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India wants Pak declared terrorist state
Today's Headlines
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Caribbean-Latin America
Ecuador orders U.S. official expelled
Last week on "Joe Biden, Psychic Politician"
QUITO (Reuters) -- Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa ordered a U.S. Embassy official expelled on Saturday after accusing him of interfering in the country's affairs, a move that will test ties with Washington. Correa, a leftist, has generally kept good relations with the United States as his socialist allies in Bolivia and Venezuela often clash with Washington over what they say is U.S. "imperialism" in Latin America.

"Foreign minister, give this gentleman 48 hours to pack up his suitcases and get out of the country," Correa said during his weekly media address. "We're not going to let anyone treat us as if we were a colony here."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Quito said the official already left Ecuador last month as part of a regular staff rotation. "We hope to continue cooperation with Ecuador," spokeswoman Marta Youth said. She did not comment on Correa's charges.

Correa said U.S. official Armando Astorga had abruptly ended a financing agreement with local police after authorities rejected his attempts to handpick officers he wanted to manage the U.S. aid projects.
Sounds like a Targeted Spending Stimulus Package to me....
"Mr. Astorga, keep your dirty money. We don't need it. We have dignity in this country," Correa said. "Ecuador doesn't need charity from anyone."

The United States is Ecuador's main trading partner and the destination for much of its petroleum and banana exports.
Now where's the Mighty-O going to get his Banana Oil?
Correa, a U.S.-trained economist who faces re-election in April, has bolstered his strong popularity in the past by taking a tough stance against what he deems to be interference from neighboring governments or multinational companies.

There has been tension with Washington since Correa vowed not to renew a lease ending this year on a coastal air base used by U.S. forces for counter-narcotics missions. Correa said on Saturday he would allow U.S. Coast Guard planes to land there if needed, but only if Ecuador was allowed to approve of the pilots.
Huh? I'm a pilot and even my wife rarely approves of me... Hope they're not at Bingo Fuel when the initial request for approval is made...
The former college professor is known for his quick temper, ejecting a journalist from a live interview and ordering the arrests of people he charged had hurled insults or made offensive gestures at his presidential motorcade. Correa has been tough on foreign companies by repeatedly threatening to expel them over contractual disagreements or legal disputes. Last year, he kicked out Brazilian building firm Odebrecht and sent troops to seize its projects in Ecuador.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a standard-bearer for anti-U.S. sentiment, last year expelled the U.S. ambassador to Caracas and Bolivian President Evo Morales kicked out the U.S. envoy in September after accusing him of fanning civil unrest.
Note to AoS: Better? ;->
Much ;-)
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 16:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wonder what he'd do if the US pulled out every single American or American company, including tourists, and shut down all Ecuadorian exports to the United States. I'd bet senor Correa wouldn't get re-elected.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 21:45 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Video Evidence that China's Spacewalk was faked.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 16:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
UK citizen's private info being lost by govt at record rate
Posted by: || 02/08/2009 16:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Death toll in Aussie fires approaches 100
Our thoughts and prayers are with you down there ....
Posted by: || 02/08/2009 16:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  115 degrees, high winds, low humidity. You need to invite the Goracle down there. As lotp said - our thoughts and prayers are with you
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 18:32 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK Home Secretary used tax money to pay sister rent
Note the BBC connection
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 16:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I didn't know the UK had Democrats.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 19:13 Comments || Top||


Foreign worker row in UK as barge is brought to hold Polish workers
The converted barge is being brought into Kent where a new gas-fired plant is being built at the E.ON power station on the Isle of Grain. Furious local workers say the increasing majority of jobs are being given to Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese men, who they say will be housed on the boat.

Police are preparing for potential trouble at the site on Wednesday when trade union Unite is due to stage a demonstration there.

It follows the problems elsewhere in the country last week when 700 workers went on strike at the Lindsey oil refinery near Grimsby, after contractors brought in non-British labour and housed some of them on a converted prison ship. Some of the Italian workers living on that ship claimed they could not leave it without being attacked by angry locals.

A further 3,000 Britons walked out in sympathy at 14 refineries and power stations.

French engineering firm Alstom, who have been at the centre of the row over foreign labour, are the lead contractor on the Kent power station, which involves 15 sub-contractors including Polish companies Remak and ZRE. Alstom insist they have given British firms and workers a fair opportunity to bid for the contracts and employ mainly British people.

But the unions and local people dispute that. A spokesman for Unite said: "We know of at least two sub-contractors who are not allowing UK workers to apply for jobs at Grain Power Station. "We're not saying foreign workers are taking all of the jobs but there is clear evidence that UK-based labour are being blocked from even trying to get work there. That is why we are staging our demonstration."

Kyle Upton, 20, a labourer who has lived on the Isle of Grain all his life, said: "I was earning really good money with an American steel company on another project involving gas tanks but that finished so I decided to try and get a job at the power station.

"I contacted Alstom about work and was told there was none available, the positions were all taken. But then I found out some Polish labourers who had been working with me on the American project had been given jobs at the power station."

A spokeswoman for Alstom vigorously defended the claims. She said during the peak of the 30-month construction phase of the gas-fired power station up to 2,000 people will be working there, and she said two thirds of them will be British. She said: "We do not and will not discriminate against British workers. We are employing UK sub-contractors and non-UK sub contractors on site at present employing both UK and non-UK labour.

"Today we have around 15 sub contractors working at Grain, the overwhelming majority are British, only two being non-UK companies. We always give British firms and workers an equal chance to bid for work on the project."

Asked if she knew about Unite's claims that the two Polish sub-contractors were not allowing UK workers to apply for jobs, she added: "I am not aware of that."

Meanwhile, Alstom has applied to Medway Council for planning permission to moor an accomodation barge at Damhead Creek, near Grain Power Station, between now and November 2010. Alstom's spokeswoman said: "This is not only to house foreign workers, this is a contingency plan to provide accomodation for anyone of the workers who may need it.

"The Isle of Grain is a remote and isolated location so accomodation is clearly an issue."

The boat will house up to 200 workers but she did not specify when it will be moored there.
Posted by: || 02/08/2009 16:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas blames M Dahlan for organizing collaborators
A senior Hamas official has accused Fatah strongman Mahmoud Dahlan of collaborating with Israel to carry out Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The official, identified only as a Hamas leader, told Time Weekly magazine that Dahlan - Abbas' former national security adviser - helped Israel ahead of the operation in order to weaken the resistance of the Islamist movement, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

According to the report, Dahlan went to the Egyptian town of El Arish before the operation actually began and dispatched Fatah members into Gaza to help the Israel Defense Forces hunt down Hamas fighters.
of course this would have to be with the knowledge and assistance of Egypt
The Hamas officials reportedly accuse a number of other Fatah activists,
well since they've executed a few dozen already, I suppose they mean those
aside from Dahlan, for collaborating with the intention of killing off Muslims and bringing their own movement back to power in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 16:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
The Eagle Has Landed: In Baghdad
H/T Blackfive & MudvilleGazette

If you go to the site, then click on the pic, and click again, you can get a full-screen view of The Eagle

CAMP LIBERTY -- A new symbol of freedom and appreciation now greets Soldiers and visitors to the headquarters of Multi-National Division -- Baghdad, after an unveiling ceremony in front of division headquarters here, Feb. 5.

Dr. Muayad Muslin Hamid al-Jaburri, an influential Iraqi cardiologist and humanitarian, donated the gold eagle-head statue to all the Soldiers of MND-B in admiration for their sacrifices while working to make Baghdad a safer place to live.

"The Eagle represents a little bit of mixed culture, knowing how important the eagle means to Americans and knowing that in the Arabic culture we have been putting eagles on top of the castles for thousands of years to show power and protection," said Jaburri.

The statue also symbolizes the basic rights Soldiers, Iraqi Security Forces and local civilians have been striving to spread across the nation.

"The eagle is symbol of freedom," said 1st Lt. Hunter Wakeland, a native of Kennebunkport, Maine, who serves as a platoon leader with MND-B.

The eagle is also a token of Jaburri's appreciation to the division and the Soldiers for what they went through to help the Iraqi citizens. He recognized and showed appreciation for the sacrifices that have been made for the citizens of Baghdad, specifically in Doura.

Two years ago, the Doura neighborhood of southern Baghdad was a dangerous place; as an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold there were numerous murders and violence was a daily occurrence. Today, the citizens of Iraq can visit the bustling Doura Market feeling safe and secure because of the hard work of MND-B Soldiers and the help of local citizens such as Jaburri.

"Now I can walk the streets and see the children playing at the park and going to school," said Jaburri. "My mother can go shopping without fear, and my wife can safely go to work."
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 16:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Curious - the "Shoe" statue in Tikrit was all over the MSM with pictures, video, etc. Exercise for the reader, try to find an article about this statue ANYWHERE in the MSM.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 16:25 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban release video of beheading
PAKISTANI Taliban militants released a graphic video on Sunday showing the beheading of a Polish engineer whom they said was killed because Islamabad refused to free detained insurgents.

The tape, seen by an AFP correspondent here, was released one day after a spokesman for Pakistan's umbrella Taliban group said its men had decapitated Piotr Stanczak, who was kidnapped in the volatile northwest on September 28.

Stanczak, who was working in Pakistan for a Polish energy company, was seized by armed men in the town of Attock, about 70km northwest of the capital Islamabad. His two drivers and bodyguard were killed.

Polish deputy foreign minister Jacek Najder earlier said authorities in Warsaw were still awaiting official confirmation of Stanczak's killing by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Prime Minister Donald Tusk previously said Poland had received "informal confirmation" of the engineer's death, while a spokesman for the Polish embassy in Islamabad said it considered the TTP claim to be "99.99 per cent true".

The video shows Stanczak sitting cross-legged on a carpet, wearing a khaki shalwar kameez. He made a brief statement in English in response to questions posed by his captors, urging his government to withdraw its contingent of about 1100 troops from Afghanistan.

In the next scene, Stanczak is sitting in the same position, but blindfolded. A masked man is shown beheading him with a knife, while two men stand guard behind him, holding AK-47s at the hostage's head.

A masked militant is then shown saying Stanczak was killed because Taliban prisoners were not released and warning that other foreign hostages could meet the same fate, without claiming to have specific hostages in captivity.
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 15:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Considerate of them to remind us why we're hunting these scum to extinction.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 16:22 Comments || Top||

#2  This doesn't send fear into our hearts anymore guys. It just makes us want to exterminate you as painfully as possible even more.

Thanks for the moral boost, fuckheads. I'll be seeing you on the little monitor, screaming and trying to hold your guts in as you bleed out.

Have a nice day.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/08/2009 16:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Good point DV. The only thing shocking about this story is the realization that this is no longer shocking.
Posted by: AuburnTom || 02/08/2009 19:25 Comments || Top||

#4  yoo-hoo! don't forget us, we're still craaazy!
Posted by: flash91 || 02/08/2009 20:35 Comments || Top||

#5  And yet Zero still wants these guys out of Gitmo so they can have "fair" trials monitored by the ACLU. As far as I can tell, Zero hasn't done a damn thing right.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/08/2009 21:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Anyone with the title "Taliban", when captured, should automatically be beheaded after they've been wrung dry for intelligence. The heads should be stacked in a public place, and no one should be allowed to come closer than five paces from the stack. When Hamid complains (he will!), give him the same treatment, and make sure his head remains on the lowest level.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 21:50 Comments || Top||

#7  OP, the problem is that they're not afraid to die because they think they go straight to heaven, so you're doing them a favour. The trick is to make them believe that they won't go straight to heaven. Psychological tactics can prove useful here.
Posted by: Thrish Bluetooth8556 || 02/08/2009 22:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Psychological tactics... you mean like head wrapped in pig entrails? Bullets greased by pig fat? Missiles that have a container with pig blood?

{The latter 2 can be just rumors ;P]
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 02/08/2009 22:49 Comments || Top||

#9  mmmmm pork lard with bacon bits, spread it on rye bread, salt to taste and enjoy!
Posted by: Thrish Bluetooth8556 || 02/08/2009 23:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Our Epistemological Depression
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 15:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This webpage is not available.

The webpage at http://american.com/archive/2009/our-epistemological-depression might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
Posted by: Glomotch Thavise2856 || 02/08/2009 16:19 Comments || Top||

#2  I just accessed that page with no difficulty.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 16:21 Comments || Top||

#3  This isn't a failure of capitalism, it's a failure of currency regulators. Specifically BASEL2 and credit-creation by mandating fixed reserve-levels.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 18:39 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Official: Yemen releases 170 al-Qaida suspects
Maybe Mr. Biden can find a willing receptor for Gitmo releasees here?
SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemen released 170 men it had arrested on suspicion of having ties to al-Qaida, security officials said Sunday, two weeks after the terror group announced that Yemen had become the base of its activities for the whole Arabian peninsula.

The announcement also comes as government forces say they are poised to sweep through the northern city of Marib to combat an entrenched al-Qaida presence that includes both Yemenis and Saudis.

The men were freed Friday and Saturday after signing pledges
Sure! OK! Where do I sign?!
not to engage in terrorism -- a strategy the Yemeni government has often used with those suspected of fighting in militant causes abroad. Local tribal leaders are also expected to guarantee the good behavior of the released
Voluntary...just like paying US Income Taxes, as per Harry Reid...
The practice stems in part from the powerful role played by the tribes across the rugged Yemeni countryside as well as the comparative weakness of the central government
Soon to be emulated in Obamaworld...
In the past, such releases have raised concern in the United States and increased its reluctance to release Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Yemen has said it expects most of the 100 remaining Yemenis at Guantanamo to be sent home after President Barack Obama ordered the prison shut within a year.

Elements of al-Qaida have long found a haven in Yemen's remote hinterland. Last month, Saudi al-Qaida fugitives in Yemen and their Yemeni associates announced in an Internet video that they were joining forces to form a single group.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia issued a list of 85 most wanted living abroad that included two Yemenis. Many of the Saudis on the list are suspected of hiding out in Yemen as well.
Phester: note formatting corrections. Your comments start on a separate line, in yellow, no parentheses or brackets, and NOT in italic. AoS.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 15:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Phester: note formatting corrections. Your comments start on a separate line, in yellow, no parentheses or brackets, and NOT in italic. AoS.

check...check...check...check...! Love the pic, btw!

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 16:48 Comments || Top||


Britain
Christian foster mother struck off after Muslim girl converts
A local council removed the woman from their register for failing to "respect and preserve" the teenager's faith, even though the girl made her own decision to change religion when she was 16.

The carer, a churchgoer in her 50s who has fostered more than 80 children, is now planning legal action against the council, amid complaints from religious groups that Christians are increasingly becoming victims of discrimination. She claims that she did not pressurise the girl, who was put in care after being assaulted by a family member, to convert, and actually tried to discourage her initial interest in Christianity.
"pressurise"?
"We had a multicultural household and I had no problems helping the young person maintain her faith of birth," the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Mail on Sunday. "I have always prided myself on being very professional in what I do."

She added: "I offered her alternatives. I offered to find her places to practise her own religion. I offered to take her to friends or family. But she said to me from the word go: 'I am interested and I want to come [to church]'."

The carer claims that social services from the council, which also cannot be named for legal reason, were aware that the girl was attending a Christian church, but her foster manager became "incandescent with rage" when she was baptised.
Did he have a bomb in his turban? I hope not!
Council officials advised the teenager to reconsider her decision,
Is that so? What business is it of theirs to advise her to "reconsider" her decision? Are the council officials Muslims? These are all rhetorical questions, btw.
and in November struck the carer off their register, citing a breakdown of trust.

The girl, who is now 17 and back with her family who are thought to be unaware of her conversion, is supporting the woman's legal action, which is being funded by the Christian Institute.

Mike Judge of the institute said: "I cannot imagine that an atheist foster carer would be struck off if a Christian child in her care stopped believing in God.

"This is the sort of double standard that Christians are facing in Britain."

The council in the north of England declined to comment on "sensitive issues surrounding a child in care".
Posted by: mrp || 02/08/2009 14:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pressurise

English spelling and all. I don't run across this usage from English (British) natives often. The place I have encountered this the most often is India. They use this in place of pressured. Very amusing.
Posted by: Trader_DFW || 02/08/2009 18:20 Comments || Top||

#2  "Pressurise" is a common expression with my English relatives. They look at me oddly when I say "pressured".
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/08/2009 18:53 Comments || Top||

#3 
@#2: Interesting, I've known a number of Brit. expats, and have only heard the term used by them a few times. They must be more Americanized than they realize.

On the other hand, Indians use it quite a bit. I must assume that they got it from the Brits then.
Posted by: Trader_DFW || 02/08/2009 20:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Presurized is quite common in american english, it just doesn't have the same meaning, Tires are "Pressurized", a can of hair spray , is "Pressurized, the compressor pumps air into a Pressurized tank those air lines are Pressurized, etc.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 20:53 Comments || Top||


Iraq
The Dissenter Who Changed the War (Odierno)
Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was an unlikely dissident, with little in his past to suggest that he would buck his superiors and push the U.S. military in radically new directions.

A 1976 West Point graduate and veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo campaign, Odierno had earned a reputation as the best of the Army's conventional thinkers - intelligent and ambitious, but focused on using the tools in front of him rather than discovering new and unexpected ones. That image was only reinforced during his first tour in Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003.

As commander of the 4th Infantry Division in the Sunni Triangle, Odierno led troops known for their sometimes heavy-handed tactics, kicking in doors and rounding up thousands of Iraqi "MAMs" (military-age males). He finished his tour believing the fight was going well. "I thought we had beaten this thing," he would later recall.

Sent back to Iraq in 2006 as second in command of U.S. forces, under orders to begin the withdrawal of American troops and shift fighting responsibilities to the Iraqis, Odierno found a situation that he recalled as "fairly desperate, frankly."

So that fall, he became the lone senior officer in the active-duty military to advocate a buildup of American troops in Iraq, a strategy rejected by the full chain of command above him, including Gen. George W. Casey Jr., then the top commander in Iraq and Odierno's immediate superior.

Communicating almost daily by phone with retired Gen. Jack Keane, an influential former Army vice chief of staff and his most important ally in Washington, Odierno launched a guerrilla campaign for a change in direction in Iraq, conducting his own strategic review and bypassing his superiors to talk through Keane to White House staff members and key figures in the military. It would prove one of the most audacious moves of the Iraq war, and one that eventually reversed almost every tenet of U.S. strategy.

Just over two years ago, President George W. Bush announced that he was ordering a "surge" of U.S. forces. But that was only part of what amounted to a major change in the mission of American troops, in which many of the traditional methods employed by Odierno and other U.S. commanders in the early years of the war were discarded in favor of tactics based on the very different doctrine of counterinsurgency warfare.

Now, President Obama, an opponent of the war and later the surge, must deal with the consequences of the surge's success -
This is a WaPo piece. an Iraq that looks to be on the mend, with U.S. casualties so reduced that commanders talk about keeping tens of thousands of soldiers there for many years to come.

The most prominent advocates of maintaining that commitment are the two generals who implemented the surge and changed the direction of the war: Odierno and David H. Petraeus, who replaced Casey in 2007 as the top U.S. commander in Iraq and became the figure most identified with the new strategy. But if Petraeus, now the head of U.S. Central Command, was the public face of the troop buildup, he was only its adoptive parent. It was Odierno, since September the U.S. commander in Iraq, who was the surge's true father.

In arguing for an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq, Odierno went up against the collective powers at the top of the military establishment. As late as December 2006, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was privately telling his colleagues that he didn't see that 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq could do anything that 140,000 weren't doing. The month before, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, then head of Central Command, told a Senate hearing that he and every general he had asked opposed sending more U.S. forces to Iraq. "I do not believe that more American troops right now is the solution to the problem," Abizaid emphasized.
Much more at link; excerpts from a new book, doncha know!
Posted by: Bobby || 02/08/2009 14:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder is this a case that "success has many fathers".

Perhaps Al-Q was more beaten than some people thought? Maybe it was just a matter of time?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 18:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Odierno and Petraeus deserve all the accolades for designing and implementing The Surge, but it was teh evil incompetent stoopid McChimpy Bushitler that put his chips down on it in the face of outrage, lies, propaganda, cowardice and lack of patriotism by the MSM and Donks (and not a few cowardly Reps). He deserves as much credit as they do, and all deserve our acclaim and support. Real leaders do what is needed, even if unpopular. Can you imagine the finger-in-the-wind Donks doing that? Me neither
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 18:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't worry - by the time the '10 elections get hot the narrative would be that Obama and the Democrats were the ones who implemented the Surge and are responsible for its success.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/08/2009 19:41 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't think so, CF. More than likely it'll get dumped down the memory-hole and replaced with "the military failed in Afghanistan" meme.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/08/2009 20:18 Comments || Top||

#5  WORLD AFFAIRS BOARD > US OFFICERS OFFER/GIVE DISMAL REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN/US-NATO's FUTURE IS ON THE LINE IN AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN [Richard Holbrooke].

