The Canadian government plans to withdraw its combat troops by 2011, feeling the loss of more than 100 troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001. About 2,500 serve there now.
The looming absence of one of its closest allies has left the United States grappling with how to eliminate terror threats and government corruption in Afghanistan with its own troops already stretched thin from years in Iraq.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, paid homage to Canada's fallen and praised the nation's Afghanistan mission during a daylong visit to Ottawa on Tuesday.
Mullen called Canadian combat forces in fghanistan «absolutely critical» but said the issue of their withdrawal did not come up during his meetings.
"The Canadian force is a great armed force and a great combat force," Mullen told reporters at an Ottawa news conference with Canada's chief of defense staff, Gen. Walt Natynczyk. «And they've made a huge difference. In the fights that we're in, having partners like this is absolutely vital.
"But it is for the government of Canada to make that decision _ not for me or anybody in my country," Mullen said.
Canada is not the only country leaving. The Netherlands also will withdraw troops over the next two years. Last month, NATO commander Gen. John Craddock predicted the global financial crisis would force other nations to scale back in the costly war against al-Qaida and efforts to stabilize Afghanistan's government.
#3
if you read aq game plan (alot taken fromt the muslim brotherhood manifesto) bleeding financially is one of the aims....we need to get down and dirty and nuke pakland and iran..then pull back
Posted by: Dan ||
02/11/2009 19:46
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#4
The Plan by the enemy is to attack our NATO allies and drive them out, leaving only the US on its own. They sense weakness in the Big O, and that he will cut and run when the casualty numbers start climbing. Based upon his performance so far, their assessment and plan may be sound.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/11/2009 20:47
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Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009
16:37 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009 16:41
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#2
What do you want to bet that ISRO will have their program flying before "Teh One (termer)"'s new Nasa administration will have the Constellation program in orbit? Say goodbye to the high ground America! The launcher looks eerily similar to the chinese Long March 2F. Capsule a modified Shenzhou?
Not exactly the most efficient of launchers (the liquid strapons burn longer than the solid core and carry its dead weight after burnout) but ISRO already made the components (for the PSLV) and it got them in geosynchronous orbit.
ISRO's budget of 800 million a year has to go far. They are very good at working on a shoestring. They put a probe on the moon for 80 million.
The GSLV-3 will be a far more capable vehicle but won't be ready in time.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009 20:05
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BANGALORE: India's indigenous nuclear submarine is in its "final stages" of completion, Defence A K Antony said on Wednesday. "Things are in final stages," Antony told reporters on the sidelines of the Aero India show here when asked about the progress of the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) project.
He said there were certain "bottlenecks" in the project earlier, but now these have been resolved.
The ATV is India's first venture into nuclear submarine design and development and it is expected to be armed with ballistic missiles such as the 750-km range Sagarika carrying nuclear warheads.
The warship is expected to be launched for sea trials in April this year.
Asked about the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier additional price negotiations, Antony said the Cabinet had already given its consent for discussing the fresh cost of the warship with the Russians and the two sides were holding frequent talks to arrive at a mutually agreeable price.
India had signed a USD 1.5 billion deal with Russia in 2004 for Gorshkov and rechristened the ship as INS Vikramaditya. The aircraft carrier's refit and refurbishing programme is currently in progress at the Sevmash shipyard in Russia. Since 2007, Russians have been demanding an additional USD 1.5 billion for the warship, citing escalating refit costs
Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009
16:10 ||
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#1
Meanwhile...
The Indian military's Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM) and infantry combat vehicles take part in a joint amphibious warfare exercise by the Indian armed forces at Madhavpur beach along the Arabian Sea, about 475 km (295 miles) west of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, February 9, 2009.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009 17:57
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LOL I thought that first pic was of the Mumbai scumbags coming ashore. My bad.
CAIRO -- The U.S. Navy has seized seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden after a merchant ship sent a distress call saying gunmen had tried to board it from a skiff.
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, says the Marshal Islands-flagged Polaris sent the call on Wednesday afternoon. The USS Vella Gulf raced to the location where U.S. sailors boarded the skiff. Christensen says the suspects were armed with AK-47s and RPGs. They will eventually be handed over to Kenya.
It was the Navy's first arrest since a new U.S. anti-pirate task force was established to deal with the escalating piracy problem in the Gulf. It also follows an agreement last month with Kenya for the U.S. to hand over arrested pirates.
#1
Small steps in the right direction. Only mistake - assuming rule of law will play out responsibly in Africa. Better to have been forced to "kill the pirates while they were trying to escape" - possibly after having been given a ten-meter head start.
#1
Small beer. They, after all, HAVE to generate yukks - it's their job.
The slavish, relentless, nearly insane propagandizing of every aspect of "news", comedy, movies, fucking restaurant reviews (!), etc. to demonize Bush, distort the factual and analytical framework of all major public policy issues, and specifically under cut GWOT elements like Iraq and detainee policy are a completely different animal than this.
Recall that Bubba was comedy gold for years - bimbo eruptions, theatrical mendacity, shrewish wife - but I can't recall a single gag or swipe that had anything to do with anything serious or policy-related. On that, it was the usual, brain-dead conformity.
Haven't watched 10 minutes of this show in my life, and will not watch another minute ever.
#2
John Leibowitz (aka stewart) is a f*cking myopic clown who panders to an audience of drooling retards. He has about the political depth of knowledge as the morons that write the irrelevant rubbish at Rolling Stone Magazine. All douchebags, but what do you expect when the public school system is watered down to a 3rd grade level. Our Founding Fathers were talking gold standards and the inherent rights of freemen and our current idiots think they can tax themselves out of a recession & piss on the U.S. Const in the process - dangerous retards. Our electorate is looking more and more like the movie idiocracy every day.
#1
In case you thought it was only the mainstream press in the US that is biased and disconnected from reality read this article. The European press is as bad or worse.
#2
let's see: he can be deprived of liberty, not for the requisite balancing argument, viz security, but because muslims are offended by his beliefs, the truth of same being irrelevant. Who won WW2?
the best part of this is that the story has a Ball, a Wiener and a Breedlove; the second best part is it happened in a smug liberal bastian and the writer realizes it
Our saga begins in September 2007, when the young and wonkishly handsome Adams--a popular, ruthlessly effective city councilor who seemed all-but-destined to win the following year's mayoral race--faced a sudden, shocking threat to his political career. Local real estate developer Bob Ball, also gay and a political rival, had planted a rumor to end all rumors within Portland's political set: Back in 2005, he alleged, the then-42-year-old Adams had entered into a clandestine sexual relationship with a 17-year-old legislative intern from Salem.
All was blissful in the Adams camp until last month, when Nigel Jaquiss, a reporter for the alternative paper Willamette Week, came calling. Jaquiss, who famously uncovered another Portland mayor's underage sex abuse, confronted Adams with evidence that he had lied about his relationship with Breedlove--which may have included sex while he was still a minor. The rattled Adams maintained his innocence, but when it became clear that WW intended to publish the story, he had no choice but to come clean. The day after WW's revelation, Jan. 20, Adams hosted another press conference, this time to admit that he'd never really mentored Breedlove and that he had persuaded the teen to lie about their romance
President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that Lech Walesa will be barred from entering Venezuela if the Nobel Peace Prize laureate attempts to come to lend his support to opposition groups.
Anti-Chavez university students invited Walesa to a pro-democracy conference last year, but the former Polish leader did not attend.
The Warsaw-based Lech Walesa Institute said at the time that Walesa decided to skip the event after Poland's foreign ministry informed him that Venezuela could not guarantee his security.
Chavez instructed authorities on Tuesday to ensure that Walesa does not enter Venezuela, which is preparing for a Feb. 15 referendum on a proposal to lift term limits for all elected officials.
Chavez made the comment after an interviewer suggested that Walesa had received a new invitation.
#1
I wonder if we will find George Soros behind this.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
02/11/2009 15:24
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Yup, F Dan.
And he's going to want his payoff from Bambi sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2009 16:18
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#3
Pamela's a loon.
Did the Congressman miss a zero or two?
If you take 550B$ out of the money markets in an hour, where, exactly, does it go? Maybe they bought stocks.
Kanjorski (D-PA, Capital Markets Subcommittee Chair) claims that 5.5 trillion dollars would have been withdrawn within four hours. Where in hell would 5.5T$ go that fast? FDIC insured bank accounts? Foreign accounts? Does anyone here have a clue? Is he credible? Or is this guy just part of the 'talk the economy down' show?
Why Sully may be the last of his kind The evolution of the modern airline pilot... Twenty-five years ago, we were a step below astronauts, says one veteran pilot. Now were a step above bus drivers. And the bus drivers have a better pension.
Interesting article...
#1
14 CFR 91 GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES
Subpart A--General
Sec. 91.3
Responsibility and authority of the pilot in command.
(a) The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft.
(b) In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.
(c) Each pilot in command who deviates from a rule under paragraph (b) of this section shall, upon the request of the Administrator, send a written report of that deviation to the Administrator.
CFI's begin drilling their students on "Part 91" on the first day, with 91.3 being the codification of their rights and responsibilities.
Mr. Sullivan did the proper thing. He, the senior pilot, took control of the aircraft from the "OJT" FO (no slam, that's just the way it works.) when the situation warranted and applied his experience (including glider piloting) and skills to the situation.
The airline business model has diminished the image of the pilot in favor of brand, this no doubt, in part owing to the pilot shortage of the 80's and 90's creating a demand for men and women of obvious yoot. Nothing like a little gray hair and maybe a moustache to quell the butterflys of the pax!
Mr. Sullivan is, unquestionably, a hero, but, as long as CFI's keep providing proper and complete instruction (attitude and skillset), he, Sullivan, shall not be the last of his kind.
This information can save your life. The enemy already knows the tactics they are using, but likely not all NATO/ISAF forces are aware.
Any enemy that repeatedly attacks U.S. Marines deserves at least grudging respect. The Marines respect this enemy, and that's saying a lot. Too bad the Marines have to kill so many of these guys; many would probably make good police or soldiers if they were not in cahoots with the enemy.
#1
when tactical weapons fail, use strategic weapons. that worked in Vietnam until the anti-napalm rants began. in the combat zone, wherever there are roads there are IEDs. Grunts said that in the "Bad Voodoo War" documentary. The Brass didn't listen, and years of 24-7-365 suicide patrols droned on. In WW2 "Bomber Command" targeted "built up areas" in Germany. It worked.
In response to the sweeping condemnation in the Arab and Muslim world of Israel's actions in Gaza, and the calls to prosecute Israeli leaders for war crimes, liberal Arab writers have accused the Arabs and Muslims of hypocrisy.
The liberal website www.elaph.com has published two articles in this vein, by Egyptian liberal Kamal Ghobrial and by Kuwaiti liberal Fahker Al-Sultan. Both writers point out that the Arab and Muslim world is quick to express outrage over atrocities and human rights violations when Arabs or Muslims are victimized by non-Muslims, but turns a blind eye or even condones the violations when the victims are non-Muslims, or when Muslims prosecute their own brothers, as happened in Saddam's Iraq and is happening today in Darfur.
The writers argue that this double standard stems from the problem of hatred for the other, and especially towards Jews. Al-Sultan emphasizes the role of the traditional Islamic mentality and of political Islam, which exploits this mentality in promoting inflexible xenophobic and antisemitic attitudes.
