to fly to the Iraqi capital once a week. The plane, carrying about 150 passengers - mainly Iraqis - arrived from Denmark.
Air services to Iraq are gradually increasing after UN sanctions were imposed following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. More international arrivals are expected in the next two days, including one from Hong Kong, Iraqi Transport Minister Amer Abduljabbar Ismail told journalists, AFP news agency reported.
Turkish Airlines restored links to Baghdad in October last year, offering three flights a week.
But while few direct flights between Europe and Baghdad are available, a number of airlines have been running services for some time to the northern Iraqi cities of Sulaimaniya and Irbil. Austrian Airlines started flying to Irbil in February last year and has since increased its service to five flights a week.
Iraqi national carrier Iraqi Airways has said it hopes to start flying routes to Europe in the coming months. Air France-KLM signed a preliminary accord with Iraq just days ago, setting out plans for Iraqi Airways to fly to European destinations.
#1
Thank you, United States military, certain brave Iraqis, a certain unpopular US president, and a small number of stalwart regular Americans. You all will or shall have honor in your times. It isn't churlish or small to wish that those who helped make this so difficult, and who even know blacken your names without cause, get the dishonor in their times that they deserve. Not churlish or small, but presently looking unrealistic, as the latter group is being rewarded with power, perks, and (nominal) respectability.
A former aide to Saddam Hussein said in an audio tape aired on Tuesday that Israel would not have dared to launch its current attack on Gaza if the Iraqi leader was still in power.
But Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most senior member of the past regime still at large, said on the recording broadcast by Al Jazeera television that Iraqi insurgents would negotiate with Washington if the administration of president-elect Barack Obama withdrew from Iraq.
"The barbaric ... attack on our [Arab] people in Gaza is the natural result of the absence of Iraq, its national leadership and its leader ... the martyr Saddam Hussein," said Ibrahim, a leader of Iraqi insurgents. "We are with you on the battlefield... and Gaza shall be victorious, God permitting," he said. The television did not say how it obtained the recording and its authenticity could not be verified.
Ibrahim also addressed Obama, whose opposition to the Iraq war was a major part of his election campaign, but who has also said he wants a responsible withdrawal. "If you withdraw fully from Iraq and leave it to its people, free and independent, we will enter a dialogue with you immediately to set up the widest strategic relations with America," Ibrahim said, adding that Washington had "legitimate strategic interests" in Iraq and the region.
Ibrahim, who was vice-chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, ranked sixth on a U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, with a $10 million reward offered for his capture.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
16:25 ||
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#1
At least we know who Baghdad Bob's working for now.
An article in next month's Atlantic asks, "Is pr0n recession proof?" According to pr0n magnate Larry Flynt and "Girls Gone Wild" king Joe Francis, the answer is no.
TMZ reports that the pr0nographer pair is heading to Washington to ask for a $5 billion porn bailout: "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."
Francis sees his industry like the big three automakers, only BIGGER: "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."
In the Atlantic article, Tom Johansmeyer reports that AdultVest, a hedge fund run by Francis Koenig that invests in pr0n-related assets, was up 50% in 2008 (a number that Joe Wiesenthal at ClusterStock says ought to be taken with a grain of salt). Johansmeyer goes on to discuss the recession effect on the pr0n industry:
Relatively small, fragmented, and unaccustomed to outside investment, the U.S. pr0n industry (which generated roughly $12 billion in 2007) is somewhat buffered from today's credit crunch, but it has its own problems. Video sales have been falling by 15 percent a year since 2005, and online content doesn't deliver the returns it used to, now that Web sites such as RedTube and Pr0nHub basically give it away. Struggling companies need investors to help right their operations, and those that are thriving in a brutal market need funding for growth.
Enter Koenig and AdultVest. He sees the pr0n downturn as temporary and believes that technological improvements will trigger a turnaround. One example: iPr0n, a start-up in AdultVest's portfolio that is developing an application to deliver pr0n to the Apple iPod. "The industry's not going anywhere," Koenig says. "You've got 6 billion people on the planet," he laughs, "and they're all h0rny."
#3
It's not the 'recession' [boy, is there a line in there someplace], it's the internet stupid. Why anyone pays for what's free out there is still a wonder. Now if we can just make free internet available to every Ahmad and Mohammad out there, they'd be too busy on line to bother the rest of the world. It would be similar to the impact of alcohol on native Americans who lacked a few thousand years of genetic adaptation to the stuff. Bam! It wouldn't be suicide vests going off.
Abu Jundal stands on a Gaza City street, unarmed and wearing civilian clothes. Only his black, multi-pocketed tabard and his beard give a hint of who he really is: a Hamas platoon commander having a day off in the middle of the war with Israel.
We work in shifts, one day on, one day off, so we do not get exhausted, he said, adding that his shifts run from 10pm until 5am every other night. His was one of three platoons operating in this sector of the northern Gaza Strip.
#1
It pretty much has to be that way to run a sustainable military organization. Human beings are not machines and need to rest. I am sure the IDF does the same thing. You engage troops for some period of time and then you relieve them.
Now if Israel would simply pick up all military aged males and place them into "temporary protective custody" until hostilities are over, things might go a little quicker for them.
#9
In 632 AD the Arab savage set out to conquer the world. They can't stop because they hold a manual of aggression - the quran - to be sacred.
Smack yourself on the head if you disbelieve that Muslims are anything but inherently aggressive, and that anyone who appears otherwise is either betraying cult dogma or playing taqiyah subversion.
#12
If they had to work to buy food they would not be able to do this. The UN and various government funded NGOs take care of the food, clothing, health and education of the Paleos. They have a far higher standard of living than hundreds of millions in India, China and Africa.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/07/2009 18:53
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#13
On their day off they probably go to the job bank.
#14
Exactly, crosspatch. I whined and pushed for the same thing (mass preventive detention of military-aged males - targeted, however) in Eye-rak. Yes, yes, yes - lots of unpleasantness and complications. But all well worth the effect. Especially in this case. Iz'rl is doing a time-limited op in a small area. Detaining and screening every MAM would surely pay off, and simultaneously put a crimp in Hamas' sitcheeation.
The Danish website Snaphanen posted a photo the other day of a pamphlet being distributed in Copenhagen's City Hall Square. On one side it proclaimed: "Never Peace With Israel!" and "Kill Israel's People!" On the other side: "Kill Jewish people evry where in ther world!" The leaflet's spelling left something to be desired, but its message of genocidal anti-Semitism couldn't have been clearer.
Likewise the message in Amsterdam on Saturday, where the crowd at an anti-Israel rally repeatedly chanted, "Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas." And the message in Belgium, where pro-Hamas demonstrators torched Israeli flags, burned a public menorah, and painted swastikas on Jewish-owned shops....
The claim that anti-Zionism isn't bigotry would be preposterous in any other context. Imagine someone vehemently asserting that Ireland has no right to exist, that Irish nationalism is racism, and that those who murder Irishmen are actually victims deserving the world's sympathy. Who would take his fulminations for anything but anti-Irish bigotry? Or believe him if he said that he harbors no prejudice against the Irish?
By the same token, those who demonize and delegitimize Israel, who say the world would be better off without it, who hold it to standards of perfection no other country is held to, who extol or commiserate with its mortal enemies, who liken it to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, who make it the scapegoat not only for crimes it hasn't committed, but for those of which it is a victim -- yes, such people are anti-Semitic, whether they acknowledge it or not.
Criticize Israel? Certainly. But those who so loudly denounce Israel in its war against Hamas are siding with some of the most virulent Jew-haters on earth. They may tell themselves that that doesn't make them anti-Semites. But it does. "When people criticize Zionists," Martin Luther King said in 1968, "they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism."
A conservative military watchdog is very concerned about a recent survey of military personnel that indicates a significant number of service members might leave the all-volunteer force if the ban on open homosexuals in the military is lifted.
The annual survey was conducted by the Military Times, which once again asked active duty personnel if they oppose the effort led by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-California) to repeal the 1993 law -- Section 654, Title 10 -- which clearly states that open homosexuals are not allowed in the military.
Approximately 58 percent of the respondents indicated that they were in favor of continuing the ban. But Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, is more astonished at the response to a question that had never been asked on that survey before.
"In essence, what would you do if the law is repealed?" she relates that question. "The Military Times found that 10 percent of respondents said they would leave the military, and an additional 14 percent said they would consider ending their careers," she points out. "Now, even if half of those numbers turned out to be an accurate prediction, that would be devastating to our volunteer force. It would pretty much destroy the military as we know it."
Elaine DonnellyShe believes those who might consider leaving have legitimate concerns if the law is repealed. "The new policy would be forced co-habitation with homosexuals 24-7 in all military communities," Donnelly adds. "Corollary programs to make the program work would include professional diversity training to enforce acceptance and zero tolerance of anyone who disagrees."
Donnelly expects Tauscher to reintroduce the repeal legislation within the next several weeks.
#4
Many will be leaving anyway, with Obama in charge.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/07/2009 16:21
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professional diversity training to enforce acceptance and zero tolerance of anyone who disagrees
More likely "zero tolerance of anyone who disagrees to enforce acceptance".
#6
In truth, before Bill Clinton, if a homosexual was discovered while committing a homosexual act, they would be discreetly discharged, often without punishment and with an honorable discharge.
Don't ask, don't tell changed that, so that if an individual was identified as a homosexual, truthfully or not, their life was in danger. The new policy resulted in a whole bunch of homicides. Motive was specifically omitted, so as to avoid troublesome connections being made.
The best an open homosexual could hope for, if a new policy is enacted, is to be savagely beaten in basic training, by his peers. If he makes it to active duty and is discovered, he is a dead man.
#7
We don't need soldiers, we can talk to our enemies. That's always worked. Right?
Posted by: The Left ||
01/07/2009 19:22
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#8
lifting the ban is a dumb move - the Mil is not a social experiment, & pushing for diversity is 90% of the time a load of horse shit & a waste of tax $$$. I have nothing against homos, I am revolted by the thought of what they do together but I don't want anyone injured because of it. Bottomline, you repeal this and we cannot protect them. Too many serviceman don't want them around & will take matters into their own hands.
WASHINGTON -- Four men being held as terror suspects at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan are asking a federal judge for the right to sue for their release - a right already given to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
A hearing Wednesday will test whether a 2008 Supreme Court decision - allowing al Qaeda and Taliban suspects at the U.S. naval base in Cuba to challenge their detention - should be extended to detainees held at other military prisons overseas.
The government argues that the detainees should have their cases heard by military tribunals. "This court has no jurisdiction to review this," the Justice Department wrote in a Dec. 19 motion asking for the case to be dismissed.
It added, "Federal courts should not thrust themselves into the extraordinary role of reviewing the military's conduct of active hostilities overseas, second-guessing the military's determination as to which captured aliens as part of such hostilities should be detained, and in practical effect, superintending the executive's conduct in waging a war."
But lawyers for the four men in Wednesday's case in U.S. District Court say the Guantanamo standard needs to be applied to other prisons. Otherwise, "a lot of the Guantanamo detainees could be transferred to Afghanistan - basically shifting the problem somewhere the government argues that they cannot challenge," said Kathleen Kelley of the International Human Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, who is representing three of the four men.
"We are saying that's just not true," Kelley said Tuesday. "Detainees cannot be held without process indefinitely anywhere by the U.S. government."
So we won't hold them. Karzai will hold them. And let us take their brains apart as we wish.
More than 200 detainees are challenging their detention at Guantanamo, which reports a detainee census of "about 250" foreign men -- most held for years without being charged with a crime. But more than 600 are being held at Bagram Air Base outside of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. In Iraq, officials estimate thousands are imprisoned in U.S.-maintained detention centers.
The evidence against the four men at the heart of Wednesday's case is unknown, and many facts about how and whether they were initially swept up and imprisoned after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have never been made clear. Their lawyers are largely relying on statements from the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross and other detainees who have since been released to build their case for freedom.
Tina Foster of the International Justice Network said none of the four - two Yemeni, one Tunisian and one Afghan - were in Afghanistan at the time they were captured in 2002. At least two of them disappeared for several years, then turned up in Bagram, Foster said.
Looks like it's "Guess that Party" time... Yup, eleven paragraphs and they don't tell us. What are the odds ...
A Queens state senator who denies beating his girlfriend was caught on security cameras dragging the scared, bleeding woman from his apartment, law enforcement sources told the Daily News.
Newly elected Sen. Hiram Monserrate "will be convicted by the security video" taken in the hallway and outside his Jackson Heights apartment after he allegedly slashed Karla Giraldo in a jealous rage, sources said. "No one can look at the security video and think that this was an accident," said a law enforcement source who saw the footage. "The woman looks scared out of her mind and trying to get away from this guy."
The video shows Giraldo grabbing the apartment's front door as Monserrate tried to drag her out of the building, sources said. Other video clips show Giraldo clutching a towel to her injured left eye and banging on the door of a neighbor's apartment for help, sources said.
That neighbor, Carolyn Loudon, 46, said Tuesday she heard Giraldo banging on her door but was too scared to open it. She said she is used to noise coming from Monserrate's unit, but the ruckus was worse than usual on Dec. 19. "It was frightening," Loudon said. "I heard screaming and then banging on the door."
Then, later "at 3 a.m. I looked out the door and saw a bloody towel," she said. "About an hour later, I heard a noise and looked out again and the towel was gone. I know I should have called 911. That was a mistake."
Monserrate said he tripped and accidentally cut Giraldo with a broken drinking glass, requiring more than 20 stitches over her left eye, in the incident. Monserrate told The News on Monday that "any videotapes the police obtained from my building will back me up."
An individual familiar with the Democrat's defense said the senator has maintained that Giraldo never wanted to go to the hospital and nothing in the video contradicts that account, despite "creative interpretation by self-proclaimed law enforcement sources."
Giraldo at first told a doctor at Long Island Jewish Medical Center that Monserrate beat her, but then changed her story. She wants prosecutors to drop assault charges.
Emergency room doctor Dawne Kort told Queens prosecutors on Tuesday that Giraldo accused Monserrate of bashing her in the face, sources said. "The doctor's testimony cements what you see in the video - a terrified woman, begging for help," said a second source who was briefed on the content of the video sequence.
A camera on the second floor records Monserrate in the hallway screaming at someone inside his apartment, sources said. There is no audio in the security video. Monserrate is then seen throwing something down the building's garbage chute - believed to be a card belonging to another man, which cops say enraged Monserrate when he found it in Giraldo's possession.
Another camera captured Giraldo holding a towel to her injured eye. Monserrate is screaming at her and pulling her by the shoulder, sources said. In the most damning clip, a camera recorded Giraldo crying and banging on Loudon's door, sources said.
WOULD you ask your accountant to perform brain surgery on your child? That's the closest analogy I can find to the choice of Democratic Party hack Leon Panetta to head the CIA.
Earth to President-elect Obama: Intelligence is serious. And infernally complicated. When we politicize it - as we have for 16 years - we get 9/11. Or, yes, Iraq.
The extreme left, to which Panetta's nomination panders, howled that Bush and Cheney corrupted the intelligence system. Well, I worked in the intel world in the mid 1990s and saw how the Clinton team undermined the system's integrity.
Al Qaeda a serious threat? The Clinton White House didn't want to hear it. Clinton was the pioneer in corrupting intelligence. Bush was just a follow-on homesteader.
Now we've fallen so low that left-wing cadres can applaud the nomination of a CIA chief whose sole qualification is that he's a party loyalist, untainted by experience.
The director's job at the CIA isn't a party favor. This is potentially a matter of life and death for thousands of Americans. But the choice of Panetta tells us all that Barack Obama doesn't take intelligence seriously.
Mark my words: It'll bite him in the butt.
After the military, the intel community is the most complex arm of government. You can't do on-the-job training at the top. While a CIA boss needn't be a career intelligence professional, he or she does need a deep familiarity with the purposes, capabilities, limitations and intricacies of intelligence. The One is the beginning of knowledge. He needs no knowledge agency.
Oh, and you'd better understand the intelligence bureaucracy.
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), who was blindsided - and appalled - by the Obama mafia's choice, has the essential knowledge of how the system works. She, or a similar expert, should have gotten this nod. But the president-elect wanted a clean-slate yes-man, not a person of knowledge and integrity.
We're witnessing the initial costs of Obama's career-long lack of interest in foreign policy, the military and intelligence. He doesn't think the top job at the CIA's important and just wants political cover on that flank. (Guess we got Panetta because Caroline Kennedy has another engagement.)
Forget a "team of rivals." Obama's creating a campaign staff for 2012.
Of course, he's reeling from the shrill rage of the Moveon.org crowd over his nomination of grown-ups to be his national-security adviser, director of national intelligence, administrator of veterans' affairs and, yes, secretary of state. (By the way, how could Hillary be dumb enough to accept a job where success is impossible?) Her concept of success is a bit different as it is defined by cash contributions to the Clinton Foundation.
Panetta's appointment is a sop to the hard left, a signal that intelligence will be emasculated for the next four - or eight -years.
Think morale's been bad at the CIA? Just wait.
Conservatives played into this scenario by insisting that any CIA analysis that didn't match the Bush administration's positions perfectly amounted to an attack on the White House. Well, sorry. The intelligence community's job isn't to make anybody feel good - its core mission is to provide nonpartisan analysis to our leaders.
To be a qualified D-CIA, a man or woman needs a sophisticated grasp of three things: The intel system, foreign-policy challenges and the Pentagon (which owns most of our intelligence personnel and hardware). Panetta has no background - none - in any of these areas. He was never interested.
If you handed Leon Panetta a blank map of Asia, I'd bet my life he couldn't plot Baghdad, Kabul or Beijing within 500 miles of their actual locations. (Maybe he can see China from his California think tank?) I doubt he could even name the 57 States.
This shameless hack appointment is the first action by the incoming administration that seriously worries me. Get intelligence wrong and you get dead Americans. I doubt dead infidels means much to a Kenyan man-dress wearer however.
Geez, are they sure...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's information minister says an investigation has revealed that the lone surviving Mumbai gunman is a Pakistani citizen, as India has alleged.
Up until now Pakistan had refused to confirm Ajmal Kasab's nationality, saying he was not registered in the country's identification databases. Information Minister Sherry Rehman confirmed Kasab was a Pakistani in a text message but gave no other details.
The confirmation Wednesday comes a day after New Delhi handed over a dossier of what it said was evidence linking the Mumbai attackers to Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's government has sacked its top security adviser after he publicly acknowledged a connection between Pakistan and the Mumbai terror attacks in late November.
The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani confirmed Wednesday that National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani had been fired, but gave no reason for his dismissal.
Earlier in the day, Durrani said the sole surviving suspect in the Mumbai attacks -- in which more than 160 people were killed -- had ties to Pakistan. "I think it probably would be true now that for example [Mohammed Ajmal Kasab] had Pakistani connections," said Durrani. "So one cannot deny there was zero link with Pakistan. How much, who all was involved, that we have to investigate."