Also, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > US OFFERS TO HELP BANGLADESH SECURE ITS [unprotected] MARITIME SEA BORDERS [iff Bangla's DHAKA GOVT. so desires and requests].

* TOPIX > GENERAL JAMES JONES: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S PLAN TO RAISE AFGHAN US TROOP LEVELS TO 60,000 IS NOT ENOUGH!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 23:30 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Riots in Kashmir over Koranic inscriptions on Swede's skiing gear
The protests over the inscription of Quranic verses on the skiing gear of a Swedish national reached the city on Sunday with clashes between police and the protesters taking place at several places. In Nowhatta, Maisuma, Zaldagar and Nawabazar localities of the city, scores of angry youth pelted stones at police.

The controversy started on Saturday when some employees of Gulmarg Cable Car Corporation noticed Quranic verses inscribed on the skiing gear of N Patrick. The people caught hold of the foreigner and handed him over to police. They demanded stern action against the skier. Shouting anti-America, anti-Israel and anti-Sweden slogans, the protesters in Srinagar termed it as a deliberate attempt on part of the European tourist.

"Entire Europe and Israel is against Muslims. You can see what Israel is doing in Gaza and Lebanon so such things are very much expected from a Sweden tourist. They should be banned from visiting Kashmir," said a protester in Maisuma Chowk.

In the clashes on Sunday at least five persons received minor injuries. Police resorted to use of teargas shells and cane charging to contain the protests.

Meanwhile, police has shifted the Swedish national from Gulmarg to Srinagar for investigation. Two tourist guides have also been arrested by police for questioning. "We shifted him to Srinagar on the directions of our higher ups who want to investigate the matter," SHO Gulmarg, Muhammad Abdullah said. He said that two tourist guides Abdul Rahim and Mohammad Yasin Khan have also been arrested for questioning.

Meanwhile, Kashmir's Grand Mufti, Mufti Bashir-ud-din said that the foreign skier met him and sought apology for his act. "The skier said that he was not aware about the sensitivity of the matter and maintained that it was his Muslim wife who had suggested him to use such Quranic verses on the skiing gears. He has sought public apology for his act," Bashir-ud-din said.

The Grand Mufti has appealed the government to issue instructions to all foreign tourists about such matters at the time of their arrival in Kashmir.

In Gulmarg on Sunday shopkeepers, hoteliers, horsemen and sledge drivers observed complete shutdown. Shouting anti-America, anti-Sweden and anti-Israel slogans, the protesters blocked Gulmarg-Srinagar road.

Tangmarg also witnessed protests over the issue as people blocked the road and did not allow vehicles to proceed towards Gulmarg. Meanwhile, some people here maintain that it is a tradition in many Islamic countries to take things inscribed with Holy verses along during a journey for warding off evil and danger.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/08/2009 13:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Geez, sorry about the oddball editing. LOL
Posted by: ryuge || 02/08/2009 14:09 Comments || Top||

#2  damn Scandi snowbillys, inciting the rubes
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 15:14 Comments || Top||

#3  How is it that he, an infidel, is married to a Muslim woman? I thought that only Muslim men could marry infidel women, and the women would be forced to convert to Islam.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 15:24 Comments || Top||

#4  "Entire Europe and Israel is against Muslims."

I see you're catching on....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 15:29 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
How George Bush's Penis Made It to Broadway
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 13:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a presidential tradition.

Clinton's penis made it up Monica's Way.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Booooo....

I don't even want to think of Bill and Monica's way. Ewwwwww.....
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/08/2009 16:40 Comments || Top||

#3  All the way from Crawford to NYC?! Hell, my wife makes me leave mine at home if I'm just going to the store!
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 17:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Just as juvenile as the title suggests. Amazing what people will pay good money for.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 19:14 Comments || Top||


Bush's Last Days in Office: Met with Famlilies of Operation Redwing
H/T Lucianne.com
Earl Fontan has received tons of invitations over the years. But a recent one trumped them all.

In early January, Earl and his family were asked if they could attend a White House reception in honor of Fontan's fallen son, Jacques.

Jacques, a Navy SEAL, was killed in Afghanistan four years ago during a rescue mission, Operation Redwings.

The MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying Jacques and 15 others was shot down by enemy fire on June 28, 2005.

"They were participating in a very dangerous mission deep in the mountains of Afghanistan," Houma resident Earl Fontan said. "When the Chinook crashed there were no survivors. It actually took them over a day and half to recover them because the weather was so bad."

While his son was honored by the Navy for his heroic act, Jacques' family didn't gain an audience with the outgoing commander-in-chief, George W. Bush, until Jan. 14.

According to Fontan, Bush had just returned from Norfolk, Va. for the christening of an aircraft carrier named after his father, George H.W. Bush. While there, he made a special trip to see the nearby Navy SEALs headquarters where he was reminded of the story of the worst loss of Navy SEALs in U.S. history. "I guess it touched him so much that he decided he had to meet with the families before leaving office," Fontan said.

After fielding a request to attend a White House reception less than a week before the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Fontan said he and his family didn't have much time to make travel arrangements. "It wasn't easy, but there was no doubt in our minds that we were going to go," he said.

The experience was a bit overwhelming, Fontan said. After gathering in the same room where Bush made his farewell address to a small number of friends, staff and invited guests from around the country a few days later, Fontan and other family members of the fallen SEALs and Army Night Stalkers that participated in the mission were treated to a personal address from the former president.

Fontan found it particularly interesting that Bush made a point to come up to him and shake his hand following his short speech. "I guess he saw me wearing my son's Navy trident," Fontan said. "I was wearing a dark suit, so it really stood out. He shook my hand and told us he'd meet up with us in private later on."

Jacques family spent the rest of the afternoon meeting with dignitaries like former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, the admiral of the Navy and many more. "It didn't seem real," Fontan said about the once-in-a-lifetime experience. "Everything they did for us was first-class all the way, including the food."

Fontan, who works offshore as a chef, wasn't prepared for what greeted him at the White House's elaborate buffet set-up. "It was amazing," Fontan said. "Words can't describe it."

The family was one of the last to meet privately with Bush.

Although he isn't sure what the name of the exact room he met Bush in was, he said he felt at ease.

Along with thanking him for his son's service to the country, Bush offered his sincerest condolences and told them that the decision to place his son and others in harm's way wasn't taken lightly. "I told him that my son wanted to fight terrorism and he believed Afghanistan was at the root of that problem," Fontan said. "While he's not the best orator when it comes to speaking in front of large groups, I found him to be so warm and pleasant to talk to in a one-on-one setting. You could tell that he hadn't lost his southern graces during his time in the White House."

Before he left, Bush gave him a special medallion with his signature on one side and the Presidential Seal on the other.

Fontan said he's glad that his son's memory has been celebrated at so many Navy functions and now by the former president. When the incident occurred, it felt like the world had ended for Earl Fontan.

After spending many years serving his country as a fire-control specialist, among other titles, Jacques was about to call it quits at the 10-year mark when fate intervened. "They didn't want to lose him so they allowed him to try and become a SEAL," Fontan said.

Fontan added that his son had tried previously to become a Navy SEAL only to be denied because his position working with electronics was so needed by the Navy at the time.

After graduating from the intensive program, Jacques participated in operations in Kosovo and elsewhere.

His final mission at the age of 36 summed him up best. "He knew the situation and was more than ready to assist in whatever way he could," Fontan said. "For someone who was in to individualized sports growing up, I find it amazing that he became one of the best of team players someone could ever imagine during his time as a Navy SEAL."

Jacques had a number of close friends, including former PGA professional golfer and New Orleans native Kelly Gibson, that spoke at his memorial that took place only weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck.

"It was a tough time for all of us," Fontan said. "I was living in New Orleans and ended up getting flooded out of my home shortly after burying my son. I work with Sonoco so that's how I came to be in Houma."

While closure never truly comes to a parent that loses a loved one, Fontan credits the Navy for keeping his son's spirit alive. "They've been great to us," Fontan said. "He was a great man, father and husband that all of us miss tremendously. I'm just glad that no one's forgotten what he did for the country he loved so much."
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 13:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sherry, I thank you personally for posting this. Chief Fontan's sister (second from the rght in the photo in your article ) worked with me for a number of years and I had the honor of meeting Chief Fontan.

Chief Fontan left behind a daughter who has become an eye-poppingly beautiful young Cajun girl who drives around with her father's dog tags on the mirror of her car. Her story of the meeting with President Bush is here.
"He was a normal guy - not what you'd expect at all," Fontan said of Bush. "He was laid back, personable. It was like talking to any other person. He was laughing, a real gentleman. He gave us all kisses on the cheek. He was so sweet.

"He asked me, 'How's your time been here?' He talked with my family and asked me my major. I got a little teary-eyed at one point, and he gave me a big hug and said, 'I'm so sorry for your loss.' And he said, 'I made those decisions that I thought were best for the country.' "

Bush also found time for gentle humor.

"Jourdan told him she really loved Washington and was thinkiing of moving there," said Juli St. Martin, Jourdan's mother and Jacques' ex-wife. "He said, 'The boys are in trouble, then.' She said he was down-to-earth, a nice guy."


Class. Nothing but class.
Posted by: Matt || 02/08/2009 15:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Compare that with some of the stories that come out of the Obambi White House. We have lost a major leadership battle.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 21:38 Comments || Top||


Science
Anti-Vaccine Autism Researcher Falsified Data
THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients' data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children's conditions.

However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children's ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.

Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper's impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire "herd immunity" from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease.
Nice work, Dr. Wakefield.
With two professors, John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, Wakefield is defending himself against allegations of serious professional misconduct brought by the GMC. The charges relate to ethical aspects of the project, not its findings. All three men deny any misconduct.

Through his lawyers, Wakefield this weekend denied the issues raised by our investigation, but declined to comment further.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 02/08/2009 12:51 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is very interesting, I have two tesn with Aspergers, which is a high functioning form of Autism. One of the largest debates in the Autism community is whether or not these vaccines had a hand in causing Autism. If this story about Wakefield holds true, then emphasis can be put into an area that is more likely, genetics. This is extremely good news, again if it holds true.
Posted by: djh_usmc || 02/08/2009 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Lancet strikes again.... :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 13:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, I meant teens...stupid keyboard.
Posted by: djh_usmc || 02/08/2009 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  When I lived in the UK this guy was hot news. He singlehandedly prevented thousands of families to forgo mandatory vaccinations for their children. It this turns out to be true then God forgive him if these children end up disastrous medical conditions as a result of not having those vaccinations.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Send him to prison
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Slightly OT, but I suspect that Mountains of "Global Warming" data have been cooked as well. Only for our own good, of course...
Posted by: PBMcL || 02/08/2009 14:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Suspect, PBMcL? We know the global warming data has been cooked. Everything from selective choice of data (the famous hockey stick curve, which starts at the depths of the Little Ice Age, ignoring the much warmer climate at the time Jesus of Nazareth lived) to instrument placement (next to heat outlets and on black tar roofs in cities rather than the middle of a field) to flat-out invention (cf Al Gore's little film). But, as you say, for our own good, and the good of Mr. Gore's bank account.

Back on topic, the Lancet really has about as much credibility as the New York Times these days. The researchers ought to be infected with three doses of each of active measles, mumps and rubella cultures, and left to live with the consequences, exactly as the children of those who believed their results did not have their children given the thrice three-fold MMR inoculations. Barring that, which perhaps some might think a bit vindictive, they definitely need to be publicly stripped of their medical licenses, tenure, and all professional accreditations, much as a soldier is stripped of his various patches in front of his regiment.

djh_usmc, for some reason quite a few Rantburgers have offspring with Asperger's Syndrome.... perhaps because it's tied to high intelligence. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 15:11 Comments || Top||

#8  After the Lancet article, the manufacturers of MMR had a number of class action lawsuits against them. Subsequently it was discovered that the 'research' was founded by a number of trial lawyers.
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 16:01 Comments || Top||

#9  djh_usmc, for some reason quite a few Rantburgers have offspring with Asperger's Syndrome.... perhaps because it's tied to high intelligence. ;-)

trailing wife, maybe it's just a guy thing.
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 16:45 Comments || Top||

#10  >The idea expands on the “extreme male brain” theory of autism proposed by Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge.

Ali-G's Bro'
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||

#11  The Medical community has fought this for years.I am more inclined to question them as they will profit more. These vaccines are forced on parents and children. I have heard to many times of children that were normal within a short time of injection develop Autism. The AMA is a very powerful group with some good Medical Doctors as well a bad.
This is where the you have 4000% markups and even 45% profits for just the delivery of drugs to the drugstores. Health business is still very good at this time. The more I think about it the more this looks like a smear effort.
TKY,
Dale
Posted by: Dale || 02/08/2009 19:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Alas, Dale, the falsified data have been corroborated multiple times now.

No matter how tempting, it is fatal when a researcher fakes data to force a study to come out the way s/he wants it.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 19:36 Comments || Top||

#13  falsified data have been corroborated multiple times?

lotp, please clarify.

When people ask me whether I believe in the vaccination theory to account for my kids' Asperger's Syndrome, I point out that my dad, who is 84 now, also has Aspergers; and Austism research pioneers Kanner and Asperger did their research before the invention of the MMR.

The vaccination theory is a classic case of the post hoc fallacy: after this, therefore because of this. Kanner-type autism symptoms (the more obvious manifestation of autism) begin to appear around age 15 months, which is about the time the MMR series of shots begins.

Aspergers is more subtle. We knew something was odd with daughter #3 because she didn't make eye contact from day one, and never slept for more than 90 minutes at a time; but her symptoms were so much different from her older brother's symptoms. We made the connection when we observed that they had the same lopsided gait.
Posted by: mom || 02/08/2009 20:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Wakefield's hypothesis is that MMR vaccine triggers autism via an inflammatory bowl disease. Experts in enterogasteric disorders have pretty much demolished this claim and demonstrated that Wakefield distorted and misrepresented the alleged evidence for such a disease. Relevant papers in the research journal Histopathology are cited here.

Professors Tom MacDonald and Paola Domizio from Barts and the London School of Medicine in London were experts for the defense in the UK MMR litigation against the vaccine manufacturers out of which Wakefield trousered one million dollars. MacDonald is a pre-eminent gut immunologist with an international reputation and was recently awarded the PresidentÂ’s Medal of the British Society for Gastroenterology for his scientific achievements. Domizio is an extremely well known gut pathologist and is also a senior figure in the Royal College of Pathologists in the UK.

The gist of their article (Histopathology. 2007 50:371-9) was that autistic enterocolitis does not exist. In a forensic dissection of the key paper by Wakefield and colleagues in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2000 (Am J Gastroenterol. 2000 95:2285-95), MacDonald and Domizio clearly showed that the so-called enterocolitis was due to Wakefield incorrectly deeming enlarged lymphoid follicles in the gut as pathological abnormalities, and that he had also created new and unsubstantiated pathological abnormalities to give the impression of gut pathology. The image of enterocolitis in an affected child shown in this paper was an extremely highly magnified picture of a small piece of tissue, which may in fact have come from one of the original Lancet 12 (in order to bump up the numbers of patients studied, Wakefield just reported the original Lancet 12 again). This is a familiar Wakefield tactic, his “representative” images are always taken at an extremely high magnification on the microscope, presumably to hide the fact that the rest of the tissue is normal. MacDonald and Domizio also shredded other Wakefield papers of the same ilk in their article.

Key to this piece of detective work by Domizio and MacDonald was a table in the Am J Gastro paper where these invented histological abnormalities were shown

Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 20:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Name That Incompetent Boob!
Can anyone think of a person, male or female,that found him/herself perched above a large system, large and in charge as it were, such as an army or a nation, or a corporation who did not belong there, and was not competent to be there but was there to run the thing nevertheless; whose leadership of said large system eventually proved to be that person's or that system's undoing?

You can go back as far as 3000 BC, but you can't name Obama, one glaringly obvious answer.

One answer I have would be Xerxes
Posted by: badanov || 02/08/2009 12:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tzar Nicholas II.

Destroyed Russia from a great power to a remnant.

Encouraged Japanese expansionism by losing the Russo-Japanese war.

His pogroms drove Jews out of Russia.

Blew the east front in WW1.

Gave Communism a nation.

Got himself and his family executed.

Basically, the echoes of his failures dominated most of the 20th century.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 13:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Alcibaides.
Tiberius.
Stephen Plantagenet.
Charles I (Stuart).
Takeda Katsuyori.

Seems to be a symptom of humanity, not culture.
Posted by: Slerong Fillmore3596 || 02/08/2009 15:23 Comments || Top||

#3  I dunno. I kinda like Alcibiades. He had a lot of notable victories, and was a capable commander. His downfall was his habit of making powerful enemies. And he was rather quick to go somewhere else to get a command once his enemies pushed him out.

But incompetent? No. Not in my opinion.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 17:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Much like Tzar Nicholas II -- King Louis XVI of France, although in fairness he took a bankrupt monarchy and watched in bewilderment as it slid into the Reign of Terror, taking his family's heads with it. The man was competent neither at governing the country he'd inherited nor the wife he'd been given.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 18:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Alan Greenspan.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 19:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Charles I (Emperor Charles V) and Phillip II of Spain, whose neglect of Spain's infrastructure in favor of Habsburg dynastic policies set the precedent for centuries of royal stupidity in Spain.

The loot taken from the New World went not to Spain, but to pay for various Habsburg dynastic wars and wars against the Reformation. So European bankers got rich while ordinary Spaniards suffered appalling poverty. No middle class arose in Spain after Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews out; and Habsburg economic policies didn't encourage a new middle class. The Inquisition stifled intellectual development.

Meanwhile, the Spanish govt became top-heavy with clergy, bureaucrats, and other hidalgos (Hijos de Algo, literally, "Sons of Something") who became a parasitic lot that sapped Spain's energy, leading to its decline into a third class power.

Subsequent Habsburg rulers of Spain continued the policy, and inbred the royal family into extinction too.

Louis XIV went to war with Spain to put one of his relatives on the throne, and the resulting Spanish Bourbons, with the possibly exception of Charles III, had the brains of turnips. See Goya's painting of the Royal Family of Charles IV. They were too dumb to see that he painted them as the conniving jerks they were. These are the fools Napoleon deposed.
Posted by: mom || 02/08/2009 20:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Maximilian I of Mexico.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/08/2009 20:33 Comments || Top||

#8  I learn something worth remembering every time you post, mom dear. Thank you.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 23:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Al Franken Admits $50,000 Tax Debt - Name That Party!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 12:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He shouldn't sit in the Senate - he is clearly qualified for Obama to appoint him to a cabinet position.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 12:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Al Franken is a card carrying Democrat until he commits a felony. Then he's an independent.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/08/2009 13:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder how they managed to hide this until well AFTER the electorate could do something with it?

Democracy requires an INFORMED electorate.

The press has MAL-inforemd the public.

Time comes when we will have to execute the press for their treachery.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 14:09 Comments || Top||

#4  JUST THINK. WE WE COLLECTED ALL THE MONIES THAT OUR PRESENT AND POSSIBLE LEADERS(FRANKEN) WE OULD PROBABLY WIPE OUT THE DEBT. OH WAIT A MINUTE. THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE IRS DIDNT PAY HIS TAXES EITHER. NOTHING LIKE HAVING A FRIEND IN GOVERNMENT RIGHT MR. F
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 14:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Bad headline, Besoeker: the linked piece clearly identifies Franken as a Democrat. In the first sentence. As does the Newsmax piece.

Credit the MSM when they get it right.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 15:02 Comments || Top||

#6  One of the few at least memorable efforts of Franken at comedy, was his creation of the "Al Franken decade", in which he overused personal pronouns.

This ties directly into what some people are now doing when the word "Democrat" is omitted in stories about Democratic scandals, that is, reinserting the word "Democrat" before each and every instance of references to their name.