I come back from sick leave and theres a whole pile of wars in my in box, like one of those old office cartoons. Still got to write up the dustup in Gaza, and then theres the so-called final victory of the Sri Lankan Army over the LTTE. But for sentimental reasons Ive got to give first mention to my boyeez, the Somali pirates. This is what democracy looks like: the Somali pirates. This is what anti-globalization looks like when you do it for real, not like deadheads following the WTO from city to city, banker groupies in black masks and red armbands.
Not only are the Somali pirates doin it for themselves, theyre like a spotlight on all the most interesting stories out there. Remember that Ukrainian freighter the pirates grabbed a few months ago? That freighter was veeeeeeery quietly carrying 33 Russian tanks and a few thousand AKs, with ammo, to Mombasa in Kenya. But it wasnt the Kenyans who wanted all those Russian tanks. It was the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, the gang that runs Southern Sudan right now, after using the Darfur distraction to force a ceasefire with those Arab hotheads in Khartoum. It seems the SPLM, a sensible bunch whove had years of experience in Khartoum treachery, decided that the best way to keep peace is to prepare for war. Not that that slogan means anything, actually. The best way to keep the peaceno such things. Too many variables. All those pundit-speak clichés are crap. You can find counterexamples to all of them. But knowing the sort of scum who rule Sudan, it just seems sensible to get as many tanks and aircraft as you can. In third-world vs. third-world wars like the one in Sudan, that sort of mid-price Soviet hardware works perfectly well. Its only when you go up against a first-world AF that it turns into scrap iron.
And we owe all this cool dirt on how the Sudan wars going to our friends the Somali pirates. Nobody would have known that this ship was sending all those tanks to southern Sudan until they grabbed it. Thats what I mean when I say these guys are natural stars, born hams, scenery-chewers. Theyre not in it for the publicity, theyre strictly about the money, but they just cant help stealing the show.
Like today: they officially handed back that Ukrainian freighter and collected their 3.2 million dollar ransom. But that wasnt enough: they did it in style.
The pirates zoomed out to the drop zone in their little boats, right in view of two USN warships, collected their loot, counted itI love that part, that they actually counted out the money, which mustve weighed a few kilos, right under the guns of the worlds most expensive navythen waved goodbye and zoomed off home, to turn their booty into SUVs, satellite dishes and extra wives. I hear the price of virgins has zoomed in the most pirate-infested parts of Puntland since these multimillion dollar ransoms started pouring in. This is the golden age, in Puntland. And why shouldnt they have their little fun time? Its not like thereve been a lot of golden ages in Puntland. Its kind of hard to feel too sorry for the oil companies, Russian arms dealers, or other sleazy fat cats whose insurance is going up. Especially when you remember that these pirates used to be fisherman, never bothering anybody, until the Asian trawlers took advantage of the fact that Somalia has no authorities, no government, to scoop every last sand-dab out of the fishing grounds. If you saw that happen, and all you had left was guns and little boats, and you had to watch the wonderful parade of global commerce going by flipping you the bird for a few years, you might start thinking Jack-Sparrow thoughts your own self. Guys, this is why the Pirates of Puntland exist. I bolded it to make sure. They're not some sort of Bond-movie evil villians, as much as everyone around here likes to shout "hang them from the yardarm". There are no fish for them to catch because oceangoing trawlers from Taiwan cleaned out the sea (and I mean, did a great job at it, too). Pirates are some of the most democratic folks around, too.
Its too good to last, of course. When the costs really start biting, well go inno use letting the Euros try to do it like were doing now, they dont have the will to pull the trigger any moreand well turn a few boats into floating splinters, and the good times will be over for Puntland. Too bad, too. Once the pirates are wiped out or chased back to their little burrows on the coast, people will start missing them and realizing how great they were, what goddamn heroes, actual reallife Robin Hoods they were. Thats how we do it in the big world: killem, then make movies about how great they were. Just ask the Sioux or the Highlanders. Yup. Anyway, go ahead and continue with the "die pirate scum, hang them from the yardarm" comments that usually populate this site.
#1
I love this article. I actually envy the pirates. I would TRUELY love to be able to join them. They are living life while I'm watching it.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/11/2009 13:21
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#2
To echo gromky's point, pirates embraced democratic principles far earlier and with greater enthusiasm than many of their contemporaries. For example, the captain of most pirate ships was chosen by majority vote amongst the crew, and could be replaced at a moment's notice should his leadership and skippering skills prove less than worthy. It is also true that in most instances, the crew of the ship voted to determine the vessel's course of action (where to sail and plunder, whether to attack or not, etc.). Rarely was the decision left solely to the captain to make.
#3
Its kind of hard to feel too sorry for the oil companies, Russian arms dealers, or other sleazy fat cats whose insurance is going up.
It's not the owners and shippers I'm concerned about. It's the crews. Mariners generally don't make a hell of a lot of money (we'll exclude U.S. and certain European shipping companies and flags). And they're the ones who are hostages.
Bet you didn't think about them when you you wrote up your heroes-of-the-sea, didja?
#4
Eltoroverde: I doubt these pirates are following the same traditions the ones in the Carribean did. More like "They're not from my extended family, I can pay a mullah to declare them infidel even if they're a moslem from the Philipines, therefore they're not human, and I need to find a way to make money off of them, whether by holding them hostage or sending them off to the butcher."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/11/2009 15:44
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#6
The pirates don't harm their captives. The crews are innocents, to be sure, but far worse things happen to innocent folks the world 'round. In addition, the total number of people affected is quite small.
#8
Piracy may be romantic and the poor fishermen screwed by the Taiwanese or whoever may resonate, but this is a very serious problem that will get rapidly worse.
BTW, if you want to assign blame, the fault lies with the UN, which done everything it can to dcrew up the place, from creating the artificial state of Somalia in the first place, to pushing and pouring money into a so called government that has so little legitimacy that it can't even enter the country.
Then of course there is the morass of International Law, which prevents UN member states from doing anything about piracy, except being forced to offer them asylum as the Dutch are about to find out.
I'm not one of the 'hangem from the yardarm' types, but I do see a serious growing problem that the only feasible solution involves considerable violence, either at sea or in Puntland itself.
#10
By this kind of absurd logic, we should be dissing Fred for wasting his time running Rantburg, when he could have turned his his hand to internet banking fraud when he was made redundant. After all, the banks usually cover out losses.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Eight Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests attacked three Afghan government buildings Wednesday in a coordinated assault that killed 20 people in the heart of Kabul just ahead of a planned visit from the new U.S. envoy to the region. The attacks in a city dense with barricades and armed guards underscored the difficulty of fending off the Taliban even with abundant troops and weaponry as the U.S. beefs up its presence.
The assailants sent three text messages to the leader of their terror cell in Pakistan before launching Wednesday's assault, said Amrullah Saleh, chief of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, underlining the links between militants in the two countries.
Five men armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the Justice Ministry in late morning, shooting at workers and temporarily trapping the minister and scores of others inside, witnesses said. The gunmen appeared to hold the building for about two hours before Afghan security forces regained control about midday, according to an AP reporter on the scene.
At about the same time, two men in suicide vests blew themselves up at the ministry's correction department across town. A third assailant in a suicide vest was shot as he tried to force his way into the Education Ministry, about a half-mile from the Justice Ministry attack, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
At least 20 people were killed in the attacks and 57 wounded, said Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the interior minister. All eight attackers died, Azimi said, bringing the total death toll to 28.
Zabiullah Mujaheed, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the attacks were in response to the alleged mistreatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghan government jails. "We have warned the Afghan government to stop torturing our prisoners," Mujaheed told AP in a phone call from an undisclosed location. "Today we attacked Justice Ministry compounds."
Saleh, the intelligence chief, said officials had intelligence indicating a "spectacular" attack involving multiple homicide bombers was imminent, but said they did not have enough specifics to prevent it.
He compared Wednesday's attacks to the assault on hotels, markets and a train station in Mumbai last November that killed 164 in India. Indian officials have blamed the Mumbai attack on the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Saleh did not offer any more specifics. Twenty-one suspects were detained, he said.
The incident comes as Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's newly appointed envoy to the region, is expected imminently in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan. Obama has vowed to increase U.S. focus on the resurgent Taliban, including sending more troops and designating Holbrooke, who is helping the administration chart a new strategy to beat the insurgencies raging in both countries.
The Taliban regularly use homicide bombings in their assaults on Afghan and foreign troops, but attackers have rarely made it inside the barricaded and guarded compounds of government buildings in the capital.
Justice Minister Sarwar Danesh spoke to the AP while he was briefly trapped inside the ministry with a number of government employees. "They used grenades and AK-47s," Danesh said of the attackers, speaking by mobile phone.
A ministry worker said he scrambled out of a second-floor window to escape an advancing gunman. "I came out of my office to see what was going on, and I saw a man with an AK-47 shooting at every employee he saw in the hall," said ministry employee Nazir Mohammad, shaking as he spoke.
Wednesday's attack follows on an assault last month, when a Taliban homicide bomber attacked vehicles on a road that runs by both the German Embassy and a U.S. military base. One U.S. service member and four Afghan civilians died.
Elsewhere, in Logar, one province south of Kabul, a roadside bomb exploded near a French military medical team's convoy, killing one French officer and two Afghans, said Den Mohammad Durwesh, the governor's spokesman. The French government said another soldier was seriously injured.
Also in Logar, a helicopter with the U.S.-backed coalition killed five civilians as it responded to ground fire, Durwesh said. U.S. spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment.
#5
Clearly all Afghani government employees need to be armed when on the job.
Separately, NPR today reported that in 1997(?) New York City was just hours away from a multiple suicide attack like this one when the plotters were arrested, thanks to a brand new Egyptian immigrant who'd subletted a room in their Brooklyn apartment. In response to a television report of suicide attacks in Israel they'd showed our man their own bombs, and told him proudly of their plans. He immediately went out and, despite speaking almost no English, managed to persuade the first policeman he found to that he was trying to report terrorists. After several hours, according to the NPR report, the police managed to find a translator, then managed to persuade the FBI and the NYC SWAT unit to investigate. As I said, they broke in to the Brooklyn apartment only a few hours before our terrorist friends set out upon their planned adventures.
Let us pause a moment to thank that force who watches over fools and America.
#6
tw, I often wonder what would have happened if the US intelligence agencies had actually connected the dots before 9-11, and arrested enough of the plotters to foil the plan. There would have been a few headlines about an "alleged" plot to capture airliners and fly them into buildings, but it would have been just a plot. No invasion of Afghanistan, nor of Iraq. The Taliban and Saddam would probably still be in charge.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/11/2009 20:16
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#7
TW, I believe it was Eric Sevareid who said that God looks after fools, drunks, little children, and the United States of America.
#8
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > TALIBAN THREATEN TO ATTACK ISLAMABAD [ + also to wage war agz other major alleged anti-Talib Radical Islamist Groups]. The Taliban proclaim the see no real difference between MUSHARAFF + ZARDARI.
The controversial policy that bans media coverage of flag-draped caskets arriving from the war theater to Dover Air Force Base, Del., is once again being reviewed with an eye toward reversal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. "If the needs of the families can be met, and the privacy concerns can be addressed, the more honor we can accord these fallen heroes, the better," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference. "I'm ... pretty open to, to whatever the results of this review may be."