Statements from Kasab, the sole surviving suspect, were among evidence that India submitted to Pakistan on Monday regarding the attacks. Also included in the dossier were phone records and information about captured weapons.
Pakistani media reports indicated Durrani was fired for revealing the alleged Pakistani connections to the media without privately consulting the prime minister.
India has said Islamic militants trained in Pakistan were behind the three-day siege of India's financial capital.
Pakistani officials have promised to cooperate with the investigation, but have insisted that India show it the evidence supporting its case.
Durrani is a former ambassador to the United States and a former Pakistani soldier.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon called on Pakistan on Monday to cooperate fully in the investigation. "We would like to see real action [from Pakistan] as soon as possible," he said at a news conference.
#4
No doubt the Pakistani gunman's Pakistani father is relieved to get confirmation that his Pakistani son is, indeed, a Pakistani. The suspense must have been exhausting.
#5
If the federalists had any power - or common sense - they would use the connection to attack Taliban. The captive admitted to having trained in the water reserve. India has yet to disclose exactly how they got through the thousands of checkpoints in Pakistan, without being discovered. Then there is the matter of Pakistan regulations involving boat rental and cargo control. All aid to Pakistan must cease until these and other questions are answered.
Like many other protests of Israel's campaign in Gaza, this one ended badly police had to cool an ugly fight between supporters of Israel and Gaza, breaking up the warring sides as their screaming and chanting threatened to turn into something worse.
But some protesters at this rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., took their rhetoric a step further, calling for the extermination of Israel and of Jews. Separated by battle lines and a stream of rush-hour traffic outside a federal courthouse last week, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators faced off against a smaller crowd of Israel supporters.
Most of the chants were run-of-the-mill; men and women waving Palestinian flags called Israel's invasion of Gaza a "crime," while the pro-Israel group carried signs calling the Hamas-run territory a "terror state." But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.
"Go back to the oven," she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust. "You need a big oven, that's what you need," she yelled.
Just saying out loud what ANSWER, the ISM and the rest really believes ...
The protest organizers, asked to comment on the woman's overt call for Jewish extermination, said she was "insensitive" but refused to condemn her statement.
Not so much insensitive as inconvenient ...
"She does not represent the opinions of the vast majority of people who were there," said Emmanuel Lopez, who helped plan the event, one of many sponsored nationwide on Dec. 30 by the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism ) Coalition.
Lopez, a state coordinator for ANSWER, admitted there is a problem with anti-Semitism within his organization's ranks. But then he went on to call the supporters of Israel across the street "barbaric, racist" Zionist terrorists. "Zionism in general is a barbaric, racist movement that really is the cause of the situation in the entire Middle East," Lopez said.
So Emmanuel doesn't want the Joooz dead, just the Zionists. If you're sufficiently progressive it makes perfect sense ...
The unidentified woman, who protest organizers said was a Muslim, wasn't the only protester who raised hackles that day. Other demonstrators held signs that said "Nuke Israel," and a number made comparisons to the Holocaust, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Were they all Muslims too?
"This is absolutely inhumane," said Ahmed Suid, who attended the demonstration, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "This is a modern-day Holocaust."
The comparisons of the Israelis to the Nazis has Jewish organizations concerned about a "growing trend" at protests in America, where they say hatred of Israel and Jews is being increasingly preached. "We're worried about hate speech. We're worried because hate speech eventually leads to pain and suffering and death," said Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, which has been tracking Gaza protests. "Comparisons of Israel to the Nazis are a deeply cynical perversion of history, an attempt to turn the tragedy that befell the Jewish people into a bludgeon against Israel," he said.
You're right to be worried, Abe. Perhaps next time your voting block will vote for people who stand with Israel, huh?
Even though police had to intercede and break up a potentially violent confrontation between the two factions at the Fort Lauderdale protest, organizers called it a success, saying it drew crowds of new activists. "It was not just an academic exercise . . . not just a protest," Lopez told FOXNews.com. "It's a material force."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
13:25 ||
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#1
"She does not represent the opinions of the vast majority of people who were there," said Emmanuel Lopez...
Most of them prefer killing Jooooos in an earth-friendly manner. Burning them in an oven would probably add to global warming and is therefore unacceptable.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/07/2009 16:17
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#5
These are people who go out in the streets (in Gaza and the West Bank) and celebrate Jewish religious students being slaughtered by one of their "martyrs" (I mean murderers...sorry). Who call evil men who blow up school buses heroes. Who teach their primary aged children in their public schools that killing Jews will insure you get to Heaven and make your people proud. Who in 2000 publicly beheaded an Israeli soldier and played soccer with his head in the streets. Who after 9/11 went into the streets passing out candies and celebrating the deaths of 3000 Americans. And they call the Israelis barbaric? Typical Islamic BS that the world is getting so tired and fed up with. GO ISRAEL! Finish the job!!
Posted by: Dick ||
01/07/2009 16:38
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#6
Don't just finish the job, get carried away. In fact, totally 'lose it' on them for all I care.
The Washington Post and The Boston Globe are both reporting that the Senate's Democratic leaders, after insisting that no one appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich would be allowed to replace Barack Obama, are getting ready to let Roland Burris take his seat after all. Although Burris was not seated yesterday, ostensibly because his appointment papers did not bear the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with him today and signaled that he will eventually be allowed to serve. . . .
White refused to sign Burris' credentials because he did not think a governor facing corruption charges should appoint Obama's successor, especially since Blagojevich is accused of trying (or at least hopng) to get something of value in exchange for that appointment. But White does not seem to have any legal grounds for withholding his signature, and he now says it doesn't matter anyway, telling WGN Radio "they could have seated him without my signature," which he called purely "ceremonial." He confidently predicted that Burris would be seated. Unless Burris testifies tomorrow that he bribed Blagojevich to choose him (an allegation no one has made), it sounds like he could be seated in a matter of days.
That's the right decision, since it's the one required by law. But by announcing that Burris would be barred from the Senate as a matter of principle and quickly giving in, Reid and his allies look like the spineless, shifty hacks they are. By trying to avoid the embarrassment of serving with a man appointed by a fellow Democrat accused of corruption, they have only magnified their humiliation. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/07/2009
12:56 ||
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...and "racist"
Fox reported that, Burris was Reid's 3rd black candidate that was turned down by Reid. Democrat senators are the real racists and they need to be exposed.
#2
Harry's afraid that Illinois won't vote for a black Democratic Senate candidate in a state-wide election.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 14:03
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#3
Harry's a mindless twit who does what he's told. He should remember that whenever he thinks about running his mouth. I don't think I've ever seen a more unimpressive man.
#5
Congress has approval ratings now around 20 percent. Good old Harry is working hard to get those numbers down to single digits. God bless him in his noble effort to discredit our Democratic Congress. They deserve it and he's the man to get the job done.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/07/2009 14:59
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#6
What's the difference between Harry Reid and Boland Burris?
One is a mediocrity with a big ego who has claimed to be clueless as major contributors to Democratic campaigns have been awarded large govt favors and the other is from Illinois.
PARIS Looters ransacked a Paris watchmaker and grabbed more than EUR 200,000 worth of stock in the wake of a protest against Israel's Gaza offensive, the shop said Monday.
A manager of the Louis Pion boutique in central Paris' Opera district said "40 vandals came in, in three successive waves at three-minute intervals," on Saturday. Police confirmed they had opened an inquiry.
More than 20,000 demonstrators marched in Paris on Saturday to protest Israel's assault on Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and, while most dispersed peacefully, between 200 and 300 went on the rampage. Following the protest, mobs that peeled off from the main march overturned around a dozen cars, burning several of them, and smashed the windows of several shops on Paris's iconic shopping street, the Boulevard Haussmann.
Twelve people remained in custody Monday in connection with the violence, judicial officials said.
On Monday, some 500 people marched in the southern French city of Marseille behind a Palestinian flag and giant banners reading "Israel terrorists, child killers" and "Boycott Israeli products".
"We are all Palestinians," chanted the demonstrators, who included far-left activists.
Saturday's anti-Israeli protest in Paris was one of several around the world, and coincided with the launch of an Israeli ground offensive.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
12:08 ||
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The name of the game for Hamas at the moment, defense [IDF] officials say is to reach significant psychological achievements, such as kidnapping a soldier or firing rockets that will cause damage to Israeli life and property. To this end, Hamas is exercising great caution in this arena and is preserving their weapons caches, even rationing them so that their inventory does not run out too soon.
also
Hamas is still taking action against Fatah affiliates and is willing to take all measures in order to swipe at them. For instance, this week a 70-year-old elderly man was shot to death when he refused to disclose the location of his son, a Fatah operative.
#1
Which is why Israel has to stay in Gaza for a long period, wearing them down and picking them off. There is no way they can re-supply with the strip cut in half.
#3
I guess Im in general more of "walk away from the table when youre ahead" kind of guy. Lots of things can happen in war. So far Israel is ahead - lots of damage to Hamas - leaders killed, terrs killed and captured, infrastructure and weapons stocks destroyed, at the cost of only a handful of IDF casualties, and even the "qana" event Israeli PR is fighting back manfully on - Hamas has been shown to be far weaker then Hezbo, and IDFs deterrence restored. And heading toward what may be a ceasefire on Israels terms.
I wouldnt endanger that, take the chance on a big bad thing happening (a major kidnapping, a real Qana, etc). I think this will done by Shabbos.
#5
RUSSIA TODAY > HAMAS SECRET WEAPON AIMED AT ISRAEL? IDF believes is most lkely a long-range rocket [40-mile range] capable of hitting DIMONA [hardened] and espec SPRAWLING TEL AVIV [how to miss a City widout really trying]!?
Also from RUSSIA TODAY > ISRAELI WARFARE: EMERGENCY BACKUP. Israel calling up Milyuhns and Zilyuhns and Tilyuhns = 000's of extra Reservists as precaution agz Islamist attacks from other strategic directions [read, NORTHERN FRONT = HIZBOLLAH IN LEBANON]???
#6
besides scaring civilians are the rocket teams really effective? Not up too US or Israeli thoughts of being effective like killing 10 or 20 fighters with 1 strike
what if The New York Times goes out of business -- like, this May?
It's certainly plausible. Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400 million in debt. With more than $1 billion in debt already on the books, only $46 million in cash reserves as of October, and no clear way to tap into the capital markets (the company's debt was recently reduced to junk status), the paper's future doesn't look good. The Slimes cannot be allowed to fail. Look for a big bail-out to be given. And it should be re-titled 'Pravda.'
#3
George Sorros will save it. The name alone is probably worth it and its value as a propoganda firehouse is pretty remarkable even years after their biases have become obvious.
#5
The "Old School" print media has been on the decline for years and will continue to do so. The "new generation" electronic media now rules. I believe there are computers in 80% of US households. Lefty articles/ opinions we beef about in the NYT are replaced with broadcasts on cable news outlets.
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
01/07/2009 11:29
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George Soros will save it.
First, in addition to the debt any buyer would have to assume the unfunded pension liabilities. I don't see anyone putting money into this firm without an up front renegotiation of labor contracts. That will not win any friends in the liberal community.
Second, with respect to Mr. Soros, he has done quite well working through new media. No reason for dances with dinosaurs.
#7
The Saturday Evening Post is still online too, but it and its influence are a shadow of their former selves.
Once it starts hemmoraging the creditors dry up and the cash runs out. Then the employees go elsewhere. If American Media Inc. emerges from bankruptcy first, perhaps it can purchase the moniker from the estate.
#8
One, I don't want any media outlets to be out of business,. Yes, even the NY Times. Two, I don't want any media outlets to be bailout, either.
The MSM have been bathing in biased reporting for years. I believe free market capitalism is the solution to the "bias" problem. Enter, the concept of "weblogs." The blogs have taken root as a powerful media tool. But, the blogs cannot exist without print media. One cannot be an antithesis to something that doesn't exist. Again, that doesn't mean that taxpayer funds should be used for bailouts. Free market always win.
The NY Times will not go out of business because the TV media/reporters do not do their own reporting any more. A majority of the "top news stories" mentioned in the evening news is sourced from print media e.g. NY Times, WaPo, Boston Globe, etc. The NY Times will do what it takes to survive, e.g. they are advertising on the front page. They are taking free market measures to survive.
Should the NY Times be allowed to go bankrupt? Yes. Should the MSM be exposed of their biased reporting? Yes. Should we hate the MSM media? No.
#9
Someone is confusing process with product. Over a hundred years ago the then 'MSM' was dependent upon the telegraph and mail for its sources, which they in turn moved to the media for local transmittal. Where's the position of Western Union today in the pipeline of information. Technology is removing layers from the process. The net, blogs, and cheap wide spread available video technology are going to provide opportunities for those who are willing and able to spread the 'news'. Just look at the fight on what Youtube permits or doesn't permit to show now with their bias. That fight is because its already understood that the media war is now moving on to other fronts. That'll just generate a competitor or competitors to provide and distribute alternative sources. Those alternatives will not be the dead tree institutions.
#10
I suspect the Sulzbergers will drive it in to Chapter 11, then reorganize with them holding the bag, and the common stockholders saddled with the debt.
#17
The name has value. One of the several emerging web aggregators will be able to pick up the name, and maybe even carry on some version of a print paper while the profits will largely be online. There may be ongoing physical value in the non-daily publications business (books by staff/periodical-special editions like NGS).
The good news is the market is properly assessing the editorial and commentary content, which is clobbering the remaining value.
It will be interesting to see how much cash the family is willing to throw at it before selling - doubtful that it will get to creditors.
WSJ Opinion piece on the perfidious lying weasel Senator from Countrywide
With the opening of the 111th Congress yesterday, all of Washington is tingling with the allure of a fresh start. Not so fast. We've got some leftover business from the 110th Congress -- namely, Chris Dodd's July 2008 promise to release the details of his sweetheart loans from Countrywide Financial.
The Connecticut Senator got favored treatment from the subprime mortgage purveyor, even as he was a power broker on the Banking Committee that regulates the industry. When the news broke, the Senator first denied that he sought or expected preferential treatment. He later admitted that he knew he was considered a VIP at the firm but claimed he thought it was "more of a courtesy." He also promised the Connecticut press that he'd come clean with the documents and details of the loans. But six months later -- nada, zip, nothing.
The rest of the press corps may have moved on, but we'd still like to know. All the more so because former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg told us last fall that Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program for the influential. Mr. Feinberg also reported that he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO, and Mr. Feinberg has offered to provide those documents to investigators.
Just before Mr. Dodd made his promise, Bank of America closed its acquisition of Countrywide and Mr. Dodd has continued to oversee BofA and the rest of the mortgage industry as Chairman of Senate Banking. He will now play a lead role in drafting legislation affecting the very business that gave him preferential treatment, yet he still refuses to release the mortgage documents that would illuminate this treatment. As the Senate Ethics Committee examines this case, Mr. Dodd's office reports that he is cooperating with the investigation and that he still intends to make good on his six-month-old pledge. But nothing in the Senate ethics process prevents Mr. Dodd from coming clean with the public whenever he wishes.
We suspect there's at least one habit of the 110th Congress that won't change in the 111th: The Members think they can get away with anything -- and usually do.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2009
09:53 ||
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#1
Save money on your mortgage! Ask me how!
Posted by: Sen. Chris Dodd ||
01/07/2009 10:11
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#2
Hang in there, Chris! It's coming up to five years since I promised to release my military records.
Posted by: Sen. John Kerry ||
01/07/2009 12:51
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Israel has announced that it will halt its bombing of the Gaza Strip for a three-hour period each day, starting tonight.
A military spokeswoman said there will be a halt to all offensive actions for three hours every day. "It was decided to suspend bombings between 1 and 4 o'clock (11:00pm GMT and 14:00pm GMT) every day starting today," the army spokeswoman said. "The army will respond to any fire including rocket fire," she said.
This way they can watch the roaches scurry about, and especially see where they end up at 3:59 ...
An official at the defence ministry said "the army will stop its operations in the area of Gaza City".
Palestinian officials in the Gaza Strip said they had been informed by Israel that it would stop its attacks during that time period to allow shops to open and for funerals to take place.
Israel says this will give aid agencies time to get help to the people of Gaza. The move is linked to an Israeli decision to open a humanitarian corridor into Gaza. "In order to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to adopt a proposal by the security establishment to open a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip to assist the population," a statement from the Prime Minister's office said. "This involves opening up geographical areas for limited periods of time during which the population will be able to receive the aid and stock up."
Mr Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, described the measure as a "special status to allow the transfer of people, foodstuffs and medicines".
The statements come as mounting camp-follower civilian casualties in Israel's war in Gaza upped the international pressure on the Jewish state to stop its largest military operation since the 2006 Lebanon war.
Thanks to Roooters, AP, AFP and other MSM outlets that have swallowed Paleo propaganda. Again ...
In a blow to Israel's international image the United Nations has denied Israeli army allegations that militants were inside a school in Gaza that was hit the previous day by an Israeli strike, killing at least 42 people. "Following an initial investigation, we are 99.9 per cent sure that there were no militants or militant activities in the school and the school compound," Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said.
Saying this means the Paleos at the 'school' won't kill Christopher today ...
"We are calling for an independent investigation to establish the facts," he said. "If the rules of war had been broken those found guilty must be brought to justice."
Meanwhile, the Israeli Cabinet is meeting to consider its wider options. They include the possibility of intensifying this campaign and an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire.
#2
Its already starting.
That's just three hrs. a day for Hamas to truck around rockets and move freely throughout gaza.
Why even bother starting a war you don't intend to win?
#6
Israel tries to fight humanely in this war.
No other country would have stopped bombarding the enemy who sends missiles to her highly populated cities in order to let food supplies
get to the enemy. We should all applaud Israel.
A: When the South was burned, occupied, and crying uncle.
Q: When did World War I end?
A: It didnt really end until World War II ended.
Q: OK, Mr. Smarty Pants, when did WWII end?
A: It ended when Germany was burned, occupied, and crying uncle. And when Japan was burned, occupied, slightly radioactive, and crying uncle.
Q: Well, what about Korea?
A: That war is still on, too.
Q: Oh.
A: Did you have another question?
Q: Yes. When did Vietnam end?
A: It ended when South Vietnam was burned, occupied, and crying uncle.
And that makes this a very modern war, which wont end until one side or the other is burned, occupied, and crying uncle. Fact is, the Palestinians cant do that to the Israelis. Another fact is, the Israelis wont (but could) do it to the Palestinians.
And that is why you almost never see me write anything about the Middle East peace process. The only process towards peace is the kind of war one side cant commit, and the other side wont.
#10
5:44 PM Israel Channel 1 TV reports: Apparently, the long range rockets (3) which hit Be'er Sheva at 4:28 PM were set up by Hamas during the 3 hour "Humanitarian" cease fire.
#12
If a drone saw it and the IAF didn't hit it, it means that they didn't know it was a launch team until the launch was made. If they would have known and been able to hit it, they would have done so.
Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood chief urged Wednesday for a boycott of French products in response to allegedly "biased" remarks about Hamas group by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The call came a day after Sarkozy's Mideast tour in which he tried to broker an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, now under the twelfth day of an Israeli assault. Sarkozy blamed Hamas for the Israeli offensive, saying before his Mideast tour this week that the Palestinian group bore a "heavy responsibility" because it broke an earlier truce with Israel.
The Brotherhood official, Hammam Saeed, said in a statement released on his group's Website that Sarkozy's comments expressed "animosity toward the Arab and Muslim nation." And besides that, infidels should not own wimin as beautiful as Carla Bruni.....iEHHHH!
"He exposed a total French bias toward the occupation and clearly advocates Israel continued Holocaust in Gaza," added Saeed, a hawkish Brotherhood member. We don't need no stinkin Reve De Provence Essentials. Our wimin and goats smell just fine. Pass the Ab Fries please.
U.S.-led coalition forces killed 32 insurgents in fighting that erupted in a village in eastern Afghanistan following a raid on a hideout of bomb-makers, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. Not such a good hideout after all, was it?
Violence has surged in recent years in Afghanistan since the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, regrouped in 2005 for driving out the foreign troops and to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
Tuesday's operation was in a village of Laghman province and targeted a Taliban roadside bomb cell responsible for numerous attacks throughout the region, the U.S. military said in a statement. Whoops, look like you violated the terms of your group life insurance polices.
"During the operation, as many as 75 armed militants exited their compounds and attempted to converge on the force. Shooting from rooftops and alleyways, the militants engaged Coalition forces with small-arms fire in the village," it said. Next time try bigger arms.
"Coalition forces killed 32 armed insurgents including one female, detained one suspected militant, and destroyed two large caches of weapons, explosives and roadside bomb materials during an operation," it added. Better check under the burqa on that "female".
It did not mention any troop or civilian casualties in the operation. Bummer if you're a Taliban. But I'm sure the Taliban PR Department will come up with something.
The Taliban were not immediately available for comment and Reuters could not verify independently the U.S. military's accounts about the clash. That's because they get confused when asked to count higher than ten.
#3
"Violence has surged in recent years in Afghanistan since the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, regrouped in 2005 "
Uhm, no. Violence has surged exactly as the US commander there said it would as we get more aggressive in finding and confronting the Taliban. The Taliban aren't "regrouping" and attacking, we are seeking them out, making contact, and killing them.
Notice this raid. It was us locating and attacking a "hideout". A person who is hiding is doing the opposite of "driving out the foreign troops". They are trying to avoid contact with foreign troops and we are not allowing them to do that. They are going to be cold, hungry, and tired come Spring.
#4
crosspaych, i'm glad too see someone who thinks the same thing i do. I'm also tired of reading those same lines in every damn story written about afghanistan
#1
But still, after Hamas is decapitated, who will lead the Pals? No current leader in the PA has credibility, and the thing will fail without a leader.
Here is my wild ass prediction:
The Israelis release Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Jonathan Pollard. Bush will do this before he leaves office.
#4
He spied on the US for the Israelis. A lot of Israelis think he oughta get a pass on that. A lot of Americans think he's right where he belongs. I'm one of them.
Adm. Shapiro often expressed regret about his early handling of Pollard, a Navy civilian who pleaded guilty in 1985 to espionage charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
When Pollard, as a new analyst, went to him with a scheme to gain "back-channel" intelligence information from South Africa, Adm. Shapiro dismissed Pollard as a "kook" and reduced his clearance. Later Pollard's clearance was reinstated.
Adm. Shapiro, who was Jewish, said he was bothered that many Jewish organizations supported Pollard during the diplomatic controversy that followed his imprisonment.
"We work so hard to establish ourselves and to get where we are, and to have somebody screw it up . . . and then to have Jewish organizations line up behind this guy and try to make him out a hero of the Jewish people, it bothers the hell out of me," Adm. Shapiro told The Washington Post in 1998.
My question was more on the lines of the hatred as to the details of what he did. the guy seems to be much more than a lightning rod than say Aldrich Aimes who is just accepted as part and parcel of the way things work (did the crime, got caught, life goes on) without the vitriolic personal attacks that seem to be aimed at pollard.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/07/2009 14:00
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#7
Abu, that's because no one is clamoring for Ames or any other traitorous spy to be released.
If anything, it could be said that he was mentally unstable, or lacked the maturity for a position of responsibility. He shouldn't have gotten the clearance in the first place.
#8
If somebody beside his wife and children were effectively lobbying to get Aldrich Ames out of jail, you'd hear the same reaction. That's the only difference I see.
#1
I wonder if all the NPR leftists would have their panties in such a knot about rugged interrogation methods if it was their children who would be killed in a terrorist attack that could have been prevented with knowledge gained from said interrogations.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/07/2009 6:55
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#2
"And if Democrats thought it was illegal or really found the CIA's activities so heinous, one of them could have made a whistle-blowing floor statement under the protection of the Constitution's speech and debate clause."
True. But why go through all the hassle when they could just have one of their staffers leak details to the NY Times?
#3
That the clowns in congress even bring up the "torture" meme is more sad proof of our downward slide. If an interrogation calls for "torture" based on the need for very quick actionable intel - do it. If an interrogation calls for a tuna sub from subway and a cup of coffee, do that to. I have the utmost confidence that the guys on the ground doing the interrogating are doing the best they can to protect our country. If that means breaking a few al queda fingers or water boarding some jihadi - I'm more than cool w/it. If the terrorists get the picture that we will fight "by any means necessary" to protect our country they will either play ball quickly or have a short career.
#4
Its all BS designed to embarrass the current president.
If this happens under BO, it will be called "aggressive interrogation" and left at that.
BTW, I read an article on waterboarding describing its effectiveness. The article says that waterboarding usually lasts less than a minute. Good old Khalid Shiek Mohammad (KSM for short) was waterboarded for TWENTY SECONDS, let me repeat that TWENTY FREAKING SECONDS ....and he was singing like Jose Carreras....Twenty seconds upside down in a bucket of water doesn't sound like torture to me....heck the underwater escape training they put most Navy pilots through is harsher than THAT!!!!
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/07/2009 10:57
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#5
How long before those paragons of international moral virtue, the Belgians, indict George Bush?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 13:36
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#6
They were talking about the possibility of a case before the International Criminal Court on NPR today, Steve. But I'm afraid I didn't listen.
A hearing on the case of former officer of Azerbaijani Army Kamran Asadov and 19 others was held in the Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday.
One of the defendants Hajibala Huseynov gave testimony. He spoke about Akhund of Abu Bakr mosque Haji Gamat Suleymanov as well. He denied his evidence giving to the investigators that Haji Gamat intended to commit jihad in Azerbaijan and said that he belonged to salafi sect. He is not able to commit jihad in Azerbaijan.
The accused man said religious laws were not correctly observed in Azerbaijan. Huseynov said they advocated for jihad for defense and supported jihad declared in Chechnya against Russia. Not depending on the sects, we are also supporting the nagshbandi struggle. When the judge told him Then you are supporting Armenian actions in Karabakh too, another accused man Ilkin Ismayilov answered him. He said it was not correct to compare Armenian actions with Chechens. Ismayilov spoke about Sheikh Shamil and said that he struggled against Russia for long years for independence of Azerbaijan.
Then Huseynov developed his testimony and spoke about the activity of former chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations Rafig Aliyev. He said they were satisfied with his activity. Huseynov said he delivered religious speeches before hundred people in Mashtaga Village. Kamran Asadov called Huseynov kafir (unbeliever) and said he was against the rules he set once.
Kamran Asadov, Bakhtiyar Orujov, Farid Jabbarov, Elshan Mammadov, Kamran Babayev, Samir Mehbaliyev, Terlan Karimov, Edgar Aliyev, Ramil Karimov, Shirvani Babayev, Samir Aliyev, Yalchin Maharramov, Orkhan Alizadeh, Hajibala Huseynov, Azer Ibadov, Shahriyar Mehraliyev, Ramin Jalilov, Rovshan Abdulaliyev, Ilkin Ismayilov and Vugar Aliyev are accused of setting up a radical religious group, attempting to start military struggle, attacking on LUKoil petrol station in Baku, preparing terror attack on the U.S. and UK embassies in Azerbaijan.
Turkey's frenetic diplomacy to win a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reflects its new-found clout in the Middle East and is also driven to appease a public opinion infuriated by the mounting death toll of civilians.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but secular country with good ties with Israel, has been playing a busy role in trying to bridge Arab division and broker a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Since Israel began its offensive 12 days ago, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has visited Arab leaders in Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He has kept in touch with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and has sent his foreign minister to the United Nations, where Turkey starts a two-year term as member of the Security Council.
Drawing on Ankara's unique range of contacts, Turkish officials have also met Hamas leaders in Damascus. Ankara has offered to convey any Hamas ceasefire proposal to the U.N. As hundreds of thousands of Turks have taken to the streets to condemn the Israeli assault, Erdogan shocked close ally Israel by dubbing its operations "a crime against humanity," in language that paled even to that used by Arab leaders.
Ankara's diplomatic offensive is in line with its growing regional diplomatic status and closer ties to the Middle East since Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party took office in 2002. But it also underlines its delicate balancing act. A NATO member which aspires to join the European Union, Muslim Turkey has positioned itself as a mediator in a tough neighborhood.
"Turkey has leverage in the Middle East because of its growing ties with Arab countries and its relationship with Israel, but it cannot redefine the power game in the region," said Fadi Hakura, from the London-based Chatham House. "Turkish diplomacy reflects its growing influence in the region, but it is also driven by domestic reasons. Turks are united in their disapproval toward Israel," Hakura said.
Despite Erdogan's harsh criticism of Israel and street protests, analysts do not expect a damage in relations between Israel and Turkey. Speaking to parliament on Tuesday, Erdogan said the strategic importance of Turkish-Israeli relations should overcome disagreements and "emotional exchange of words."
"I would like to remind those who call for Turkey to freeze ties with Israel that we administer the republic of Turkey, not a grocery market," Erdogan told parliament. An official at the Israeli embassy in Ankara, which is ringed by riot police these days, agreed: "As we did it in the past we should overcome this disagreement and will come back to our good relations, like in other crises."
Leading political commentator Cengiz Candar said Turkey had to play a difficult balancing act in order not to alienate its sometimes conflicting allies. "Turkey can not be seen as being too close to Israel, but it can not be seen either as being to close to Hamas. It is a difficult diplomacy. The bottom line is Turkey can not risk its relationship with Israel so Erdogan's rhetoric is just hot air."
Turkey's ruling AK Party and the secularist opposition, which have fought bitter ideological battles over the role of Islam in public life, have been united in condemning Israel and in expressing support for the plight of Palestinian civilians. Turkish secularist newspapers have run prominent pictures of Palestinian children killed by Israeli raids and of mosques damaged by bombs.
Turkey's normally pro-Israeli military has privately expressed criticism over Israel's actions, observers said. "The crisis in Gaza has united the secularist and the Islamist camp. There is consensus in condemning Israel," Hakura said.
International efforts are under way to end the fighting and secure a ceasefire deal and Turkey has said it is willing to send troops if an international peacekeeping force is set up.
#2
its new-found clout in the Middle East
What have these writers been smoking? If Turkey actually had some clout the fighting would be over. What Turkey has is delusions.
A gunbattle between Indian soldiers and a group of heavily-armed Islamic militants raged for a seventh day Wednesday, making it one of the longest battles in Kashmir in years, officials said.
The fighting erupted last Thursday in the Indian-administered Kashmir district of Poonch after soldiers and police, acting on a tip-off, carried out a search operation of a densely forested area. The battle has so far left four terrorists militants, two soldiers and a policeman dead and several security force members wounded.
The terrorists militants were using natural caves as hideouts, senior army officer Brig. Gurdeep Singh said. "We are carrying out a deliberate operation to wear out the terrorists and to ensure that the casualties among our own forces are avoided," he said.
Police say about eight to 10 terrorists militants are holed-up in the area.
#1
One good round of WP into that cave, and your troubles would be over. Don't tell me the Indian Army doesn't have a 106mm Recoilless in its inventory.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2009 11:36
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#2
One good round of WP into that cave, and your troubles would be over
#3
WAFF > US: PAKISTAN ["turbulent regions"] POSES THREATS TO INDIA AND WORLD ala NatSecur Advisor Stephen Hadley. HADLEY > CANNOT SOLVE PAKISTAN WIDOUT [FIRSTLY]SOLVING AFGHANISTAN???
Also from WMF > INDIA TO FENCE BANGLADESHI BORDER [Israeli-asst super-fence].
A federal judge is deciding whether to grant a new trial to a former Navy sailor convicted of leaking details about ship movements to suspected terrorist supporters.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kravitz questioned both sides Tuesday about the level of evidence that led a jury last March to convict Hassan Abu-Jihaad of providing material support to terrorists and disclosing classified national defense information. Judge Kravitz said he was not sure when he would issue his ruling on the defense request for a new trial. Judge Kravitz said he did not want to interfere with the role of the jury,
... then don't ...
but has to make sure there was sufficient evidence against Mr. Abu-Jihaad.
Mr. Abu-Jihaad, who was a signalman aboard the USS Benfold, was accused of passing along information that included the makeup of his Navy battle group, its planned movements and a drawing of the formation the group would use to pass through the dangerous Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on April 29, 2001. He allegedly told his contacts, "They have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] etc., except their SEALs' stinger missiles." The ship wasn't attacked.
Mr. Abu-Jihaad, who is from Phoenix, sought a new trial in October, saying prosecutors lacked evidence and inflamed the jury by playing videos he had purchased that promoted violent jihad, or holy war.
Jury thought the prosecution had enough evidence ...
Judge Kravitz did not issue any ruling, but said he believes the videos were relevant and that he took steps to limit any prejudicial effect. The judge pressed prosecutors on a defense argument that documents Mr. Abu-Jihaad allegedly supplied his contacts were full of errors that an insider would not have made. "There are gross errors," Judge Kravitz said. "There is some information in this document that no sailor would get wrong."
Prosecutors said the leaked documents closely matched what Mr. Abu-Jihaad would have had access to as a signalman. Prosecutors said Mr. Abu-Jihaad was the only member of the military communicating with the group and had access to the classified information. Authorities also noted that the leaked information ended with a bold plea, "Please destroy message," which they said is further evidence that it came from an insider.
But Judge Kravitz questioned how prosecutors could reconcile the call to destroy the message with their contention that Mr. Abu-Jihaad helped provide a physical asset, a computer disk, to terrorists. "That to me is the weakest part of the case," Judge Kravitz said. "Does that suggest we have a confused jury?"
No, it suggests we have a bleeding-heart judge ...
Prosecutors said the jury could have decided that Mr. Abu-Jihaad knew the volume of information he provided would likely be saved and passed on to others. Prosecutors say investigators discovered files on a computer disk recovered from a suspected terrorist supporter's home in London that included the ship movements, as well as the number and type of personnel on each ship and the ships' capabilities.
Mr. Abu-Jihaad was charged in the same case that led to the 2004 arrest of Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist accused of running Web sites to raise money, appeal for fighters and provide equipment such as gas masks and night vision goggles for terrorists. Mr. Ahmad, who lived with his parents where the computer file was allegedly found, is to be extradited to the U.S. Mr. Abu-Jihaad, who was honorably discharged in 2002, is scheduled to be sentenced in February and faces up to 25 years in prison.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 7:57
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#2
#1: Make him walk the plank this time.
With a noose around his neck and a short rope.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2009 14:11
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#3
Mr. Abu-Jihaad, who is from Phoenix, sought a new trial in October, saying prosecutors lacked evidence and inflamed the jury by playing videos he had purchased that promoted violent jihad, or holy war.
The US Treasury department yesterday banned any Americans from taking part in a construction project in Beirut, accusing Hizbollah of using the project to raise funds for terrorism.
The $370m Waad (Promise) Project is centred around rebuilding the suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hizbollah stronghold that was devastated during the 2006 war with Israel. It includes homes and businesses and is the biggest construction project in the country since the redevelopment of downtown Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil war. But the US Treasury accused Hizbollah, which the US considers a terrorist group, of having used the company behind the project - also called the Waad Project - to rebuild its command headquarters in Dahiyeh and underground weapons storage facilities and other military infrastructure.
Hizbollah could not be reached for comment last night.
At least 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in an IDF attack on a Hamas rocket squad based in a UN school in Jabalya on Tuesday, military sources said.
Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Radwan Hospital, said 34 people were killed by an Israeli strike outside the school. The UN confirmed that 30 were killed and 55 were wounded by tank shells.
The school grounds were being used by terrorists to fire mortar shells at troops stationed nearby, and the soldiers responded by firing mortars back, the army said. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas rocket cell, including senior operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar. Now why on earth would senior operatives need to be around to instruct a mortar team how to do their job? Suppose they thought they were safe for some reason?
Defense officials told The Associated Press that booby-trapped bombs in the school had triggered secondary explosions that killed additional Palestinians there.
The army noted that Tuesday was not the first time Hamas had attacked Israel from within a school. The IDF released a video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle in late 2007 showing terrorists firing mortars from right outside a school. Click the link and you can watch the video.
"Hamas has in the past fired at Israel and at troops from inside schools, [exploiting] civilians, as is proven by UAV footage," the army said.
The UN said hundreds of people from a Gaza City refugee camp had gone to seek shelter in the school from the IDF's offensive.
"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, an Irishman who is the top UN official in Gaza. Apparently even the terrorists are terrorized. I wonder how they like it. "I am appealing to political leaders here, in Israel, and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," Ging said, speaking at the Strip's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths." Methinks Ging is confused.
Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, has a very unfortunate name demanded an investigation. If I were Israel, I would agree to it on the condition that if it were discovered that Hamass fired first from within the school that Hamass bears the blame.
"As one of the most densely populated places in the world, it is clear that more civilians will be killed," Gaylard said. So what are you trying to say?
"These tragic incidents need to be investigated, and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must held accountable." How the fuc& does that group of cowards who hide behind committees of committees intend to hold Hamass accountable?
Earlier Tuesday, seven Palestinians were killed in several separate incidents. One young man was killed in an attack on a Hamas charity building, a 15-year-old was killed in an air force attack in the center of Gaza City and five people were killed when their house in the eastern part of Gaza City was shelled. Note: That roaring sound coming from your roof may sound fierce, but it does not offer any protection whatsoever. It really means you have about 30 seconds to get the hell out and down the street as quickly as your legs will carry you. Allan does not offer Martyr bonus-points for willing stupidity.
Palestinians also said nine members of the same family were killed in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City, six of them children. Three other people were reportedly killed in the strike. Well, perhaps next time the "Palestinans" get an opportunty to vote, they should pick the lesser of two evils. Of course, this problem doesn't seem to be limited to the "Palestinians" these days.