For example: "Overlooked in coverage of DEMOCRAT Tim Geithner's and DEMOCRAT Tom Daschle's unpaid taxes is the $70,000 that Minnesota Democratic senatorial candidate DEMOCRAT Al Franken has admitted to owing in back taxes, interest, and penalties..."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/08/2009 15:10 Comments || Top||

#7  But taxes are for OTHER people ...
Posted by: The Deomcrats || 02/08/2009 15:48 Comments || Top||

#8  #5 Bad headline, Besoeker: the linked piece clearly identifies Franken as a Democrat. In the first sentence. As does the Newsmax piece.

Credit the MSM when they get it right.
Posted by Steve White 2009-02-08 15:02


Just a guess, Steve, but I believe Besoeker was challenging R-burgers to ID the party before reading the article?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 18:11 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Iranian missiles have 'worldwide reach': Russia
Iran's successful launch of a satellite with its own technology shows that the country's missiles "can reach any point on the globe," a senior Russian space sector official said Thursday.
"I take my hat off to the Iranian scientists," Vitali Lapota, manager of the RKK Energuia space construction company declared was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "They have shown their missiles can reach any point on the globe."
So, what of the 'Iran does not have the capability' bull you people were spouting last year when ripping US plans for missiles in Poland? Hmmmmm?
Iran's launch Monday of the Omid (Hope) satellite carried by the home-built Safir-2 rocket has set alarm bells ringing among Western powers, because of the implications for the range of its ballistic missiles.

US experts fear that Iran could eventually equip ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads capable of striking Europe or the United States.

Monday's launch comes at a time when Iran has been ignoring repeated UN Security Council demands to freeze its uranium enrichment activities.
A President 'with a pair' would take these comments public and announce the timeline for installation of the missiles in Poland and the radar in Czech
Posted by: logi_cal || 02/08/2009 11:41 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A President 'with a pair' would take these comments public and announce the timeline for installation of the missiles in Poland and the radar in Czech.

A president with a pair would announce to Iran they have 90 days to totally dismantle their nuclear program or THEIR nuclear program would meet ours.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 13:33 Comments || Top||

#2  You need more than a President "with a pair" - you need one with a functioning cerebellum. This one has neither. He only has a functioning jaw.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I sincerely fear that this Bozo will be our last President.... Talk about going out with a whimper.....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 15:30 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mother's Early Environment Affects Offspring
Two new studies show that the effects of a mother's early environment can be passed on to the next generation.

From the WOT perspective, this paragraph was interesting:

"If the findings can be conveyed to human, it means that girls' education is important not just to their generation but to the next one," says Moshe Szyf of McGill University, in Montreal, who was not involved in the research.
Posted by: Penguin || 02/08/2009 11:24 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So we can expect that the few months spent under my roof will have a cascade effect on the descendants of formerly temporary daughter? How wonderful!
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 15:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Is a White House take over of the census constitutional?
Teh One wants Rahm to run the Census. Nothing could go wrong with that, right?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 10:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Is a White House take over of the census constitutional?"

NO.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 11:04 Comments || Top||

#2  It really doesn't take much analytical strain. I believe we all know why the "White House" took over the census process. And I think we all know what may happen in major metropolitan areas when the free money and gov't cheese runs out, or some natural or man-made disaster takes place. General Tommy Franks said that "the United States came very close to martial law following 9/11." These socialist buggers will seize the moment and the American Constitution will be out the window completely. They've got it all set and exercised as well. Even the Canadians are on board:

Execution. Para 3. Execution, Sub paras a.(4)(2) Commander, US Northern Command (CDRUSNORTHCOM)
(b) Coordinte planning for the possible employment of Canadian forces in support of USNORTHCOM's support of primary civil agencies in the United States.


Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 11:52 Comments || Top||

#3  I think it is Constitutional. The Census has been run through the Executive branch, and will continue to be. There was not a Secretary of Commerce assigned to run the Census in the Constitution in the first place, IIRC.
It's wrong, and possibly illegal, but not un-Constitutional.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/08/2009 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Is a census constitutional?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 12:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Is a census constitutional?

Yes. In fact it is Constitutionally required.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/08/2009 12:48 Comments || Top||

#6  There was an article linked via Instapundit today - it is most definitely not constitutional. The Constitution says the census is regulated via laws passed by Congress and those laws specify that the census be run by the Secretary of Commerce. The President has no role.

Does this guy's over-reaching remind anyone of a young Chavez?
Posted by: Omeaque Hapsburg8150 || 02/08/2009 12:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Look, it has been quite appearant to me that these people care nothing about the Constitution or Bill of rights.
The only thing they care about is europeon socialism and power.
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 14:20 Comments || Top||

#8  It's the Chicago way. Remember, it's not the voting (or in this case the apportionment), it's the counting.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 15:56 Comments || Top||

#9  the fact that it is unconstitutional may be irrelevant

who has standing to sue?

this is a bit similar to the Hillary Clinton for Sec of State issue where the constitution seems to clearly say (or at least arguably says) she was ineligible (because the Sec of State salary had increased while she was a Senator)

but if no one has standing to sue, it really doesn't matter whether the constitution is busted or not
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 19:55 Comments || Top||

#10  #7: Look, it has been quite appearant to me that these people care nothing about the Constitution or Bill of rights.

That's exactly why there's a Second Amendment. We may need it before this year's out.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 21:02 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan wants no-strings aid from US
LONDON: The Obama administration should provide aid to Pakistan without any strings attached, Pakistan's ambassador to the US said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.

Husain Haqqani told the Financial Times (FT) "assistance that is conditional is never good". His comments came after US Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday the Obama administration would revive a plan to send $1.5 billion of military aid to Pakistan, its key ally in the fight against Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

The US reportedly wants to triple civilian aid but impose conditions to ensure military assistance to Pakistan goes towards fighting insurgents in Afghanistan, not building up defences against India.

Biden was expected to give the first fully-fledged picture of Obama-era US foreign policy at a security conference in Munich, Germany later on.

"Our advice has been that while we can always discuss what the Americans would prefer... (conditional aid) is not going to serve US or Pakistani interests."

Haqqani pledged Pakistan would focus on fighting its "primary threat", which he said currently comes from "terrorism and not from our eastern neighbour". But he warned: "There is no bullet that has been invented that Pakistan can be given to shoot at the terrorists that cannot be used in case there is a war with India."

Following the release of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Friday, Haqqani said his freedom "may cause a short-term perception problem" though added: "Pakistan now has a genuinely independent judiciary and we have dismantled the AQ Khan network
Posted by: john frum || 02/08/2009 09:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  how about "FOAD"?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 9:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Cut them off. I'd rather have Obama spend it on pork.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/08/2009 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Margaret Bourke-White, correspondent and photographer for LIFE magazine in September 1947

In the weeks to come I was to hear the Quaid-i-Azam's thesis echoed by government officials throughout Pakistan. "Surely America will build up our army," they would say to me. "Surely America will give us loans to keep Russia from walking in." But when I asked whether there were any signs of Russian infiltration, they would reply almost sadly, as though sorry not to be able to make more of the argument. "No, Russia has shown no signs of being interested in Pakistan."

This hope of tapping the U. S. Treasury was voiced so persistently that one wondered whether the purpose was to bolster the world against Bolshevism or to bolster Pakistan's own uncertain position as a new political entity. Actually, I think, it was more nearly related to the even more significant bankruptcy of ideas in the new Muslim state -- a nation drawing its spurious warmth from the embers of an antique religious fanaticism, fanned into a new blaze.
Posted by: john frum || 02/08/2009 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  What! You mean aid to Pakistan is NOT in the stimulus package? Clearly an oversight!
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Hellfires have no strings attached. Send them all they can stand, via airmail!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/08/2009 11:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Who wouldn't want "no strings attached" aid? Just send a little of it my way. Seems only fair to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 02/08/2009 11:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Sorry Abdul. You guys aint done nuthin in a long time, you'll get what I can find in my couch cushions.
Posted by: Mike N. || 02/08/2009 12:01 Comments || Top||

#8  I DON'T THINK THEY EVEN DESERVE WHAT YOU WOULD FIND IN YOUR COUCH CUSHIONS
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/08/2009 12:11 Comments || Top||

#9  and why should there be no strings attached when yall can't even keep our supply routes open?
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/08/2009 12:25 Comments || Top||

#10  So do I. Of course, I want a pony too.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/08/2009 13:35 Comments || Top||

#11  GIVE THEM NOTHING. THEY TAKE OUR MONEY AND DONT LET US USE THEIR COUNTRY TO STOP TERRORISTS. HELP INDIA NOT PAKISTAN. GO AFTER TERRORISTS WITHOUT THEIR APPROVAL. IF THEY INTERFERE SEND IN SOME B52'S AND MAKE PAKISTAN PART OF INDIA. WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THE LOSS OF AMERICAN LIVES. THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS.
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 14:22 Comments || Top||

#12  STOP LETTING THESE COUNTRIES DICTATE TERMS TO US. THEY WANT OUR MONEY, O.K. ON OUR TERMS NOT THEIRS. BUSCH AND CLINTON LET THESE COUNTRIES PUSH US AROUND. ITS ABOUT TIME WE PUSH ABCK AND REESTABLISH WHO WE ARE. THESE COUNTRIES SHIT ON US. BUT WHEN THEY NEED HELP, THEY CALL UNCLE SAM
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 14:25 Comments || Top||

#13  SPM---appreciate your comments, but ixnay of the apskay ekay. Please, no caps. Only Joe has a license to do that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/08/2009 15:15 Comments || Top||

#14  SPM, you are wasting your time with all caps. We simply don't read it past the first line or so. Better lower case and no caps.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/08/2009 16:09 Comments || Top||

#15  Isn't that what our government did with the bank bailout with our tax dollars? No strings attached? The Paki Waki's just want in on a good deal when they see one.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 17:25 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Aussie bushfire toll reaches 96, TV legend Brian Naylor dead
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 09:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sounds like October in Southern California. And, of course, some of the fires are deliberately set. Those f*ckers should be burned at the stake
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 9:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Those f*ckers should be burned at the stake

How about...burned on the stake. As in impaled then roasted.
Posted by: Trader_DFW || 02/08/2009 17:37 Comments || Top||

#3  good suggestion. I amend my motion
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||

#4  It's absolutely horrible. Entire towns have been wiped out. 8 More bodies have just been found.

People couldn't escape the flames quick enough, they were moving so fast that they killed people trying to flee in their cars.

Death toll currently stands at 108 with over 750 Homes totally Destroyed.
Posted by: Oztralian || 02/08/2009 20:44 Comments || Top||

#5  The Commonwealth Disaster Plan has been activated as an emergency response and the Military MIGHT be called in to help.
Posted by: Oztralian || 02/08/2009 20:45 Comments || Top||

#6  A couple of morons set off some fireworks in a park in the western part of Colorado Springs yesterday, and started a grassfire that burned a few dozen acres. No one was hurt, and no homes were lost - mainly because fire crews controlled the fire very early. Fifteen fire crews responded, and spent more than ten hours fighting the blaze. If they hadn't controlled the fire, a dozen or more homes would have burned.

The Aussies may want to bring in the troops and put a stop to this, but they also may want to round up anyone that has deliberately started such a fire and do some shark fishing. I wouldn't doubt that some of the perpetrators were members of the Religion of Peace.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 21:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Oztralian, I feel so sad for your loss. There's loss in nature, but arson's different. Oz needs to help those harmed, and make sure those sick f*cks who set fires - never do again. Hopefully by the same method. Nuff said
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 21:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Stay safe, dear Oztralian, and your family and friends. You and our other Australian correspondents will be in our thoughts until this is over.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 23:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
All That Freedom...
John Kerry

"If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there's no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America. They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest."
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/08/2009 07:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why doesn't he tell Teresa (sp) to make sure Hienx is "All American".
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 02/08/2009 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe you should make America the best place to invest by removing taxes on success you fecking nitwit moron.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/08/2009 11:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Afterall, john kerry gets to decide what to do with your money.
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 14:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, right. Like he knows about investing or earning a living or creating jobs. All he knows is how to corral a widow the minute her Repubican Senator husband is cold in the ground and then go out and start spending before the will is even probated. Number two jerk in America after number one - a long list that number one is.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Opening dialogue from "The Prisoner":
"Where am I?"
"In the Village."
"What do you want?"
"Information."
"Whose side are you on?"
"That would be tellingÂ…. We want information. Information! INFORMATION!"
"You won't get it."
"By hook or by crook, we will."
"Who are you?"
"The new Number Two."
"Who is Number One?"
"You are Number Six."
"I am not a number — I am a free man!"
(Laughter from Number Two.)
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 17:44 Comments || Top||

#6  "If you put a tax cut into the hands of a business or family, there's no guarantee that they're going to invest that or invest it in America. They're free to go invest anywhere that they want if they choose to invest."

So we'll just spend it for them, the way they should have spent it under our direction.

I meant this as humor, now written it's not funny, it's true.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 19:35 Comments || Top||


Europe
French fighter planes grounded by computer virus
French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims. The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand. At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers.

Microsoft had warned that the "Conficker" virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but according to reports the French military ignored the warning and failed to install the necessary security measures. The French newspaper Ouest France said the virus had hit the internal computer network at the French Navy. Jérome Erulin, French navy spokesman told the paper: "It affected exchanges of information but no information was lost. It was a security problem we had already simulated. We cut the communication links that could have transmitted the virus and 99 per cent of the network is safe." However, the French navy admitted that during the time it took to eradicate the virus, it had to return to more traditional forms of communication: telephone, fax and post.

Naval officials said the "infection"' was probably due more to negligence than a deliberate attempt to compromise French national security. It said it suspected someone at the navy had used an infected USB key. The Sicmar Network, on which the most sensitive documents and communications are transmitted was not touched, it said. "The computer virus problem had no effect on the availability of our forces." The virus attacked the non-secured internal French navy network called Intramar and was detected on 21 January. The whole network was affected and military staff were instructed not to start their computers. According to Liberation newspaper, two days later the chiefs of staff decided to isolate Intramar from the military's other computer systems, but certain computers at the Villacoublay air base and in the 8th Transmissions Regiment were infected. Liberation reported that on the 15 and 16 January the Navy's Rafale aircraft were "nailed to the ground" because they were unable to "download their flight plans". The aircraft were eventually activated by "another system".

Liberation also reported that Microsoft had identified the Conficker virus in the autumn of 2008 and had advised users from October last year to update their security patches. IntelligenceOnline reports that "at the heart of the (French) military, the modifications were, for the most part, not done." It was only on the 16 January "three months later" that the navy chiefs of staffs began to act. "At that point, the chiefs of staff and the defence ministry had no idea how many computers or military information systems were vulnerable to having been contaminated by the virus," said Liberation.

The French press also reported that the only consolation for the French Navy was that it was not the only ones to have fallen victim to the virus. It said that a report in the military review Defense Tech revealed that in the first days of January 2009 the British Defence Ministry had been attacked by a hybrid of the virus that had substantially and seriously infected the computer systems of more than 24 RAF bases and 75 per cent of the Royal Navy fleet including the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 05:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you are using Microsoft software for mission critical military applications, you are a moron.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Speechless
Posted by: john frum || 02/08/2009 8:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Flight Sim 1995 updated to Win ME?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:37 Comments || Top||

#4  ooooo, cold Frank.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Whoa. Gives the term "Blue Screen Of Death" a whole new meaning.
Posted by: mrp || 02/08/2009 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Having any militarily significant or "secure" network attached to the internet is an act of pure madness.
Posted by: PBMcL || 02/08/2009 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  "The computer virus problem had no effect on the availability of our forces."

Oui...both of them are safely at the "How To Cope With Not Having A Purpose" conference.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 16:06 Comments || Top||


Ireland's Boom Falls Hard in Global Crisis
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 03:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One of my dad's buddies got into the Irish real estate market (time shares) in the 90's. Was making money hand over fist. Now he's not only not making anything, he can't sell his properties.

As far as Guiness' fortunes go, that's part of a bigger trend. It's sad, worldwide the demand for beers with actual flavor is being displaced for demand for the American light lager style. It happened here over the course of Prohibition, depression, and WWII, a nearly 25 year period. Just before prohibition, the demand in the U.S. was just over 5% of the beer market for American light lagers. By 1945 it was over 80%. It peaked even higher in the 70's and 80's and has fallen back to a little over 80%.

This change seems to be happening in EUrope with amazing quickness, really over the past five or eight years. It's too bad. Despite my oft-times critiques of Euroland, I'll concede that they make an incredible array of delicious and interesting beers, and if the trend towards the Bud-and-Miller-and-Coors-ification continues, a lot of these brews could go the way of the dinosaurs, and that would be a shame.

Of course, it may all be moot because of Islamification of the EU, anyways.
Posted by: no mo uro || 02/08/2009 6:15 Comments || Top||

#2  our best local brewery - Stone Brewing Co. - makes a great beer: "Arrogant Bastard Ale". Try some
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  no mo euro is now sadder budweiser.

Yes, do try the young cow-like meat entree.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 9:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama to beef-up US security
US President Barack Obama will overhaul the country's security network by expanding its national and international dossier, says the president's top security aide. National security adviser James Jones said the National Security Council (NSC) will be "dramatically different" under the new president, reports the Washington Post.

"The world that we live in has changed so dramatically in this decade that organizations that were created to meet a certain set of criteria no longer are terribly useful," said Mr Jones.

The retired Marine general said he will be the primary conduit of national security advice to Mr Obama. "We're not always going to agree on everything, so it's my job to make sure that minority opinion is represented to the president," said Mr Jones.

"But if at the end of the day he turns to me and says, 'Well, what do you think, Jones?,' I'm going to tell him what I think," he said.

The new structure will be outlined in a presidential directive later this week.

Mr Jones told The Post that the newly configured NSC will reach far beyond the range of traditional foreign policy issues and will include Cabinet and departmental seats at the table -- historically occupied only by the secretaries of defense and state -- on an issue-by-issue basis.

He noted that the national security community historically has meant the Defense Department, the NSC itself and a parts of the State Department, but now could be extended depending upon the circumstances to include the Energy, Commerce and Treasury Departments, law enforcement agencies, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 02:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But will it be directed at defending American interests, or defending Obama's interests?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Obama is America.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 5:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Touche.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Sounds like another demotion for Sec State, uh, what's her name?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/08/2009 8:18 Comments || Top||

#5  So, this means data mining [of American citizens] is OK now that its being done by the One and not by Bush?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/08/2009 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  If James Jones sez so some will come running from here to eternity.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 9:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Only if aimed at Republicans and libertarians, P2K. Or find the levers to keep wavering Dems in line.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 9:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Sounds like one new bureaucrat trying to position himself over others. Not just state, but the CIA, defense and homeland security.

The retired Marine general said he will be the primary conduit of national security advice to Mr Obama.
Posted by: DoDo || 02/08/2009 10:10 Comments || Top||

#9  National security adviser James Jones said he will be the primary conduit of national security advice to Mr Obama.

I thought Jones drank the Kool-Aid down in Guyana? Must have just been the figurative Kool-Aid.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/08/2009 11:47 Comments || Top||

#10  The retired Marine general said he will be the primary conduit of national security advice to Mr Obama

So, If he's going to act as funnel and filter for Superzero, we need to know a LOT more about him. Maybe figure out what he'll let pass and what he'll not.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 12:27 Comments || Top||

#11  "So, this means data mining [of American citizens] is OK now that its being done by the One and not by Bush?"

Absolutely. Just check out the Daily Kos (if you dare).
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/08/2009 13:39 Comments || Top||

#12  There is quite a bit on him in Wikipedia. The question is: where does he stand of stuff? I have no idea. Will he be used as wallpaper, or will he be listened to by the Big O?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/08/2009 15:11 Comments || Top||

#13  The title doesn't match the contents. Ogabe is merely rearranging the furniture. Now, if he had said that he was increasing funding and headcount...
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/08/2009 15:30 Comments || Top||

#14  More mall cops?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 15:31 Comments || Top||

#15  How does this track with the demanded 10%+ reduction in the FY10 defense budget? Various and sundry "administration officials" have been telling us that there is not enough money to fund the increase in Army and Marine Corps manning that was underway, that there is not enough money to continue the various weapons programs underway and that Congress will pick and choose which programs will continue and which will be terminated based on politics rather than military necessity. This the same guy who is planning on deactivating 90% of America's nuclear arsenal? From a national security standpoint, Obama and his gang of parasites are a national nightmare.
Posted by: rwv || 02/08/2009 16:52 Comments || Top||

#16  Oh shit, a super TSA.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 20:38 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians fire rocket from Gaza
PALESTINIAN militants have fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, causing damage but no injuries, a military spokesman said.