Gates said he ordered the review after President Barack Obama said Monday night during a nationally broadcast news conference that the White House is "in the process of reviewing those policies." Gates said he has put a "fairly short deadline on that effort," but was not more specific.
Gates, a Bush administration holdover who has served in the Pentagon's top job since December 2006, said he looked into changing the policy a little over a year ago. He said the answer he received, partly the result of talks with family members of fallen troops, was that if reporters and photographers were allowed to view the return of flag-draped caskets at Dover, "many of the families would feel compelled to be there for those ceremonies for their fallen hero."
"For these families, this would delay the return of the remains home," he said. "For others, it would be a financial hardship to get to Dover. And there were some privacy concerns."
But, Gates added, "I think that looking at it again makes all kinds of sense."
Media coverage of military remains arriving at ports of entry was once permitted but came to a halt by Pentagon decree during the 1991 Gulf War, on Feb. 2, 1991. Exceptions have been made over the years, such as when the media photographed a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., for Americans killed in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. In October 2000, the Pentagon distributed photos of caskets arriving at Dover that contained the remains of sailors killed in the bombing of the USS Cole.
In 2004, a "Sense of Congress" resolution included in the 2005 budget stated that the Pentagon policy "appropriately protects the privacy of the families and friends of the deceased."
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has taken the opposite view -- that photos of returning caskets both honor the returning service member and remind the public that the nation is at war. In January, Jones introduced the "Fallen Hero Commemoration Act," legislation that would force the Pentagon to grant the media access when military remains arrive at U.S. military installations. This is a cause the leftists support and very badly want because they think it will destroy Americans' support for the military.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/11/2009
12:24 ||
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#1
I don't understand the logic of either side. I recall when the remains of the Challenger Crew were brought in via barge with the appropriate casket and flag (in the middle of the nighty) and the photos were instantly embargoed. Hell I'd had 5000 sailors maning the lines.
#2
as long as they balance it with photos of fat, lazy Ivy League and Berkley tools who wouldn't lift a finger in defense of their nation, and label them as such, then hokay
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2009 20:51
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DENVER -- For Marie Morrow, the equipment left in the back seat of her car was for an upcoming competition. She said she never expected it would lead to her being suspended from school -- or possibly expelled. She left three drill team "practice" rifles in plain view of passing students last week. Morrow, who says she has a 3.5 grade point average, is a member of the Douglas County Young Marines. She said she spins the practice rifles for the organization's drill team.
The mock rifles are made of wood, with duct tape, to resemble a real rifle.
Amole explained the school district's policy mirrors state and federal laws about weapons in schools, and calls for "mandatory expulsion" when possessing a dangerous weapon in any school building. A student conduct handbook states a dangerous weapon includes "a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm."
Amole said an expulsion hearing will be held within 10 days of a student suspension. An expulsion officer will make a recommendation to the superintendent, who will rule on the length of expulsion.
Morrow said she her expulsion hearing is Feb. 20. "I'm just hoping I can go back to school and graduate with my class and take my AP tests and all that," she said.
#4
I, for one, welcome Zero-Tolerance policies. I can get rid of my thinkin' and common-sense brain parts; I'm with the 67.84% of the electorate seems to agree that "Zero-Tolerance" is the way to go! /sarc off
#5
She will be harshly punished for her "offence". The only thing that can save her is if gun rights folks in Colorado came to her aid and demonstrated at the school. Wont happen. Sigh.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/11/2009 13:38
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#6
So in other words the School board and the expulsion officer are staying that they are so stupid they can't tell the difference between a real rifle and a mock one made of wood and Duct Tape.
Why I see guns held together with Duct Tape all the time on gunbroker.com. Don't you?
#7
HMMMMMMM, lessirree, "3.5 GPA + "Young Marines" Drill Team + Planning to Graduate" etc . > CLEARLY SHE's A THREAT TO THE NATION = AMERIKA, THE USSA = USRoA!?
D *** NG IT, CLEARLY SHE DESERVES TO GET DEATH ROW IFF SHE PLANS TO ATTEND COLLEGE, OR FIND A GOOD JOB, OR BOTH!
#8
Well, I don't know how much of this actually relates to her status in the Young Marines. While I am sure it didn't help (crazy people who like the military and all that), we had the same issue at my old high school school once with a white-taped wooden rifle that belonged to a flag girl in the marching band.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals knows how to grab attention. And show off its laundry. The animal rights group, which every year stages a protest at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, had two of its members dress in Ku Klux Klan garb outside Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Their goal, according to a post on the PETA website, was to be pests draw a parallel between the KKK and the American Kennel Club. "Obviously it's an uncomfortable comparison," PETA spokesman Michael McGraw told the Associated Press. It's also a false comparison. The treatment of these dogs is in no way comparable to how the KKK treated Blacks, Jews, Catholics, and anyone else who disagreed with them.
But the AKC is trying to create a "master race" when it comes to pure-bred dogs, he added. "It's a very apt comparison." Horse-hocky. Than Klan wasn't trying to create a MAster Race, just elevate white Protestants to a position of mastery over others. Dog breeders aren't trying to create a Master Race, either.
The group passed out brochures implying the Klan and AKC have the goal of "pure bloodlines" in common.
"I can't speak for everyone, but the vast majority of the people exhibiting and handling and showing at Westminster are more interested in the health of dogs than anything else," Westminster spokesman David Frei told the AP. "We want to produce the next generation of healthy and happy dogs," he said, "not just for the show ring but for the couches at home."
Bystander Fatima Walden told the AP the KKK imagery was inappropriate no matter what the message. "They could have used something else as an example," she said. "You should be considerate to everybody."
Other than a shouting match during the hour-long protest, police said the scene remained calm.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/11/2009
12:01 ||
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#1
So the Robert Byrd wing of PeTA decides to hold a fashion show...
Anybody know if the semi-cadever Klaverner got an invite?
#1
Proposed solution from the cited article:
"Some $6 trillion in income taxes were paid by individuals in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On a pro-forma basis, send out those 10 billion shares of each [newly nationalized] bank to taxpayers. They paid for the recapitalization.
Each taxpayer would get about $100 worth of stock for each $1,000 of taxes paid. Of course, each taxpayer has the ability to sell these shares on the open market, maybe at $40, maybe $20, maybe $80. It depends on management, their vision, how much additional capital they are willing to raise, the dividend they declare, etc. Meanwhile, the toxic assets sitting inside the Treasury will have residual value and the proceeds from their eventual sale, I believe, will more than offset the capital injected. That would benefit all citizens, not the managements and shareholders who blew up the banking system in the first place"
This solution looks like Communism with more paperwork, from the Wall Street Journal, yet. The articles I read keep giving me the impression that all major US banks are insolvent & have been shuckin' and jivin' for months in their efforts to not face the music. The really small banks that are still solvent don't amount to a hill of beans.
#2
Watching the House hearings with the banks. We need a constitutional amendment that no one can hold political office at the federal level with an IQ less than 70. These people are literally below the moron level.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 12:45
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#3
Well, Jack, John Kerry thought those who couldn't do anything went into the uniform service, ignoring the blatant example he set in turn by going to Congress.
Too bad she's not a terrorist. She could go to fingerpainting school...
A Saudi judge has ordered a woman should be jailed for a year and receive 100 lashes after she was gang-raped, it was claimed last night. The 23-year-old woman, who became pregnant after her ordeal, was reportedly assaulted after accepting a lift from a man. He took her to a house to the east of the city of Jeddah where she was attacked by him and four of his friends throughout the night.
She later discovered she was pregnant and made a desperate attempt to get an abortion at the King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces.
According to the Saudi Gazette, she eventually 'confessed' to having 'forced intercourse' with her attackers and was brought before a judge at the District Court in Jeddah. He ruled she had committed adultery - despite not even being married - and handed down a year's prison sentence, which she will serve in a prison just outside the city.
She is still pregnant and will be flogged once she has had the child. Gonna wait? Must be a liberal judge...
The Saudi Arabian legal system practices a strict form of medieval law. Women have very few rights and are not even allowed to drive. They are also banned from going out in public in the company of men other than male relatives.
#8
Judging by the IP, S2 is just your garden- variety antisemitic Swiss.
Resident of Switzerland, Pappy. Lots of those are moneyed Arabs or moneyed others. Not that the Swiss necessarily need outside help to be antisemitic, but accuracy in such matters is important. ;-)
ANGRY residents last night accused local authorities of contributing to the bushfire toll by failing to let residents chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk.
During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help or permission to clean up around their properties in preparation for the bushfire season. "We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down," he said. "We wanted trees cut down on the side of the road and you can't even cut the grass for God's sake."
Later, the meeting was cut short when Mr Spooner's father, Dennis, collapsed in his chair and an ambulance had to be called. Despite losing his wife and son and everything he owned, a friend later said he had not stopped or slept since the weekend.
Another resident said she had asked the council four times to tend to out-of-control growth on public land near her home, but her pleas had been ignored.
There was widespread applause when Nillumbik Mayor Bo Bendtsen said changes were likely to be made about the council's policy surrounding native vegetation. But his response was not good enough for Mr Spooner: "It's too late now mate. We've lost families, we've lost people."
More than 500 people spilled out of the small hall during the meeting, at which the CFA, Victoria Police, Department of Human Services and Telstra provided updates. Many expressed anger that police road blocks were stopping them from reaching survivors trapped in fire-ravaged areas with no water, power or other basic needs. One man present spoke of counselling a woman whose two children had been killed and whose grief had been compounded by not knowing where they were because the area had been declared a crime scene and she had not been allowed to return.
Most of those present were tired, grieving the loss of relatives and friends and with little more than the smoke-coated clothes on their backs. Some were still showing symptoms of shock after experiencing the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. Scattered around the hall and outside were trestle tables with clothing sorted in neat piles, toiletries, food and bottled water. On the floor were dozens of pairs of shoes. There was also a section dedicated to baby clothes and another for children's toys.
Of all the speakers who addressed the meeting, it was Arthurs Creek CFA Captain David McGahy who got the most rousing reception. Choking back tears he told them: "I'm so terribly sorry. We desperately wanted to protect you but we couldn't. In the cold analysis of light, it wouldn't have mattered if we'd have had 200 units here, all that would have happened is we would have ended up with a whole lot of dead firefighters. I've been at this game for about 40 years and I haven't experienced anything like that, not even remotely like it."
#1
My Dad (82 at the time) cleared a 80-foot wide & 300-foot long swath of brush on a "State Protected" 'wild growth area' (read - wildfire hazard) in southern California adjacent to his house. Borrowed a bobcat from a nearby home construction site. Did it over a weekend.
When the state DNR folks came looking soon after for who did it, he and his neighbors (who were and still are quite happy this happened as this hazard abutted their properties, too) told them that the "Mexicans probably came and got the stuff for firewood".
During the last big area brush fire, it didn't seriously affect any of the homes adjacent to the 'cut'. Fire did get the homes down the hill that weren't cleared away, though.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/11/2009 12:04
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Environmentalists will gladly trade 200 deaths so that they can keep the land as they like it. To their thinking, there are too many humans already and we're due for a cull.
Sweden, like most countries in the western world, is obsessed with the Middle-East. The Arab-Israeli conflict receives constant media coverage and public interest, and the recent events in Gaza were no exception. As usual, they sparked a lively and sometimes violent debate. Sadly, and this too is usual, the debate is full of misinformation and misunderstandings.