#1
If I were Israel, I would agree to it on the condition that if it were discovered that Hamass fired first from within the school that Hamass bears the blame.
#10
I think the correct term in diplomatic language is "find yourself a quiet private appropriate accommodation and have intimate relations with yourself"
Or something like that.
Gaylard seems to be appropriately named
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/07/2009 10:46
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#11
The UN's Sgt Schultz denial (I know nutink) does not cut it.
This situation requires a very public demand that we have a thorough inquiry of UN facilities for terrorist activities.
I'm talking banging shoes on table and full-throated demands to determine "What did the UN know, and when did they know it."
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/07/2009 11:01
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#12
the UN came out with a statement today that they are sure Hamas didn't use there school.
So what were the Hamas deaders doing there? At least two were senior operatives. Were they there learning Shakespeare?
#15
"I think the correct term in diplomatic language is "'find yourself a quiet private appropriate accommodation and have intimate relations with yourself.'"
Personally, James, I've always preferred "You are cordially invited to perform an anatomically impossible auto-erotic act."
But that's just me....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/07/2009 14:47
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#16
"Please engage reflexively in sexual congress."
#18
The MSM almost always falls for the Hamas propaganda thus once again aiding and abetting the Islamic cause. If they are not duped and sucked in then they willingly are aiding and abetting the Palestian terros.
#22
Listening to NPR this evening, some American on-the-scene reporter was talking about the 30 people killed. No mention of HamAss. No mention of secondaries. Said the Perfidious Juice justified the attack because the school was used in the past for firing mortars, a fact that is demonstrably true, but ignores the present use of the school by HamAss for the same purpose. Bastards, all of them.
Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards pleaded not guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter charges and other crimes stemming from a shooting incident in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.
Each of the former guards has been charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. The five defendants, seated in a row at a courtroom table, remained silent in court, and as they entered and departed the courthouse. A lawyer entered their plea on their behalf.
Attorney David Schertler, speaking for all the defendants outside the courthouse, predicted they will be proved innocent. "We want to make it clear to everyone these men committed no crime. They were defending themselves on a battlefield in a war zone when this occurred," he said.
If convicted, the defendants would face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each manslaughter count, seven years in prison for each count of attempted manslaughter, and a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence for the firearms charge.
Judge Ricardo Urbina set a trial date for February 1, 2010. He agreed with defense attorneys that preparations for the complex case will require a full year, including the likely need for lawyers to travel to Baghdad to gather information and conduct interviews. "The United States government had a year and a half to investigate the case, and we did not. So we need a year to catch up," Schertler told reporters.
Lead government prosecutor Kenneth Kohl did not comment outside court.
The Baghdad incident, which occurred September 16, 2007, exacerbated the feelings of many Iraqis that private American security contractors have operated since 2003 with little regard for Iraqi law or life. It also created an extremely delicate political situation for the Bush administration and the Iraqi government.
The five defendants are Donald Ball, 26, of West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, 27, of Knoxville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty, 26, of Rochester, New Hampshire; Nick Slatten, 25, of Sparta, Tennessee; and Paul Slough, 29, of Keller, Texas. A sixth former security guard, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, 35, of California, has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
Prosecutors did not bring manslaughter charges for three of the 17 fatalities because they do not believe they have enough evidence to win a conviction in those deaths.
The company of Blackwater Worldwide does not face any charges.
The indictment of the five men represents the first prosecution of non-Defense Department contractors under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), which was amended in 2004 to allow the Justice Department to prosecute such personnel providing services "in support of the mission of the Department of Defense overseas."
The attorneys for the defendants contend that Blackwater's employees in Iraq are exempt from the provisions of MEJA because the company has a contract in Iraq with the State Department, not the Defense Department. Also muddying the case are assurances of immunity initially given to the guards by State Department diplomatic security agents, who were investigating the incident before the FBI tried to interview them once it took over.
The State Department maintains its agents did not offer blanket immunity from criminal prosecution, but promised only that the statements the guards made on the scene could not be used against them in any prosecution. But when the investigation was turned over to the Justice Department to examine possible criminal activity, FBI agents discovered some guards believed they were immune from prosecution and therefore refused to be interviewed again, complicating the FBI probe.
A recently approved U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement pointedly specifies that U.S. civilian contractors will no longer be immune from Iraqi prosecution for crimes committed in that country.
#2
A recently approved U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement pointedly specifies that U.S. civilian contractors will no longer be immune from Iraqi prosecution for crimes committed in that country.
Vacant contracting positions are already piling up. No takers, I can't imagine why.
#4
gonna be hard too prove your innocent when 1 has already plead guilty. the usual bullshit with our justice ( if you call it that) system. Scare the hell out of 1 too turn on his comrades in the crime too testify against the rest too get a guilty verdict whether he is telling the truth or just covering his own ass
Israel will halt its bombardment of Gaza for three hours every day to allow residents of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory to obtain needed supplies, a military spokesman said Wednesday. WWHD - What Would Hamass Do?
The announcement follows Israels decision to open a humanitarian corridor into Gaza in response to mounting concerns about shortages of food, water and medicine in the territory. The military did not immediately say when the bombing halt would begin, however. How about starting a month after Hamass stops forcing kids to remain in a school while they use it to launch missiles at Israel?
Fresh gunfire and explosions echoed across Gaza early Wednesday in a 12th day of an Israeli military campaign against Hamas. Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships hit 30 targets in Gaza overnight, while land-based artillery and warships offshore fired at Palestinian fighters in support of Israeli ground troops, the Israel Defense Forces reported.
#1
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#3
Not sure what that means but onependonge is almost certainly a lefty, probably of the academic PIB (person-in-black) sub-species: I recognize the style of gibberish.
#8
Is it too much that we ask our trolls to at least have a rudimentary knowledge of spelling? I know punctuation and capitalization would be too much to ask, but could they at least learn how to spell? Consider it a "humanitatrian" gesture to us "civiliasns", okay, retard?
#9
The primary reason for the chaos and the constant fighting is ISRAEL and those jews in D.C that are more loyal to Israel than to America. The whole world is witnessing mass killings of children who you say are being used as human shields!!! how stupid and inconsiderate, when the children are being killed in their homes. Families of 8, 9 or more are being decentegraded into ashes because of the Israeli bombardment (Just like the 1000s that were killed in Lebanon in 2006 if your empty head remembers!). As I was saying, America is the only country objecting resolutions condemning Israelis for their cruel murders, and that, my friend (enemy), what makes America is the Biggest supporter of terror in the world. The PAlestinians, since the creation of this zionist country, negotiated down to more than %85 of their original land. You, Israelis, are the ones that are never happy and keep building illegal settlements and violate ALL of the UN resolutions that call for removal of those settlements that are the source of true terrorism. Israel has proven to be a BAD NEIGHBOR for the past 100 years and was the source of most of the true holocausts in the world. They have earned the title of children killers, Today, the death toll in Gaza stands at 690, 1/3 of which are children under 10. How do you justfy that? Other than the Evilness and the disreguard for human lives and humanity. Yeah, we do hate Israel more than anything, and thats because weve been their neighbors for a very long time and we know their truth more than anyone else. Their truth is that to them a non-jew is not worth a dime and is called a goim. Do you think they care how many children they behead? their agenda is to dominate the world (by leaching on the super power, USA) and make everyone their servant. They succeeded in America and most of Europe(proof: you can doubt the existance of God but you cant doubt the existance of the holocausts .lol), but not in our terrirories! Death to the Zionists!
I'm pretty sure Marvin Martian has a decentegrator, but I didn't know the Juice had them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 12:00
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#13
The double standard being applied to Israel in pro-Palestinian blogs is not a new story. On the one hand, some people accept whatever news comes out of Gaza, knowing that all media in that region is under Hamas absolute control, while, on the other hand, they conveniently call every word that comes out of Israel an absolute lie, even though the international press has been free to report anything inside that country for years. At the same time, nobody acknowledges or addresses the indisputable fact that Hamas has been launching thousands of missiles into civilian areas of Israel for that last 8 years, or that Hamas stated objective is to wipe Israel off the map. And when innocents in Gaza are killed or injured in this inevitable conflict, they forget that Hamas, like most terrorist organizations, positions its militants in otherwise peaceful neighborhoods, near schools and hospitals. During the recent hudna (cease-fire) Hamas dedicated itself to re-arming and continuing to build its network of weapons caches and tunnels, in a constant state of preparation for a war that they fully intended to provoke.
This is what Nizar Rayan, a recently deceased Hamas leader in Gaza, said in an interview prior to the beginning of this recent conflict: The only reason to have a hudna (cease-fire) is to prepare yourself for the final battle. We dont need 50 years to prepare ourselves for the final battle with Israel. There is no chance that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God. You (Jews) are murderers of the prophets and you have closed your ears to the Messenger of Allah. Jews tried to kill the Prophet, peace be unto him. All throughout history, you have stood in opposition to the word of God.
How do the pro-Palestinian bloggers propose that Israel negotiate any kind of peace or common trust with an adversary like Rayan? The answer is simple: they don't. Rayan is typical of Hamas leadership. For every story of an Israeli atrocity, there are hundreds of stories about Hamas kidnappings and attacks inside Israel. At this very moment, Hamas is refusing to allow injured Gazans with treatable wounds to be taken to nearby hospitals in Egypt unless that country agrees to allow more arms to be brought across its border into Gaza. A classic example of exploiting innocent people to enable its attacks. This is why Israel has been imposing a blockade on Gaza. Not, as some suggest, because it just wanted to hurt innocent children, etc.
The Jewish people called the region of Palestine home thousands of years ago. King David and Solomon reigned in Jerusalem more than 1,500 years before Mohammed was born. Following World War II, more Jews lived in Palestine than so-called Palestinians. The Jewish state itself was formed in response to what happened during the war, when many Jews trying to escape Nazi Europe were turned away by other countries. The vast majority of them died in the camps. Thats why there is an Israel today and will be forever more. If the Arab world actually wanted to live in peace with Israel, the people of Gaza would be living in the garden spot of the world. But angry, anti-Israeli Muslims like Nizar Rayan will never allow that. Theyre more interested in dead Israelis than in peace.
Are the pro-Palestinians interested in genuine peace? Or is it more important for them to express blind rage at Israel? The answers to those questions is why the Mideast has been in such chaos and poverty for the last half century. You don't necessarily have to be ignorant, illiterate and anti-semitic to support Hamas. But it sure seems to help.
#14
Today, the death toll in Gaza stands at 690, 1/3 of which are children under 10. How do you justfy that?
Hey, Spanky, you frickin' moron, the justification is easy. Hamas wanted war and now they have it.
Too bad, your propaganda isn't working here. You'll have to do better than that or waste your time on some other blog.
You want all of us pigs and apes either dead or converted to your perverted little death cult, right? Yeah, we know. We understand that when it comes to muzzies like Hamas it's either kill or be killed. So your poor, little Gazans are dying. Sucks, huh? Maybe when they've had enough they'll stop the rockets.
#15
Sorry Spanky - people here have functioning minds.
The sole reason there are so many civilian deaths is because of HAMASS storing arms and ammo in schools, hospitals, mosques (did you see the secondary explosions when that mosque was hit - what was that Allah's fart?). Not to mention the hiding behind their women and children (there are actual videos of this). The blame for their deaths lies with HAMAS and with the apologist (like you) and media which willingly, and with full knowledge that children will be killed as a result, buys and publicizes their crap..
#16
Spanky, you really need to do a little research before going off like that.
Come back after you have internalized the answers to a few questions:
1) What does Hamas think ambulances should be used for?
2) What does Hamas think mosques should be used for?
3) Does Hamas think it's OK to fire rockets and mortars from positions abutting schools?
4) Why don't the kids leave the schools when Hamas shoots rockets or mortars from them?
5) Are there any videos on the internet of Hamas shooting rockets or mortars from schools?
6) If Israel isn't supposed to shoot back, then what is your genius solution to the problem?
7) Do Hamas operatives use humanitarian cease fires to rearm and setup rockets on timers to shoot at Israel?
8) Would you volunteer to live your life within 30 seconds of a bunker for an undetermined number of years due to Hamas? Or would you run away? Should you have to? What if running away just meant it would take a bit longer for them to come after you again?
9) If the Palestinians truly and honestly agreed to and implemented a unilateral ceasefire, would Israel stand down?
11) If Israel truly and honestly agreed to and implemented a unilateral ceasefire, would Hamas stand down?
12) Given Hamas' history, how would another cease fire help solve the situation for longer than it would take Hamas to rearm (again)?
13) Given the chance, would Hamas snipers try to kill Israeli children playing outside their homes? Are there any documented cases of this happening before the wall went up? Do "Palestinians" throw candy when this kind of thing happens? Is that candy a sign of mourning or joy?
14) Could Israel bomb the "Palestinian" areas back to even deeper into the stone age in a week if they wanted to? Have they? What would Hamas do if the tables were turned? Would they show as much restraint?
15) Does Israel telephone or "roof knock" those Hamas operatives whose houses they are about to bomb and warn them of what is coming? What is the "Palestinian" "civilian" reaction to such warnings? Also, do Hamas operatives return the favor with a phone call before they set off a suicide bomb?
16) Does Hamas' charter say that they are for or against the existance of Israel, and under what circumstances?
16) Do you believe this list of questions even scratches the surface of what the mainstream media doesn't bother to tell you about?
18) Why wouldn't the mainstream media integrate all these obvious tidbits into their reporting?
19) Do you truly believe that a society such as Israel, which pound for pound is more educated and productive than pretty much any other society than I can think of, suddenly went immoral? Honestly?
20) Whose side are you on? Why? If you say you are on the side of peace, then why don't you think Israel should finish off Hamas so everyone can get on with their lives, including the "Palestinians"?
Sri Lankan troops are in full control of this air strip from where Tamil Tigers launched many a surprise air raids deep into government controlled areas including the capital Colombo, but there is yet no inkling of the fate of air force of the LTTE.
Sri Lankan army liberated the sensitive Iranamadu, known for LTTE airstrips, recently, which is located a few kilometers away from its defacto capital Kilinochchi. But apparently the Tigers had moved their Czech made fighters. More like light attack (very light attack)
And the government forces are also within striking distance of two more Air Tiger air strips located just outside the LTTE's last bastion of Mullaittivu and hope to obliterate the Tiger's fledgling Air arm. I always thought it was actually pretty spiffy for terrorists to have an air force. At last, something for air defense artillery to do!
LTTE created a sensation when it sent its air craft in May last year to bomb Colombo and the planes took off from the Iranamadu air strip. One was reportedly shot down by the Sri Lankan security forces. The SLA spent a lot of effort running fighter patrols and buying radars just to counteract 3 LTTE planes. Then they shot 1 down on its way home from a successful mission...yippee.
As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars.
As president, he'll be handed the keys to one. Sort of. Can he vote "Present" from it, too?
Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank.
In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20 to drive the new president on the 2-mile jaunt down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade. Already, spy photos of the limo -- with patches of gray primer -- have leaked out. And already, the reviews:
"Ugly as sin," says one car enthusiast on an auto Web site. "Can't we make a hotter ride for our pres?" What do you expect from an American manufacturer? They have refused to learn anything more than necessary since the 70's.
"Sheesh," says another, "why don't they just transport the president around in an Abrams tank." It would probably get better mileage.
One news agency, noting its 8-inch-thick doors, says the limo can withstand a "direct hit from an asteroid." But GM spokeswoman Joanne K. Krell laughed off the comments. "And it will fix you a latte if you ask," she jokes.
In truth, the new presidential limo is a Cadillac, Krell said, although it is "not a direct extension of any single model." Ha! Never doubt the marketing geniuses at Cadillac. I'll bet the guy who told them they'd never sell that last DTS is having himself a big helping of crow as we read this.
"The presidential vehicle is built to precise and special specifications, undergoes extreme testing and development, and also incorporates many of the top aspects of Cadillac's 'regular' cars -- such as signature design, hand-cut-and-sewn interiors, etc.," Krell told CNN. And from the looks of things, they probably hand-rubbed the lacquer. With a sledge hammer.
"Cadillac is honored to serve and ressurect renew this great tradition," she said. "And it is entirely appropriate that an American president has at his service a great American vehicle."
For much of the country's history, the Secret Service didn't even drive the president, evidently oblivious to the dangers of asteroids. In the post-Lincoln horse-and-buggy era, it was customary for a security detail to closely trail the president, according to a Secret Service history.
With the advent of automobiles, the Secret Service acquired a 1907 H. White Steamer to follow Theodore Roosevelt's horse-drawn carriage.
White House chauffeurs drove later presidents, until the Secret Service assumed many of the driving responsibilities after Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945.
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson was the first president to ride in a bulletproof limo in an inaugural parade, less than two years after his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, was shot and killed while riding in an open car.
Obama should expect two seemingly contradictory feelings when riding in the presidential limousine, said Joe Funk, a retired Secret Service agent who was President Bill Clinton's driver during part of his career. "I think he will be surprised about how when he's in the limo, it's a cocoon," Funk said. "The everyday noises will be gone, and he will be totally isolated in this protective envelope." Don't worry. He's pretty used to it.
"At the same time, I think he will be surprised at the communication capabilities, how the phones, the satellites, the Internet -- everything is at his fingertips," he said. "So at one end, you are totally removed from society. The other side of the coin is that he can have any communications worldwide at a moment's touch." Hopefully he'll run across an article on RB and figure out that people don't like Socialism.
Funk says presidents sometimes chat with the agents, and sometimes don't. "Every day is different, just like every person," he said. "Sometimes they get in the car and they have a lot on their mind. They're involved in reading material, they're involved in the newspaper, they're talking to local dignitaries or they are talking to Cabinet-level.
"Other times, they are interested in sporting events, in doing the crossword puzzle, interested in the feedback they get from talking to the agents -- primarily the supervisor that sits in the front seat," Funk said. And playing with the up/down button for the window that separates them.
While the government spares no expense for the presidential limo, the weight of the car makes it less maneuverable and more sluggish than comparable sport utility vehicles, Funk said. And the door and window frames, which accommodate thick ballistic glass, create large blind spots, he said.
Funk's own experience driving Clinton was uneventful, he says, which is a good thing, considering his line of business. "I was very lucky. We didn't have any close calls," he says. "Everything was very smooth."
But he still considers the experience a career highlight. "At the end of the day, if you had a good driving day, you do kind of sit back with a certain amount of pride and say, 'I had the president of the United States in the car with me for an hour, two hours, and I got him from point A to point B safely in conjunction with all the other team members,' " he said. "When it's done, you can sit back and take some pride in knowing that you pulled it off." Hopefully it will remain not such a big deal.
One Internet wag, adding to the rampant speculation about the new car, made this prediction: It will be painted black. But environmentalists may ask, will it be green? No, dumbasses.