The rocket exploded in the Niram kibbutz near the city of Sderot and damaged several cars, causing two to catch fire, said the spokesman.

Palestinian militants have fired 40 rockets and mortar rounds since January 18 when Israel ended its 22-day military Gaza offensive which caused 1330 Palestinian deaths.

Israel, which launched its assault on December 27 with the stated aim of stemming rocket attacks, has warned of "the severest riposte" to any further rocket fire.
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 01:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe after the election, the IDF can go back and finish the job.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 02/08/2009 11:37 Comments || Top||

#2  headline should read,

Palestinians Fire Rocket From Gaza
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 11:50 Comments || Top||

#3  fixed
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  You'd think that after their recent ass-kicking, the Paleos would take a few weeks off to kick back, reload, maybe sweep up the rubble. No time to waste, apparently, when there are Jews to kill.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/08/2009 12:27 Comments || Top||

#5  SteveS, Clearing building to building, block by block is costly in lives, political and collateral damage and returns little in real estate value.

Much easier for the Israelies to withdraw and let the Hamas rabble regroup, then crush the clusters again in a second offensive.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/08/2009 13:11 Comments || Top||

#6  As long as President Hussein (not the former President of Iraq but the current President of America) continues to bank roll HAMAS, nothing but the Israeli military can stop them any more.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 15:21 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippine troops kill 8 commies in south
Soldiers backed by attack helicopters have killed eight communist rebels over the past week in the southern Philippines as part of a stepped-up campaign against the guerrillas, an army commander said Saturday.

The military is under orders from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to end the 40-year-old Maoist insurgency - one of Asia's longest - by 2010.

Lt. Col. Milfredo Meligrito, commander of the 57th Infantry Battalion, said soldiers killed seven New People's Army guerrillas Friday in a battle outside Tulunan township in Cotabato province. He said another guerrilla was killed in a clash Monday. He said troops were pursuing a few dozen guerrillas who fled but there were no reports of firefights Saturday.

Meligrito said his troops launched the offensive against the rebels earlier in the week based on information the guerrillas were consolidating and training their forces in the area, about 600 miles (970 kilometers) southeast of Manila. He said troops had discovered two abandoned rebel training camps.

Peace talks with the rebels, brokered by Norway, stalled in 2004 when the rebels accused the Philippine government of instigating their inclusion on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Rebel ranks have thinned to an estimated 5,200 - down from their peak of more than 25,000 in the mid-1980s - because of battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rebel ranks have thinned to an estimated 5,200 - down from their peak of more than 25,000 in the mid-1980s - because of battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism.

Get it down to one, and ship that one to Saudi Arabia. They deserve it, and you'll be better off with him gone.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Taliban kidnap 35 in Hangu
Taliban kidnapped at least 35 people from Shahukhel area of Hangu on Saturday, residents told Daily Times. They said several Taliban arrived in vehicles and abducted 35 people after evicting them from their houses in Hangu district near its border with Orakazi Agency. The kidnapped people belong to the Mushti tribe and the residents said the Taliban claimed to have 'arrested' them after public complaints were filed against them. He said the arrested people would be presented before Taliban courts in Orakzai Agency. No relative of the kidnapped people has approached police with reference to the abduction yet.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
64 mortars, 5 IEDs seized in Missan
Aswat al-Iraq: The Missan police seized weapons and munitions in different parts of the province on Saturday, according to the district police department spokesman. "Forces from Qalaat Saleh police department seized 64 mortar shells on the road leading to the area of Nahr al-Ezz, (50 km) south of al-Amara," Col. Sadiq Sallam, the department's relations & information director, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Also, five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized in the area of Abu Rimaneh, central Amara," he added. "Each IED weighs 20 kg of the highly explosive material C4," Sallam said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Al-Sadr candidates appeal Iraq vote results
Candidates endorsed by anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will appeal the results of last weekend's election results in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces because of alleged voting irregularities, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The allegations are among a chorus of questions raised by Shia religious parties and Sunnis about the outcome of provincial elections, in which allies of Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won a sweeping victory.

"There are huge differences between results announced by the electoral commission and the figures we have from our observers in some provinces," said Tahir al-Kinani, spokesman for one of two candidate lists backed by al-Sadr.

Al-Kinani told reporters at a news conference that the candidates were appealing the results in the provinces of Baghdad, Najaf, Maysan and Qadisiyah.

The election results have been heralded as an endorsement of al-Maliki's crackdown on extremism and violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. Those results, which must be certified, put al-Maliki in a strong position ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.

Sadrist-backed candidates were tied with a Sunni group for a distant second in Baghdad behind al-Maliki's coalition, according to preliminary results released on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Sadrist-backed candidates finished well behind al-Maliki and the religious-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which maintains ties to both Iran and the United States.

Al-Sadr, who lives in Iran, lost much of his clout last year when government forces routed his militia from strongholds in Baghdad and Basra. His movement did not field candidates under the Sadrist banner but endorsed lists of nominal independents.

In the days following the elections, tension mounted in some areas where early returns leaked by political parties led to allegations of irregularities.

In Anbar province, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital, a leader of tribesmen who turned against al-Qaida in the area complained that rival Sunnis stole the election, a charge they denied.

In Baghdad, al-Kinani said the al-Sadr backed candidates were demanding the electoral commission identify those involved with manipulating election results.

The election commission has pledged to investigate all allegations of voting irregularities.

The elections came as Iraq has enjoyed a steep decline in violence, though there are daily reminders of dangers that face Iraqis and US troops.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Last-minute poll surge keeps Livni's election hopes alive
The centrist Israeli politician quietly favoured by Western governments may take Israel's premiership despite trailing her Right-wing rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the polls.

The latest figures show Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and leader of the moderate Kadima party, has almost closed the gap on the former prime minister. Surveys published on Friday predicted that she would get about 25 seats in the Knesset, or parliament, compared with 27 for the Likud Party's Netanyahu.

The Right-wing politician, who had enjoyed a strong lead, appears to be losing ground in the final days of the campaign before polling day on Tuesday.

But the kingmaker will almost certainly be Avigdor Lieberman, from the hard-Right Yisrael Beiteinu party, who is likely to win enough seats to be able to choose a prime minister and make or break a coalition.

He may not, however, choose to install his nearest ideological ally, Netanyahu. Instead, Livni's supporters are convinced she could still emerge as premier.

Eyal Arad, the Kadima campaign manager, said: "I believe we're going to win this one by a narrow margin." Between 20 and 30 per cent of Israelis are still undecided and these floating voters tend to be young and female, fitting the usual profile of Kadima supporters.

Keeping "Bibi", as all Israelis know him, out of the premiership means tactically voting for Kadima. Arad said undecided voters understood that "if you don't vote for Tzipi Livini, then you'll get Bibi" and they would respond accordingly.

Arad's personal forecast is that Livni will outperform the polls and come first with 27 to 30 seats. Even so, the block of Right-wing parties in the Knesset will still be larger than Livni's natural allies among the centre-Left.

Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  quietly favoured by Western governments

Too bad more Israelis are not aware of the fact.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:03 Comments || Top||

#2  ACORN is now active in Israel?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 15:36 Comments || Top||


4 Gaza tunnels bombed
The Israeli military says its warplanes have attacked four smuggling tunnels and a weapons depot in Gaza.

The military says the strikes late Friday came in response to rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israel. Gaza militants fired two rockets earlier Friday, but caused no damage or injuries.

The latest cross-border exchange came just days before Israel's general election Tuesday in which hardline leader Benjamin Netanyahu is favoured to win.

Sporadic rocket fire and airstrikes have accompanied indirect negotiations between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers on the terms of a cease-fire. Israel wants guarantees that weapons smuggling into Gaza will be halted. Hamas seeks an end to a 20-month border blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  be nice when Bibi is the responder to rocket fire
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 7:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I HAVE VISITED ISRAEL. WHEN YOU TAKE OUT HAMAS, THERE ARE VERY FEW PROBLEMS. IN JERUSALEM ALL RELIGIONS WORK, PLAY AND DO BUSINESS TOGETHER. AS IN THE PAST ONE GROUP CAUSES TROUBLE FOR THE MASSES. I SAW PEOPLE FROM GAZA COME ACROSS INTO ISRAEL FOR MEDCAL TREATMENT, FOOD PURCHASE AND OTHER BENEFITS OF LIVING IN PEACE. AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, THEY DONT WANT TO GO BACK INTO GAZA.AS I SAID AT THE TOP, TAKE HAMAS OUT OF THE PICTURE. FOR GOOD
Posted by: OF || 02/08/2009 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  A useful comment, OF. Thank you. :-) But please unlock your Caps Lock key. All caps is very uncomfortable to read, which I'm sure was not your intention.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Indeed an interesting and hopefully correct comment. I await more information and the inevitable grom.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 8:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Here's a free clue, OF, Marty, whatever: Most of us don't even bother trying to read an ALL CAPS comment.

So by shouting you make sure most people don't hear read your words.

Live it, or quit wasting our time Fred's bandwidth.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Look out it's the mole people!

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi150012185/
Posted by: Don Vito Anginegum8261 || 02/08/2009 13:29 Comments || Top||

#7  I've recommended Leon Uris' book, "The Haj" several times. Reading it is a revelation. It covers everything from how the Arabs ended up in "refugee" camps, and why, to honor killings and the use of religion to totally subjugate a free people.

I do feel sorry for that poor mole, but then, he wasn't caught in my back yard...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 13:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Most of us don't even bother trying to read an ALL CAPS comment.

Barbara, does that mean you don't read Joe Mendiola? Boy are you missing out on the real scoop.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Joe gets a pass.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/08/2009 14:36 Comments || Top||

#10  All caps is "Western Union" font style. Brings back a bygone era stop but you are right comma It is only allowed for Joe stop
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/08/2009 15:02 Comments || Top||

#11  Actually, not so much, Jack. I do try on occasion, since I know he actually has something worthwhile to share, but a lot of the time I just don't have the time or patience.

But remember, Joe does use some lower case - I even remember a couple of his posts that were completely written sans cap-lock key, and they were quite cogent.

But Joe is one of us, and that's his schtick, so to speak. Mr./Ms. Marty et al. can either write in a normal style or go suck eggs as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 15:22 Comments || Top||


Britain
BBC presenter won't apologise for calling British PM 'idiot'
BBC television presenter Jeremy Clarkson said on Saturday that while he was sorry for having made fun of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's appearance, he would not apologise for calling him an "idiot".

Clarkson, known to viewers around the world as the face of the BBC's top-rated 'Top Gear' car show, had described Brown, who lost his sight in one eye in an accident suffered while playing rugby as a teenager, as a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" during a press conference in Sydney.

Clarkson was sharply criticised for the remarks by British politicians and the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and though he issued an apology on Friday, he told The Sun tabloid that he had not "apologised for calling him an idiot".

"I very specifically apologised for making fun of his personal appearance -- very specifically," he told the newspaper from his Sydney hotel. "I have nothing against the Scottish and of course I regret making any remark that might have upset the disabled. "But the idiot bit -- there is no chance I'll apologise for that." A spokesman for Brown's Downing Street office declined to comment on Clarkson's remarks on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He should apologize. It's not nice to poke fun at the fact that the idiot only has one eye.
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  But the idiot bit -- there is no chance I'll apologise for that

Bravo.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Clarkson is something of a Little Englander fool, but his heart's mostly in the right place. As an unabashed right-winger or sorts, who therefore attracts a lot of viewers to the BBC who otherwise wouldn't watch any of al Beeb's left wing drivel output, he's both a thorn in the side of, and a great asset to, the organisation. The clincher to his survival is his bigoted anti-Americanism (which perhaps he, and/or or his editors, accentuate to ensure his presence remains tolerated by the BBC management).
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 5:19 Comments || Top||

#4  After Blair and Brown I'm not quite sure why he has nothing against the Scots.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/08/2009 8:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Jeremy has had some clunkers on Top Gear also. I remember when there was all the hullabaloo over SUV's and their size and gas guzzling ability. He went and criticized the American SUV's like the Navigator, Explorer, Jimmy, Escalade etc. But he was sitting inside one of the biggest damn Land Rover's I have ever seen while he was talking.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:17 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday:

Alice Kramden - died 1996

Nick Nolte - 136 68

James Dean - died 1955

William Tecumseh Sherman - died 1891

Jules Verne - died 1905

Jack "Daphne" Lemmon - died 2001

Lana Turner - died 1995

Lana was married 8 times. No marriage lasted more than 4 years even when you combine the two marriages to Stephen Crane.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/08/2009 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Which one is Jack Lemmon? ;-)
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:05 Comments || Top||


#4  Didn't realize Jules Verne lived to see a flying machine. I'll wager he died happy.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 8:44 Comments || Top||

#5  William Tecumseh Sherman - died 1891

Good
Posted by: The ATL || 02/08/2009 8:53 Comments || Top||

#6  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^tHAT

wuzn't me! I swear!
Posted by: sHIPMAN || 02/08/2009 8:59 Comments || Top||

#7  But Ship, sometimes you need Shermans if you want to win wars.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/08/2009 9:41 Comments || Top||

#8  rare photo of Joan - her legs are closed
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 9:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Agreed Glenmore, if we had listened to Jackson early on it would have been a done deal. Of course killing POWs was kinda frowned upon, even by the madman Lee.
Posted by: sHIPMAN || 02/08/2009 9:53 Comments || Top||

#10  I would love to see WTS marching (burning his way) into North and South Waziristan.....baitullah mehsud would have a shiitefit.
Posted by: Sonny Ebbeamp1305 || 02/08/2009 11:13 Comments || Top||

#11  She played Edith Keeler on a 1966 Star Trek episode (in her early 30s). Captain Kirk fell in love with her but, shockingly, never seems to have sex with her. Spock convinced Kirk to let Keeler die in a traffic accident for the good of humanity. Somehow I think the writer was telling us something.
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 12:32 Comments || Top||

#12  personally, I'd send him after DC first
Posted by: Albert Slolurt2195 || 02/08/2009 12:35 Comments || Top||

#13  #12: personally, I'd send him after DC first
Posted by: Albert Slolurt2195


He'll need more than a division. Probably more than three divisions, and LOTS of bullets. Scads of folks in DC that need ventilating.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 13:21 Comments || Top||

#14  Fumar es Rokken!
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/08/2009 14:05 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistani turbans say they killed Polish hostage
Pakistani militants said they killed a kidnapped Polish geologist on Saturday, heightening fears for several foreigners abducted in the dangerous borderlands near Afghanistan, including an American U.N. worker.

There was no official confirmation that the hostage, Piotr Stanczak, was dead. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Saturday that Warsaw had received "informal" word that the kidnappers had killed their victim.

A spokesman for Taliban militants operating around the town of Darra Adam Khel said Stanczak was "slaughtered" earlier in the day because the government had missed a deadline to release 26 prisoners.

The spokesman, who said he went by the single name Mohammad, said authorities had offered to free only four. He spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Armed men pulled Stanczak from his car on Sept. 28 after killing three Pakistanis traveling with him near the city of Attock, where Stanczak had been surveying oil and gas fields in the region.

It was among a series of carefully targeted shootings and kidnappings that illustrated the breakdown of law and order in Pakistan's northwest and the increased targeting of foreigners by militants.

The most recent abduction occurred Monday when gunmen seized an American U.N. worker in the border city of Quetta. It was unclear whether militants or criminals seeking a ransom were responsible.

Two diplomats _ an Iranian and an Afghan _ as well as a Chinese telecoms engineer are also being held by kidnappers and an American aid worker was fatally shot in the main northwestern city of Peshawar in November.

Speaking in Germany, Tusk said there was still hope for the Polish hostage because the government still has no absolute proof of his death.

"We hope that it's not true, but we are not optimistic this morning and we fear that unfortunately a tragedy may have unfolded," Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said. He did not identify the hostage by name.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said authorities were still "trying to ascertain the factual position."

Officials say Stanczak's kidnappers have also been demanding the withdrawal of Pakistani security forces from the northwest, where the army is embroiled in fierce fighting in several regions.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Brave brave lions of islam...

Don't bother running, you'll only die tired.
Posted by: Free Radical || 02/08/2009 5:40 Comments || Top||

#2  easy answer - take the 26 they demanded released - and kill them. Publicly
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 7:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Top US lawyer warns of deaths at Guantanamo
Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, will step through the grand entrance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London tomorrow and demand the release of her client - a British resident who claims he was repeatedly tortured at the behest of US intelligence officials - from Guantanamo Bay. Bradley will also request the disclosure of 42 secret documents that allegedly chronicle not only how Binyam Mohamed was tortured, but may also corroborate claims that Britain was complicit in his treatment.
All allegedly, of course. And he still has all his fingernails ...
But first, Bradley, a US military attorney for 20 years, will reveal that Mohamed, 31, is dying in his Guantanamo cell and that conditions inside the Cuban prison camp have deteriorated badly since Barack Obama took office. Fifty of its 260 detainees are on hunger strike and, say witnesses, are being strapped to chairs and force-fed, with those who resist being beaten. At least 20 are described as being so unhealthy they are on a "critical list", according to Bradley.
Here's the critical point: I personally would refuse their freedom and refuse to intervene, and so would let them starve. George Bush would refuse both their starvation and their freedom, and would have them force-fed. Wanna bet on whether the Lightworker™ rolls over and frees them?
Mohamed, who is suffering dramatic weight loss after a month-long hunger strike, has told Bradley, 45, that he is "very scared" of being attacked by guards, after witnessing a savage beating for a detainee who refused to be strapped down and have a feeding tube forced into his mouth. It is the first account Bradley has personally received of a detainee being physically assaulted in Guantanamo.
From the beginning of time, any prison inmate who has defied the guards has paid the price. That's true in any US prison, any British prison, and most especially in any Turkish prison. True in China, true in Persia, true in ancient Rome and true in ancient Inca. We don't excuse or condone it, but it's how a rough prison justice is maintained.
Bradley recently met Mohamed in Camp Delta's sparse visiting room and was shaken by his account of the state of affairs inside the notorious prison. She said: "At least 50 people are on hunger strike, with 20 on the critical list, according to Binyam. The JTF [the Joint Task Force running Guantanamo] are not commenting because they do not want the public to know what is going on.
Rather sensible of them, since I suspect many, many in America agree with my take on the matter ...
"Binyam has witnessed people being forcibly extracted from their cell. Swat teams in police gear come in and take the person out; if they resist, they are force-fed and then beaten. Binyam has seen this and has not witnessed this before. Guantanamo Bay is in the grip of a mass hunger strike and the numbers are growing; things are worsening.

"It is so bad that there are not enough chairs to strap them down and force-feed them for a two- or three-hour period to digest food through a feeding tube. Because there are not enough chairs the guards are having to force-feed them in shifts. After Binyam saw a nearby inmate being beaten it scared him and he decided he was not going to resist. He thought, 'I don't want to be beat, injured or killed.' Given his health situation, one good blow could be fatal," said Bradley.
But if he's on a hunger strike he's not supposed to care if it's fatal. The whole point is to threaten to die in order to get the soft-hearted system to relent. You can't be on a hunger strike and then quail at the thought of your own mortality.
"Binyam is continuing to lose weight and he is going to get worse. He has been told he is about to be released, but psychologically and physically he is declining."

It is conceivable that Mohamed himself may shortly return to London, heralding yet another political embarrassment for Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who already faces a tumultuous week over claims that he was keen to suppress evidence of torture.

On Tuesday, the unprecedented dispute between Miliband and the judiciary is set to reignite when High Court judges Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones decide whether to reopen the case which Mohamed believes substantiates his torture claims.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a little-publicised court case into the treatment of Mohamed will open. American civil liberties lawyers are hoping to shine a light on the defence firm that allegedly carried out the practice of "rendition" on behalf of the CIA. Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary, helped to arrange rendition flights for several terror suspects, including Mohamed, to nations where they claim they were tortured.
If we had a better CIA all those documents would never have been recorded ...
The case was originally dismissed after the Bush administration asserted "state secrets privilege", indicating that it would endanger national security - the same argument used by Miliband. However, Obama has repeatedly stressed his willingness to be less secretive than his predecessor and a similar decision would lead to claims that the current administration is bent on suppressing evidence of torture.
So the CIA is going to try and force his hand, and my guess is that they'll succeed ...
Closer to home, the Observer has found evidence suggesting a broader unwillingness by Britain to confront the US over its war on terror programme. The Attorney General says it is "actively considering" possible criminal wrongdoings against MI5 and the CIA, but sources claim the government's senior lawyer has failed, after almost four months of looking into the issue, to request material from the US that may substantiate allegations of MI5 complicity in Mohamed's torture.