Most Swedish political figures positioned themselves between strongly condemning Israel while mildly criticizing Hamas' actions on the one hand and totally supporting Hamas and its administration in Gaza on the other.
On the left many condemned Israel's military operation and the Jewish state in general. "I don't think Israel is a democracy worthy of the name. It's a racist apartheid state," said the Left Party's Hans Linde, calling for a boycott of Israel.
Continued on Page 49
SYDNEY, Australia - A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said Friday.
The 30-minute rampage, caught on the zoo's security camera, happened early Wednesday after the boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Center in central Australia, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.
The child then went on a killing spree, bashing three lizards to death with a rock, including the zoo's beloved, 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to "Terry," an 11-foot, 440-pound saltwater crocodile, said Neindorf.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/11/2009
10:50 ||
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If you look at the date, you'll see this was back in early October.
A VIDEO showing Sam the koala being given a drink by firefighter David Tree among the devastation of the bushfires has become a global hit.
Pictures of Sam, who turned out to be female, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun, with the video appearing on CNN. The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair.
Yesterday, Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter.
Sam the Koala is becoming overnight-famous in the way thats only become possible since the advent of the Internet. Since the picture above, taken on the spur of the moment by a fellow CFA volunteer with a mobile phone camera, was published yesterday, Sam (who is a girl koala, by the way) has become a globally-famous marsupial. David Tree, the volunteer firefighter in the photo who is also shown in video here during the rescue? Not so much. Sure, you and your fellow bush fire fighters are the real heroes here, genuine Aussie legends, and you deserve to be famous too, all of you, but what can we say? Sam is just that darned cute. But know that you and all of the volunteers who have been going almost non-stop day and night now, while you might not be quite as famous, still have our most sincere appreciation and admiration. Onya, mates!
#2
Screw PETA - this is true Ethical Treatment of Animals. Good for you, mate!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 12:37
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If you go to my full post on this which you've excerpted, there are some good pictures of little Sam recovering.
Regarding Tipper's observation on Koalas' normally grumpy/hissy/bitey behaviour, in an interview I heard with David Tree on radio last night, he also said,
"It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery. I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally.He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby."
"I love nature, and I've handled koalas before. They're not the friendliest things, but I wanted to help him."
Often mistakenly called koala bears because they resemble a child's teddy bear, the marsupial is actually a rather grumpy creature with a loud growl.
"
Poor old Sam must've really been feeling sad & sorry for himself to have been so docile and gentle :-(
You'll be happy to hear he's doing much better.
Three cheers for our volunteer bush firefighters (CFA) and for the carers at the wildlife shelters and for the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have been so generously donating to our Bushfire Appeal Fund!
Elsewhere on our blog there is a post with links where you can leave a message of thanks on a bulletin board to the CFA volunteers and other emergency service volunteers, and links to "How You Can Help."
To the ghettos wit yuz.
President Obama was back on the road today to garner support for the economic stimulus package that passed the Senate early Tuesday morning. He was speaking today at a town hall forum in Ft. Myers, Florida, and near the end of his hour-long session, a city councilwoman asked him about transportation and infrastructure in the stimulus.
Here's how he responded:
It's imagining new transportation systems. I'd like to see high speed rail where it can be constructed. I would like for us to invest in mass transit because potentially that's energy efficient. And I think people are a lot more open now to thinking regionally...
The days where we're just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody... recognizes that's not a smart way to design communities. So we should be using this money to help spur this sort of innovative thinking when it comes to transportation. That will make a big difference.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009
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#1
There will be sprawl as long as humans keep reproducing. Unless he has a depopulation program in the Pork Package as well [unlikely with the effective repeal of welfare reform], somebody has to park their ass someplace. They get nasty when when you stack them up [excepting some circles in Hollyweird]. And depopulation usually hits urban centers hardest, the core of the Donk power base. More talk. More government. Less solutions.
#3
Phueching bloody prophetic....water is also wet. NOBODY is building now, or likely to build anytime soon! Futurist, truth-sayer, economist, military expert, community disorganizer. I knew Wakan Tanka, and you're no bloody Wakan Tanka. (How did we make it so long without this Cook County genius?)
#7
The history of Chicago area suburban development can be summed up as 'running away from Democrats'
In NE IL everytime the Dems took over a local government unit the taxes went through the roof. Businesses, industry, and people moved to more tax friendly areas, causing growth (or sprawl). And of course the Dems followed them, took over again and the people, businesses, and industry moved yet again... ad infinitum.
Stopping sprawl is simple, stop Democrats.
#11
Ask Boulder how well that worked. Prices jumped through the roof and almost all the building are crumbling and falling apart because they are "historic". Give Boulder another 20 years and people will be living in tents.
#13
Bright Pebbles, we should be so fortunate that the notorious late sleeper should be awoken every 5AM. That building across the street is the KAM Isaiah Israel Temple. Fooled me the first time I saw it.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 15:52
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A civilian cargo ship drafted by the U.S. Navy to fight high-seas piracy has been equipped as the first U.S. vessel that can temporarily hold captured suspects, officials said.
The USNS Lewis and Clark, usually used to haul cargo and ammunition, has been reconfigured to hold as many as 26 suspected pirates -- signaling a paradigm shift in the Navy's counterpiracy missions, which previously did not allow for the capture of such suspects.
Only 26? Criminy, you could tow a barge and stuff a hundred in right there ...
An agreement between the U.S. State Department and the Kenyan government signed in mid-January supplied "the missing link" that now lets U.S. military and coalition nations capture suspected pirates and then turn them over to Kenya for prosecution, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet.
The Lewis and Clark joined Combined Task Force 151 as "a staging platform," from which the Navy can launch either of the SH-60 Navy helicopters now assigned to the ship, or serve as a temporary holding center for suspected pirates. Currently, no one is being held onboard.
The ship's crew, reduced from 158 to 118 civilian and military mariners to accommodate its new mission, reconfigured part of the ship as a holding area. Crews set down matting and blankets, and the ship's steward set aside foods like rice and beans, the ship's master, civilian mariner Capt. William McCarthy, said Monday in a phone interview. "Although this mission is unique, it's not unique to support a military operation," McCarthy said. "Military Sealift Command operates ships around the world, and we're quite frequently asked to support military missions."
The Lewis and Clark left the States in September for a scheduled 11-month deployment, he said.
#1
But does it have a yardarm? That's the key equipment for fighting pirates - something to hang their carcasses from when you call on their home port.
#3
Should have been a submarine. With the cells outside the pressure hull.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 10:41
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I know it's fun to put down Navy food, But truthfully, when I was in, we ate very well (And never peeled a single potato, we had a machine that did that).
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/11/2009 10:47
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So, unlimited ice cream bar for the pirates?
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 10:53
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Investors are buying record amounts of gold bars and coins, shunning risky assets for the relative safety of bullion amid renewed fears about the health of the global financial system.
The US Mint sold 92,000 ounces of its popular American Eagle coin last month, almost four times that which it sold a year ago and more than it shipped during the whole of the first half of 2007. Other countries' mints have also reported strong sales. "Large purchases of coins are perhaps the ultimate sign of safe-haven gold buying," said John Reade, a precious metals strategist at UBS.
Inflows into gold-backed exchange traded funds surged in January, pushing their bullion holdings to an all-time high of 1,317 tonnes. Last month's flows of 105 tonnes were above September's previous record of 104 tonnes, and absorbed about half the world's gold mine output for January, said Barclays Capital.
"We estimate that investment demand [into gold] could double in 2009 compared to 2007," said Mr Reade. "Purchases of physical gold have jumped over the past six months as investors' fears about the current financial crisis ... have intensified."
The move into gold is being driven by the very rich, with bankers saying that some clients are hoarding gold in their vaults. UBS and Goldman Sachs said last week that investor hoarding would drive prices back above $1,000 an ounce. On Monday gold was trading at $892 an ounce.
Traders and analysts said jewellery demand, historically the backbone of gold consumption, had collapsed under the weight of the high prices. Sharp falls in demand in the key markets of India, Turkey and the Middle East have capped the potential of any price rally. But the lack of jewellery demand has not discouraged investors.
Jonathan Spall, director of commodities at Barclays Capital in London, said: "We have seen more new enquiries about investing in gold so far this year than during the whole 2008."
Philip Klapwijk, chairman of GFMS, the precious metal consultancy, said that investors were buying gold because of fears about the global financial system rather than looking for a quick gain. "This is a new round of safe haven buying," Mr Klapwijk said.
GFMS estimated bullion coin demand last year reached its highest level in 21 years.
Sure, gold is worth a lot to people willing to buy it, but it won't buy food if no one has any to sell, and it won't pay most people to move out of their house and live outdoors so the gold-owner can move in.
Same with diamonds. I just don't get it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2009 16:14
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#4
Now if it was beef bullion I could understand. Add a little water, some veggies, and boil for a bit and you have a tasty meal.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/11/2009 19:09
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#5
Deacon---someone said that Porculus is the new white meat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/11/2009 21:13
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The nominal income or cash flow received by households determines how easily they can repay debt contracts fixed in nominal terms. In the same way, the nominal income or cash flow received by companies determines how easily they can repay debt contracts in fixed currency.
At the most general level, nominal GDP is in some sense the "national cash flow" -- and determines how easily the economy as a whole can support an overall debt structure fixed in nominal terms. Nominal GDP growth becomes exceptionally important, especially at times when debts are at a high level.
The attached charts show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth in GDP in both nominal and real terms since 1947.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009
08:29 ||
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but every wage cut and price reduction is also reducing the cash flows which households and firms need to pay their debts, deepening the crisis.
False statement. What the author fails to acknowledge is that there is some and even a lot of gouging in prices. That 'every' price reduction doesn't reduce cash flows to reduce debt as much as profit margins. Where was it written in stone that companies and stockholders were entitled to double digit profit margins or to operate inefficiently without consequences?
#3
There is something deeply flawed in this way of thinking, having to do with moral hazard and a collectivist mindset. Collectivist in the sense of: the responsible people who didn't take on debt that was unsustainable in a downturn should share the pain of the irresponsible people via inflation, which is a tax on everybody.
Chinese exports and imports fell unexpectedly sharply in January, underlining how badly the world's third-largest economy has been hit by the global financial crisis and the impact that is having on its neighbours.
Exports fell 17.5 percent from a year earlier, after a 2.8 percent decline in December, while imports plunged 43.1 percent, Chinese are preparing for 30-40% export decline
twice as much as December's 21.3 percent year-on-year drop, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.
Yet shipments of machinery and electronics and high-tech products, which together make up over three-fourths of China's exports, fell by 20.9 percent and 28.0 percent, respectively.
Imports of machinery and high-tech goods fell by roughly 40 percent, boding ill for the countries that sell such components for Chinese factories to assemble.
Shipments from Japan fell by 43.5 percent from a year earlier; those from South Korea were down 46.4 percent and from Taiwan, 58 percent. Meanwhile, exports to the United States and European Union fell 9.8 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009
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AUGUSTA -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey and Maine State Climate Office announced today that a minus-50 reading in northwestern Maine held up to scientific scrutiny.