Not likely. Car enthusiasts believe the overweight vehicle burns diesel and will have low mileage. And with diesel costing about $2.40 a gallon Monday, versus $1.67 for gasoline, this new limo can't be called an economy vehicle. I wonder how many gallons per mile it will get.
"The limousines of yesteryear were designed just well enough to provide protection to get the president out of the situation," says Ken Lucci, CEO of Ambassador Limousine Inc. and owner of two Reagan-era limos. "In today's case, they [the Secret Service] expect a prolonged attack, and they expect an attack that is a lot more violent than [with] a weapon you can hold in you hand."
"It literally is a rolling bunker," he says. "It just happens to have wheels on it."
And it's not a bad vehicle for someone whose job is to fix the economy, even if it won't brew coffee on command. Well, they can always stop at McDonalds, if they don't mind tepid coffee.
#3
"It literally is a rolling bunker," he says. "It just happens to have wheels on it."
Gievn that is a rolling bunker, having wheels on it was not unexpected. Unless they considered it being fully tracked and, while we are it, armled with 120mm cannon and nicknamed Abrams.
The economy is self fixing, you just need government to get out of the way, stop supporting failed business, stop punishing success, stop destroying the currency and stop frauds.
#5
In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20...
Wonder what they do with the previous president's ride after he leaves office?
#6
Car enthusiasts believe the overweight vehicle burns diesel and will have low mileage. And with diesel costing about $2.40 a gallon Monday, versus $1.67 for gasoline, this new limo can't be called an economy vehicle.
Funny. In Europe Diesel has ever been much cheaper than gasoline. Also for the geniuses who wrote that article, if you are so concerned about assasination attempts that you built a near tank then it makes no sense to use something as flamable as gasoline.
#10
Once "The One" passes National Health we'll be driving a new line of vehicles, Obama Wagons. This will also reduce our dependence on foreign oil and lower our carbon footprint. It's a win/win. Of course, PETA will go ballistic.
#11
GK
Reagan's ride Gipper is on exhibit in his Presidential Library near LA. Note they also have Air Force One in the exhibit. What makes it complete of course is they have same helicopter as Marine One.
#12
Ha! Never doubt the marketing geniuses at Cadillac. I'll bet the guy who told them they'd never sell that last DTS is having himself a big helping of crow as we read this.
Cut GM some slack; at least they didn't foist off a Pontiac Aztek on Bambi.
The US would have really been the laughing stock of the automotive world then.....
#15
Nahhh, the real wone is a Ford Focus clown car, not town car. Everytime it stops the 24 SS will jump out with squirty flowers, floppy shoes and Bozo wigs. BO will dress as he usually does.
Following the announcement of imposing sharia law in Orakzai Agency, the Taliban on Tuesday occupied the Political Rest House in the agency, locals and political administration sources said.
A political administration official told Daily Times that the Taliban captured the rest house late on Monday.
He said the political authorities had already vacated the premises due to the growing Taliban presence in the area, adding the Taliban had little difficulty in overpowering two Khasadars deployed to guard the rest house. Taliban sources said they would use the building as their office.
Bannu: An official of the Bannu Bomb Disposal Squad was killed when he tried to defuse a bomb in Cantonment police station precincts of Bannu district, police said on Tuesday.
Police official Gul Khan told Daily Times that the bomb was planted in a bazaar close to Peepal Road in Bannu Cantt and exploded as the official, Rehmatullah Marwat, tried to diffuse it.
Meanwhile, unidentified men on Tuesday torched Government Girls' High School in Fatehpur area of Swat district.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Is a rest house and a motel the same thing?
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/07/2009 15:58
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#2
The Pakis are brain dead. Those animals are now a stone's throw from the country's water supply. Already the Sindhis complain of Punjab hoarding. If they don't wipe out Taliban, the entire country is at risk. And if we don't stop supporting the Pashto slimeball - Karzai - who is sandbagging the anti-terror effort, our troops will be put at unnecessary risk.
Don't support elections in midst of conflict, because the results will exacerbate conflict. Smack yourself in the head if you disagree.
The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan claimed yesterday to have forged a "new relationship" after years of distrust and animosity between the neighbours. Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan promised a joint effort to tackle Taliban militants who pose a threat to both countries. Big toothy grins and hearty back slaps all around...
The two sides, which met at the presidential palace in Kabul, also signed a declaration promising to "closely co-operate . . . to eliminate the menaces of militancy, extremism and terrorism in the region". Peace in our lunchtime...
Kabul pulled out all the stops for the first official visit by Mr Zardari since he was elected in September, marking a significant shift in its attitude to its neighbour. Afghan officials routinely blame Pakistan's intelligence service for outrages in their country, including the attempt to assassinate Mr Karzai at a military parade in April and the bombing of the Indian embassy in July. All water under the bridge, right, boys?
Mr Karzai had made no secret of his dislike of Mr Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharraf. Kabul believed the former Pakistani army chief gave tacit support to Taliban attacks in Afghanistan from the lawless tribal areas on Pakistan's western border. A more profound change in relations will require the Pakistani military to abandon its policy of trying to contain Afghanistan and deny India any influence in the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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Republican Norm Coleman filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Democrat Al Franken's apparent recount victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, delaying a resolution of the contest for weeks or months.
At a Capitol news conference filled with cheering supporters, Coleman said he won't accept a board's determination a day earlier that Franken captured 225 more votes in the November election. He had a seven-day window to file the lawsuit. "We are filing this contest to make absolutely sure every valid vote was counted and no one's was counted more than anyone else's," Coleman said.
Coleman shrugged off the idea that he might concede the election to avoid a protracted fight that could leave Minnesota with only a single senator in Washington for months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#2
I wish him the best but I think he is on thin legal ground once the vote is certified. What is telling is that Franken AKA Smally has gone to ground. Once the twisted count put him ahead he had no compuction to "Count every vote". I really blame Coleman for not presenting a better argument to the people of Minnesota. If the race aint close then they can;t steal election like this. State your priciples and stand by them you would be amazed how that works for most elected officials.
#3
For a lot of people Franken was a protest vote. They didn't like him but they wanted to send a message that they really didn't like Republicans right now. And I bet a lot of them never imagined Franken would win.
This is a scanned copy of the 79-page dossier of material stemming from the ongoing investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26-29, 2008 that was handed over by India to Pakistan on January 5, 2009.
Whoa, whoa, whoa....I thought everyone was going to love us after we elected The One!
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center. Uhh, maybe because he's not actually the President yet
The recording purportedly by Ayman al-Zawahiri was al-Qaida's first comments on the Gaza crisis since Israel launched its offensive against the Islamic militants of Hamas on Dec. 27.
In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "crusade against Islam and Muslims" and called it "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office later this month.
"This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. No wonder the media hasn't really promoted THIS tape!
"He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection."
Al-Zawahiri, who is Egyptian, also criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a "traitor" for keeping Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip closed since Hamas seized power. "At the time when Israeli planes drop their bombs from the air, he closes the borders with his forces so that the plan of the killing of believers in Gaza is fulfilled," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE.
Thousands of people in cities worldwide have held mass street demonstrations to protest Israel's offensive, but al-Zawahiri said those were not enough. "Fight the Zionist Crusader campaign," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. "Strike its interests everywhere you can reach them. Support and back your mujahedeen brothers and children against them."
The audio message was accompanied by a still photograph of the al-Qaida leader sitting with a gun in his lap.
(AKI) - An Israeli warplane on Tuesday struck the home of a militant leader from the Islamist group Hamas' rocket division in the Gaza Strip.Ayman Siam is believed to have been killed in the strike against the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces said Siam was at home at the time of the attack.
As well as being the founder of Hamas' rocket launching programme, he headed the group's artillery throughout the territory, the IDF said. Another damaging loss to the Gaza Space Program...
This article starring:
Ayman Siam
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Is there a greater waste of human potential as that which the PLO and now HAMAS has squander? The crap the the toddler Paleos have been feed in cartoons and other indoctrination programs will be the death nail to these people.
#2
Hamas was able to launch about 30 rockets into Israel on Tues. This is down from the 60 or so at the start of the operation. However, Hamas still had, I think, at least two operational Grad launch teams at the end of the day.
#4
She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone
Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man
And I think it's gonna be a long long time...
Posted by: Elton John ||
01/07/2009 9:35
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#5
You don't have to live like a refugee
/Abu Tom Petty
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2009 9:51
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#6
EJ, hahaha, I was just thinking of that tune when I read the title of the article. LOL.
Aswat al-Iraq: A civilian was wounded on Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion, while four bombs were defused in eastern Mosul, an army source said. "An improvised explosive device went off on Tuesday (Jan. 6) in al-Nour neighborhood in eastern Mosul, targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol, injuring a passing civilian," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The wounded was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment," he added. "Anti-bombs squad managed to defuse four bombs in al-Nour, al-Qadissiya and al-Karama neighborhoods in eastern Mosul," he also said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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Information Minister Sherry Rehman on Tuesday demanded of India to allow Pakistani investigators to access the crime scene in Mumbai. Talking to reporters in Islamabad, she asked India to stop the 'blame game' and cooperate with Pakistan against terrorism. India had admitted that Pakistan government is not involved in the Mumbai attacks, she said, and Islamabad had played a key role in the war on terror since well before the attacks. Sherry said the Pakistani government has begun its own probe into the attacks and any information given by India would be included in the investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Its not a crime scene.
It is a scene of the terror war.
This week the Russian bear demonstrated it never really hibernated after the dissolution in 1991 of the Soviet Union, of which Russia was the biggest component. The Kremlin's military leaders on Sunday approved a plan to deploy ships permanently in friendly ports around the world. And yesterday, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a cutoff in gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine due to Russia having cut Ukraine off from natural gas shipments in a dispute over pricing and supposedly overdue payments.
Naval power projection has been a key component of foreign policy since the days of the Phoenician traders, Carthaginians and Romans and later the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and British, to name a few. Revanchist Russia, greatly miffed and embarrassed by its fall from superpower status, sees a resurgent navy as a way to project itself in foreign affairs. Last month, four Russian warships visited Venezuela and comrade Hugo Chavez for joint maneuvers before cruising to Cuba, comrade Fidel Castro's abode. Russian deputy chief of staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn said, without providing details, that Russia was talking with foreign governments to station warships around the world permanently. In August, a Russian diplomat said the navy would make more use of a port in Syria, home of comrade Bashar al-Assad. The navy is already in negotiations with the Russia-backed breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia for a permanent Black Sea port there.
Meanwhile, back on land, Russia has made no secret of its fury over Ukraine's tilt to the West and away from being pulled into a Russian sphere of influence, if not hegemony.
Regardless of the legitimacy of any claims by Russia's Gazprom, the actions by the world's largest gas company in cutting off supplies to Ukraine were, as the European Union stated, "without prior warning and in clear contradiction with the assurances given by the highest Russian and Ukrainian authorities to the European Union." Russia had done the same thing before, both in 2006 and again in March (the latter being a cut of half the supply).
Despite this unacceptable Russian behavior, individual countries have continued to make deals that make them ever more reliant on Russia for many years to come.
Soon after the 2006 cutoff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had proposed a common energy policy by the European Union over the next 15 years to guarantee supply security. That idea soon died in the yang and yin between the recognized need for a common market and nations acting in their own long-term energy security interests. Indeed, Germany itself, despite Mrs. Merkel's warnings, is among those countries that view Russia as a key strategic partner and are only too willing to rely on Gazprom. Germans note they have never faced a cutoff from Russia, even during the Cold War, but feeding a bear may only mean - as Winston Churchill said of appeasers and crocodiles - you are the last to be eaten.
On the other side are former Central European Soviet-bloc nations, like Ukraine, that have experience with Russia's small-carrot/big-stick policies and believe it will continue to use Gazprom as a blunt instrument of foreign policy. They note that Russia has become increasingly aggressive and is reclaiming its Cold War rhetoric and stance.
The United States in the months and years ahead needs to have policies that encourage Russian enlightenment, but which also are not blind if - figuratively or literally - the lights go out, or threaten to go out, in European democracies or elsewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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#1
The United States in the months and years ahead
Will be focused of combating global worming, capitalist unfairness, racism, and---of course---Zionist aggression.
Aswat al-Iraq: The spokesperson for Baghdad's Operations Command (BOC) on Tuesday said there have been intelligence tips that a male or female bomber was recruited to conduct a suicide attack inside or outside al-Kadhimiya Shrine during the Ashuraa occasion, a matter which has necessitated preventing women from entering Kadhimiya. "The decision is effective on Tuesday and Wednesday," General Qassim Atta told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Iraqi security forces are currently conducting search and raid operations in certain areas," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#3
If I was a prepubescent boy living in Kadhimiya, I would run like hell.
Most of those "lions of Islam" like little boys much more than they tolerate women.
It strikes me as funny that the Taliban seems to hate women so much.....it must have something to do with their mommies......Oediphus complex perchance???
Mahmoud, where is your teddie bear?
Posted by: James Carville ||
01/07/2009 10:49
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Egypt said on Tuesday it was proposing an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, to be followed by talks on long-term arrangements including an end to the blockade of Gaza.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak presented the proposal in a brief statement after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The proposal made no mention of many of the elements which diplomats said were under discussion, such as an international force to prevent Hamas receiving weapons.
Mubarak did not say what role Hamas would play in the talks he is proposing. Israel and the Europeans who have been active diplomatically do not talk to the Islamist group. The Egyptian proposal, as read by Mubarak, contained the following points:
-- Israel and the Palestinian factions should accept an immediate ceasefire for a limited period, which would allow safe passages to open for humanitarian aid to Gaza and give Egypt time to continue its efforts for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.
-- Egypt would invite both Israel and the Palestinian side to an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees to ensure that the current escalation does not recur and deal with the causes, including protecting the border, reopening the crossing points and lifting the blockade.
-- Egypt would again invite the Palestinian Authority and all Palestinian factions to respond to Egyptian efforts to achieve national reconciliation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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U.S. President-elect Barack Obama broke his silence Tuesday on Israel's assault of Gaza and said he was 'deeply concerned' about the loss of civilian lives in both Gaza and in Israel.
The only thing he's 'deeply concerned' about is that it won't be over when he takes over and it's dumped in his lap.
Yes, it's becoming very clear that Mr. O loves to do the ironic cool sarcastic schtick, but when it comes to making tough decisions, well ... not his bag and in any case who wants to hear Michelle nag if she doesn't like what he decides?
Lord but this is going to be a long 4 years.
Joining a growing chorus of leaders from around the world, Obama told reporters "the loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me."
However, Obama refused to comment any further and said he would adhere to his principle that only U.S. President George W. Bush would speak for American foreign policy at this time, adding he would have plenty more to say after his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Israelis better hurry the hell up ...
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he hoped the basis could be found for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as he called the current events the Middle East's "darkest moment" yet.
"I am hopeful that the basis on which an immediate ceasefire can take place can be found. It obviously depends on what we do on the crossings, what we do on the tunnels, what we do about the supply and trafficking in arms and what security we can give to both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people," he told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#9
he has nothing to gain by talking now, why would he?
OMG, hes a self interested pol!!!! I for one, am glad of that, I didnt want a messiah, and im glad hes acting alot more like a Clinton. His worst step on national security so far is teh Panetta appointment, where hes playing to his base. kinda.
Tough decisions? Hes moving ahead making tough decisions on the economy. he didnt want to have a crisis in Gaza. But hell, shit happens.
#13
If I'm still among the living in eight years, I'll still be in disbelief that the American people elected this fellow. Of course I said the same thing about Slick Willie.
#14
If the Pope of Hope's base is as dissatified with him now before he even takes office I don't see him lasting 8 years.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/07/2009 19:08
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#15
Obambi won't survive four years. He's like a hothouse plant left in the back yard over winter. He's never had a job with stress attached to it. He'll wilt faster than the plant. Unfortunately, his departure would leave us with Joe Biden, the longest-living brain-dead Senator of all time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2009 19:09
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#16
#14 If the Pope of Hope's base is as dissatified with him now before he even takes office I don't see him lasting 8 years.
The Venezuelan government Tuesday ordered the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Caracas to protest the Israeli military's offensive in the Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, President Hugo Chavez called the events in Gaza Palestinian "holocaust" and said the presidents of Israel and the United States should be tried in international court.
" The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the President of the United States "
Hugo Chavez
"The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza," Chavez said in televised comments. "The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the President of the United States."
The socialist Chavez on Monday had accused Washington of poisoning the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to destabilize the Middle East and justify U.S.-backed Israeli incursions.
The death toll of Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead' hit more than 600 on a day where Israel targeted U.N. schools and homes that left children's dead bodies scattered all over and drew condemnation from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
If he hasn't already expelled our ambassador, I call on George Bush to appoint Carratop as our ambassador to Venesuala and dispatch him immediately to Caracas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 0:40
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#2
Sorry, SH, but Carrottop is banned under the Geneva Conventions (and rightly so), though it might be worth sending him to Oogo.
#5
Carrot Top (born Scott Thompson) is a red-headed prop comedian who appears in commercials for AT&T's collect-calling service. He is often comic fodder for others who dismiss him as unfunny, but sells out hundreds of concert dates a year despite this reputation. He is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.
He has also appeared in movies, including 1998's Chairman of The Board.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/07/2009 12:12
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(AKI) - Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, signalled on Monday that Israel would no longer respond with restraint to rocket fire from militant Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.
But they'll have a 3-hour ceasefire every day so the Hamas gunnies can have lunch and a siesta.
Her country's current military offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is intended to "change the equation" in the region, Livni said. Speaking to journalists in Jerusalem on Monday, Livni) defended Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip as "legitimate self-defence".
Earlier on Monday, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak told MPs that Hamas had suffered a "very heavy blow", but insisted the offensive in Gaza would continue to defend Israeli citizens. "We still haven't reached our objectives," Barak said.
On the tenth day of the military operation, thousands of Israeli troops, backed by tanks, artillery and helicopters, pushed deeper into Gaza, effectively splitting the north from the south in the the aid-dependent territory. Israeli Navy, Air Force and special units are also taking part, Barak stated.
Over 500 people have been killed in the military bombardment and ground offensive, most of them Hamas operatives, and over 2,200 have been wounded, Barak confirmed.
Barak defended Israel's action, saying any country would have taken the same action in the face of Hamas rocket attacks.
Palestinian militants fired 20 missiles into southern Israel on Monday, the Israeli army said. It said 47 rockets were launched from Gaza into southern Israel on Sunday.
Intense diplomatic efforts are under way to try to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, with separate missions to the Middle East being led by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and a high-level European Union team.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Her country's current military offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is intended to "change the equation" in the region, Livni said.
Short of lining the D-9s up shoulder-to-shoulder and pushing everything that's currently above ground in Gaza into the Med I don't really see how they can do much that will actually "change the equation" in the long run.
#3
If the Israelis dismantle enough of the Hamas infrastructure, when Fatah moves back into power in Gaza, they will be able to pull a "Night of the Long Knives" on Hamas. Fatah has already been supplying targeting info to the Israelis and Abbas really wants to shed Hamas blood after their attacks on Fatah.