Suspicion is also growing that some sections of the US intelligence community would prefer Binyam did die inside Guantanamo. Silenced forever, only the sparse language of his diary would be left to recount his torture claims and interviewees with an MI5 officer, known only as Witness B. Such a scenario would also deny Mohamed the chance to personally sue the US, and possibly British authorities, over his treatment.

But if Mohamed survives to come back to London, his experiences of the past six years promise a harrowing journey through the dark underbelly of the war on terror. For Miliband, the questions concerning Britain's role may have only just begun.
No, the more harrowing part is this: we already know that MI5 can't keep track of the potential terrorists inside Britain today. If the terrorists succeed in another Tube bombing or 3/11 style incident, the people presently wringing their hands over alleged torture are going to look mighty stupid.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But you see, Steve, the only reason that they would attack Britain is because their Muslim brothers are being tortured at Gitmo, and the UK is doing nothing about it. Oh, and because Gazans are dying and the UK is not stopping it. Oh, and because the British (except Prince Charles and possibly the Archbishop of Canterbury) have refused the Dawa and thus must be killed.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  And because the rest of us continue to breathe, don't forget that.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 2:11 Comments || Top||

#3  For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I find myself sceptical of ol' Binyam's claims of beatings and torture. Not to imply that he is a lying scumbag, but I'd sooner believe they turned him into a newt.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/08/2009 4:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder where it is written that these vermin have a right to retain a US Military lawyer?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 7:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, will step through the grand entrance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London tomorrow and demand the release of her client

Is this part of her assigned duties? BCD is in order
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, will step through the grand entrance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London tomorrow and demand the release of her client - a British resident who claims he was repeatedly tortured at the behest of US intelligence officials - from Guantanamo Bay.

Has crossed the line of being an officer of the court [which is something other than a military officer] and is now an advocate without portfolio. Notice that she is so passionate on the issue, she's forgot to submit her resignation to continue serving in her commission when the issue is so repugnant to her that she needed to up the game by this political theater.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/08/2009 8:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley
Posted by: tipper || 02/08/2009 8:38 Comments || Top||

#8  From the onset, once these dogs were determined to no longer have any information of value, they should have been sent to Afghanistan, where an illiterate Afghan army officer would have signed with an 'X' for their return, receiving a crisp, new $1 bill for every 'X'.

The prisoners themselves would be providing sustenance to the "magnificent sea cre-a-tures" as Jacques Cousteau would say.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/08/2009 8:40 Comments || Top||

#9  "Top US lawyer warns of deaths at Guantanamo"

Promises, promises....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 9:36 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, those Thai Muslim extremists are really pissed that the Peace Process isn't going well in Israel.
Posted by: jack salami || 02/08/2009 9:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Swat teams in police gear come in and take the person out;

I'm no military guy but, um, what are 'Swat teams in police gear' doing on a military base? Smells like bullshit to me.
Posted by: Raj || 02/08/2009 9:55 Comments || Top||

#12  SteveS,

they did turn him into a newt....but he got better.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/08/2009 10:00 Comments || Top||

#13  Hey, has anyone seen my giveashit? I think I misplaced it. Damn, I sure do hate Liberals. Useless bags of excrement.
Posted by: Trader_DFW || 02/08/2009 11:19 Comments || Top||

#14  Thanks Tipper. Why am I not surprised. Of course there is no conflict of interest between her Air Force Reserve career and her... day job of defending murdering foreign terrorist.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 12:15 Comments || Top||

#15  Sinktrap me if you must, She's Black.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 12:39 Comments || Top||

#16  Sinktrap me if you must, She's Black.

And scary looking too!
Posted by: Trader_DFW || 02/08/2009 13:07 Comments || Top||

#17  There is only one thing that should have been done that would have made Quantanmo Bay a better place. A firing squad.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||

#18  Maybe she's threatening that, unless her wayward yoots are released into the general public, she'll hold her breath until she keels over DRT?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 19:10 Comments || Top||

#19  I thought it was Yvonne Ridley. My mistake. Carry on.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/08/2009 19:27 Comments || Top||


Biden vows break with Bush era foreign policy
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden promised a sharp break from the go-it-alone policies of the Bush era in a major speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, saying it was time to "reset" Washington's ties with Russia and talk to Iran. Speaking at the conference,
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ah yes. Time for the giant to spend some time on his knees grovelling round with the dwarves - that'll make it all better.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 4:20 Comments || Top||

#2  note that every Biden press conference is immediately followed up by a minimum of two sessions with spokesholes explaining "what he really meant to say" to the press. What a fool
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:20 Comments || Top||

#3  at some point in time Biden will step down citing health concerns.
Posted by: jack salami || 02/08/2009 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Less than three weeks into your term is a bit early for vowing, Joe.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/08/2009 10:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Attacking predecessors undermines trust in the continuity of U.S. foreign policy. Other countries will not be willing to follow or work with the U.S. if they believe that U.S. policies are subject to change.

It may be news to Biden, but there are many countries who appreciated the U.S. over the last eight years. Checkolslavacia and Poland just asked Obama to procced with the missile shield; Indian relations made big strides. Who wants to be the next U.S. ally burned?

As an aside, I wonder what Hillary thinks about Biden's consant spouting on foreign policy.
Posted by: DoDo || 02/08/2009 10:25 Comments || Top||

#6  As an aside, I wonder what Hillary thinks about Biden's consant spouting on foreign policy.

That's easy, she'd love to trde places with him, so she's the next pres.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 12:34 Comments || Top||

#7  REDDIT > US DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Press Release]SAYS US REGRETS RUSSIA DECISIONS TO BUILD BASES IN GEORGIA, IN VIOLATION OF GEORGIAN SOVEREIGNTY[Russ naval base at Orchamchire, Army bases in SOuth Ossetia + Abkahzia.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 23:37 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
New Obama challenge: Rise of Israeli hawks
Analysts fear that a possible power shift in the Israeli government in favor of hawks would foil US plans for the Middle East peace.
What plans? And why is it 'hawkish' to defend yourself?
Opinion polls ahead of Israel's general elections indicate that Israelis will likely to vote for right wing politicians, a shift which might pose challenges to the Obama administration's Mideast plans.

The likely change in public opinion reflects Israelis' dissatisfaction with the Kadima government's failure both in economic and security fronts.

Moreover, two consecutive defeats of the Israeli army in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah seem to have changed tilted the situation against the centrist Kadima party.
Defeats? Oh right, this is presstv.ir we're reading ...
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right wing Likud party, which is likely to win the general elections, is known for taking a hard line against the Palestinians and peace initiatives.

In confronting one of Israel's main critical issues, Netanyahu has vowed to adopt an aggressive policy toward Iran's nuclear program. Analysts believe Netanyahu would forge a coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas parties, which are against ceding occupied West Bank to the Palestinians.

US President Barak Obama, meanwhile, has pledged to pursue the prospect of a two state solution to the Middle East conflict.

The elections for Knesset (parliament) seats which will decide the next Israeli prime minister are scheduled for February 10. The problem, Israeli analysts say, is that nobody really knows what the election is about.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is only one condition that I would be in favor of the Palestinian terrorists getting their hands on a nuke. Premature detonation.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Jews refusing to go to gas chambers quietly is quite a problem for Tranzies.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Why not simply back away from meddling in Isreal's affairs and let them do what they do best; defend themselves against terrorists and thugs. Just sayin', ya' know.
Posted by: WolfDog || 02/08/2009 9:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Opinion polls ahead of Israel's general elections indicate that Israelis will likely to vote for right wing politicians, a shift which might pose challenges to the Obama administration's Mideast plans.


How about "Obama's mideast plans cause shift to right wing politicions".
Posted by: DoDo || 02/08/2009 10:32 Comments || Top||

#5  It is interesting that these tools thinks the Zero's peace plan is more important than the beliefs of the people who live there.
Posted by: SR-71 || 02/08/2009 16:16 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Five militants killed in Swat
Security forces have killed 5 militants in Swat while as many people were killed when a shell landed on a house. Bodies of six people have also been recovered from different areas, sources said. The security forces targeted militants' hideouts in Ali Grama area of Tehsil Kabal with gunship helicopters, killing 5 militants, sources said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Pakistan wants peace in South Asia: Wormtongue
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Saturday said the Mumbai attacks were as much a blow to Pakistan as it was for India and regretted the vilification campaign against Pakistan.

In his remarks at the Munich Young Leaders's round-table on security policy the Foreign Minister said "Unfortunately India has refused to accept our sincere overtures and has started a vilification campaign against Pakistan, not realizing that Mumbai was as much a blow to Pakistan as it was to India."

In the round-table on the sidelines of Munich Security Dialogue organized by 'Koerber-Stiftung Foundation', Qureshi said Pakistan wishes to resolve all differences including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  what they want is the "peace" of submission, or, barring that, the peace of the grave.

Posted by: AlanC || 02/08/2009 10:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, jeez, Alan, if that's all they want - let's give it to them.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Its the same 'peace' which Islam has offered to all infidels:

1) Convert to Islam. But you will never be as holy as Arab muslims.

2) Pay a substantial Jitza(sp?) tax in humiliation and be 4th class citizens (1st - Muslim males; 2nd - Goats, Cattle, and Livestock; 3rd - Muslim women; 4th - Infidels).

3) Death
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/08/2009 11:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Pakistan since its conception has wanted to be "special", as in "unique". Instead, they've been the same grade of "special" that gets you picked up by the short schoolbus. They still don't understand that as long as they ACT like tenth-class morons, they'll be treated like tenth-class morons. One of these days India is going to get tired of having a festering sore on their western border, and eliminate Pakistan. Unless the rest of the world wants to continue to support terrorism, they'll simply turn their heads and close their ears to Pakistan's dying screams.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 16:12 Comments || Top||


Eight Taliban killed in Bajaur
Eight Taliban were killed as shelling by helicopter gunships continued in Bajaur Agency on Saturday, officials said. The troops were targeting Taliban hideouts in Dama Dola, Mataro Sha, Umrai and Shinkot areas of Mamoond tehsil. Residents said the troops advanced from the agency headquarters in Khar and gained control of Siddiqabad, Rehmanabad and Anayat Qalay. They said the Taliban posed no resistance during the army deployment.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Pakistan has dismantled nuclear black market: FO
(APP): The foreign office on Saturday reiterated that Pakistan has dismantled the nuclear black market network and no individual associated with it enjoys any official status nor has access to any strategic facility. “We have investigated the matter and shared relevant findings with the IAEA, which has appreciated our cooperation,” the foreign office spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Horse. Barn. No door.
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Couple of billion might buy them a new door and silent hinges.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 9:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama says Bush sent economy in tailspin
US President Barack Obama criticizes his Republican predecessor George W. Bush for policies which dragged the country into recession.

"We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led US into this mess in the first place," Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday.
So we're going to double the debt again as a solution?
Obama also poured scorn on Republican critics who said his stimulus economic bill lacked enough tax cutting measures. "We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges."

With a successful Senate vote on the stimulus bill in sight; however, the US president warned that quick action was needed to avoid catastrophe.

Earlier on Friday, Senate Democrats agreed to trim spending proposals and support tax cuts in a roughly $800 billion bill that was to go to a vote on Tuesday. They rolled back an earlier $937 billion proposal by culling what critics, mostly Republicans, called billions of dollars in unwarranted spending.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi predicted Obama would have a finished product to sign by mid-February.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Executive summary: massively increasing the nation's debt, nationalizing the nation's economy, and wasting enormous sums on pure pork has never worked before. Lets give it another try!
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if whoever gave the Republican response, (as if anyone in the Republican party has the guts to stand up anymore) pointed out that the Democratically controlled house and senate of the last two years caused massive damage in only TWO years.

...doubt it.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 0:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Whoa, Sherry! Fastest mod in Texas ...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 2:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, he had a huge hand in it. The market itself works well. It's the players that eff it up. Regulate the players. Just need one simple law: Take advantage of people ==> Lose everything and go to jail. A product should be able to stand on its own two feet, and not depend on the ignorance of those who purchase it. Of course, the line is going to be a gray at times, and even if it isn't the lawyers will redefine gray to suit the defense. But big stuff like ACORN, no-doc loans, ponzi schemes, sham loans, Enron, etc. are no-brainers.
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:15 Comments || Top||

#5  LETS KNOW WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABUT. THE HOUSING CRISIS STARTED ITH PRESIDENT CLINTON. HE HAS ADMITTED THIS IN MANY INTERVIEWS. WHO IN CONGRESS SUPPORTED, AND IN RETURN WAS SUPPORTED BY, AL THE FREDDY AND FANNY MONIES. OOPS, WHY ITS BARNEY FRANKS AND COMPANY. YES BUSCH MADE MANY MISTAKES AND ADED TO THE PROBLEM. OBAMA DOESNT KNOW WHAT THE WORD CAPITALISM MEANS. IN THE SHORT TIME HE AND THE PELOSI GANG ARE IN OFFICE THEY HAVE DUBLED OUR DEBT,LIED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND MADE US THE LAUGHING FOOLS OF THE WORLD. $450,000,000 FOR CODOMS WILL CERTAINLY CREATE MILLIONS OF JOBS. MR. OBAMA SAID HE WOULD CREATE 2,000,000 THENHE SAID 3,000,000 AND NOW ITS OVER 4,000,000. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM A MAN WHO CAMPAINED IN 57 STATES.HE AND THE PELOI(UNKNOW THE ONE WHO SAYS WE LOSE 500,000,000 JOBS A MONTH) WILL BRING DOWN THIS COUNTRY. WE DO NOT NEED THE STIMULUS, ( MR OBAMA CALLED IT A SPENDING PACKAGE.OOOOOPS)
OUR COUNTRY CAN WORK IT OUT WITH WASHINGTON. DO OT PASS THIS BILL. FINALLY, WHY HASNT ANYONE BEEN CHARGED WITH ALL THE FRAUD. THE HEADS OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY,(CITI,BANK OF AMERICA,AIG,FANNY, FREDDY, COX ETC.) NOW WE HAVE A MAN WHO TOLD ABOUT MADOFF YARS AGO. WHY ARE ANY OF THESE PEOPLE IN JAIL. IT MAY BE HARD TO PROVE CRIMINAL ACTS, BUT VERY EASY THE PROVE VIOLATIONS OF FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY. ANYONE HURT BY THE COMPANIES CAN USE FOR FIDUCIARY CRIMES. CORPOATIONS HAVE OFFICERS LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR THIS REASON. BLESS AMERICAN AND SCREW OUR INCOMPETENT LEADERS
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 8:21 Comments || Top||

#6  see the button on the left of your keyboard? "Caps Lock"? Use it
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:40 Comments || Top||

#7  The housing crisis started with the creation of the FHA. And don't forget the repeal of Reg Q. This has been a life time in the making, just like its preview, the S & L crisis. Everyone owns it. And I predict now it will happen again in, oh 2090.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/08/2009 8:46 Comments || Top||

#8  The number of unemployed persons (11.6 million) and the unemployment rate (7.6 percent) rose in January. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 4.1 million. The Department of Labor reported today that nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January (-598,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent. Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007, .... most of this mess happening only in past three months! And some wonder Obama is pushing so hard for a stimulus package. The Herbert Hoover approach, do nothing, is all we need, leading us to a twelve year depression ??
Posted by: Suggestions4Obama.com || 02/08/2009 8:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Wut? Hell the only sure cure is a nuclear free-for-all.

Let's target Iran first, a couple of SLBMz at the Norks, a couple of snapshots at the Chinks and viola! Propsperity Roosevelt style!
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 9:24 Comments || Top||

#10  The Herbert Hoover approach, do nothing, is all we need, leading us to a twelve year depression ??

Ah, the old myth of the Donks.

"Hoover massively expanded government spending and signed into law a horrible protectionist piece of legislation known as Smoot-Hawley. At the same time, he used the bully pulpit to hector businesses into keeping wages and prices high which only made it harder for a puffed-up economy to go through a painful but transitory adjustment."

Ever hear of Hoover Damn [which BTW F.Roosevelt was so petty that during his tenure the name was changed to make sure such a massive public works project would never be tied to his Republican predecessor - the pre-1984 memory hole.]?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/08/2009 9:34 Comments || Top||

#11  SPM what's with the all caps?...nobody will read it.
Posted by: jack salami || 02/08/2009 9:45 Comments || Top||

#12  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Einstein who defined insanity as repeatedly trying those ideas which have already been shown to be failures? Just askin'; Congress.
Posted by: WolfDog || 02/08/2009 9:45 Comments || Top||

#13  Obama: Blame Bush. Spend our way out of over-spending. More pork, please.

Very shallow. Ignores the lessons of history. Thin-skinned. More to come. I hope we can hang on until 2012.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/08/2009 9:57 Comments || Top||

#14  Obama's weekly radio address was a notable example of pure demagoguery.

"devastating news" "alarming" "lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began"[how many new gained in that period?]

"economic crisis" "national catastrophe" "Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care"

Taking 10% out of 1,000B$ of wasteful spending isn't the answer. The answer is to kill the whole thing and do only what is necessary for the next six months. This just borrows from our children to buy things we don't need. 10% is moderate stimulus, 90% is pork.

The 700B$ TARP package was mostly loans with equity received in return. The taxpayers may even make money on it. This package is pure pork, and our money down the rathole.

One trillion. That's over one million dollars a day since Jesus walked the earth. That's $100M spent for each of those "Maine jobs". Thanks, Collins and Snow. They've fallen for the old game of, "Ask for ten times as much as you need, give one tenth back in 'negotiation'."
Posted by: KBK || 02/08/2009 11:02 Comments || Top||

#15  They will keep blaming Bush as long as they can. It is the only way they can deflect blame.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/08/2009 11:16 Comments || Top||

#16  One of the small things that consoles me in these troubling times is how good President Bush in going to look in about a year -- or , hell at the rate we're going, may be next week. It's like Mark Twain said:

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
Posted by: Matt || 02/08/2009 12:01 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm not sure if it makes sense. Economies go through cycles and recession is part of the cycle. I read the history of cycles at http://www.recessioninfocenter.com
Posted by: Angavimble Brown9043 || 02/08/2009 13:15 Comments || Top||

#18  Government (specifically democrat programs) are to blame for that trillian dollar air bubble YOU democrats put into our bloodstream.

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_11631591
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 14:10 Comments || Top||

#19  I also read earlier this week that Commander Zero's administration shut down more oil and gas leases in Utah.

If we're on the edge of a depression, why shut down and contract real productive industries?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/08/2009 15:48 Comments || Top||

#20  LMAO frank g
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/08/2009 16:05 Comments || Top||

#21  It was always a delight for the press, when they would throw in, that Bush couldn't read. He did read, voraciously. Even had a contest with Rove, to see who could read the most books in a year.

(As they reported he was dumb, they still reported what books he had with him! I know, that makes no sense.)

Bush won -- and it wasn't fiction he read. The list is impressive and added much, I'm sure, for his respect of the office, and his decisions.

I don't ever remember hearing one press person say or write a word about The One's reading habits, or what he reads. (Of course, his reading was/is probably centered around communism/socialism on what is sure to be a limiting reading list)

I'm thinking he skipped most of the history books, the economic books, and the Making of a President. And, more recently, seemingly has read nothing, even while in the Senate, about the growing problems that Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac were creating, for at least the last seven years.

Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2009-02-07 15:53
As George said farewell to Obama, he handed him three envelopes numbered consecutively 1,2,and 3. George told him to only open each in sequence when the crap hits the fan.

Well, he's opened and used envelope number 1 which read 'blame your predecessor.' How long before he gets around to opening envelope number 2 which will read 'reorganize'?

Oh, number 3 reads 'prepare three envelopes'.
Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2009-02-07 15:53
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 16:30 Comments || Top||

#22  The issue is governmetn intervention in the markets (Freddy & Fanny, for Barny Frank, as an example), which caused overspending and bad debt that are what gave us this recession.

And these bozo's on the Obama side of things want us to believe that large scale GOVERNMENT wasteful overpending and borrowing will ead us out of this?