That beats Maine's old record of 48 below zero set in 1925 in Van Buren, and ties the record for coldest temperature recorded in New England. That reading was made in 1933 in Bloomfield, Vt.
The record on New Hampshire's Mount Washington is minus-47.
Maine's minus-50 reading was made on Jan. 16 at a remote site along the Big Black River near the Quebec border as the region was in the grip of a blast of arctic air.
10:09
AUGUSTA -- Just how cold is the record cold in Maine?
NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the U.S. Geological Survey and the Maine State Climate Office will tell us today at a meeting in Augusta.
The question: Does a reading of minus-50 in northwestern Maine, made on Jan. 16 at a site along the Big Black River near the Quebec border, break the all-time record.
We'll have to wait until 11 a.m., to find out what the weather watchers above determined after reviewing the equipment used to make the reading.
The National Weather Service says the current cold record for Maine is 48 below, recorded in Van Buren on Jan. 19, 1925.
I am deeply saddened and disturbed to see insensitive, hate-filled racist neanderthals making light of what is obviously just a temporary reprieve for Maines polar bear population.
This record came about because of good partnership work between NOAA, USGS and the State of Maine. There was no recording station there back in 1925 so it is certainly possible that had there been such a station, the 1925 cold spell would be the record.
The dalliance between Quebec sovereigntists and Palestinians can lead to embarrassing situations. Last week, Bloc Québécois MP Maria Mourani forwarded to all her parliamentary colleagues a so-called news bulletin about the war in Gaza. The e-mail message contained links to videos extolling Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, two groups considered terrorist organizations in Canada. When Ms. Mourani's initiative raised an outcry in the Commons, she explained she had not seen the links in the e-mail, but didn't apologize. Her boss, Gilles Duceppe, who keeps his MPs on a tight leash, declared Ms. Mourani was careless, but refused to sanction her for an unintended mistake.
Mr. Duceppe should know about such "unintended mistakes." In 2006, during the Lebanon war, he marched in a demonstration in Montreal alongside groups brandishing Hezbollah flags and posters calling for the extermination of Israel. The leaders of the two sovereigntist parties, the heads of the major labour unions and even Denis Coderre, then an organizer for Michael Ignatieff's leadership campaign, also marched in the demonstration. After they were widely condemned for their participation, the political leaders argued the demonstration was for "peace" - although the literature published by the coalition that organized the demonstration had only one side to blame: Israel.
This year, during the war in Gaza, the same scenario was repeated. A demonstration supposedly calling for peace turned into a loud show of hatred against Israel and Jews, with a sea of Hamas flags displayed in downtown Montreal. There was a difference, though. This time around the leaders of the Bloc and the Parti Québécois abstained from attending, and there was not a Liberal MP in sight. But the union leaders were there. Predictably, this show of solidarity with terrorist groups angered many Quebeckers. But there is no doubt that in Quebec, probably more than in other provinces, there is widespread sympathy for the Palestinian cause - and very little sympathy for Israelis who have been the target of terrorist attacks for years. Why is that so? There are several explanations.
One is that solidarity with the Palestinians, seen as the victims of a powerful and rich ally of the United States, is a staple of current leftist thought - this is why the union leaders, who want to be on the side of the downtrodden, were yet again marching next to Hamas supporters. This is also a common reflex in leftist circles in Europe and elsewhere, especially in Britain, which is at the forefront of the despicable movement aimed at a boycotting Israeli academics.
There are also homegrown factors behind Quebec's bias toward the Palestinian side of the complex Middle East conflict. The Montreal area has the largest Arab community in Canada. Since most Quebec Arabs come from North Africa and Lebanon, they are francophones, thus closer to old-stock francophones than the old Jewish Ashkenazi community whose first language is English. The Sephardim Jews, who settled more recently in Montreal, are French-speaking, but don't seem to have mingled as easily with the French Canadians. Politics play a role here.
Most Jews, for obvious reasons, are suspicious of nationalist movements - and Quebec has absorbed deeply the sovereigntist ideology. For the sovereigntists, the Jewish community is an active "ally" of the federalist camp, while the Arab community is either sympathetic or indifferent to Quebec nationalism.
Last, but not least, there is the old factor of anti-Semitism, which still exists in Quebec as in so many other societies throughout the world. Nobody will dare voice plain, direct anti-Semitic remarks, but attacking Israel is an "acceptable" way for anti-Semites to express their Judeophobia.
#1
Imbalance is unnatural and against the laws of all sciences. Social imbalance can be "manipulated" for some time (hundreds of years) but eventually the manipulations are exposed.
Egyptian security forces on Wednesday morning released a German-Egyptian graduate student and blogger held incommunicado since Friday night, his friends and family reported.
Late on Friday night, officers from Egypt's domestic intelligence agency, State Security Investigations, detained Philip Rizk, a German-Egyptian graduate student, blogger, and film-maker, after he completed a symbolic march in Egypt's Qalubiya province north of Cairo to protest the blockade of Gaza, dpa reported.
"It's true. Philip is at home. We are very happy," Rizk's sister, Jeannette, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) on Wednesday. She said the family was not saying anything else for the moment. In the days since Rizk's arrest, his lawyers, family and friends said they had received no reliable word as to his whereabouts or any charges against him.
Approximately 200 protesters gathered on the steps of Cairo's Press Syndicate on Tuesday evening to call for the release of Rizk and others detained in Egypt for protesting the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Also on Friday, police took Dia al-Din Gad from his home in Egypt's Gharbiya province, north-west of Cairo. On his blog, An Angry Voice, Gad was often sharply critical of the Egyptian government's policy toward the Gaza Strip. He became especially outspoken during Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.
On February 3, a Cairo administrative court postponed hearing a complaint against the Interior Ministry alleging that a third blogger, Mohammed Adil, had been detained illegally in November for traveling to the Gaza Strip in January 2008. Prosecutors issued a formal arrest warrant for Adil on November 24, four days after his arrest. Adil is charged with belonging to a banned group, a probable reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, and crossing into Gaza illegally.
And on February 5, a military court in the Suez Canal town of Ismailiya began its trial of Magdi Hussein, a fiery orator from Egypt's suspended Labour Party, who faces charges of crossing into the Gaza Strip illegally in January. Hussein chronicled his trip in daily entries posted to the Labour Party's website after he crossed into the Gaza Strip through a hole in the border fence Jan 23. In articles posted on the Labour Party's website, Hussein said he had met with politicians and militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and that he had preached the virtues of armed struggle in Gazan mosques.
#2
Again, Workman's compensation payments top and Suleiman marries the doctor. Doctor picks up the tab for all deliveries, upbringing, school, etc. Oh, they don't like this solution? Then they both go to the slammer for life! Offspring are put up for adoption.
#3
These characters are here from Iraq ? The old man was a military translator and they allowed him over here ? The woman is mentally ill. The taxpayers of Kaleephornia are on the hook. But they're busted. So Peloosi will shovel more worthless paper out to Cal. I see the Good Samaritan docs and Kaiser where the kids are stashed has already requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal north of $500,000. Madness, nothing but madness.
#4
Woozle, I took it that the family are of Arab Christian descent. The grandfather may have immigrated but the mother was probably born in the US.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 9:52
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#5
8 1 pound preemies and only $550K so far? That's cheeeep. Multiply by 5 or 10 before this is done.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 9:54
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#6
#3 These characters are here from Iraq ?
Her Palestinian-born husband, the children's grandfather, has said he intends to return to a contractor's job in Iraq as a translator to help pay for their upbringing. Ms Suleman, who worked as a psychiatric assistant until starting her family, is on welfare payments.
Ted Kindos faces two choices: Continue to be called a bigot or break the law.
Either way, he risks going bankrupt.
Kindos owns Gator Ted's Tap & Grill in Burlington. Four years ago, he asked a marijuana smoker to step away from his front door. The medically licensed toker complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission of discrimination against a disabled person.
He won.
Kindos was about to pay the fine and post obligatory signs saying, "We accommodate medicinal marijuana smokers," when a different government agency told him he could lose his liquor licence. Serving anybody possessing a controlled substance - prescribed or not - is against the law.
"Heads I win, tails you lose," Kindos said yesterday of the government's position.
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has scheduled 10 days to hear the case in June and July.
"People didn't like the way I smell," the smoker, Steve Gibson, acknowledged of one complaint against him from fellow patrons. "But I don't like a lot of smells either," he said. "I can't bare to stand near some chicks, they've got so much perfume on, let alone some ethnics that I don't like the smell of that much."
Gator Ted's is a roadhouse-style bar cum family restaurant, which when the dispute began offered an indoor smoking section.
Gibson suffered a neck injury in a 1989 workplace accident, collects a disability pension and is one of nearly 3,000 people in Canada medically authorized to use marijuana to control pain. His prescription covers 3.5 grams a day, or seven to eight joints.
When Kindos asked him not to light up inside, Gibson stood smack outside the front door where families pass in and out. Regular smokers stand there, too, he says.
"I don't care if you're eating a banana outside my front door - if you're blocking my entrance I'm asking you to leave," Kindos says.
After spending $40,000 in legal fees fighting the rights complaint - the government covered Gibson's costs - Kindos announced last May he would settle.
But on seeing the offer 10 days later, he changed his mind. He was ordered to pay Gibson $2,000 for pain and suffering, train the bar staff in the human rights code, educate the public about the code, and post signs in the restaurant and on his website saying he accommodates authorized marijuana users.
Discovering he could lose his licence proved the last straw. "A liquor licence holder may not permit a person to have, use, distribute or sell controlled substances in his or her establishment," the act states emphatically, meaning to serve Gibson would be illegal if he is carrying marijuana.
Kindos must continue to fight the complaint or lose his business, he says. Legal bills could also bankrupt him, he adds, but a lawyer has agreed to take the next stage without charge.
Health Canada issues guidelines to authorized users. "(He or she) is advised not to consume controlled substances in a public place and not to expose others to any effects related to the inhalation of secondary smoke," a spokesperson said yesterday.
Joyce Savoline, Conservative member of the Ontario legislature for Burlington, introduced a private member's bill last year to have all smokers stand no closer than three metres to a building entrance. "I specifically said `medicinal marijuana users,' because people who have authorization from their doctors think they have a right to smoke it anywhere," Savoline said.
The bill passed unanimously but the government later blocked it, citing lack of scientific data, she said.
An Ontario Human Rights Commission spokesperson said the tribunal must balance the right of medicinal marijuana users to control pain against the right of others not to be affected by second-hand smoke.
#3
Why not! Get a second hand buzz, get drug tested, get fired because your job requires you not be high, sue everybody, get rich, stayed stoned on someone else's dime for the rest of your life. Life is good!
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 9:15
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#4
I have a family member who is a medical marijuana patient and I have great sympathy for those that medicate to control pain.
However, it does not give you entitlement to be a grade A ass, like this chap was. You go out of the way, medicate and come back. You don't stand in front of the door like an entitled twat and block/impede and force them to walk through your smoke.
End. Of. Fucking. Story.
Steve Gibson needs some mandatory common curtsy and some fucking manners. Otherwise he is gonna need pot for some additional ailments I would give him.