President-elect Barack Obama took big money from a man at the center of a federal probe that has forced one of Obama's top Cabinet picks to withdraw. Financial records show the Obama campaign got more than $30,000 from California financier David Rubin, the target of an investigation into donations and possible "pay-to-play" deals involving New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's pick for commerce secretary.
Richardson removed himself from consideration for the post Sunday, saying the ongoing grand jury investigation threatened to hold up his confirmation. Richardson and Rubin have both denied any wrongdoing in the matter, which involved contributions and state business in 2003 and 2004.
In late September, Rubin attended an exclusive Los Angeles fundraiser for Obama, held at the Beverly Hills' Greystone Mansion. Attendees gave tens of thousands of dollars which the campaign split between its own coffers, the Democratic National Committee and state-level campaign groups supporting Obama and Democratic candidates. The technique helps campaigns take in from individuals far more than the $2,300 maximum they are allowed to give to a single campaign fund.
Rubin's money went to a joint Obama-DNC fund ($28,500), the DNC itself ($26,200), and to the Obama campaign ($2,300), according to the database of campaign donations at OpenSecrets.Org. News of the federal investigation into Rubin's New Mexico dealings had broken less than three weeks earlier.
According to Entertainment Weekly's coverage of the event, Rubin sat at Table 17 one table away from Leonardo DiCaprio, "Survivor" producer David Katzenberg and comedian Chris Rock.
Reached by phone Monday, Rubin declined to answer questions. His firm's spokesman, Allan Ripp, said neither he nor Rubin would discuss Rubin's donations to Obama or his attendance at the fundraiser. Ripp said that Rubin sought nothing for his donation but to elect Obama.
Neither the Obama campaign nor the DNC responded immediately to a request for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
David Rubin bio excerpt:
Created the full-flex investment products industry, permitting, municipalities to avoid low yields by investing longer term while maintaining liquidity and transferring risk to the provider.
Implemented a new concept of Rolling Treasury Bills, previously considered impossible, leading to over 100 transactions valued at $3.4 Billion.
Developed and implemented creative, tax exempt home purchase programs in excess of $2 Billion for low and middle-income families.
(Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has visited a newly built power station located in an eastern province and called for the building of more hydropower stations, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday.
"And then we will build the world's first hydropowered bomb!"
The quickest way to solve the power shortage is to build hydropower stations on a large scale in the DPRK where water resources are abundant, Kim said while visiting the newly built Wonsan Youth Power Station in eastern Kangwon province.
The report did not specify the date of the visit.
Kim also visited a family that had just moved into a newly built house equipped with electricity for cooking and heating. He said letting every one in the DPRK use electricity is the desire of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The WPK has called for launching an "aggressive campaign" to boost the country's economy from the start of the new year in an effort to "open the gate to a great prosperous powerful nation in 2012."
It was the third report of the top leader's public appearance in 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
I say we ought to comb all American junk yards for old electric motors of all sorts sizes and states of repair that we can donate to Kim's hydroelectric initiaitve allong with whatever used popsicle sticks are avaiable. I'm sure that Juche will allow him to parlay our goodwill jesture into a remarkable positive impact on NK GDP. Down the road we could send him a wagon train of garbage skows filled to the brim with old tires and later maybe bomb his palace with a gift of every used diaper we can find. Juche showed Korean culture to make this refuse that our hippies compalin about into something positive. What a win-win idea.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 0:36
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#2
a great prosperous powerful nation...with electricity in every home! for cooking AND heating!
#13
Kim also visited a family that had just moved into a newly built house equipped with electricity for cooking and heating.
Close relatives, no doubt.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Majlis-e-Shura has approved the names of Munawar Hassan, Liaquat Baloch and Sirajul Haq as candidates for party chief after chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad steps down in April, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. According to the channel, Qazi had requested the Majlis-e-Shura not to recommend his name as party chief for the next term because of his failing health.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - With a new Taliban offensive expected when the snow melts in Afghanistan in the next three months, US and British forces are preparing to use 'Arbakai' or Afghan village militia patrols to complement a troop surge and confront the Taliban.
But since the Taliban controls 72 percent of Afghanistan, according to the influential British think-tank the International Council on Security and Development, there are doubts about whether the new strategy will work.
The concept is being driven by the head of US Central Command, General David Petraeus, who as head of the multinational force in Iraq very successfully combined a troop surge with tribal militia support against Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2007. The strategy is widely credited with helping reduce violence in Iraq.
In the next six months, four US combat brigades will be added to existing troop numbers to confront the Taliban.
However, critics believe that the Taliban in Afghanistan is a different phenomenon from Iraq,where foreign fighters allied with Al-Qaeda led the insurgency and provided the opportunity for US forces to intervene and gain the support of local tribes.
The use of Arbakai in Afghanistan is also backed by British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles.
Sir Sherard, a career diplomat, was assigned to Kabul as British Ambassador in 2007. He convinced British prime minister Gordon Brown that a modern adaptation of Arbakai would be an effective way to defeat the Taliban.
An Oxford University graduate, Coles apparently backed sending diplomats on secret missions, without the consent of the US or the Afghan government, to strike peace deals with Taliban commanders in south-west Helmand province. The initiative backfired.
The US and Afghanistan rejected such overtures and ordered the expulsion of European Union and United Nations officials, who were covertly sent with the consent of the British embassy in Kabul.
However, Sir Sherard did not give up hope and continued with his efforts to use tribal tradition to win support from local people.
Since his ideas matched those of Petraeus, the use of tribal militias gained support among foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, except for Canada, which had doubts about the scheme.
Sir Sherard and Petraeus were apparently impressed by the historic success of the Arbakai, even though a similar plan launched in 2006 not only failed but actually fuelled the Taliban insurgency.
Under a scheme approved by Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Sher Mohammad Akhunzada, former governor of lawless Helmand province, recruited 500 men from local tribes and established a tribal militia to guard various locations in the province.
After the experiment of Helmand, there was a move to expand it in the neighbouring restive provinces of Urzgan, Zabul and Kandahar. The newly recruited militias were given monthly stipends and arms. However, these militias failed without firing a single bullet.
They defected to the Taliban, along with their arms as soon as they were launched, because the Taliban is the real tribal militia completely backed by tribal chiefs, clerics and local people.
The same thing happened with tribal police formed in late 2006. In 2007 they were sent to places like Panjwai in southern Kandahar province and in Musa Qala in Helmand province.
When the Taliban decided to target and take control of those provinces, they announced that local tribal police should lay down their arms and withdraw from the areas. The tribal police immediately took their advice.
The Taliban have already set up a force to counter a new troop surge in 2009 by cutting off the NATO supply line from Pakistan.
As a result of daily attacks on NATO's Kabul-bound supply route through Pakistan - which accounts for 80 percent of NATO's supplies for Afghanistan - the route is almost choked.
An operation was hurriedly launched in the Khyber Agency on the Afghan border last week to restore the supply route but it is unclear whether their efforts succeeded.
The British-backed peace agreements in 2008 in Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier province was aimed at giving the newly elected Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party a chance to establish itself in the rebel ruled areas and develop a consensus to drive out the Taliban.
This was also tried in the border tribal areas and in the Swat valley. In Bajaur, the local Salarzai tribe sided with the government, and heavily backed by Pakistan's army and air force, had some success.
They set the property belonging to the Taliban on fire but once the Taliban attacks began and Pakistani forces retreated, the Salarzai sustained huge losses.
In the Swat Valley, the Awami National Party, which governs North West Frontier Province created citizen comittees to establish peace in the area.
In a collective decision they destroyed property belonging to the Taliban. However, very much like Bajaur when the Taliban regrouped and forced the Pakistani security agencies to retreat, and the Awami National Party was wiped out of the Swat valley. Several leaders including members of the provincial assemblies were killed.
Even the ANP president, Asfanyar Wali Khan, was the victim of a suicide attack and forced to flee to Islamabad and then to Europe. He was only allowed to return after he and the Taliban agreed not to fight each other.
The big question now is whether Petraeus will have any impact on a resurgent Taliban which is extending its control in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
This was also tried in the border tribal areas and in the Swat valley. In Bajaur, the local Salarzai tribe sided with the government, and heavily backed by Pakistan's army and air force, had some success.
They set the property belonging to the Taliban on fire but once the Taliban attacks began and Pakistani forces retreated, the Salarzai sustained huge losses.
In the Swat Valley, the Awami National Party, which governs North West Frontier Province created citizen comittees to establish peace in the area.
In a collective decision they destroyed property belonging to the Taliban. However, very much like Bajaur when the Taliban regrouped and forced the Pakistani security agencies to retreat, and the Awami National Party was wiped out of the Swat valley. Several leaders including members of the provincial assemblies were killed.
Shahzad misses the point not once, but twice. The Pakistanis thought the tribal militias were a substitute for conventional forces. They are not, and can never be. The only way this can work is by having the tribal militia be NATO's eyes and ears, just as the Iraqi Awakening served as Uncle Sam's eyes and ears. The tribal militias can't fight off the Taliban. What they can do is tell us where the Taliban are when they see them, and hold the Taliban off while waiting for our troops to rescue them. Which is pretty much what happened in Iraq.
Why did the Pakistanis feed the tribal militias to the Taliban? Are they stupid? My guess is that they wanted the tribal militias - tribal and Taliban alike - to kill each other off, leaving the conventional military in charge. The fear of competition from Sunni militias is what made Iraq's PM Maliki so wary of the Awakening. The Pakistanis probably made the same calculation as Maliki, and pulled back before the tribal militias were ready to stand on their own.
Uncle Sam doesn't fear competition from Afghan tribal militias any more than he feared competition from Iraq's Sunni militias. He'll keep conventional forces nearby to exploit intelligence from the tribal militias. Pakistani forces used tribal militias as a substitute for conventional forces. Uncle Sam is looking to use tribal forces so conventional forces can do more, not less fighting, in engagements of his, not the Taliban's, choice.
LUCKNOW: Typing the word talaq on an SMS which may not be sent or uttering the words talaq thrice even under influence of alcohol or in a fit of rage amounts to separation under the sharia. Darul Uloom-Deoband recently issued a fatwa on three issues contrary to the common belief that the state of intoxication or anger or not communicating the decision of talaq to the partner did not amount to divorce in Islam.
In a recent query from Bangladesh (dated December 28, 2008) it was asked: A person intending to give his wife one talaq, typed I give one talaq to you. in his cellphone SMS. But after thinking over, he changes his mind and does not send the SMS at all. Will this result in talaq? According to the Dar-ul-Ifta, in the above condition, one Talaq will be deemed to have occurred, whether the SMS was sent or not.
In Fiqh term, SMS is a text which, if written by husband with the intention of Talaq, will be valid. In another question (dated January 3, 2009) a man asked Dar-Ul-Ifta that he said the word talaq three times in anger during a fight with his wife though it was not his intention to give his wife talaq. A week after the incident we came to know that she was pregnant, we want to live together the question asked. In its response, Dar-ul-Ifta ruled: That since the divorce came in clear words thrice, the element of intention looses its legitimacy. Another question is, if a husband is completely drunken and unconscious and beat his wife and he says talaq three times, will the marriage end? According to Dar-Ul-Ifta, talaq given after drinking in state of intoxication is valid in Hanafi sect. Now, the husband can not marry her without Sharai halalah, Dar-Ul-Ifta ruled.
As per the Sharia, according to Islamic scholars, Talaq should be given once at a time after a period of 30 days each. This wipes off all possibilities of taking the drastic step in a fit of rage or under the influence of alcohol. If a person changes his mind after uttering the word talaq once or twice, he can always take his words back within the next 40 days (the Iddat period) of the last utterance and the marriage will stand intact.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/07/2009
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#1
"Darul Uloom" -- is that a nym for Thulsa Doom?
...and I'll bet they peed on his Koran too.
A Pakistani national who spent more than six years in US custody five of them at the Guantanamo Bay military prison says he was subjected to torture and abuse by his US captors and plans to sue the US government.
Why sue? Bambi will give you whatever you want and call it a 'bailout' ...
Saad Iqbal, now back home in Lahore told The New York Times he was beaten, tightly shackled, his head covered with a hood, given drugs and subjected to electric shocks by Egyptian interrogators at the urging of US agents after being arrested without charges in Jakarta in 2002. Iqbal's attorney Richard Cys told the newspaper he plans to sue the US government for unlawfully detaining Iqbal.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Richard Cys told the newspaper he plans to sue the US government for unlawfully detaining Iqbal.
Whoaa a lobbyist lawyer and Hillary Donor helping a Terrorist sue the US government. Whoud a thunk it?
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government has been accused by India of supporting a major terrorist attack there, vowed Tuesday to work closely with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to combat terrorism, saying it had become a menace to all countries in the region. Yeah, I vow to lose this gut, too. And to grow my hair back. My wife, Morgan Fairchild, thinks it's a good deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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It is useful, at this juncture, to stand back and survey the economic landscape—both as it is now, and as it has been in recent months. So here is a summary of many of the points that I have made for the last few months on the outlook for the U.S. and global economy, as well as for financial markets:
The U.S. will experience its most severe recession since World War II, much worse and longer and deeper than even the 1974-1975 and 1980-1982 recessions. The recession will continue until at least the end of 2009 for a cumulative gross domestic product drop of over 4%; the unemployment rate will likely reach 9%. The U.S. consumer is shopped-out, saving less and debt-burdened: This will be the worst consumer recession in decades.
The prospect of a short and shallow six- to eight-month V-shaped recession is out of the window; a U-shaped 18- to 24-month recession is now a certainty, and the probability of a worse, multi-year L-shaped recession (as in Japan in the 1990s) is still small but rising. Even if the economy were to exit a recession by the end of 2009, the recovery could be so weak because of the impairment of the financial system and the credit mechanism that it may feel like a recession even if the economy is technically out of the recession.
#4
The rest of the world, which was even more government regulated, socialist, and centrally planned than the U.S., will be even worse off.
Don't look for that to be reported in the MSM. Instead, in Orwellian fashion, they'll shill for more of that stuff here.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/07/2009 6:24
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#5
When reflecting on unemployment, I expect the predictors to take in account that a lot of what we had seen before in post-WWII recessions are jobs that have now been shipped overseas with the work. Instead of being 'domestic', it is now 'global'. On one hand that will hide the comparative statistics when looking back at previous experiences. On the other hand, the drag that happens in getting those back to work and the overall economy back to forward domestically is also going to be less.
#6
The Amazing Kreskin was on Fox this morning. Kres says we'll see some relief in 2010 but will not get out this mess for another 4.5 years. Recommends banking with Simmons Beauty Rest. The Donald followed him via phone. Trump says the market should fix the market and that no one can pry money out of the banks. He points to the bailout as essentially a give-away.
#7
Bear in mind that 9% unemployment now is roughly comparable to 18% back during the Depression, since now the 'official' workforce includes most of the women too. Also, the official unemployment rate only includes those who have lost jobs, but not those who are just entering the workforce and cannot find jobs in the first place.
#8
What makes this moron the expert on what is in store for us. The problem is that we've listened to too many experts ant look where it got us. End of 2009 my foot. Let me be the expert. I say it will be the end of 2010.
Posted by: Art ||
01/07/2009 9:46
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#9
Obama has just said that he expects to have trillion dollar deficits for years to come.
That's double the highest to date and he's going to keep it up. When does hyper-inflation kick in?
#10
I seem to call the Dhimmicrats complaining about the 'Bush deficits'. I guess I'll have a right to complain about the 'Obama deficits'. At least until I'm bound and gagged.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 11:46
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#11
i predict that any unfavorable comparisons of Obama will be treated as racist an investigated by the FBI as a 'hate crime'
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/07/2009 13:34
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#12
Eh, we're all gonna be wiped out in 2012 anyway, right?
Fact is, no one really knows what's going to happen next, not Obama, not Roubini, not any so-called "expert".
The one thing I can say with confidence is that worst case gloom-and-doom scenarios sell books and magazines, so expect a bumper crop of them over the next year. Enjoy them for their twisted entertainment value, but if you follow them as gospel you are every bit as deluded as the people who thought the good times would never end and real estate would always double in five years.
#13
...It's always been my understanding that the ACTUAL unemployment rate is around 4% lower than what the government tells us, because there's that many "just-won't-work" in the population - is that true?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/07/2009 16:41
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#14
I'd say the other way, Mike. The just won't work are out of the numbers. There's lots of discouraged workers, want to work but haven't found something in so long they don't try, not in the numbers also. There's lots of folks without HS diploma and others educated more who don't have jobs but would like to. They don't for a lot of reasons, often related to their own behavior but also related to the fact that their standard of living would decline if they did the one thing that would get them a job, move.
Bottom line, unemployment, like inflation, is probably understated in the official figures.
#16
This article is from November 13th and the caption above the articles title is 'Doctor Doom'. Even the publisher of the article is making fun of it.
Couldn't someone dig up a story about president Jackson and banks?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/07/2009 19:28
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#17
Folks, let me tell you what the sagacity of the ages would tell you about what is coming....those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it!
Weimar Republic could replicated the entire printed money supply overnight and still fell victim to Zimbabwe style hyper-inflation.
Our mor odern approach, whisch isn't even to waste the paper to print it, is to create mythical value by pladging future debt to our children for eternity. As if someone actually believes that they will pay it or that it has any value. WAKE UP! People will soon feel the pinches of the massive amounts of notional money introduced into the banking system through enormous inflationary rates, and the realization will hit them that money actually has no value, and the US Government has no faith or credit worthy of comment.
We are about to destroy public confidence in basic institution of government, our de-based currency, and someof the people here think it will be a stimulus to employment? Its a suicide pact for the nation. We are making the exact same mistakes that prolonged the Great Depression, conflicting government policies, and unwillinginess to let the market process work the massive credit bubble out of the system. Maynard Keynes was discreditied a long time ago, and has returned-vampire like- with a vengence.
Stop government spending iinsanity, and keep Zero's hand off the throttle as much as you can.
The Jamaatud Dawa has warned that Pakistan is making a 'big mistake' by acting against it, a report on the CNN-IBN website said. "The ban (by the United Nations Security Council) was one-sided; we were not heard by the Security Council. They didn't hear our clarification," Abdullah Muntazir, a spokesperson for the Dawa, told CNN-IBN from Pakistan on Tuesday.
"What the UN has done is just on the basis of what the Indian media has reported," he said. "The US demanded only three sanctions but the Pakistan government went way ahead of these sanctions. The Pakistani government arrested dozens of our workers, closed all offices and put our top 10 leaders under house arrest. So, what the Pakistani government is doing was not demanded by the UN," Muntazir said.
The Dawa spokesman warned Pakistan not to go after the organisation. He said that he did not know what the Pakistani government would do, but it would be a big mistake on their (government's) part. He said that it would not be acceptable at all to the people of Pakistan. "Hafiz Saeed (Dawa founder) has followers all over Pakistan, and it is not possible for the government of Pakistan to even think about handing him over to India," Muntazir said.