Keynesian-ism nearly killed the nation in 1977. None of the stupid kids supporting Obama remember double digit inflation and double digit unemployment, nor do they remember the hard hard steps Reagan had to take to get us out of that.

Obama, you got the "Misery Index" approaching dobule-digits. Lets see you and your follwoers keep bending over to Nancy Pelosi and the liberals in the House and Senate - you'll sso have both sides of that Misery Index above 10%

Saying "Bush did it" might teach you something - Bush & Congress SPENT a lot and ENLARGED government - and that blew things up. Are you so stupid as to learn nothing from the "Bush mess" upon which you blame things?

Damned fools, you'll destroy the nation.

Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 17:04 Comments || Top||

#23  OS, take heart. As long as folks like you and other Rantburgers exist the nation will never die. This government however may not last the year.
Posted by: Hellfish || 02/08/2009 18:00 Comments || Top||

#24  ...threw our economy into a tailspin...

Mmmkay...... In aerodynamics (simplified), a stall (sputtering economy) preceeds a spin.

The spin is caused by inappropriate rudder control (government intervention) at the developed stall.

A "tailspin" is caused by a rearward center of gravity (dead weight feel-good tax-funded government redistribution programs) that prevents the pilot (U.S. of A. Entrepreneurs) from reducing the wing angle of attack to allow spin-thence-stall recovery.

IMHO, the spending stimulus "program" will do little more than push more weight to the rear of our figurative aircraft, and will ultimately (irreparably?) damage the American free-market system's ability to right itself.

Or maybe that's the plan?
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/08/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||

#25  Let's just say that those in power are not huge fans of the current economic system.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 18:46 Comments || Top||

#26  And maybe they have a point.
Posted by: Thrish Bluetooth8556 || 02/08/2009 21:54 Comments || Top||

#27  I take it you prefer you Canadian economy? How do you feel about the protectionism that is the knee jerk reaction of Democrats in general and this President in particular?
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 22:01 Comments || Top||

#28  I prefer balance in extremes.

I feel that if protectionism will cure your economy, then Canada will benefit anyway because we're joined at the hip any way you look at it.
Posted by: Thrish Bluetooth8556 || 02/08/2009 22:25 Comments || Top||

#29  Unfortunately, so much of the U.S. economy is based on international trade -- in both directions -- that protectionism will harm considerably more than it helps. Consider, for example, the automobile industry (I do hope Rantburg's many experts in macro and micro economics will provide additions and corrections to the following statements made by this little dilettante housewife). The most successful producers of autos within the continental United States are actually Honda and Toyota, which assemble their vehicles in American factories using American workers and a great many American subcontractors. Or consumer products like laundry detergent and toothpaste, made by American Fortune 500 companies Colgate and Procter & Gamble, which garner a significant portion of their profits from the products they produce in factories around the world using local labour and selling into local markets. Or, God forbid, the computer industry where moves by American companies to outsource production to India and China is being offset by Indian companies outsourcing to Silicon Valley to be closer to their American customers, or so I've heard. When one moves beyond local small businesses, it's terribly difficult to determine which of those companies that do business here should be categorized as domestic, and thus deserving protection, and which as truly foreign, to be protected against. But then it isn't fair to expect President Obama to know such things at this stage of his career, as he's never really had dealings with productive businesses that didn't involve accepting donations or leading shakedowns "for the community". But he has been acclaimed a brilliant law lecturer, so I'm sure he'll figure it out as soon as he starts serious discussions on how to implement his cunning plan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 23:15 Comments || Top||

#30  We need protection from China, that's all.

I have a ~40 year old drill made in Sheffield, England. Still works. The rest of the Chinese made crap crapped out after about a year. One didn't make it past 3 months. But I guess that's what it's all about: a perpetual annuity for big corporations, without which we wouldn't have jobs. So this is what it comes down to: do you want a good drill, or a job?
Posted by: Thrish Bluetooth8556 || 02/08/2009 23:51 Comments || Top||


Britain
So much for our honeymoon with Obama
By Jove, I do believe the British left is figuring it out ...
by Nick Cohen

Stories not only grow in the telling, but change their moral as well. The tale of how Hank Paulson begged Alistair Darling to help with the rescue of Lehman Brothers last autumn was once an affirmation of British good sense. Now it is a lament for lost certainties.

As the doomed firm creaked and splintered, it seemed as if the chance of picking it up on the cheap might tempt Barclays or another British bank. Paulson wanted the chancellor to give his blessing. But Darling did not think Lehmans was a bargain. He thought it was a basket case. He refused and, for good measure, warned British bankers that if they bought Lehmans, they could expect no help from the taxpayer if it went down.

You can imagine the relish with which civil servants repeated the story. The unilateralist neocons of the Bush administration were asking for help from foreigners. They had reckoned without a Britain that was not going to allow itself to be dragged into a madcap Republican scheme.

The collapse of Lehmans also made the victory of Barack Obama certain and that, too, was a comfort. Everyone thought they knew that the Democrats were civilised men and women who drank our lattes and drove our dinky, fuel-efficient cars. Soon they would be in the White House and the world would return to normal.

I cannot overestimate the strength of the government's belief that it can restore the status quo ante. Obviously, ministers understand the scale of crisis. At its peak, financiers told Darling that the bank with his current account was 20 minutes away from collapse, news which must have concentrated the mind. Nor have Labour and the Bank of England been frightened of making the vast but necessary interventions to stop a disaster turning into a catastrophe. But they do not think that the crash is like the fall of the Berlin Wall or 9/11, an event from which there is no going back. They still hope that the model of free trade and globalisation can be put together again. Property prices will shoot upwards. The tax receipts from financial services will flow. The City will resume its primacy and all will be right with the world.

In this intellectual climate, reforms that appear obvious to social democrats remain unthinkable to insiders. Closing tax havens, regulating hedge funds and stopping high street banks behaving like investment banks so that never again do we have the obscenity of taxpayers bailing out speculators are items the agenda-setters have no wish to put on the table.

Much to their discomfort, however, our leaders are realising that although the Washington consensus lives on in London, it is dying in Obama's Washington. Now when they talk about Paulson there is a faint whiff of nostalgia. Say what you like about old Hank, but at least he wanted to consult us. We wish we could say the same about his successors.

Press and public are still so in love with Obama that they barely noticed that Congress ordered the US government to spend American taxpayers' money on American goods last week. True, senators watered down the measure and Obama insisted that existing trade treaties must be respected. Nevertheless, protectionism triumphed and profoundly unsettled European policy makers as it did.

In their minds, Republicans were the "stupid white men" who cared nothing for foreigners. Now, they find that the Democrats are the real America Firsters, not only in Congress but also at the Doha talks, where an agreement on freeing up world trade seemed within reach. It is in the balance, because Democrats want to protect the American economy against foreigners dumping subsidised goods and to hold countries to account for their environmental standards and respect for labour rights.

Obama came to power with more international goodwill than any president since Eisenhower, mutter angry ministers. Do not think his popularity will last if he keeps on indulging the protectionists. If Obama is hearing their warnings, he is clearly paying them no heed. Every day brings news from Washington our rulers find profoundly unsettling. Conceivably, Labour may have to imitate Obama's pay cap on executives of firms that have taken public money. The power of the American example, combined with the public's disgust at the remarkably dumb yet brazenly rapacious executives of Lloyds, Barclays and RBS, could be too much for any government to resist.

But, trust me, they will hate intervening if they forced into it. They still yearn for the roaring days when the moneymen were getting richer and Labour was winning elections. Salary caps and bonus bans are alien inventions from a strange, new world they neither like nor understand.

You can sense the ambivalence in a letter Alistair Darling sent to the G20 leaders ahead of April's economic summit in London. He argues for international co-operation to stop the banks bringing the roof down again, but there is no echo of the talk in Washington about closing tax havens or regulating hedge funds. Instead, the chancellor worries that "heavy-handed regulation can lead to sclerosis in financial markets where the ultimate losers are pensioners, savers and businesses".

For what it is worth, although I believe in free trade, I also think it a scandal that the World Trade Organisation allowed China to join when it sends trade unionists to the camps. In my view, tax havens are centres of organised crime and, like everyone else, I find the sight of bankers enriching themselves at public expense revolting.

I also know, however, that Whitehall regards such social democratic views as naive and extremist. Once-respectable Washington society had no time for them either, but now its resistance is melting.

Maybe Labour is right to think we can get back to normal. It is not an ignoble aspiration when "normal" means secure jobs, safe homes, growing businesses and well-financed pensions.

But I sense as I watch startled ministers react to the changing line from Washington that they are beginning to suspect that perhaps normal is dead and gone; that maybe, just maybe, there is no normal to get back to.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What honeymoon? Only ignoramuses experienced anything like a honeymoon. The rest of us are just waiting for them to pull their heads out.
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Shock horror: UK Labour politicians are ignorant and naive, and like the media didn't bother to put two and two together as regards Obama's (unionist, not "America-First") loyalties and mindset. They bought into the vacuous rhetoric instead.
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 4:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Groovy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:07 Comments || Top||

#4  The honeymoon is over? We all got screwed pretty quickly--not much love involved.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/08/2009 8:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Unfortunately, this is going to be one of those messy, long drawn out, nasty divorces too.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/08/2009 8:35 Comments || Top||

#6  I still think the best comment about the One's first couple of weeks is one that I saw on another political commentary site (maybe here at the 'Burg'?)

"I knew the Obama Administration was gonna be a train wreck... but I thought it would get out of the station, first."
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 02/08/2009 10:03 Comments || Top||

#7  "There are two kinds of voters. Those who remember how bad Jimmy Carter was, and those who are about to find out."

Last week on Politico.
Posted by: SR-71 || 02/08/2009 13:40 Comments || Top||

#8  So the Europeans are worried about The One's economic plans.

Wait until they find out that he is less concerned about their national security than he is about America's ...
Posted by: Marilyn Unoting3261 || 02/08/2009 18:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Unfortunately, Marilyn, he's not particularly interested about America's security, either, except if he can use it to stay in power and damage our liberty even more. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 19:12 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
CSM Jeffrey Mellinger, The Last Draftee
Thanks Glenmore — for finding this
If you've read Michael Yon during his years in Iraq, you know who this guy is... you know of what he did.... Yon finally got to travel with him across Iraq.... When the Duece Four returned home, for the Army Ball with Bruce Willis in attendance, Yon was the house guest of this man.....

As Ollie North would say.... "His is a story that deserves to be told."

America's generals love to brag about their all-volunteer Army. That's because they tend to overlook Jeffrey Mellinger. He donned his Army uniform for the first time on April 18, 1972, about the time the Nixon Administration was seeking "peace with honor" in Vietnam and The Godfather was opening on the silver screen. Nearly 37 years later, he's still wearing Army green. Mellinger is, by all accounts, the last active-duty draftee serving in the U.S. Army.

"I'm a relic," Mellinger concedes with a self-deprecating laugh. But the last of the nearly 2 million men ordered to serve in the Vietnam-era military before conscription ended in 1973 still impresses 19-year-old soldiers.

"Most of them are surprised I'm still breathing, because in their minds I'm older than dirt," the fit 55-year-old says. "But they're even more surprised when they find out this dinosaur can still move around pretty darn quick."

Mellinger was working as a 19-year-old drywall hanger in Eugene, Oregon, when he came home to find a draft notice waiting for him. "I went down to the draft board and asked them if this was really serious," he recalls, "or if it was like an invitation." But it was an order, the first of many Mellinger would obey.

He started his military career as a clerk in what was then called West Germany, and was looking forward hanging up his uniform after two years of service. "I was dead-set on getting out," he says. "We had a lot of racial problems, drug problems, leadership problems." But his company commander talked him into re-enlisting.

The lure: the chance to join the Rangers, the elite warrior corps that Mellinger came to love (his 3,700 parachute jumps add up to more than 33 hours in freefall). Re-enlisting "was the best decision of my career," Mellinger says.

The Army sent him all over the world, including tours in Japan and Iraq. General David Petraeus, who served as Mellinger's boss during the draftee's final three months in Iraq in 2007, calls him "a national asset" who kept the top generals' aware of the peaks and valleys in battlefield morale.

"We lost count of how many times his personal convoy was hit," Petraeus says. "Yet he never stopped driving the roads, walking patrols, and going on missions with our troopers." (Mellinger's 33-month Iraq tour was punctuated by 27 roadside bombings, including two that destroyed his vehicle, although he managed to escape injury.)

Mellinger now serves as the Command Sergeant Major, the senior enlisted man in the Virginia headquarters of the Army Materiel Command, trying to shrink what he calls the "flash-to-bang time" between recognizing what soldiers need and getting it to them.

The son of a Marine, Mellinger had been turned down by both the Marines and the Army when he sought to enlist. "I was not a perfect child," he says. He finds it strange that the compulsory military that launched his career no longer exists, but says the Army is better for it.

"You get people who want to do this work," he says of today's nearly-all volunteer force. "If you had a draft at any other business in the world, you'd get people who maybe weren't suited to be accountants or drivers or mathematicians."

He doesn't have much patience for those, like Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who want to bring back the draft to ensure that war's burdens are equally shared. "We're doing just fine, thank you, with the all-volunteer force," Mellinger says. "Until the time comes that we're in danger of losing our capabilities to do our missions, then we ought to stick with what we have — there is no need for the draft."

Like many veterans of the Vietnam-era Army, he bridles at suggestions that the draftee force was riddled with misfits and druggies. "We didn't run off to Canada," he says, taking a swipe at those who avoided the draft by heading north. "While it makes great rhetoric to stand up and say 'We don't want a draft Army because the draft Army was bad,' the facts don't support it," Mellinger says. "Just because they didn't run down and sign up doesn't make them less deserving of respect for their contributions."

There's a sensitivity evident in being viewed as less of a soldier for having been drafted. "I'm proud to be a soldier, and I'm proud to be a draftee," he says. "I took the same oath that every other enlistee who came in the Army — there wasn't a different one for draftees."

His proudest moments are watching those he trained climb the military hierarchy themselves. "I can think of several soldiers who went on to become command sergeants major who were privates when I was either their squad leader or their drill sergeant," Mellinger says. But such memories also trigger his lone regret. "I wish I were as smart as I thought I was when I was moving into those duty positions."

Mellinger has told his wife, Kim, that this is his final Army posting, meaning he's likely to retire sometime next year. The couple has no children, although Mellinger has three grown kids from a prior marriage. The last draftee then plans to move to Alaska, where he spent much of his career, and spend his days reading history and running with his two Dobermans.

"When I tell my wife it's my last assignment, she just rolls her eyes," he concedes. "This is my sixth 'last assignment'."
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Recognizing the source, this is an interesting twist of words from the article:
"You get people who want to do this work," he says of today's nearly-all volunteer force.

today's nearly-all volunteer force... huh?

Once again, a reporter, who just doesn't get it.
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  He doesn't have much patience for those, like Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who want to bring back the draft to ensure that war's burdens are equally shared the destruction of the military's effectiveness.

There. Fixed it.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 02/08/2009 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I think the reporter's point is that since CSM Melliger was drafted, it is not a truly 100% volunteer force. It is only 99.99999% volunteer.
The fact that CSM Mellinger voluntarily re-enlisted (and re-enlisted and re-enlisted and ...) seems to escape the reporter.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 0:34 Comments || Top||

#4  But Command Sergeant Major Mellinger was drafted, Sherry. Therefore in a certain kind of forced calculation the American Armed Forces contain one less than 100% volunteers, even if he has voluntarily chosen to reenlist at each opportunity for four decades. Of course the calculation is not valid, but really, is it fair to expect journalist to understand that? Yes, there are those in the profession who do, but nowadays such come as a very pleasant surprise rather than a fulfilled expectation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 0:43 Comments || Top||

#5  I've sent an email to the author, asking him to clarify his "nearly-all" volunteer service.

I don't expect a response.
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 0:43 Comments || Top||

#6  As dear Rambler said so much more succinctly, once again. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 0:44 Comments || Top||

#7  TW - once again, your usage of words astounds me, making me smile... but nowadays such come as a very pleasant surprise rather than a fulfilled expectation
Posted by: Sherry || 02/08/2009 0:47 Comments || Top||

#8  It must have been an accident, Sherry. I am not a properly trained journalist, after all. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 1:25 Comments || Top||

#9 

The best tribute I can muster up for this man of great, great honor...
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Angegum9270 || 02/08/2009 1:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Hooah! Thank you for your service CSM Mellinger.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 7:35 Comments || Top||

#11  No trailing wife, CSM Mellinger was not drafted. Private E-1 Mellinger was.
Posted by: Hupomogum Prince of the French9957 || 02/08/2009 9:08 Comments || Top||

#12  "I went down to the draft board and asked them if this was really serious," he recalls, "or if it was like an invitation."

o/ CMS Mellinger
Who cleverly availed himself of numerous educational opportunties.

Also... Jeeez... That's what you want a CSM to look like.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 9:20 Comments || Top||

#13  "I am not a properly trained journalist, after all."

Gott sei dank, tw!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 9:44 Comments || Top||

#14  Thanks, Sherry, for bumping this forward. I see you put back all the parts I edited for length. Power to the moderators!
Note that this is from almost the last place I would have expected to see such an article - Time Magazine. Now that Zero is president I guess they figure they can afford to publish such.
I found the article entirely appropriate and complimentary: the whole 'draftee' thing was primarily a clever hook to introduce the man. It also allows Mellinger to defend his generation and draftees against stereotypes, and at the same time defend the volunteer army. To me, the author and editors were very good about letting the CSM tell the story. Would that such was more common.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/08/2009 10:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Sigh. Yet another unsung hero of our age. Thank you CSM Jeffrey Mellinger for your service.

Its humbling to think that we civilians are served by such men. I first heard of him from Michael Yon's reports.

As for the 'draftee' and 'nearly all volunteer force' things - I think the reporter had to put those in to get past the censors at Time magazine - otherwise it would never have seen the light of day.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/08/2009 11:01 Comments || Top||

#16  #9 - Play that on Al Arabiya.
Posted by: Matt || 02/08/2009 12:38 Comments || Top||

#17  Saw the video, Dammit I'm crying.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 12:52 Comments || Top||

#18  " in what was then called West Germany"

Damn. I feel old seeing that.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 14:01 Comments || Top||

#19  #18 " in what was then called West Germany"
Damn. I feel old seeing that. Posted by: OldSpook


Amen, OldSpook. Wiesbaden AB, 71-75, Wiesbaden/Schierstein 80-83, 87-89. An outfit you probably know - 497th RTG.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 16:29 Comments || Top||

#20  We need more references to West Germany. That the all of the West stood in the gaps at Fulda and Cheb is one of the key facts of the last century. I look forward to the day when because of our stand at Chorwon, Quemoy and Matsu, we can retire the name South Korea, and consolidate on just one Republic of China.
Posted by: rammer || 02/08/2009 22:10 Comments || Top||

#21  Reminds me of a certain COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR character in MEL GIBSON'S flick "WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE", the "only Man to make all five combat jumps of the 82nd Airborne Division during WW2, plus the one Airborne jump during the Korean War".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 23:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India wants Pakistan declared terror state
India on Saturday said the international community should consider declaring Pakistan a terrorist state in light of the country's release of a scientist who sold nuclear secrets around the globe.
If Pakistain's not a terrorist state there ain't no sech thing...
"It is time for the international community to think whether to declare Pakistan a terrorist country," Manish Tewari, the ruling Congress party spokesman said in New Delhi, in reference to the end from house arrest of Pakistani nuclear Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Omar Saeed Sheikh's not dead yet, either. My guess is he's gonna die of old age. And he's not very old now.
Khan, the man at the centre of the world' most serious nuclear proliferation scandal, was released on Friday after five years of house arrest.
Just about the time Bush left office, plus a few days for paperwork.
Revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, he confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004. He was immediately pardoned by the government, although his movements were restricted.
It wasn't Dr. Strangelove selling the nuke secrets. It was the Pak government. Most of us know that, and most of us who don't have guessed it.
India's Congress party, which faces election in April, where security is likely to be a major voting issue, said Khan's release was a serious security concern. "Defending him proves Pakistan as not only an exporter of terrorism, but has also given rise to doubts of certain countries, including (United States) America, that nuclear weapons could go into the hands of terrorists," Tiwari told reporters.
We're not dumb enough -- or weren't, until Bush left office -- to assume that Dr. Strangelove was the only one with an interest in seeing San Diego or Baltimore or even Ann Arbor evaporated. Binny had his own resident nuke scientists, who were coincidentally Paks, when he decamped from Afghanistan.
Earlier, the Indian army chief said militant camps in Pakistan were thriving and had increased in the past year, as India put pressure on Islamabad to bring militants behind last November's attacks in Mumbai to justice. "I would not talk about the numbers specifically right now...but infrastructure is existing and active," General Deepak Kapoor told the Press Trust of India (PTI).
I regard those camps as distinctly unfriendly acts, regardless of who's in power in the Land of the Pure.
India has said the militant attack on its financial capital Mumbai November last year, in which 179 people were killed, was planned from a camp in Pakistan. Relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have been strained since then, with India saying Pakistan was not doing enough to rein in militants.
Actually, they were obfuscating and blustering just as hard as they could, and they have no intention of reining in their militants. Their militants are why they exist.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said this week Pakistan's main spy agency was linked to planners of the Mumbai attacks.
We knew that. They hardly even make an effort to hide the fact anymore.
Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies
... at which point their collective lips fell off...
and said it was investigating a dossier of information from India, to which it will reply next week.
... with still more bluster, obfuscation, and outright lies.
This article starring:
Abdul Qadeer Khan
General Deepak Kapoor
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon
Manish Tewari
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Appeals to "International Community", India has a long way to go.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:32 Comments || Top||

#2  How about India declaring Pakistan as a terror state?
The trade routes across the LOC are still open.
Posted by: john frum || 02/08/2009 9:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I'll bet the U.S. votes "present".
Posted by: DoDo || 02/08/2009 10:26 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Jamaat warns govt of security threat
Jamaat central executive council meeting yesterday cautioned the government against giving corridor to India under the transit agreement that will jeopardize national security and interest.