From NewsweekNewsweakObamaweek
In many ways our economy already resembles a European one. As boomers age and spending grows, we will become even more French. Damned boomers again. America's worst generation (and yes, I am one of that generation much to my shame), even though I'm like many here, one of the few to fight against the boomer tide
it was, again, under a conservative GOP administration that we enacted the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years: prescription drugs for the elderly. People on the right and the left want government to invest in alternative energies in order to break our addiction to foreign oil. And it is unlikely that even the reddest of states will decline federal money for infrastructural improvements. Back that truck the hell up! This was NOT NOT NOT a "conservative" GOP Administration - Bush was a moderate, and a "Big Government" type, as were Delay and the idiots in Congress. They ABANDONED basic Reaganist small government and fiscal conservatism, and the only reason they were there was the alternative (which we are seeing now) was far worse. SO that's a HUGE lie at the core of this. The rest you can fisk on your own
If we fail to acknowledge the reality of the growing role of government in the economy, insisting instead on fighting 21st-century wars with 20th-century terms and tactics, then we are doomed to a fractious and unedifying debate. The sooner we understand where we truly stand, the sooner we can think more clearly about how to use government in today's world.
As the Obama administration presses the largest fiscal bill in American history, caps the salaries of executives at institutions receiving federal aid at $500,000 and introduces a new plan to rescue the banking industry, the unemployment rate is at its highest in 16 years. The Dow has slumped to 1998 levels, and last year mortgage foreclosures rose 81 percent.
All of this is unfolding in an economy that can no longer be understood, even in passing, as the Great Society vs. the Gipper. Whether we like it or not--or even whether many people have thought much about it or not--the numbers clearly suggest that we are headed in a more European direction. A decade ago U.S. government spending was 34.3 percent of GDP, compared with 48.2 percent in the euro zone--a roughly 14-point gap, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2010 U.S. spending is expected to be 39.9 percent of GDP, compared with 47.1 percent in the euro zone--a gap of less than 8 points. As entitlement spending rises over the next decade, we will become even more French. And the left is so tickled that we are going to become "French" and demolish American Excpetionalism and cripple ourselves and our posterity. Traitorous SOBs. Time to dismantle DC, either now vial the ballot box, or within a decade via the cartridge box.
#4
In fact if Obama has his way you will surrender to Islam, will be known as hamburger-eating surrendering monkeys and the French will rename their American sandwiches to freedom sandwiches.
Police and intelligence agencies claimed arresting eight more Indian spies across country on Tuesday, police said adding they were planning to attack politicians. Suspects have been moved to concealed places for investigation, police maintained. The arrests were made in Abbotabad, Mirpur and Rahimyar Khan cities in Panjab and Sindh provinces, a media correspondent reported. The police sources said the suspected spies were working for India''s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy agency. The suspected spies were traced through mobile phones, according to Pakistan intelligence agencies. While suspected RAW agents, Muhammad Sharif, Ghulam Mahmood and Mir Abdul Ghafoor were captured from Abbotabad, others namely Fida Hussain, Abdul Saboor and Abdul Sattar were arrested in Rahimyar Khan. Police also seized important documents, maps and fake ID''s from them, intelligence sources said.
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02/11/2009
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A top United States senator called Monday for the creation of a "truth commission" to probe alleged abuses under former President George W. Bush, including the promotion of war in Iraq, detainee treatment, and wiretapping without a warrant.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he wanted to heal what he called sharp political divides under Bush and to prevent future abuses. "I'm doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out," he said.
Obama said at the first press conference of his young presidency that he had not seen the proposal from Leahy and would have a look at it--"but my general orientation is to say let's get it right moving forward."
"If there are clear instances of wrongdoing...people should be prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen," said the president.
Leahy compared his proposed panel to South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and stressed, "We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#1
With the current economic uncertainty upppermost in the minds of people, Senator: Trust me. You don't want a truth commission of any type.
#3
Right along with the 'truth' commission that hauls various MSM up before it to reveal the CIA et al personnel who released classified information during time of war.
#4
South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Firearms and property seizure soon followed the TRC blame game. South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) looks and performs quite a bit like the my way or the highway party in control here now.
Posted by: Bill Jineck7955 ||
02/11/2009 18:43
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#13
Of course the Bush admin. was constrained by some secret magic directive from nearly ever defending or explaining its policies (it's greatest failure, along with fiscal insanity). But all of the issues listed have been exhaustively investigated and/or adjudicated, by Congress or the courts, with results to date totally vindicating Bush, of course.
Leahy is a loathsome creature. Where oh where is the GOPer (or donk with a brain, like Bayh) to stand up and b-slap that idiot in public, citing the actual record on those issues? And add in some personal color on Leahy's outrageous cowardice and irresponsibility as well.
(AKI) - Yemeni police say they have arrested 30 people with alleged links to the Al-Qaeda terror network on the border of Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi newspaper, al-Watan, half the number of people arrested were Saudi citizens who had illegally crossed the Saudi border into Yemen.
Police are conducting inquiries to determine if those arrested are part of a resurgent Al-Qaeda network that recently invited Saudi militants to go to Yemen and join local Al-Qaeda cells.
Police are continuing to conduct investigations in the provinces of Mareb and al-Jawf, where there are believed to be Al-Qaeda cells.
Earlier this week, Yemen said it would release 176 men suspected of links to Al-Qaeda on condition of good behaviour.
Yemen has developed a reputation as a haven for Islamist militants in recent years and there have been a several attacks there against western targets.
Previous prisoner releases have worried US officials.
As a result, the US was more reluctant to free Yemeni prisoners from the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, correspondents say.
Last week Saudi Arabia issued a list of 83 wanted militants living abroad and urged them to return to their home country and resume normal life.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda, is on the wanted list.
Saudi daily Okaz last week quoted unnamed sources saying 11 former detainees from Guantanamo, who returned to home to Saudi Arabia in 2006 subsequently entered Yemen and joined local Al-Qaeda cells there.
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It will make it illegal to own a firearm unless it is registered with the database in Washington D.C. As a gun owner you will have to be finger printed, you will be required to provide your DL#, SS#, you must maintain a valid address at all times, submit to mental amd physical health records being put on file, you will also be required to file any address changes and you any ownership changes even if private sale. Each update will cost $25 and if you fail to comply you will lose your right to own firearms. This bill and its language mirror almost completely one defeated last year in the House of Representatives by soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Will we the citizenry be as lucky this time?
Pass this on to everyone who believes in strict Constitutionalism and remember that laws only apply to those who obey them. Criminals by definition and nature do not abide by laws. New laws and restrictions only apply to the law abiding citizen and are not written with the criminal in mind. With guns, it is not about having laws on the books to prosecute individuals, it is about taking guns away from the people so that no one has them in the first place. One last item to note, when assuming power and creating a facist state, Hitler was a proponent of strong gun laws because a disarmed populace was much easier to control than an armed one. The kings of old also outlawed weapons of any kind in any region that they conquered to quell the ability of the citizens to uprise against them.
The Founding Fathers of this nation understood all of the above and because of this they included the second amendment in the constitution. In fact, they knew that at some point in every society's life span that the need for the population to arise came about. To this end they made the right to keep and bear arms against a tyrannical state an absolute right that could not be revoked. They did this because the first thing tyrants and despots do is to remove a populations right to defend themselves. When this is done the tyrants have no problem with the destruction of society as we know it.
#3
While it happened in the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Austalia I don't think it will happend here without the declaration of martial law and house-to-house searches. Make no mistake however, it's certainly on their bloody agenda.
#4
For me, one of the scariest things about the possibility of having to fork over our weapons is that "the authorities" that come to take them from us will be our local cops.
You know, the guys and gals we see at the coffee shop or at church.
It's hard as hell to shoot at someone you hate - what am I going to do when it is my neighbor?
#6
While it happened in the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia I don't think it will happend here without the declaration of martial law and house-to-house searches.
How do they get around the very real possibility that the active military (whose combat-arms personnel come mainly from the real America) will at least refuse to enforce martial law on behalf of a leftist agenda, and probably actively rebel against it? And there's all those National Guard armories, too...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/11/2009 8:54
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Besoeker: Not so fast with the story of the Bonus Army. It was actually the *second* Bonus army. The first was right after the American Revolution, when veterans surrounded the capital building, forcing the evacuation of congress.
MacArthur (PBUH) was ordered to evacuate a secondary Bonus Army compound, which was done in something of an orderly fashion. But then he exceeded his orders and attacked the primary Bonus Army compound, using adamsite (vomit gas), and causing considerable injury and death.
MacArthur (PBUH) suspected that communist and anarchist agitators were attempting to organize the Bonus veterans to overthrow the government.
I might add a few other bits. First of all, active duty soldiers attacking veterans happened elsewhere after WWI (and was mentioned in Erich Marie Remarque's *other* book, called "The Road Back", taking place in Germany).
But more importantly, the vast majority of the US military is Republican. Any officer who ordered his soldiers to attack or even abuse US citizens would not only be at risk from his own men, but his peers as well.
#10
Not completely forgotten. What is interesting about the Wikipedia article is that it points out the involvement of MacArthur and Patton but ignores Eisenhower's role as MacArthur's #2 responsible for coordination with the DC Police. Interesting oversight in what was undoubtedly the nadir of all three careers. But concepts of order and duty were far different then.
#11
Good discussion. Governors standing in school house doors don't seem to do the trick either. Things pretty nearly got out of hand that day as I remember, but the end-state was never much in doubt. If a federalized national guard with Garands and Carbines locked and loaded says move aside, well, thats the end of it.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 12:55
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#15
to all those who don't think the army would hesitate to shoot civilians if ordered you're living in a dream world. and our beloved police forces wouldn't object at all. The LAPD would love it.
#16
..... to all those who don't think the army would hesitate to shoot civilians if ordered you're living in a dream world. and our beloved police forces wouldn't object at all. The LAPD would love it. Posted by: Glusing Peacock7143
After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, violence erupted in the black ghetto on Chicago's west side, eventually consuming a 28-block stretch of West Madison Street. Looting and arson took place primarily in the corridor between Roosevelt Road on the south and Chicago Avenue on the north.
The next day Mayor Richard J. Daley imposed a curfew on anyone under age 21, closed streets to automobile traffic and banned the sale of guns, ammunition and flammable materials[citation needed]. About 10,500 police were sent in to protect the fire fighters, soon joined by 6,700 Illinois National Guards. After President Lyndon Johnson ordered 5,000 troops into the city, the General in charge declared that no one, including residents, would be allowed to congregate in riot areas. He ordered his troops to use tear gas against looters; Mayor Daley told the Chicago Police to shoot to kill anyone in the act of committing arson, and shoot to maim anyone looting.
It took two days to restore order, though some youth bands continued sporadic looting and burning. There were over 125 fires. Eleven people -- all black -- were dead and over five hundred were injured. Almost three thousand persons were arrested. Many buildings were burned to the ground; others were damaged so badly they had to be taken down before they collapsed. The 210 buildings affected were worth roughly $10 million. Power lines and telephone lines were knocked out. At least a thousand people were left homeless.
The destruction was concentrated on the west side, though there was some in the south side ghetto and the near north side. The south side ghetto escaped the devastation that plagued the west side primarily because two large and well-organized street gangs, the Blackstone Rangers and the East Side Disciples, co-operated in controlling their own neighborhoods. Their leaders did not want to see them ravaged and ruined.