He rejected allegations that the Dawa was a front for the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. "No, that is a total misconception. Jamaatud Dawa is different and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is different. We have no links with the Lashkar," he said. Muntazir denied knowing the whereabouts of Maulana Masood Azhar, who is wanted by India for terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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(AKI) -- More than 4,000 Indonesians have offered to support Hamas and fight against Israel, a radical Islamist group has told Adnkronos International (AKI). The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has been mobilising jihadists to support the ruling Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip against the current Israeli offensive.
"We started the list last Friday and more than 4,000 people registered to go and fight Israel," Sobry Lubis, secretary-general of the FPI told AKI.
Sobry said the FPI wanted to send only a thousand jihadists and the group was considering the background of the volunteers. Among the criteria is a willingness to die as a martyr.
"We have a list of ten points that volunteers must endorse for them to be considered. One of the obligations is a willingness to be a martyr."
Sobry did not provide details about finance for the mission, possible departure dates or the group's itinerary.
The FPI is one of several Indonesian groups to have drawn up a recruitment list. Analysts have expressed doubts suggesting that several groups had sought to do something similar in the past but there was no proof that Indonesians had fought in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, many in Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim country - feel strongly about the Palestinian issue. Thousands of people have protested in major cities throughout the archipelago against Israel's offensive over the past ten days.
Jakarta has no diplomatic relations with Israel and the Indonesian government has promised 2 million dollars in humanitarian aid. The Indonesian military has also said it is ready to send troops to Gaza if the United Nations requested members to take part in a peace mission.
An Indonesian humanitarian contingent arrived in Egypt on Monday in a bid to organise a medical aid centre on the border with Gaza.
The FPI is a hardline Islamic group known for conducting annual raids targeting night clubs, bars and venues that failed to observe the holy month of Ramadan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Ditto for MECCA MARTYRS BRIGADE, ala WORLD MIL FORUM.
#1
At the rate National + Geopol Crises are piling up on the OBAMA-MAN, the so-called NEW GIRL ORDER includ Caroline may not survive after 2010 or 2012.
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, MOUD = IRAN AREN'T GETTING THEIR NUKES FROM JARED'S - HOW CAN NUKES BE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND!
The imposition of self-styled sharia in Orakzai Agency by the Taliban is paving the way for a military operation in the agency, as operations were launched in the other tribal agencies after the Taliban announced to enforce sharia there, FATA Lawyers Forum (FLF) said on Tuesday.
Talking to Daily Times, FLF President Abdul Karim Mehsud said it was the Taliban's self-styled sharia that led to military operations in Bajaur and Mohmand agencies as well as in Swat.
The Taliban imposed 'Islamic law' in Orakzai Agency and Hangu district, bordering the agency, a few days back.
The Taliban banned women from visiting markets, except for medical treatment, but that too only when accompanied by an adult male relative. They imposed complete ban on TV, CDs and video centres in the agency. They established 'Islamic courts' in the agency, asking the tribesmen to access these courts for timely justice under Islamic laws. They also announced that girls in the agency would be married of their own consent.
The FLF president said the orders issued by the Taliban were part of tribal traditions 30 years ago, when women were not allowed to leave their houses without adult male family members, and tribal elders did not allow video centres in the area.
FCR: Mehsud said the tribesmen were approaching the Taliban's 'sharia courts' because they were frustrated with the colonial Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), under which cases remained pending for decades in tribunals and courts of FCR commissioners.
FLF Secretary General Taj Mahal Afridi said the tribesmen were losing trust in the FCR judicial system due to 'faulty' policies of the central government and 'rampant corruption' in the offices of the political administration.
Afridi said the government should either amend the FCR law or replace it with the laws enforced in other parts of the country and make the judicial system transparent. Otherwise, FATA would fall into the hands of Taliban, he said.
Expensive shops: He said FCR tribunals and FCR commissioner courts were 'expensive shops', where the poor tribesmen did not get any relief in decades. That was why the 'Taliban courts' were welcomed by the tribesman, as these provided quick justice without any expense.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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India may be frustrated and even outwitted by Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks, after placing its faith in the support of the United States.
New Delhi has responded to the attacks on its soil with a diplomatic offensive, trusting Washington and ultimately US president-elect Barack Obama to pressure Pakistan, but with Obama and the West depending on Pakistani support for a planned troop surge in Afghanistan, there are limits to how far they can go.
"Pakistan has been able to obfuscate the issue," said Indian security analyst Uday Bhaskar. "India will have to lessen its own expectation of what the international community can deliver."
India has asked Pakistan to hand over the suspected organisers of the attack to the 'Indian justice system', saying it is a demand South Asian regional agreements back -- that terrorist acts should be prosecuted in the nation where they occur -- but not one many analysts or diplomats expect to be met.
"Handing over Pakistani nationals to Indian custody, I don't think the Pakistani government can survive that humiliating demand," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
"I don't think that the United States is going to succeed to put pressure on Pakistan, because what India wants Pakistan to do is politically, and otherwise, not possible at all -- and India knows that very well."
Siddharth Varadarajan, strategic affairs editor of the Hindu newspaper, says Obama will not want to grapple with the issue of the alleged links between the Pakistani army and any militants so soon after taking office.
"The Pentagon is still in denial," he added. "It still looks at the Pakistani military as part of the solution, not as part of the problem."
The Indian government realises a military strike on Pakistan would be counterproductive, and only serve to strengthen the hawks and extremists. That leaves it with few alternatives, apart from formally suspending the peace process.
All bets are off, though, if there is another attack on Indian soil. "The Indian government would be forced to react in a symbolic way. It would not lead to strategic gains, but I don't think the restraint we are now talking about could be maintained," Varadarajan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#4
ION INDIA > WORLD MIL FORUM > MANY XIANJIANG MILITANTS [UIghurs = Muslims] TRAVEL TO AFGHANISTAN TO FIGHT AGZ THE US-NATO, AND WILL LIKELY LAUNCH TERROR OPERATIONS INSIDE CHINA AGZ HAN CHINESE ENEMY UPON THEIR RETURN.
* SAME > ISLAMIST SECTARIANISM THREATENS TWELVE REGIONS INSIDE CHINA.
* SAME > INDIAN OP-ED: US CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WILL ATTEMPT TO DISMEMBER CHINA STARTING IN 2009. MUMBAI ATTACKS WAS A CIA AND US PRO-IMPERIALIST FRAME-UP/CONSPIRACY TO INDUCE MULTI-NATION REGIONAL WAR [Pakistan, India, China] AND INSTABILITY IN ASIA, ESPEC AGZ CHINA.
Has India goofed up its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks by recording the confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, in Hindi, to give a handle to Pakistan to question credibility of the terror dossier provided to it on Monday?
Still worse is the alleged use of Hindi in the letter written by Kasab to the Pakistan high commissioner in Delhi, which was handed to the High Commission on December 22.
The confession, included in the dossier, quotes Kasab as saying that it was read out to him in Hindi. The government might take the stand that the police officer who recorded the confession preferred Hindi as he might not be conversant with Urdu, the language that the terrorist allegedly knew, and that there is not much difference between spoken Hindi and Urdu that would make it difficult for Kasab to understand when the confession was read out to him in Hindi. However, if true that the letter Kasab wrote to the Pakistan High Commission seeking legal aid was also in Hindi, India will have no way to explain that as Kasab's writing as Hindi is not taught in Pakistan and a Pakistani national cannot be expected to write in Hindi. Urdu is Pakistan's language and would have been used by Kasab if he wrote any such letter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
"It was written in black ink, as well. Everyone knows Pakistani nationals write in blue ink!"
And put little circles over their 'i's'... at least those that can write...
Anti-India elements in Pakistan are planning an attack on Indian computer networks after the Mumbai terror attacks, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Indian intelligence agencies as saying on Tuesday.
It cited sources in the Indian Home Ministry as saying that Pakistani hackers were trying out a dry run against Indian networks through popular websites registered there after the Mumbai attacks.
A source told PTI that Pakistani hackers had created websites such as www.Songs.Pk, which are infested with software to hack data from the targeted computers.
"The website www.Songs.Pk has over 1.2 million Indian users who are downloading stuff from these websites daily," said a cyber expert in the ministry.
The sources told PTI that it would take a few minutes for hackers to take control over all 1.2 million computers and the number of such computers was multiplying by the minute.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Pfft. What Indian user in his right mind would be downloading music from a Pakistani address?
So where did these Pakistani "hackers" get their 133t haxxorz sk1lls, anyways? Have the madrassas started buying etch-a-sketches for their incoming students?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/07/2009 4:36
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#2
They are script kiddies - they wouldn't be able to hack an unsecured DOS 1.0 computer site without their scripts.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
01/07/2009 10:53
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Aswat al-Iraq: Unidentified gunmen set two communication towers of AsiaCell ablaze in eastern Mosul, a police source said on Tuesday. "Unknown gunmen set fire to two communication towers in al-Quds and al-Taameem neighborhoods in eastern Mosul on Tuesday (Jan.6)," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "They fled to unknown place," he added. Last month, the company urged the Iraqi government to protect it from the armed attacks, which affected its services, according to a company's statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
They must not have paid off the people who "run" the neighborhood.
(AKI) - The military wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, has hundreds of suicide bombers ready to blow them selves up in the current military conflict with Israel, spokesman Abu Obeida said on Tuesday. He was speaking after a suicide bomber struck early in the day in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
Hamas militants lured a group of Israeli soldiers into a building in Beit Lahiya and while they clashed another Hamas fighter climbed into an Israeli tank and blew himself up, Obeida said. Obeida also said fierce clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli security forces had erupted in elevated areas captured by Israeli forces such as Ar-Rayis hill, Al-Kashif hill and Al-Atra near Gaza City, Palestinian news agency Maan reported. Obeidi warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight and would eventually be victorious in the conflict.
A violent battle raged on Tuesday between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers in Khan Yunes in the southern Gaza Strip, Arabic satellite TV network Al-Arabiya reported. The Israeli military is reportedly seeking to isolate the key Rafah crossing point from Khan Yunes.
Israeli forces resumed bombing of eastern Gaza on Tuesday, Al-Arabiya said. In the ground offensive it began on Saturday, Israel is trying to surround and seal off all Gaza's main cities, especially Gaza City in the north. Israel is seeking a cessation of Palestinian cross-border rocket fire and the destruction of Hamas' weapons infrastructure.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told the Israeli daily, Haaretz, on Tuesday that Israel had no interest in a prolonged offensive in Gaza. "The sooner, the better," he said when asked when the army planned to end its operation. "We did not set out to occupy Gaza or kill every terrorist. We set out to bring change to the south."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
So turn your CBs on and play with the frequency until they go boom!
Can't think of anywhere better to post this, and it's true enough of Rantburg also that it should be interesting.
Courtesy of "Wizbang".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Since when is anyone who disagrees a "troll"? WTF? A troll is someone who deliberately says stupid or controversial things, just to stir things up and delight in the carnage...small-minded people with nothing to better to do than argue with people on the internet, the whole lot of them.
If we ever had a liberal on rantburg who didn't froth at the mouth and think it was his God-given right to be hateful to people he disagrees with, he wouldn't be a troll. Sad people think that way.
#6
It certainly doesn't reflect well on Palestinians and/or their sympathizers that they never rise above level 3. Sigh. They make fun little chew toys for a while but all they ever give us is rabid drivel.
#7
Anyone who thinks the paleos identify with them is nuts. Those animals aren't seeking a homeland; they are expanding arab aggression
Disregard what your teachers told you. There were zero arabs in what was once the Roman province of Palestine, until 634 AD. The Baal worshippers were Assyrians and variants.
Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri on Tuesday called on all Muslims to attack Israeli and Western interests over Israel's 11-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Al-Zawahri's remarks were publicized just as a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Tuesday that Al-Qaida's top leaders have been rendered ineffective by international anti-terrorist efforts. Osama Bin Laden and Zawahri, believed to be holed up in the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, have been reduced to little more than a media operation, Dell Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, said in a breakfast meeting with reporters.
But Al-Qaida itself remains a threat owing to its regional affiliates and violent intentions, he said. "We see al Qaeda, in a centralized role, [as being] totally controlled," Dailey said. "Bin Laden can't get an operational effort off the ground without it being detected ahead of time and being thwarted," he added. "Their ability to reach is nonexistent."
Al-Zawahri's call on Muslims to attack Israel and the West was not the first of its kind since the Gaza offensive began.
A Saudi Web site last week reported that a popular cleric has issued a fatwa urging Muslims to target Israeli interests everywhere, to avenge the attacks on the Gaza Strip. The site, Rasid, posts news about Saudi Arabia's Shiite community and on Sunday said that Sheik Awadh al-Garni has issued a religious edict urging Muslims to strike anything that has a link to Israel, calling it a legitimate target for Muslims everywhere.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week also issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel's attacks on Gaza, state television said. "All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world's pious people are obliged to defend the defenseless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered a martyr," state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Go ahead, start by bloowing a few EUropean capitals.
Aswat al-Iraq: Police patrols on Tuesday found a body of an element of the oil protection force in southeastern Mosul, a police source said. "Policemen found on Tuesday (Jan. 6) a body of an element of the oil protection force in al-Wehda neighborhood in southeastern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "He was choked to death and his body bore no signs of gunshot wounds," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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(AKI) - Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on Monday called Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip "a barbaric act" and called for those responsible to be prosecuted for war crimes at an international tribunal. Moallem was speaking at a media conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan.
"Through this criminal aggression Israel has proved that it does not want peace," he said. "It's a country based on aggression, killing, war crimes and mass destruction. What peace are they talking about in the face of this aggression?"
As a European delegation met the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other leaders in Cairo in a bid for a peaceful solution, Moallem and Babacan called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"I came to Turkey to discuss ways to bring about an immediate ceasefire, a removal of the blockade and the opening of all crossings, as well as finding a mechanism to achieve these goals," Moallem said. "I stress to you that our opinions are similar and that we have formed a joint stance."
Babacan said an international monitoring group was essential for peace. "The implementation of a sustainable solution under an international guarantee is only possible with the formation of an international monitoring group," he said. "Turkey would not hesitate to take on such a mission if it is asked or demanded."
Moallem met Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul earlier on Monday during his one-day visit.
Last Monday Babacan announced that Turkey was suspending efforts to host indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria because of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. In May, Syria and Israel, technically still at war since the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, began Turkish-mediated indirect talks after direct negotiations halted eight years ago over the Golan Heights issue.
Turkey, who condemned Israel for the ground offensive, has called on the Jewish state to immediately end its operation in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks, and appealed to the United Nations Security Council to end the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Let's not mention Syria's terrorist supporting campaign and war crimes committed in Iraq, shall we?
(AKI) - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was expected to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and other Arab leaders at the United Nations in New York late onTuesday in a bid to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "The purpose of her trip is to move forward the international efforts to create a ceasefire in Gaza," said a State Department official.
Rice was due to meet Abbas, Arab ministers and other allies including Turkey's foreign minister, Ali Babacan. Babacan has been among key players in the Middle East that have been working for a ceasefire between the ruling Islamist Hamas movement that governs Gaza and Israel, which has been conducting a military offensive in the territory for eleven days.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon intensified his diplomatic drive to secure a Gaza ceasefire on Monday and held talks with Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates at UN headquarters. "Our task is to find fast and real solutions. It is regrettable that the call by the Security Council has not been heeded by the parties concerned. I believe that the Security Council should live up to its responsibilities under the UN charter and bring this crisis to an end and establish a durable, permanent peace in the region," he said.
The UN Security Council was to meet again on Tuesday to consider Arab calls for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict in the Gaza Strip and urgent humanitarian and medical aid for Palestinian civilians. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body this month, was to lead Tuesday's meeting.
France was reportedly working with Arab states to finalise a draft resolution for an immediate ceasefire, which included an end to the Israeli military assault as well as the firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas militants. The resolution would also provide for the provision of humanitarian aid and a resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as a mechanism to monitor the truce and protect civilians.
While Europeans and Arabs have broadly been calling for an immediate ceasefire in the latest violence, the United States has been urging a "during and sustainable" truce.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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A lot of the venal sins of Congress could be judged pornographic, both politically and otherwise, but we've never had an Official Senate Pornographer before. Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al Franken will fit right in.
"With the Minnesota recount complete," he says, gleefully, "it is now clear that Al Franken won the election." Actually, it isn't clear at all, as Mr. Schumer well knows, even though the Democrats managing the recount declared Mr. Franken the winner yesterday. The Democrats in the Senate are eager to get Al seated quickly because once he's seated among equals a bum is difficult to throw out. There's honor among senators, similar to the honor among thieves. (The difference is that thieves often hold to higher standards.)
The post-election campaign in Minnesota to deprive Norman Coleman of his seat is remarkable for the way it was done in broad daylight, with everyone watching in a way not possible before the 24/7 glare of modern media.
The Minnesota secretary of state, Mark Ritchie, presided over the recount and it became clear quickly that the Democrats would do whatever was necessary to count Mr. Coleman out, stopping just short of borrowing votes from neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa. He was behind by 215 votes when the official counting stopped, and finished ahead by 225 votes when the recount was concluded. Nearly every dispute over procedure, evidence and judgment was resolved in Al's favor.
Unless Mr. Coleman, who leans to the good-loser wing of the Republican Party, gets a case of cold feet the Great Minnesota Ballot Box Raid goes next to the courts, first to St. Paul and maybe eventually to Washington. That's why Mr. Schumer and his merry gang of enablers are eager to seat Al before the ink is dry on the recount.
"Minnesotans like to think that their state isn't like New Jersey or Louisiana," observes the Wall Street Journal, "and typically it isn't."
Well, maybe. But any Minnesotan who thinks that owes Tony Soprano and Carlos Marcello an apology. The Mafia hasn't stolen an election this brazenly since Sam Giancana bought Illinois for John F. Kennedy a half-century ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Well, if he doesn't win the seat, Franken could at least lecture at the Clown College.
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's new Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina allocated portfolios to her 23 cabinet members, offering the Finance Ministry to economist Abul Maal Abdul Muhit.
The Foreign and Home Ministries went, for the first time, to women legislators. Hasina named senior Supreme Court lawyer Sahara Khatun to head the Home (interior) Ministry and the leader of her Awami League women's front, Dipu Moni, to head foreign affairs.
Hasina, winner of last month's parliamentary election, was sworn in as prime minister for a second five-year term on Tuesday by President Iajuddin Ahmed, ending two years of rule by an army-backed interim government. Iajuddin also administered the oath to Hasina's ministers, hours before she allocated them ministries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea announced Wednesday it will eat elect new members of its rubber stamp legislature in March, following months of delay amid speculation about the sobriety health of leader Kim Jong Il.