The warning came ahead of Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Dhaka on Monday when the transit agreement is set to sign between the two countries.

"It's not a mere transit. India wants corridor (to its eastern states) in the name of transit agreement. Providing the corridor will seriously threaten the national security," the meeting observed venting deep concern at the hasty move of the Awami League government.

The Jamaat leaders at the meeting said taking advantage of the corridor, the Indian government would send military convoys to the Seven Sisters on the east where secessionist movement is gaining ground. In that case, secessionist groups would launch attack on Bangladesh leading to the security threat.

The meeting also said the issue of corridor in the name of transit could not be linked merely with economy. It is linked with the security of the nation.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Iraq
U.S. forces wound 2 civilians in Diwaniya
Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. patrol on Saturday wounded two civilians who were on their way to the holy Shiite city of Karbala for the Arbaeen pilgrimage, a security source said. "Random fire by U.S. patrolmen in Afak district, (30 km) east of Diwaniya, injured a man and a woman local residents of Missan province who were going on foot to Karbala to perform the rituals of Imam Hussein bin Ali's Arbaeen pilgrimage," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The wounded civilians were rushed to a hospital for treatment," he said, adding the injuries are not serious. He did not say why the U.S. forces opened fire at the two civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  NOT so random fire...
Posted by: tipover || 02/08/2009 0:28 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Pak claims binned by Indian probe
The investigation into the Mumbai attack is throwing up new links and it's not just limited to Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) link to Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) in Bangladesh is now being actively looked into.

Faisal Nayeem was deported to Pakistan in 2006 under American pressure. He was the LeT's commander in Dhaka. Sources investigating the attack claim that Nayeem got in touch with LeT's present Bangladesh head, Imran Mian to arrange SIM cards for the fidayeens who carried out the Mumbai attacks.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Nayeem had set up an intricate network of agents which allowed him to take Indian youth to Pakistan via Bangladesh. They were trained in Pakistani terror camps and sent to India. Nayeem told Bangladeshi investigators that he had coordinated several fidayeen attacks during his stay in Bangladesh, including the attack on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur in 2004 and a BSF post in Hyderabad in 2005.

Indian investigators have definitely found Bangladeshi links to the Mumbai terror attacks, but those have been limited to Bangladesh-based terrorists providing logistical support, like arranging SIM cards to those who attacked Mumbai.

Analysts believe that this is a ploy to create tension between India and Bangladesh at a time when a new government has come to power in Dhaka.
Analysts believe that this is a ploy to create tension between India and Bangladesh at a time when a new government has come to power in Dhaka. Sources in Dhaka indicate that Sheikh Hasina's government is clearly not catering to Pakistani interests like previous Bangladeshi governments.

Four decades after gaining independence from Pakistan, Bangladesh is finally acting against the war criminals, mostly allies of Pakistani military and Jammat-e-Islami cadres who had committed the worst genocide in Asia's post-colonial history that left 2.5 million people dead and half a million women dishonoured.

Minister of State for external affairs Anand Sharma says Pakistan is using diversionary tactics to delay investigations. Sharma said, "It would have been better if Pakistan had not used diversions and deflections in the first place. There is no point showing the red herring now. Everyone knows who the attackers are and where they come from. They have been named not only by India but by UN security council as well."
This article starring:
Jammat-e-Islami
Faisal NayeemLashkar-e-Taiba
Imran MianLashkar-e-Taiba
Minister of State for external affairs Anand Sharma
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: HUJI

#1  When it comes to aiding and abetting terrorism, Islam is one.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:30 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Combined forces kill 3 gunmen in Salal al-Din
Aswat al-Iraq: Combined Iraqi-U.S. forces on Saturday conducted a security raid on gunmen in Balad district, killing three of them and arresting 13 others, said a source from Salah al-Din police. "The operation started after Friday (Feb. 6) midnight," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "It targeted al-Qaeda organization's safe havens at Talal-Thahab village, 10 km east of Balad," he said. "The forces engaged with the gunmen, and the campaign continued until Saturday afternoon," he added. He noted that the forces seized different kinds of arms during the operation. Iraqi police forces and Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters are still tracking down some of the gunmen at the village's orchards, according to the source. For their part, local residents said that they saw U.S. helicopters striking two houses where gunmen were hiding.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
UN: Cargo of Iranian ship seized en route to Gaza violates resolution 1747
The sanctions department of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday informed Cyprus that the cargo of the Iranian ship seized en route to Gaza in late January violates UNSC resolution 1747, which forbids the trafficking of weapons with Iran.

The ship will not be returned to Iran, Cypriot officials said Saturday, but they refused to say what exactly was found onboard the boat or whether the cargo contravened UN resolutions.

Cyprus inspected the Monchegorsk twice after it arrivedafter it arrived Jan. 29 under suspicion of ferrying weapons from Iran to Hamas fighters in Gaza. The U.S. military stopped the ship last month in the Red Sea, and said it found artillery shells and other arms aboard. But it could not legally detain the ship, which continued to Port Said, Egypt, and then to Cyprus.

Authorities will decide what to do with the cargo once they have finished searching the ship, Cyprus' President Dimitris Christofias said, without saying how long that could take. One option could be to confiscate the cargo, the president said. But Cyprus has ruled out sending the shipment back to Iran, Christofias' adviser George Iacovou said Saturday, according to state-run CyBC radio.

Christofias said Cyprus had received clear guidance from the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on whether the cargo breached sanctions barring Iran from sending arms abroad, but he refused to give any details or say what was advised.

The Cyprus-flagged ship is now anchored off the port of Limassol under tight security.

Cyprus is also consulting with the UN Security Council on the issue, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said. "The Cyprus Republic will do what it must do and will decide very soon," Stefanou told a news briefing.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Oh dear. Poor Iran finds itself lying in the bed it has made. What will be the next bedbug bite, I wonder?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Ya know, fires at sea happen all the time. It would be a shame if this ship happened to catch fire, especially if it really does have ammo on board.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah yes, the BBC has been all over this shocking story. /sarc
Posted by: Bulldog || 02/08/2009 4:23 Comments || Top||

#4  the somewhat shocking thing to me is that all of a sudden the UN is doing some things right

- denouncing Hamas for stealing US stuff
- seizing Persian contraband stuff

Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  So far the only thing the UN is doing is talking(Ummm, don't they always do that?)
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/08/2009 12:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Pre-empting more Israeli action, I suspect. Peres at Davos was a shocker to them. When *he* is sufficiently fed up to read them the riot act in public, they know that Israel really may be close to bombing Iran, rubbling Gaza or otherwise taking definitive actions.

Moreover, the Israelis have gone on the offensive wrt online information. We all have seen the video of attacks on Israel that originated at or immediately outside UN facilities with no attempt by the UN to prevent or disclose them. Ban was visibly shocked when Peres openly stated there was public video to that effect and that Hamas was videoed using UN ambulances for attacks and to transfer weapons. Ban may be slowly realizing that the UN has a major problem and it isn't caused by Israel but rather by their own actions.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 12:46 Comments || Top||

#7  "the somewhat shocking thing to me is that all of a sudden the UN is doing some things right

- denouncing Hamas for stealing US stuff"

The UselessNitwits didn't get their cut, mhw.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/08/2009 13:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Barbara---somewhat shocking...

LOL!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/08/2009 15:18 Comments || Top||

#9  OTOH, WORLD MIL FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > CHINA'S MILITARY FORMALLY HANDS OVER MING-CLASS SBMARINES TO IRAN AGZ THE US AIRCRAFT CARRIER [Deal includes 300-some "unguided" or austere? TORPEDOES + large unknown number of ANTI-CARRIER? NAVAL MINES]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 23:52 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Official says military repels attack in Nigeria
A private security official says the Nigerian military has repelled an attack on a gas plant in the restive, oil-producing south.

The official said two attackers died in the fighting early Saturday at the production facility in Delta State. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to company prohibitions on dealings with the media.

A spokesman for he region's most potent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, told The Associated Press in an e-mail it was involved in the fighting but gave no details. The group called off a monthslong unilateral cease-fire last week.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Warty Nose sees shadow, six more weeks of talks
Leaders from the Palestinian group Hamas arrived in Egypt on Saturday to discuss progress in Cairo's efforts to arrange a truce with Israel, Egyptian and Hamas sources said. Hamas officials said earlier that Hamas had no objections to a ceasefire lasting 18 months but a lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip must be part of the deal.

A previous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in Dec. leading to a three-week Israeli offensive on the coastal enclave in which at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed before both sides separately halted hostilities. "We've agreed to a unified position, and we'll relay it to the Egyptian authorities and then we'll take their response to the leadership in Damascus and then return to Cairo again," senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told Reuters soon after crossing the border into Egypt as part of a seven-person Hamas delegation.

It was the first time Zahar has appeared in public since Israel's massive 22-day war against Gaza.

Zahar, believed to be the overall Hamas leader in the Palestinian territories, is among a delegation of seven Hamas officials who crossed the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on their way to Cairo for talks with intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

The delegation will hear Israel's position, which senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad relayed to Suleiman on Friday, Zahar said.

Hamas officials have said they are seeking clarifications on an Israeli offer to allow between 70 and 80 percent of goods through its crossings into Gaza, barring those it says could be used to make weapons.

The fact that Zahar himself was attending the talks showed how important the truce was to Hamas, a spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Six more weeks of pressure off the Iranian government.
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:08 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sharif Backs Scholars' Somalia Mediation
Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed threw his weight behind an initiative by the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) to reconcile between Somali rivals.
"I welcome the much-awaited mediation of the IUMS," Sharif told a press conference on Thursday, February 5, in neighboring Djibouti.

"The Muslim scholars can play a positive role in Somalia and can resolve disagreements between Somali groups."

Sheikh Sharif, the leader of the Islamic Courts Union, was elected Somali president on January 31.

But his election drew fire from the Shebab group, once an off-shot of the ICU, and the Eritrea-based opposition, vowing war against Sharif's regime.

Fearing a new bout of infighting in Somalia, the IUMS, led by prominent scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has floated an initiative to mediate between the Somali rivals.

"All Somalia should set aside all their political and tribal affiliations, which drove a wedge between them, close their ranks and look forwards for better future," it said in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net. "They should stand united under the banner of Islam."
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


President Sheikh Sharif in Mog for coalition talks

Oooh! New hat and everything!

Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed arrived Saturday in Mogadishu--his first trip there since being elected last week--to hold talks aimed at forming a broad coalition government. "My trip to Mogadishu is aimed at having consultations with elders, politicians and Islamic resistance groups," he told reporters upon arriving in the Somali capital.

The young cleric and former opposition leader was elected as Somali's new president on Jan. 31 by lawmakers gathered in Djibouti. Sheikh Sharif had travelled to Addis Ababa this week to take part in the African Union summit and then returned to Djibouti.

The newly-elected leader had said he would form an inclusive government and extend a hand to armed groups still opposed to the U.N.-sponsored reconciliation effort which saw him leave his exile in Eritrea.

Hawiye clan
Several politicians are vying to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein. According to Somalia's transitional charter, the president, the premier and the parliament speaker have to come from three different major clans.
Sheikh Sharif and Hussein are both from the Hawiye clan.
Sheikh Sharif and Hussein are both from the Hawiye clan.

The new president, in his mid-forties, was one of the main targets when Ethiopian troops invaded in late 2006 to remove what they saw as an extremist Islamic movement on their doorstep. But after two years of deadly guerrilla war, the Ethiopians have pulled out with little progress to speak of, more radical groups have blossomed and Sheikh Sharif is seen by many as occupying the political centre.

Sheikh Sharif will face the daunting task of taming Shebab fighters, who control several key towns, and overcoming clan divisions within his future administration.
This article starring:
Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein
Sheikh Sharif AhmedIslamic Courts
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Arabia
Saudi suspects seeking revival of Al Qaeda
One of the men on Saudi Arabia's new most-wanted list is married to Osama Bin Laden's daughter while another was involved in a plot to kill the US ambassador in Yemen. A third had smuggled militants into Iraq from Syria.

Documents provided to AP on Saturday, profiling the 85 men -- 83 Saudis and two Yemenis -- on the list, reveal that many of them had either taken part in planning possible attacks targeting oil, security and other installations in the kingdom or had provided Al Qaeda members with weapons, safe haven, false documents and money.

The documents shed light on the extent of Saudi participation in the extremist networks struggling to rebuild themselves in the Arabian Peninsula after a series of crackdowns in the past years. All the men on the list are hiding abroad, many in Yemen. The men were of different ages and from throughout the kingdom, according to documents provided by a Saudi official. The youngest, 16-year-old Abdul-Ilah Al-Shihri, was only 12 when the September 11 attacks took place. He was smuggled into Yemen to join Al Qaeda there by his uncle, Youssef Al-Shihri, according to the documents.

Active members: The official said the men were active members of Al Qaeda or local offshoots of the group and had planned to re-establish the terror network in Saudi Arabia following the kingdom's aggressive campaign that netted hundreds of its members.

Saudi Arabia issued the list on Monday and has asked Interpol for help in arresting the men. They include 11 who have been released from the Guantanamo Bay and have attended the kingdom's much-touted extremist rehabilitation programme. Among them were two Saudis who have emerged as the new leaders of Yemen's branch of Al Qaeda. Another man on the list, Muhammad Aboul-Kheir, 34, is married to the daughter of Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden and worked as his bodyguard. He had links to Ramzi Binalshibh, one of five co-defendants facing murder and war crimes charges for their alleged roles in the September 11 attacks. The documents mentioned his whereabouts either in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran.

Another wanted Saudi, Saleh Al-Qaraawi, has been dubbed by the local media as one of the most dangerous men on the list. The documents say Al-Qaraawi, 27, had provided Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in June 2006, with money and recruits. Qassem Al-Reemi, 30, meanwhile, one of the few Yemenis on the list, has "links to a plot targeting the US ambassador in Sanaa", the capital of Yemen.

The release of the most-wanted list is part of the kingdom's fight against Al Qaeda. The network's attacks have targeted expatriate residential compounds, oil installations and government buildings.
This article starring:
ABDUL ILAH AL SHIHRIal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWIal-Qaeda
MUHAMAD ABUL KHEIRal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
QASEM AL RIMIal-Qaeda
RAMZI BINALSHIBHal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
SALEH AL QARAAWIal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
YUSEF AL SHIHRIal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Home Front: Politix
Pelosi chides GOP criticism of stimulus
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday disavowed what she termed as Republican "personality attacks" over President Obama's stimulus bill, reiterating previous arguments that the legislation allowed for bipartisan input.

"The people who can't win on policy always resort to process and then they stoop to their personality attacks," Mrs. Pelosi told reporters here at the Kingsmill golf resort, where about 200 House Democrats gathered for a three-day retreat. "The process afforded Republicans every opportunity to put their suggestions forward and they know that."

"The bipartisanship was in defeat of the Republican proposals that were put on the House floor," said Mr. Hoyer, of Maryland.
Her defense of the House version of the stimulus package -- crafted solely by Democrats and passed without a single Republican vote -- were buoyed by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, who said there "was a lot of bipartisanship."

"The bipartisanship was in defeat of the Republican proposals that were put on the House floor," said Mr. Hoyer, of Maryland.

House Republicans quickly hit back, arguing that the White House and House Democrats are not on the same page.

"Two months ago, President Obama never thought the biggest obstacle to delivering the 'change' he promised would be Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer," said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Minority Whip Eric Cantor. "House Republicans have made creating and protecting jobs their focus and it must be extremely frightening to like minded Blue Dogs like Brad Ellsworth and Gene Taylor that their views would be disregarded so harshly by their leaders."

Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If the Republicans would only vote the way we tell them to, it would be a bi-partisan bill. But those idiots insist on trying to change the bill to remove some of the pork projects we want.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  IS THIS THE SAME PELOSI WHO CONTINUES TO SAY WE LOSE 500,000,000 JOBS A MONTH? WHY DID OBAMA LET THE PLEOSI GANG WRITE THE PACKAGE, HE DOESNT KNOW WHATS IN IT.
Posted by: Bill Chirt4204 || 02/08/2009 7:39 Comments || Top||

#3  I AM 65 YEARS OLD. I LOVE MY COUNTRY, BUT I AM NO LOGER PROUD OF MY COUNTRY. I VOTE FOR HE PERSON AND NOTBY PARTY. WE ARE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD. OBAMA, PELOSI HARYY, BARNEY ETC. ANR TAKING US DOWN THE TUBES. WE ARE BECOMMING A SOCIALIST COUNTRY RUN BY MR AND MRS TZAR OAMA AND QUEEN PELOSI AND HER COURT JESTERS. WE APPOINT CABINET PEOPLE WHO ARE EITHER NOT QUALIFIED ( MR. P. FOR CIA) OR PEOPLE WHO ARE ABOVE THE LAW (MR. G FOR IRS, MR. RANGEL ET AL)WHAT OUR ENEMIES HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO, WE ARE DESTROYINGOURSELFS FROM THE INSIDE. THE COURT OF MR. OBAMA IS LEAVING OUR COUNTRY OPEN TO OUR ENEMIES FOR THEIR OPPORTUNITIES THAT THEY HAVE WAITED FOR AND FOR WHAT AMERICANS HAVE DIED FOR TO KEEP.MAYBE IF MR. BAMA HAD CAMPAIGNED IN 67 INSTEAD OF 57 STATES HE WOULD REALIZE THAT IN MY OPINION HE IS NOT CAPABLE.
Posted by: MARTY || 02/08/2009 7:51 Comments || Top||

#4  SORRY FOR THE MANY TYPOS IN THE ABOVE.
Posted by: MARTY || 02/08/2009 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Marty, dear, your posts are clearly heartfelt, but please turn off your Caps Lock key. I know it makes it easier to read as you type, but to the reader it feels like shouting, which I'm sure was not your intention. It may make you feel better to know that Vice President Biden is already predicting that those who vote for the stimulus bill will pay for it in the 2010 election, only two years away.... which will make the rest of President Obama's time in office very interesting indeed. click link
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 8:12 Comments || Top||

#6  and MARTY, OF, et al. Pick a nym, stick with it
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 8:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Or else ImA SICK JOE! ON YOUR ASS 2012!
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 8:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Is it caps lock Sunday or what?
Posted by: Grunter || 02/08/2009 11:14 Comments || Top||

#9  ImA doIng iT thE ArlEn SpEctOr way. It'S ThE beSt wE i caN Do.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 11:54 Comments || Top||

#10  SNL tried to make fun of Pelosi last night on this general subject but IMO the script was very poor and you couldn't even tell when the writers wanted people to laugh. For some reason Politico liked it
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 11:56 Comments || Top||

#11  your oppertunity for graft, nancy?