#18
I can't help but remember that just a little more than a year ago the National Guard closed my neighborhood in the San Diego area during the wildfires. They wanted everyone evacuated and we weren't allowed back to our homes for nearly a week. Guys with m-16s and Humvees blocked off many of the neighborhoods that week. It happened so fast. I couldn't help but think what if these guys were deployed for some other reason? My mind started to wander.
#20
Glusing Peacock7143, just what the hell are you smoking? The US Army is going to gun down civilians by the order of OBAMA??? First off, the Nuremberg Standards DO apply in the US and illegal orders are just that -- illegal. Secondly, the US military is overwhelmingly Republican -- upwards of 85% depending on whether you are talking about enlisted, NCOs, or officers.
Thirdly, the US military has had 5 years of fighting in countries where the government had gunned down opponents as a matter of routine, and you think that the military would just go along with that IN the US??
#21
Posse comitatus. No, we wouldn't do it, we wouldn't fire on U.S. citizens - even in a rebellion unless they were attacking a military base for some odd reason. We cannot follow unlawful orders - firing on citizens is out of the questions. I would resign my commission and join in on the 2nd CW and overthrow our sitting gov't if they choose to violate the 2nd Amendment so clearly and so thoroughly. My oath is to the U.S. Const, not a person, not a piece of soil, but to an idea and 27 amendments.
(AKI) - Government troops on Monday killed two Muslim militants in the southern Philippines suspected of belonging to the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf militant group. The clash occurred in Akbar, in Basilan province, when troops encountered militants while searching for three kidnapped aid workers and a nine-year-old boy allegedly being held by Abu Sayyaf.
Five marines were wounded on Monday in clashes on the southern island of Jolo, where the Filipino authorities believe the hostages are being held captive. The three Red Cross workers, Italian citizen Eugenio Vagni, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba were abducted on the island last month after visiting a local prison.
The firefight on Jolo began when Abu Sayyaf bandits fired at soldiers in the village of Barangay, the Philippines army public information chief, Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said in a statement, quoted by GMA News.
Troops are putting mounting pressure on the kidnappers to release the Red Cross workers. Media reports gave no information about the nine-year-old boy.
Sixteen of surrounding Sulu province's 19 mayors have signed a pledge to help secure the hostages' release, GMA News said.
They also condemned "in the strongest terms" the actions of Abu Sayyaf and other militant groups operating in the region.
Abu Sayyaf, which means "bearer of the sword" is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States. Filipino authorities have linked the group to a spate of kidnappings and killings in Sulu and Basilan provinces.
Abu Sayyaf has reportedly demanded a ransom of up to 10 million dollars for the release of the Red Cross workers, who were kidnapped on 15 January.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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(AKI) - The United Nations has deplored a suicide attack allegedly carried out by a female bomber on Monday at a registration centre which killed many civilians, including children. The refugees had fled the fierce fighting in northern Sri Lanka between the army and Tamil separatist rebels.
"The UN reiterates that civilians must be distinguished from combatants, and protected from the fighting," the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka said in a statement.
A female Tamil Tiger rebel reportedly blew herself up at a registration centre in the Vishwamadu area of Mullaitivu district. Over twenty civilians died in the attack.
The attack comes amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the northern part of the South-East Asian nation, where some 250,000 civilians are trapped by fighting between Government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers.
"It calls once again on the LTTE to separate its forces from civilians under its control," the UN statement continued, adding that those killed had already been forced from their homes by fighting, and had endured terrible hardship.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior UN officials have repeatedly called on both the rebels and the government to do all in their power to ensure safe passage for those fleeing the conflict zone, and to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
UN "Deplores" this, UN "Deplores That"Try English, we'll bust your balls if this does not stop.
For that matter ayes the UN is indeed "Deplorable".
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/11/2009 17:14
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Hundreds Of Kids Beaten, Whipped, Even Choked By Teachers, Coaches
Treveon Martin, 10, is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or other staff member.
Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.
Treveon Martin, 10, is afraid of a teacher at his school. "I've seen him hit five of them in the classroom," Martin said.
Martin says he and others have been hit, grabbed and even struck with a belt. "He's threatened almost all the kids in his classroom," Martin said.
He says it happened at Robert Emmet Academy in November but a Chicago Public School investigator didn't talk to him until last week - 70 days after the case was reported, and not until after we started asking questions.
"He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk," Martin said.
#3
What no "why do they hate us" meme from the usual crowd [which is about the same level as adolescents]? /rhetorical question.
BTW is the investigator also ringing up the count on student on teacher battery and student on student battery that goes unreported?
#4
"He holded my arms and he picked my body up, and then he just slammed me on the desk," Martin said.
Perhaps it was a grammar lesson, though it didn't take.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 8:40
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#5
Twerps, wimps, crybabies! You should say your prayers every night that you didn't go to school and were taught by Jesuits or Irish Brothers. Whippings, beatings and chocking were too mild for those sadists. How about a knee to the groin or a rabbit punch for not paying attention. Of course, you only did that once and repeat offenders were few and far between.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 12:20
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#6
Former domain of current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is it not?
#8
I have no reservations about corporal punishment - it should be administered immediately where it's needed. However, there's a very large difference between corporal punishment (a swat on the butt, a rap across the knuckles) and child abuse, which some of these cases appear to be. We had several reported cases of molestation in a couple of the schools around here, and it took THREE YEARS to get one teacher fired after his abusive behavior was documented. There are a lot of teachers in our school system I wouldn't want my children even in the same building with. I expect things to get much worse before they get better.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/11/2009 13:40
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#9
WOW. I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CONDONED THIS CRAP BEHAVIOR ON THE PART OF SCHOOL TEACHERS.
NO RESPECT FOR ANY POSTER.
HOW DISAPPOINTING.
SICK PEOPLE.
AND ALL THIS TIME I THOUGHT BETTER OF YOU.
UNBELIEVABLE.
I think I'll be exiting the burg. Never thought I'd see this kind of sh*t here.
#11
Agree XL. This was not some nun rapping knuckles with a ruler, this was an out of control adult assaulting a child or children. Sure, probably a smart ass punk who deserves punishment and a father, but nonetheless, a 10 year old kid half the size of the little Hitler who can't control a class room apparently without regular violence.
#12
XL, my first six words were "Not to defend the teacher, but"
I have seen the problems that have been created for public education by the total impossibility of enforcing any kind of classroom discipline. The kids KNOW they can get away with anything, and many have no discipline anywhere in their lives. The resulting chaos prevents anyone from learning, and in the end dooms all the kids. The teachers are frustrated, and the better ones quit. The teachers in this article are not the problem, but rather, another sypmtom of a far greater societal problem.
#13
ex-lib and Nemble - Remember, these are allegations of corporal punishment.
Allegations are just that.
"Corporal" runs the gamut from a cuff upside the melon (or less) to an out-and-out beating. I am certain that, if the latter were the case, the parents of the little tykes would be lined up at the local percentage-based attorney looking for $ to salve the wounds to their psyche's.
When I was in Jr-Sr high, we had a number of bozos who did not contribute to a positive learning experience and, from time-to-time, needed a "tune-up" ranging from the application of a "paddle" specifically available for the purpose, to a push upside a locker with the resounding noise of cranium against thin metal providing instruction to those of like mind but inaction. I never saw blood or (physical) bruises, and the a$$holes who deserved it knew better than to run to their parents to complain (whimper).
If the teacher(s)/staff involved are sadistic bastards looking for away-from-home victims, then off with their metaphorical heads.
If, however, they are simply trying to discipline a bunch of 10 y/o snots that have developed their societal mores and language from MTV and video games, it is a horse of a different color and requires our forbearance until the entire story is told.
#14
CrazyFool: A shank, as I understand it, is a metal cutting (edge) tool made from the shank taken from a shoe. A shiv is a little more eclectic, being made from anything that can be sharpened to a point or edge.
#15
2007 There have been some great achievements by the Chicago Public Schools this year, but they have been overshadowed by the murders of more than 30 students.
2008 Murders are up 13 percent. During the past school year, 29 Chicago-area youths were killed by gunfire. On one April weekend, 40 people were shot. Over the July Fourth weekend, nine people were gunned down - with three more killed this past weekend.
2009 CHICAGO Five people were shot as spectators left a crowded high school basketball game Friday in what police called a possibly gang-related attack that sent panicked students running into a snowy street on the city's South Side.
Member of Iran's Expediency Council, Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani, says he may enter the race for the upcoming presidential elections. He does every time, gets trounced every time.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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Dehradun The RSS has found something to give the popular colas and cold drinks a run for their money: bovine urine. The Sangh's Cow Protection Department is planning to produce a soft drink with this magic ingredient as base, and believes it will sweep the market.
The head of the Hardwar-based department, Om Prakash, said: "We refer to gau ark (cow urine) as gau jal (cow water) as it has immense potential to cure various diseases. We have developed a soft drink formula with gau jal as the base and it has been sent to a laboratory at Lucknow for testing."
Once the tests show positive results, he added, the department will think about its packaging, preservation and marketing.
While the RSS is at the task alone right now, once the drink is ready to be taken to the market, the Cow Protection Department might seek the help of the Uttarakhand Government in the operations. "It will be a revolution of sorts. The acceptance of cow urine as a potent medicine is increasing day by day and once it comes as a cold drink, its demand will definitely increase," Prakash claimed.
Stating that several colas are harmful to the extent that they can be substituted for pesticides, he asserted that their soft drink with cow urine will not only be natural but cost-effective too. "In addition to this, it will prove and justify the high stature accorded to a cow in Indian culture."
Cow urine, in fact, ranks quite high on the RSS list of priorities. "We discuss its importance at various meetings and public programmes. We have also been circulating pamphlets about its medicinal value," said Om Prakash, who has been actively involved in the task of cow protection and promoting bovine urine for the last four decades.
He names products ranging from toothpaste, shampoo, soap, face powder and shaving lotion to balm, biscuits, incense sticks, phenyl, mosquito coils and distemper which are being made from cow urine and cow dung. He asserts that tiles made up of cow dung have been found to be fire - and water-resistant and can ward off radiation.
It's a floor wax and a dessert topping!
Posted by: john frum ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
02/11/2009 10:48
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#4
We DID call it DR PECKER when I was young.
You know when you had to watch your step for the Dinosaur Droppings.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/11/2009 11:40
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#5
He names products ranging from toothpaste, shampoo, soap, face powder and shaving lotion to balm, biscuits, incense sticks, phenyl, mosquito coils and distemper which are being made from cow urine and cow dung. He asserts that tiles made up of cow dung have been found to be fire - and water-resistant and can ward off radiation.
(AKI/Asian Age) - One of India's main political parties, the Indian National Congress, has accused the Pakistani government of being too slow to investigate the Mumbai bomb attacks. A key party leader also warned of repercussions if the attacks were not fully investigated.
"India has not closed any of its options in the war against terrorism, " said party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
"Nothing will be spared to ensure the security and safety of the country from covert and overt support of terrorism. If Pakistan does not come out with concrete results, it will definitely have to face the consequences."
Referring to an article in published in the international magazine, Granta, the party spokesperson said it gave "telling, revealing and scary" details of terrorist networks in Pakistan.
"The investigative write-up says that Pakistan's Software Export Board recruited a large number of terrorists not only from Pakistan but also American and British citizens, who fought wars in Peshawar and North Western Frontiers," said Singhvi.
Singhvi said the report showed terrorism appeared to have official support.