The North usually holds a parliamentary election every five years. The last election was held in August 2003, but the communist nation failed to hold one in 2008 after the 66-year-old Kim reportedly suffered a whiteout stroke.
On Wednesday, Pyongyang announced through its official Korean Central News Agency that the election of deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly will be held on March 8. The brief dispatch provided no further details. The announcement could be an indication of an improvement in Kim's health.
Or an agreement on the identity of the new boss ...
South Korean and U.S. officials say Kim collapsed following a drunken stupor stroke in August, but was drying out recovering.
North Korea denies the drunken master leader was ever intoxicated ill, and since early October has sent a steady stream of urine photos and footage of him in public bars activities, such as visits to whorehouses military units, ABC stores farms and pool halls factories, though most of them did not specify an exact closing time location or date.
Parliamentary elections are a formality in North Korea because candidates are hand-picked by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and totalitarian leader Kim. The legislature usually meets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions. In the 2003 poll, 687 deputies, including Kim, were elected with total support. Voter turnout usually is close to 100 percent.
Must make that exit polling really easy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire with Israel, 10 days after the Jewish state's unleashed its massive offensive on the Islamists' Gaza Strip stronghold. The talks with the Palestinian delegation, headed by Emad al-Alami and Mohammed Nasr from Hamas's Syrian-based political leadership, represent the first such contact since fighting began but hopes of a truce appear dim.
" Our position is clear: end the aggression, withdraw (Israeli forces) from Gaza, open the crossing points, especially Rafah, with a total lifting of the blockade "
Mohammed Nasr, Hamas delegation
"Our position is clear: end the aggression, withdraw (Israeli forces) from Gaza, open the crossing points, especially Rafah, with a total lifting of the blockade," Nasr said.
Rafah in Egypt, the only border crossing with the Gaza Strip that bypasses Israel, has remained largely closed since the offensive started, with a trickle of aid going one way and wounded people coming the other. Under a 2005 deal, the Rafah crossing can only be opened to normal traffic if European Union observers and PA forces are at the border, which is also monitored by Israel.
The destruction of Egypt-Gaza tunnels around Rafah is a key Israeli objective in the war, aimed at preventing Hamas being able to rearm with rockets.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"[...]after the Jewish state's unleashed its massive offensive on the Islamists' Gaza Strip stronghold"
6000 rockets over a 3 year period, is all but forgotten.
Sri Lankan government troops on Tuesday captured a key Tamil Tiger defence line on the Jaffna peninsula, killing scores of rebels, the defence ministry said.
A statement said the rebels were "in total disarray following concentrated armour and infantry assaults backed by heavy artillery attacks".
It said government troops pushing south from the top of the peninsula were able to advance 500 metres into Tamil Tiger territory after breaching the line -- which featured some of the toughest rebel fortifications.
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who appear to be rapidly losing ground in the north in the face of a huge government offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
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1) Request that 50% of Israel's air-to-ground missiles be duds to ensure greater proportionality.
2) Allow Hamas another 1,000 free rocket launches to see if they can catch up with the body count.
3) Have Israeli soldiers congregate in border barracks so that Hamas's random rockets have a better chance of killing military personnel, to ensure it can claim at least a few military targets.
4) Redefine "holocaust" to refer to deaths of terrorists in numbers under 400 to give greater credence to Hamas's current claims.
5) In the interest of fairness, allow Hamas to establish both the date that war is supposed to begin and the date when it must end.
6) Send Israeli military advisers to Hamas to improve the accuracy of their missiles.
7) Take down the barriers to return to Hamas a fair chance of getting suicide bombers back inside Israel.
(AKI) - Despite Israel's continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the ruling Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight and would finally be victorious in the conflict. "We are sure of victory and we have bombed Israeli cities with hundreds of missiles," brigades spokesman, Abu Obeida, told the Arab network, al-Aqsa. Just you wait, Buster!
"We have prepared thousands of brave fighters who are waiting for you in each corner of the street and will welcome you with fire," he said. "As long as the aggression intensifies, your losses will increase."
Israeli troops, backed by aerial and naval firepower, were reported to have surrounded Gaza City on Monday after 10 days of aerial bombardment. Soldiers were also reported to be positioned on the north-south road at Netzarim, effectively splitting the besieged territory in two and blocking Palestinian supply lines.
"Israel has only killed innocent civilians and this proves the failure of its military action," he said.
He claimed that that his group was about to launch Qassam rockets and for the first time a new type of missile that was only the beginning. "We want to experiment with other arms and bombs against you," he warned Israel.
According to the Arab network, Al-Jazeera, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, said that the movement's armed wing, had "given the most beautiful performances during its confrontation with the army that the world thought invincible".
"We will defeat it, God willing," he said. He then scurried to his deep underground bunker to polish his wart...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
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#1
"the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight "
And as soon as the IDF leaves, they will crawl out from under their mother's bed and have a car-b-que.
A key Democrat broke with her Senate colleagues Tuesday to support Roland Burris in his controversial bid to assume Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee that soon could take up Burris' case, said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the right to appoint a senator despite the allegations of corruption against him.
"Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," Feinstein said, urging the Senate to settle the matter. "If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America. ... Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician."
And a crook. And a grub. And a leech. And a blow-hard. And a fool. And an egotist.
The comments flew in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's assertion that Burris should not be seated in part because the move would be tainted by the Blagojevich scandal. Feinstein's stance is the latest sign of intra-party tensions over the matter.
Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, are searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress. Knowledgeable Senate officials of both parties widely predicted that the saga would end with Burris being seated.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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#1
"The comments flew in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's assertion"
Forget the flying comments. I want to see chairs, water pitchers, and perhaps the occasional page.
#3
There is something tortured about the reasoning that would allow Rangle to be seated in the house but Burris to be rejected in the Senate. How can the malfeasance of the appointer be more pertinent that the personal scandel of the office-holder himself. I expect that ability to block a duly appointed senator will be used against Republicans down the road. All it will take is a frivilous lawsuit against a governor like Sarahcuda, for instance, to become a pretext for blocking anyone she tries to seat.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 7:38
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#4
That'll teach The One not to run DCI appointments by her.
#8
I notice that Sen. Feinstein refers to Mr. Burris as "a senior, experienced politician."
She has not called him a senior, experienced statesman, administrator, or leader.
As others have noted here, the Democrats are disinclined to follow the Constitution when the Constitution doesn't suit their convenience. Legally, Mr. Burris is eligible, whether he merits consideration or not; and the Democrats may wind up tying themselves in some embarrasing legal knots trying to keep him out.
See Ann Althouse's column from yesterday, and her link to Walter Dellinger's op-ed piece on Burris in yesterday's NYT.
#14
IIRC someplace along the Ohio River in either Indiana or Illinois in a House race during the '80s, a Republican won on a recount in a tight election, but the Donks who controlled the House refused to seat him and gave the seat to his opponent in face of all the legality of the election process. So, why should the Senate really care when there is no election, if they refuse to seat someone? It's about power.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Security Council that the United States, Israel's closest ally, understands "the urgency of an end to the fighting" and is working around the clock to achieve it.
"In this regard, we are pleased by, and wish to commend, the statement of the president of Egypt and to follow up on that initiative," Rice said, referring to a cease-fire plan proposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Rice cautioned, however, that any solution must include an end to Hamas rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, she should have said all rocket attacks because that wording allows so called splinter groups to fire off rockets
the opening of all borders in Gaza, hope this means border crossings, not borders
and an end to arms smuggling into the Palestinian territory.
#2
she should have said all rocket attacks because that wording allows so called splinter groups to fire off rockets
Very good point. Hamas can just hand the keys to PIJ, or PFLP, or teh Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - and then look all innocent when the mortars take flight.
#3
And what, exactly, is the point of having a truce if one side is still determined to eradicate the other? Wars end when either both sides say enough ( Iran vs Iraq, 1980s) or when one side is crushed ( US vs Japan, WWII). Any kind of truce or hudna is simply postponing the day of reckoning.
#4
It seems Hamas understands the diff between 'border' and 'border crossings' better than our Sec of State.
-------------from a Haaretz article--------
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas representative in Lebanon close to the group's leadership in Syria, told al-Jazeera television that Hamas would not accept any initiative that does not include the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and the opening of all of the territory's border crossings.
More than a few spooks, current and former, are shaking their heads over the appointment of Leon Panetta as the next CIA Director.
Mr. Panetta is the consummate Washington insider who is best know as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff during the Monica Lewinsky episode. Before that, he was Clinton's first Director of the Office of Management and Budget and a Democratic Congressman from California for 16 years, serving primarily on the Budget and Agriculture Committees.
In the early days of his political life, Panetta was actually a Republican, working as an aide to California Senator Thomas Kuchel before joining the Nixon Administration. During his first stint in Washington, Panetta served as assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and later ran the Office for Civil Rights. He left the administration--and the GOP--in 1971, accusing the White House of being "soft" on enforcement of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.
Continued on Page 49
For the last eight years the CIA has made war on George Bush. Not just the Plame affair but the various intelligence 'findings' on Iran, the failures in Iraq, etc., all can be explained by understanding that a certain part of CIA has hated Bush (and Republicans) and wanted him out of the White House.
Bambi understands that really, really well, because some of his and his party's fellow travellers are the ones in CIA doing it.
So now that the Lightworker is to be inaugurated, the one thing that can't be allowed is having a part of CIA wage war on him.
Panetta knows squat about intelligence and our enemies.
But about office politics and Bambi's enemies? Panetta has no peer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2009 18:36
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#2
So now that the Lightworker is to be inaugurated, the one thing that can't be allowed is having a part of CIA wage war on him.
#3
This lack of intel experience is just the thing BHO wants.
When the CIA screws up and misses something due to Panetta's lack of knowledge, BHO can fire Panetta as a sacrificial lamb and draw attention away from his own lack of ability. In an evil way, this is a brilliant appointment on BHO's part.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/07/2009 8:04
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#4
Rumsfeld saw the inadequacy of the CIA and gathered many activities that could have been assigned to CIA to DoD instead.
The CIA involved itself far too heavily in domestic political intrigues.
Obama retains former DCI Bob Gates as Secretary of Defence almost immediately.
Obama names political operator par excellence to be new DCI under no-name military DNI.
Sounds to me like the Operations Directorate is about to make its contribution to deficit reduction.
I would not be surprised in '12 to hear Obama trumpet that he has shut Ops down and restored America's reputation. And I'm not at all sure that's a bad thing. The CIA needs a house cleaning and could emerge as a collection, collation and analysis shop with operations under DoD. Everyone would be better off.
#5
I'm more interested in who is appointed to the head of DIA. IIRC during the 9/11 post-mortem the move to put all intel under the CIA was resisted because DoD demanded and got autonomy to support immediate tactical operations. I wonder who's intel people the out-going administration has been relying upon to 'deliver' the goods. Let's see if that's a 'light weight' or not [or a carry over like Gates].
#8
Feistein will be the new Senate intelligence head and has voiced reservations about Panetta's lack of experience. BO seems to be jacking up the bus agian prepatory to stuffing Leon under.
#9
Personally I would have crossed the aisle on this one and found some tough Republican, some total bastard who doesn't care (like Rumsfield) and have him do a full accounting of what the CIA has done to undermine the Presidency and put some folks on trial for treason.
Also hire someone in the second in command position with intelligence experience to run things and sort through intel and take over when the house-cleaning has been completed.
Although the CIA favored his party there is no room for that in a secret organization that the nation depends upon.
#10
The CIA is not a monolith. It's comprised of three or four 'sections' and a half-dozen separate operating entities. Operations and Analysis have clashed for several decades. NIMA/NISC/NPIC, one of the separate operating entities, feeds data to the Analysis Section, as do several other entities. Analysis has been flooded with Ivy-League graduates, with the mindset that implies. THERE is where a lot of the problems begin. Secondly, HUMINT - human intelligence (spies on the ground) - has lost favor among the Analysts, and that part of the CIA has atrophied to the point of looking like a Holocaust victim. Unfortunately, I don't see that changing, while that group is becoming more and more needed.
Panetta is going into CIA as a head-chopper. Expect to see LOTS of "retirements" of older workers in ALL sections of the CIA over the next four years. My faith in Obama's ability to keep the US safe over the next four years is highlighted by the fact that I'm looking for some property so far out in the sticks the Real Estate agent gets lost looking for it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2009 21:23
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Aswat al-Iraq: A civilian was killed and six others were wounded on Tuesday in a car bomb explosion in southwestern Baghdad, a police source said. "A car crammed with explosives went off near al-Halawani markets in al-Sidiya region in southwestern Baghdad on Tuesday (Jan. 6) while an Iraq army vehicle patrol was passing, killing a citizen and injuring six others, including three soldiers," the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
A number of school administrators have come forth in recent days to confirm that they recommend Jewish children should not enroll at their schools.
For their own safety, of course. Why the police couldn't protect them I have no idea ...
According to school administrators, law enforcement officials and social workers, the on-going conflict in Gaza has led to heightened tensions between Jews and Arabs - particularly Palestinians - here in Denmark.
I think there's heightened tensions between Jews and Paleos most everywhere ...
Yeah, wouldn't want the children of apes and pigs to offend them. Maybe you can rent some cattle cars and set them up in some kind of annex?
And although few headmasters of schools have faced the situation, most of those at schools with a high percentage of children of Arab descent say they try to prevent Jewish parents from enrolling their children there.
Since these are 'public' schools ...
Would it be okay if they wore those gold stars sewn onto their clothes? So you'll know who to "protect".
On Monday, headmaster Olav Nielsen of Humlehave School in Odense publicly admitted he would refuse Jewish parents' wish to place their child at his school. The comments were made following an incident last week in which two Israeli citizen's were shot and wounded at a city shopping centre. Police believe the incident was a reaction to the Gaza conflict.
Olav likely approved of the shootings ...
Other headmasters have now come forth to support Nielsen's position, adding that they are putting the child's safety first.
Ah, it's for their own good. I guess that makes it okay then.
At Caroline Skole in Copenhagen's Østerbro district, video cameras watch over the playground and entrances of the school, which is surrounded by a 2.5 metre-high barbed-wire fence. One parent whose child goes to the Jewish school said thinking about the extra security can be disturbing at times, but she felt it was necessary.
Rabbi Bent Lexner called the headmasters' concern 'theoretical. In reality, Jewish parents would never try to enroll their child in those schools.'
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009
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#1
Excellent inline comments Steve.
Of course actually enforcing the rule of law never crossed the administrator's little bitty minds.
#8
Two thoughts - first, in the shooting at a city shopping center: how did the shooter know his victims were Israelis? And secondly, why do I hear a very cultured, pleasant voice saying, "So you see, the barbed wire around the facilities here at Auschwitz really is here to protect the residents..."?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/07/2009 5:28
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#9
Maybe they could still attend.... but wear arm bands or something.
#10
Rabbi Bent Lexner called the headmasters' concern 'theoretical. In reality, Jewish parents would never try to enroll their child in those schools.'
#11
The Danes were the only EUros to stand up on the correct side of the Mohammed controversy. They have been staunch allies in the GWOT. This sounds like leftist academics trying to subvert the public will and implement their own leftist policies. I'll wait a day or two before hammering the Danes, though not their educationists.
#13
I side with the Rabbi. If there is rising violence present in the Danish society, it will certainly be present in the public schols. The school administrator may be purporting to take he moral high ground to the congradulatory noises of his peers, what he is really admitting is that he is a defacto prison warden of a penitentiary of which he admits he has no control. No decent parent would subject his child to shanking at recess.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 8:10
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#14
Scooter has the right formula. It is the mooslams that have a problem with dicipline not the Jewish students.
#15
I've a few second or third cousins there (I've a few second/third/fourth cousins pretty much everywhere interesting). I hope they draw the proper lesson. Bottom line, any society that doesn't treat its Jews as equal citizens deserving equal protection under the law... doesn't deserve to have any Jews with all they bring wherever they live.
#16
It would be wonderful to see the Queen escort a young lad or lass to the school for enrollment to make a point. If my recall of Danish history and society are correct, it would send a very powerful message that wet-pant school administrators and paleo-trogs could not ignore nor challenge except at their own dire risk.
#18
All the schools in the EU should have video courses starting in elementary school showing the holocaust followed by discussion. If a takes a cop with a truncheon sitting in the classroom to make the Muslim students behave during those classes - so be it.
#22
So, say I had a problem with redheaded kids and liked to beat them up. Would Mr Nielsen ban the redheaded kids for "provoking" my bad behavior with their presence?
I guess America doesn't have a monopoly on idiots running the school systems any more.
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.
A former aide to Saddam Hussein said in an audio tape aired on Tuesday that Israel would not have dared to launch its current attack on Gaza if the Iraqi leader was still in power. 
WASHINGTON -- Four men being held as terror suspects at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan are asking a federal judge for the right to sue for their release - a right already given to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
PARIS Looters ransacked a Paris watchmaker and grabbed more than EUR 200,000 worth of stock in the wake of a protest against Israel's Gaza offensive, the shop said Monday.
U.S.-led coalition forces killed 32 insurgents in fighting that erupted in a village in eastern Afghanistan following a raid on a hideout of bomb-makers, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
A hearing on the case of former officer of Azerbaijani Army Kamran Asadov and 19 others was held in the Court of Grave Crimes on Wednesday.
A federal judge is deciding whether to grant a new trial to a former Navy sailor convicted of leaking details about ship movements to suspected terrorist supporters.
"I am appealing to political leaders here, in Israel, and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," Ging said, speaking at the Strip's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths." 
As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars.
The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan claimed yesterday to have forged a "new relationship" after years of distrust and animosity between the neighbours. Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan promised a joint effort to tackle Taliban militants who pose a threat to both countries.
(AKI) - An Israeli warplane on Tuesday struck the home of a militant leader from the Islamist group Hamas' rocket division in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama broke his silence Tuesday on Israel's assault of Gaza and said he was 'deeply concerned' about the loss of civilian lives in both Gaza and in Israel. 
The Venezuelan government Tuesday ordered the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Caracas to protest the Israeli military's offensive in the Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said in a statement. 
Nouriel Roubini
(AKI) - The military wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, has hundreds of suicide bombers ready to blow them selves up in the current military conflict with Israel, spokesman Abu Obeida said on Tuesday. He was speaking after a suicide bomber struck early in the day in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
A lot of the venal sins of Congress could be judged pornographic, both politically and otherwise, but we've never had an Official Senate Pornographer before. Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al Franken will fit right in.
(AKI) - Despite Israel's continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the ruling Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight and would finally be victorious in the conflict. "We are sure of victory and we have bombed Israeli cities with hundreds of missiles," brigades spokesman, Abu Obeida, told the Arab network, al-Aqsa.
A key Democrat broke with her Senate colleagues Tuesday to support Roland Burris in his controversial bid to assume Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee that soon could take up Burris' case, said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the right to appoint a senator despite the allegations of corruption against him. 