How is the hotel business by the way?
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 21:55 Comments || Top||

#12  ION FREEREPUBLIC/WND > COMMUNIST: OBAMA WANTS TO NATIONALISE THE US ECONOMY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 22:58 Comments || Top||


Iraq
British officer claims Basra is safer than Manchester
Basra is now less dangerous than Manchester, according to the commander of British troops in Iraq.

Maj Gen Andy Salmon told The Daily Telegraph that following months of steady improvements in the security situation in Iraq's second city, the rate of violent crime and murder in Basra had fallen below that of some major British cities.

"On a per-capita basis, if you look at the violence statistics, it is less dangerous than Manchester," he said, hailing a "radical transformation" in Iraq's prospects. Since an Iraqi government offensive largely routed violent insurgent groups in Basra last May, British officials in Iraq say that the city has become ever more secure and stable and the Iraqi security forces increasingly competent.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Manchester, the Chicago of England.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/08/2009 3:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Cause in Basra Brits are allowed to shoot at Jihadis?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 4:36 Comments || Top||

#3  That really isn't saying a lot General Salmon.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Cause in Basra Brits are allowed to own guns.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 8:29 Comments || Top||

#5  And let's remember why. No thanks to the Brits, and most of the thanks to Maliki and the Iraqi army that went in there and cleaned Basra out.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/08/2009 10:34 Comments || Top||

#6  With massive US support, which delayed cleaning up the insurgency in the north.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rabbi Yosef: Lieberman voters support Satan
Lieberman under attack: Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosesaid during his weekly Saturday-night sermon at his house that whoever supports Yisrael Beiteinu "supports Satan."

"These are people who do not have Torah, people who want civil marriages, shops that sell pork, and the army enlistment of yeshiva students," Rabbi Yosef said. "My heart is heavy. Heaven forbid people support them. This is completely forbidden. Whoever does so commits an intolerable sin. Whoever does so supports Satan and the evil inclination."
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yisrael Beiteinu means "Israel is our home" and it is the name of the political party formed by Avigdor Lieberman. The party attracts a lot of Russian immigrants who are not as observant (some not Jewish).
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  That's, by itself, is almost enough to make me vote Lieberman.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 4:38 Comments || Top||

#3  From the headline, I thought he was talking about Joe Lieberman.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 12:44 Comments || Top||


Paleostinian Authority: Hamas used Gaza hospitals as detention centers
The Palestinian Authority's health ministry on Saturday accused the militant movement Hamas of turning some of its medical facilities in the Gaza Strip into detention centers.

After Israel stopped 23 days of aerial and ground attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip last month, "Hamas unfortunately used several facilities, mainly a large number of hospitals, as stations for summons, interrogation, torture and detention," the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also claimed Hamas sacked tens of employees, loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, who broke their general strike and returned to their work after Israel launched it assault on December 27.

The Israel Air Force aerial bombardment, which preceded a large-scale ground invasion on January 3, destroyed most of the police stations and civil administration departments of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.

According to the statement, Hamas specifically seized some buildings in Shifa, the main hospital in the city, al-Nasser pediatric clinic and the psychiatric hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  The pretense that there are "Palestinian People" is growing awfully thin.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:17 Comments || Top||


Report: Iran behind attempt to funnel millions of dollars into Gaza from Egypt
Iran is responsible for an attempt last week to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas in the Gaza Strip by way of Egypt, the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram reported on Saturday.

The money was found in suitcases in the car of Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha. The suitcases reportedly contained $9 million along with 2 million Euros. An Egyptian official said the money represents "only a small portion of the large amounts of money Iran has funneled to Hamas over the last week."

Taha deposited the cash in a bank in the Egyptian town of El Arish last Thursday after Egyptian authorities stopped him taking it home to Gaza, police sources said. He later crossed into the Palestinian coastal strip without the money. The money is in an account at the state-owned National Bank of Egypt in El Arish in northern Sinai in the name of an Egyptian government body, Egytpian officials said.

Taha was part of a Hamas delegation which has been in Cairo for talks with Egyptian intelligence on a long-term truce between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in Gaza.

At the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Egyptian border authorities let through the other five members of the Hamas team but held back Taha because of the money.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Why do they need money in Gaza anyway? Supposedly the Israeli blockade is so effective that people are dying in the streets from starvation. There is nothing to buy - the UN gives them food (except for the part that Hamas steals). They can't buy weapons inside Gaza - they all have to be imported, so they will be bought (or donated) elsewhere. So why is Iran sending money into Gaza?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Cause you need to reward the enforcers, RIC.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:29 Comments || Top||

#3  IRAN AND SRIA HAVE KEPT THE MIDDLE EAST FROM HAVING A WORKABLE PEACE. REMEMBER THIS --- ---- IN IRAN. HE HELD OUR PEOPLE HOTAGE FOR MANY MONTHS. ONLY UNDER THE THREAT OF PRESIDEN REGAN DID HE RELEASE THEM.YOU WANT PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? SEND IRAN AND SYRIA TO THEIR MAKERS.
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 14:30 Comments || Top||

#4  EGYPT AND ISRAEL LOST MANY LIVES BEFORE THEY REALIZED THEY COULD LIVE IN PEACE. LETS HELP EGYPT STOP THE IRANIANS FROM SEND ARMS THROUGH EGYPT. WHY DOESNT EGYPT STRIKE IRAN. THIS IS A VIOLATION OF EGYPTS SOVERNTY. EGYPT. STRIKE BACK. TELL IRAN TO STOP OR DIE.
Posted by: SPM || 02/08/2009 14:34 Comments || Top||

#5  SPM, I believe we are giving/have given Egypt all sorts of sensors to detect Gazan tunnel digging, plus a unit of US Army engineers to install and monitor them while teaching the Egyptians. The problem is that the smuggling trade sends tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year into the Egyptian economy, not to mention as bribes to the Egyptian troops and officials in a position to stop the flow. So there has been a very powerful financial incentive to turn a blind eye to the situation.

Separately, please don't use all caps in your posts -- it looks to the reader like you are shouting, which I'm sure is not your intention.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/08/2009 15:18 Comments || Top||

#6  ION IRAN, TOPIX/YAHOO NEWS > US WILL TALK BUT IS READY TO ACT/STRIKE PREEMPTIVELY AGZ IRAN; + ISRAEL FORUM > IRAN PLANS TO SEND FOUR MORE SATELLITES INTO ORBIT.

Iff history is any measure, the next practic step for IRAN is to conduct LR Missle accuracy test{s), then to test-explode their own indigenous Nucbomb(s), UNLESS NOKOR, PAKISTAN, + OTHER PRO-NUCLEAR MUSLIM STATES WISH TO DO IT FOR THEM ALA NUC "FRANCHISING"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/08/2009 23:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak arrests 3 RAW spies from Lahore
Three spies of Indian intelligence agency RAW have been arrested from Baidyan, an area located in the outskirts of Lahore. According to sources, Pakistan's intelligence agencies after arresting these agents shifted them to an unknown place. Fake ID cards were recovered from the Indian spies in which the names of these agents appear as Muhammad Akmal, Sardar Ayhmed and Muhammad Umer. Three ID cards, as many spy cameras, passports, photos of important religious figures besides maps of the major Pakistani cities have also recovered from their possession.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Afghanistan
17 killed in Afghan unrest
Ambushes, bomb blasts, and other incidents have left seven Afghans dead, including government officials, authorities said on Saturday. They also reported that security forces had killed 10 insurgents, taking the death toll to 17.

In one attack, a district chief and his driver were killed on Saturday when a remote- controlled bomb exploded under their vehicle close to the border with Pakistan, Nangarhar province Governor Gul Agha Sherzai told AFP. Hours later, a senior member of the Nangarhar provincial council was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the remote Dara-i-Noor district, the official said.

The police killed a suspect and arrested another man in connection with the murder, the governor said, adding the motive was unknown. In an attack that was blamed on the Taliban, two police officers were killed in an ambush late on Friday as they were going to reinforce a police post that had come under attack, a provincial government spokesman said. The dead were the police chief of Laghman province's Qarghayi district, Abdul Aziz, and one of his men, provincial spokesman Sayed Ahmad reported.

The US-led coalition announced that a civilian man, shot by coalition troops at a checkpost in the eastern province of Khost, had died of his wounds. A woman and a child were also wounded on Friday when troops opened fire after their vehicle did not heed warnings to stop, it said. The Interior Ministry announced separately that Afghan and international security forces had killed 10 'enemies of peace and stability' in the southern province of Helmand on Friday.

Officials killed: Taliban gunmen fatally shot a provincial council member while a roadside bomb killed a second official in the same Afghan province on Saturday, part of a spate of violence that left 17 people dead across the country, officials said. The gunmen killed Qari Khan Mohammad, a member of Nangarhar's provincial council, as he was travelling toward the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, said council head Fazel Hadi Muslimyar.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, killed three people on Saturday in Nangarhar, including Mohammad Nahim, the chief of Goshta district, said provincial police chief spokesman Ghafoor Khan. Karzai condemned the attacks in a statement and blamed them on the 'enemies of Afghanistan'.

Afghan supply chain: President Barack Obama said he would refocus US efforts in Afghanistan. His administration plans to send up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over the next year to bolster the approximately 33,000 US troops already in the country.

The US military is making plans to move materiel and fuel to US forces in Afghanistan through a network of commercial links through Russia and Central Asia, a military spokesman said on Friday.

"We are looking for many or multiple routes through the various central Asian countries beyond Kyrgyzstan," said Navy Captain Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for the US Transportation Command. "That would include Uzbekistan, obviously Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and things of that nature. The routes already exist.

The facilities already exist. What we're talking about is tapping into existing networks and using a variety of military and contractor commercial enterprises to facilitate the movement of material supply, non-lethal supplies and everything else that is needed in Afghanistan through these existing commercial routes," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Home Front: Politix
Specter: Stimulus deal 'best we can do'
A small group of moderate senators including Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) reached the deal that appeared to assure Senate passage of an economic stimulus bill yesterday after more than 10 hours of near-constant private meetings.

Specter was in the middle of the action, with many critical talks occurring in his private "hideaway" office on the first floor of the Capitol. Nobody involved was really happy, but there was a consensus that the group did not want to say no to the president or an anxious nation.

"Personally, I would prefer not to be on the edge of the pin, as so frequently is the case in this body," Specter said in a floor speech last night. "But I do believe we have to act, and under the circumstances, this is the best we can do."

In announcing that a tentative deal had been reached, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) credited Specter and Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine), Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) and Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) with saving the package.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some I don't think Arlen Specter is "the best we can do".
Posted by: DMFD || 02/08/2009 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey Congress: Don't just do something, stand there!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/08/2009 0:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Arlen, (the expert in Scottish Law), and the two Witches of Maine are unprincipled hacks. "Hey, it's the best we can get..." is a disgrace.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 02/08/2009 0:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Private meetings? As in "I'll vote for your pork if you vote for mine?"
Posted by: gorb || 02/08/2009 3:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Thank you Senator for telling your minority leader, the rest of the Republican party, and about 80% of the American people to go phuech themselves. We know YOU know what is best for us.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 7:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Toomey 2010
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 7:55 Comments || Top||

#7  If it is Toomey 2010, Arlen will proudly run as a donk, as would Collins and Snowe. And win. I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer a veto proof Senate. It would put all the responsibility on the donks and free the trunks to stop appeasing the likes of the three amigettes.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/08/2009 8:22 Comments || Top||

#8  This comment, and a similar one by Collins, reeks of inside the Beltway-itis.

They are totally focused on senatorial process and are blind to the fundamental issues involved in the bill itself. The "best we could do" = "what we got the Dems to agree to".

Fire them all. Every damned one of them that votes for this obsenity.
Posted by: lotp || 02/08/2009 9:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Specter gives other panjandrums a bad name...why doesn't he come right out and say, "Hey, I've been lying all along, I'm a liberal democrat"
Posted by: jack salami || 02/08/2009 9:48 Comments || Top||

#10  In fairness to Specter, he hasn't been lying all along. There used to be a substantial wing of "Rockefeller Republicans" just as there were lots of KKKonservative Democrats. But both parties, instead of tolerating idological mix so that they could maintain a competitive presence in local markets, have moved to a national ideological purity that forces them to abandon certain markets.

Thus Republicans have lost Caliphornia, New York and now Pennsylvania. We are becoming a two party country made up of one party states. This is not healthy for local politics, see Illinois.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/08/2009 9:56 Comments || Top||

#11  NS, the way these RINOs act you already have a veto proof senate. The RNC must defund them if they want to run as donks let them.

Its all about the principle.
Posted by: Hellfish || 02/08/2009 11:28 Comments || Top||

#12  Liberal Republican(?) Arlen Specter turns 79 this week. He has fought off 2 bouts of cancer during his current term. Just a hunch here, but maybe he won't be seeking a 6th term in 2010 ??
Posted by: Tom- Pa || 02/08/2009 12:01 Comments || Top||

#13  the BEST we can do?

NO, senator Spectre, you weak willed gimp. Doing the WRONG thing is NEVER the best we cna do.

I wish he would just drop dead.


Posted by: OldSpook || 02/08/2009 14:11 Comments || Top||

#14  If thats your best, it is not saying much.
Posted by: newc || 02/08/2009 21:53 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
M. Zahar Reappears in Gaza on way to Egypt
Top Hamas official Mahmud Zahar crossed into Egypt on Saturday for talks on consolidating a ceasefire with Israel in the battered coastal enclave, witnesses and a Hamas source said.

It was the first time Zahar had been seen in public since Israel's 22-day war against Gaza's Islamist rulers which ended with both sides calling separate ceasefires on January 18.
Was he wearing women's clothing?
He is among a delegation of seven Hamas officials who crossed the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on their way to Cairo for talks with intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

Zahar told reporters Hamas would be flexible about who will take charge of reconstruction. Thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed or damaged during the war, causing an estimated $2 billion in damages.
Posted by: mhw || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  causing an estimated $2 billion in damages
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorry, I've been interrupted. The comment on the previous comment is "Will it be added to the stimulus package?"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/08/2009 5:24 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Arms cache seized in Falluja
Aswat al-Iraq: Soldiers from the Iraqi army's 6th Anbar Division seized a cache of arms and munitions in the area of Amiriyat al-Falluja on Saturday, the division commander said.

"The underground cache, seized in an isolated farmland, contained six RPG-7 shells, eight improvised explosive devices, explosives used in home-making suicide belts, 10 night-vision goggles, medium munitions, TNT and 11 rockets," Lt. Colonel Ghazi Faisal told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  six RPG-7 shells, eight improvised explosive devices, explosives used in home-making suicide belts, 10 night-vision goggles, medium munitions, TNT and 11 rockets

Man could have purdy good time in Bagdad with that. Stay after 'em gents!
Posted by: .5MT || 02/08/2009 8:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
DG Khan blast aimed at invoking sectarian violence: Khosa
Punjab Minister for Local Government Sardar Dost Muhammad Khan Khosa said Saturday, Dera Ghazi Khan bomb attack on mourners was aimed at dismantling Muslims communities and termed the plot a conspiracy netted to disrupt the peace and harmony of the area. He said this while chairing the meeting of peace committee at Commissioner Office Dera Ghazi Khan. Participants agreed upon taking strict action against extremist elements and vowed to extend fullest cooperation to government in discouraging fanatic figures. Except Commissioner Hassan Iqbal, scholars belonging to all schools of thoughts, representatives from District Bar and traders attended the meeting.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Taliban attack NATO supplies terminal
Suspected Taliban attacked a logistics terminal for NATO supplies on the Ring Road on Saturday, destroying a trailer and a crane bound for Afghanistan.

Azmat, a driver whose truck was damaged in the attack, said dozens of suspected Taliban in cars indiscriminately fired on the trucks parked at Bilal Terminal near Kohat Road at 3:45am, bursting the vehicles' tyres.

He said a rocket hit a crane, setting it ablaze, badly damaging both it and the trailer on which it was loaded. According to sources, the Taliban clashed with police but managed to escape. A Banamari Police Station official said a container was also destroyed in the attack.

The government has launched Operation Daraghlam (Arriving) in Jamrud to clear the area of Taliban. However, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Umar said on Thursday that the banned outfit would step up attacks on NATO supplies if the Pakistani government did not halt their transport.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  These people aren't human, they're just tribal animals. I have no sympathy with their continued existence. Genghis Khan had the right idea. The US should announce that such and such a village was a Taliban strongpoint, and would be destroyed. Give everyone 72 hours to clear out, then totally destroy the area - ARCLIGHT, napalm, WP - use it all. Then broadcast that any group of more than three people that harbored Taliban would suffer the same fate, and follow through. The problem is, you need someone that would actually DO this in the White House and among the generals at the Pentagon. Neither is currently available.

As for "war crimes" accusations, "international criminal courts", and so forth - they get the same treatment, only in spades. We, the American people, didn't elect you, didn't appoint you, and won't bow to your idiotic demands.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/08/2009 13:43 Comments || Top||

#2  You're buying, Ship...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/08/2009 20:05 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm there. A double!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/08/2009 20:49 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Madagascar radio: Soldiers fire on protesters
Radio reports in Madagascar say soldiers have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital, killing an unknown number. State-run and independent radio stations said about 30 people were killed. Official figures were not immediately available. The protest was one in a series called by an opposition leader whose challenge of the president sparked deadly violence last month.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
56 arrested in Gaza protests: Egypt's Brotherhood
Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood says authorities have arrested 56 people during protests in sympathy with the plight of Gaza Palestinians.

A Brotherhood statement says the arrests took place on Friday during two separate rallies - both organised by the group - in the northern Nasr City suburb of Cairo.

The protesters marched demanding Egypt open its border with the Gaza Strip and denounced Israel's recent three-week offensive that left 1,300 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis also died in the fighting.

No violence was reported during the protests and it was unclear why the arrests took place.

Authorities confirmed the arrests but said about 40 people were detained in Cairo. The different figures could not immediately be accounted for.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Africa Subsaharan
Over 30 shot dead by presidential commandos in Madagascar
(Xinhua) -- More then 30 anti-government demonstrators, including a journalist from the local Radio Television Analamanga, were shot dead shortly after lunch time on Saturday by foreign commandos who were guarding the presidential palace in downtown area of Madagascar's capital city.

According to a private radio, Antsiva, the military force in Antananarivo were fighting against these foreign troops around the presidential palace. The radio said that many more people were injured while many vehicles were set on fire by the demonstrators.

Earlier, Madagascan opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, also major of Antananarivo proclaimed president of Madagascar and announced the set-up of a transitional government. Rajoelina appointed 43-year-old Zafitsimivalo Monja Roindefo, the son of a well-known Madagascan nationalist Monja Jaona, as prime minister of the transitional government at a mass gathering here at the lunch time on Saturday.

Then he led the demonstrators to the president palace in downtown area to take over the president power.
Posted by: Fred || 02/08/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can I say something politically incorrect?

I am beginning to think the end of colonial rule in Africa, brought on by the same morons that brought us chaos in the middle east, was a mistake
Posted by: James Carville || 02/08/2009 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Rediculous James! Next you'll be telling us that 3.1416 is more than just simply a number. Damn it now, get a grip!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/08/2009 12:00 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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5Hamas
5TTP
5Iraqi Insurgency
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1al-Qaeda
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Taliban
1HUJI
1Mahdi Army

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Sun 2009-02-08
  India wants Pak declared terrorist state
Sat 2009-02-07
  Russia allows transit of US military supplies
Fri 2009-02-06
  Islamabad High Court frees AQ Khan
Thu 2009-02-05
  Thirty dead in Pakistan blast: hospital
Wed 2009-02-04
  Bridge Attack Severs Afghan Supply Route
Tue 2009-02-03
  Somalia orders recapture of Baidoa
Mon 2009-02-02
  Bomber in police uniform kills 21 Afghan policemen
Sun 2009-02-01
  Sheikh Sharif elected as Somalia's president
Sat 2009-01-31
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Fri 2009-01-30
  'Incompetent' Hamid Karzai's political future in doubt
Thu 2009-01-29
  Pakistan busts suicide bomb gang
Wed 2009-01-28
  Yar! French navy nabs 9 Somali pirates
Tue 2009-01-27
  Al-Shabaab fighters seize Somali parliament headquarters
Mon 2009-01-26
  GSPC founder calls for al-Qaeda surrender in Algeria
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  Lanka troops enter final Tiger town

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