"Pakistan is the fountain head of terror. Whether it is Spain, Liverpool or Mumbai, the sources of terrorist attacks go to Pakistan," said Singhvi.
Pakistan must come clean on the degeneration of its institutions and its symbols of governance, many of which have shown beyond doubt to be involved in terrorist activities, he added.
New Delhi has blamed the Mumbai attacks on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba. But LeT, which is active in Indian-ruled Kashmir, has denied any involvement.
While India and Pakistan have each blamed the other for the November assault on Mumbai during which ten gunmen killed 173 people during a three-day siege.
The attacks sharply escalated tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and put on hold peace talks over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
The Congress party is currently the chief member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition that heads the government of India.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#1
again, Pakistan is saturated with security checkpoints. The Mumbai terrorists made a nationwide dash, with weapons. Then they received papers to take an empty cargo ship into international waters. Even if the leadership isn't implicated, the fact that arrests of other players isn't being made, raises red flags.
Again, Sindh Province complains yearly about Punjab hogging of Indus Source water. India can legally divert more of that. Further, Taliban elements are within hours of the Pakistan reservoirs. Pakistan would be advised to join NATO in a hammer-anvil war on Taliban. But that would require common sense.
UP to 80 people are still missing in the Victoria fires as the official death toll continues to climb.
The toll climbed to 181 overnight but with dozens still unaccounted for it is expected to top 200. There are reports it could reach as high as 300.
Those missing were "people who the coroner believes are already deceased, but are not yet identified," Victorian Premier John Brumby said.
Marysville is being identified as a potential "Ground Zero", with authorities fearing up to 100 of its population of 519 has died. The force of the fires has been likened to that of 500 atomic bombs.
"We had people banging on the sides of our tanker begging us to go back to houses where they knew there were people trapped, but we couldn't because if we had, we'd all be dead too," a firefighter told The Australian about the moment the firestorm hit.
Some residents are being allowed back to survey the devastation of the fires, but many are still banned from returning. Whole towns are being treated as crime scenes as police hunt arsonists believed responsible for at least some of the destruction.
Police said they could release a photograph an arsonist suspected of setting a blaze in Gippsland. More than 20 people have died in that region.
As shattered residents take stock of what they have lost, some have reported a sickening sight - looters moving through gutted homes looking for items to steal.
The claim came from a man whose brother was killed at his Yarra Junction home. He said thieves had tried to steal the only items spared from destruction. "They're vultures," he said.
Other survivors reported battles with red tape to access desperately needed aid. Gary Hughes, a writer for The Australian, said he had been denied help by Centrelink unless he could produce identification.
"Losing everything means just that - everything," he wrote in an open letter to the Prime Minister.
"There are many like us who didn't have time to calmly pause to collect wallets and purses as we fled our homes with wet towels over our faces to avoid choking to death on toxic smoke and flaming embers."
Kevin Rudd hailed the "army of volunteers working quietly and effectively" to support those left with nothing. He told Parliament yesterday the 4000 firefighters battling the blazes were a "legion of heroes".
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009 10:06
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"We had people banging on the sides of our tanker begging us to go back to houses where they knew there were people trapped, but we couldn't because if we had, we'd all be dead too," a firefighter told The Australian about the moment the firestorm hit.
Heartbreaking. From a fellow volunteer smoke eater in the outback of Kansas/Oklahoma my prayers and sympathy.
#3
In Murrindindi, firemen guided 19 people, including seven toddlers and babies, to a river and hosed them under fire blankets as the desperate parents begged to know: "Are we going to make it out of this?"
Andrew Collard, 30, and Brian Lawry, 46, stormed through the fire in their truck and saved the group of eight families as flames engulfed them at a park.
They herded the families, all campers from Melbourne, into the shallow water, parked their truck to protect them before driving cars into the water and bundling the toddlers and babies inside, covering them in blankets.
Someone buy Brian and Andrew, and the firemen, a couple rounds.
#6
#5 No. And police are claiming arson played no major role, especially in the worst fires.
Posted by: Grunter 2009-02-11 12:59
The police are looking into several suspicious fires, but the majority were set by lightning after one of the hottest days on record in Victoria. Arson reports are isolated and there has been no confirmation - it could take days or even weeks to determine how each of the fires started. There have also been some isolated reports of looting, but nothing yet confirmed. Mostly we just have to wait and see - and pray.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/11/2009 13:58
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Latest word is arson is definitely suspected in the Churchill fire and possibly in the Marysville fire.
So far I have seen no official comment on terrorist activity.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Fans of porn star Stormy Daniels are drafting her to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana now held by Republican Sen. David Vitter. And it's no racy gimmick, they say.
The Draft Stormy Web site says that "2010 presents the Pelican State with the opportunity to start with a clean slate -- to elect a representative that we can be proud of, who will work tirelessly, and who will challenge the status quo. We at the Draft Stormy campaign feel that Baton Rouge native Stormy Daniels is best suited to fulfill these duties."
Vitter is famous -- or infamous -- for his link to the "D.C. Madam," the woman who ran a prostitution ring. Elected to the Senate in 2004, he admitted to "a very serious sin in my past" in July 2007 after his phone number turned up in records of an escort service run by the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the D.C. Madam.
Daniels, 29, isn't affiliated with a party but is embracing the idea of a possible candidacy. She said she's planning a "listening tour" oooh goody another 'listening tour'
around Louisiana to talk about a range of matters, including the economy -- which along with women in business and protection of children are the three issues listed on her Web site. When told Vitter can be a tough opponent, she said she's "always up for a good fight." she is probably no newcomer to mud wrestling slinging
"I think anyone that knows me ... is more than aware of that," Daniels said. "Politics can't be any dirtier of a job than the one I am already in."
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
02/11/2009
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#4
Hmmmmm. I'll have to study this very carefully...... Yes, I do believe I could vote for her. But not a Louisiana resident. But, Glenmore is. He can represent the Burg on our behalf.
#5
Now we gotta play "Name That Party" with candidates?
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 9:49
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Vitter's Republican. Daniels is independent. Not sure if she'd challenge him in the Republican primary, the Democrat primary, or the general election. Vitter's such a creepy hypocrite I could easily vote against him - but not if it meant increasing Reid's hold on the Senate.
#7
And I must admit, she would increase the eye appeal of the Senate by several orders of magnitude (even as only 1% of a weighted average!) She seems to have employed a very gifted 'enhancement' surgeon.
(AKI/Asian Age) - Indian army chief General Deepak Kapoor said surgical strikes against terror targets in Pakistan were a "feasible" option after the Mumbai terror attacks.
"Surgical strikes are definitely feasible but whether you wish to take that decision or not is a separate issue," Kapoor said on Sunday.
"Whether you would like to look at doing it (carrying out such strikes) by air or artillery or by another means or physically there," he said.
He said that the armed forces were ready for such strikes if political leaders gave the order. Kapoor's comments are likely to provoke further tension between Pakistan and India.
"We are an army which has been involved in operations in Kashmir and Northern Command on a perpetual and on-going basis. Therefore, the question of not being ready is, frankly, not relevant. And we would have been fully ready to do our task," he said.
"The peaceful diplomatic course adopted by the Indian government so far seems to have provided stimuli to the Pakistan government to act against the terror infrastructure and help bring the guilty to book."
He said that after the Mumbai attack, no deployment of additional troops had taken place on the border.
"However, we are maintaining our utmost vigil and closely monitoring the situation. Our current posture allows us to achieve full operational readiness at short notice," he stated.
During a wide-ranging interview, the Kapoor also sought to dispel the impression that there was no clarity about the nuclear command when prime minister Manmohan Singh was hospitalised for heart surgery last month.
"As far as the army is concerned, there is a clarity on the nuclear command issue and there was no confusion on the issue," he added.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been under renewed strain since the terror attacks that targeted two luxury hotels and other city landmarks in the Indian city of Mumbai last November.
A total of 173 people died and hundreds of others were injured. One gunman survived and Islamabad admitted this month he is a Pakistani citizen.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
We send you a few experts on this type of surgery and you send us Aishwarya Rai, deal?
#1
I dunno - IMO something is fishy here as Commies are known for their love of [heavy-duty] military-grade/applics in civie construction. IFF THIS ARTIC IS CORRECT THEN SOME CHIN BUREAU = COMMIE/MAO-CRAT REALLY DROPPED THE BALL ON THIS HOTEL [read, FUTURE GULAG = RE-EDUC CAMP BAIT].
* WORLD MIL FORUM > A NUMBER OF CHIN NETTERS ARE NOT CONVINCED, + THINK THIS COULD BE "CHINA'S 9-11/WTC 1993", a possible precursor to something worse to occur later on???
#2
As soon as the Chinese figure out that you can take a 16-count box of mortars, stand it on its side, and launch it at the People's Armed Police, then they're in trouble. Their fireworks are EXTREMELY strong and loud, far more than needed to be colorful. This is because the sound is believed to scare away ghosts.
(AKI/DAWN) - The Pakistani government is reported to have stopped nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan from meeting people, after the United States and Britain expressed serious concern over his release on a court order.
Sources close to A.Q. Khan told Pakistani daily Dawn that after the court had declared him a free citizen, a few people met him, but no one was allowed to enter his residence on Monday.
The Islamabad High Court on Friday declared A.Q. Khan a 'free citizen' but kept secret an agreement reached between him and the government.
Legal experts said that unless the secret agreement was made public, restrictions on Khan's movement could be considered as contempt of court because he had been allowed by the court to meet anyone and go anywhere he wanted to.
The move came a day after Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters that the government had reserved the right to go in appeal against the release of Khan.
"If they have a right to contest, I too reserve the right to ask the court to uphold its decision," Khan told Dawn on Monday.
Brushing aside West's concerns that he could again be involved in nuclear proliferation, Khan said he had nothing to do with his previous department (Khan Research Laboratories). "I have no links with KRL since 2001," he added.
He reiterated that he had nothing to do with the country's nuclear programme and said that due to his bad health he could not resume work. "What I was doing in KRL was very sophisticated work and I cannot resume it because it required continuous involvement," he said.
"Now I am passing my time reading poetry and with my family. I have passed very difficult time in detention, but now I feel relief as my family is with me."
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - Human rights group Amnesty International has accused the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas movement of conducting a "deadly campaign" of abductions, killings, and torture against those accused of "collaborating" with Israel. In a report released on Tuesday, Amnesty said at least two dozen men had been shot dead by Hamas gunmen and scores of others had been shot in the legs, kneecapped or inflicted with other injuries since the end of December 2008.
Others had been subjected to severe beatings which have caused multiple fractures and other injuries, or otherwise tortured or ill-treated, Amnesty said.
The report summarises the research of an Amnesty International fact-finding team which visited Gaza during and after the recent Israeli offensive which killed more than 1,330 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died during the three-week offensive that began on 27 December.
Amnesty said most of the victims attacked by Hamas were abducted from their homes and later dumped -- dead or injured -- in isolated areas, or found in the morgue of one of Gaza's hospitals. Some were shot dead inside hospitals where they were receiving treatment for injuries.
The fact-finding team which visited Gaza during and after the Israeli offensive recorded testimonies from a number of victims, as well as medical sources and eyewitnesses who corroborated their stories.
"Scores of others are too afraid to speak publicly for fear of retribution by Hamas forces and militias," Amnesty said in a statement.
Amnesty is calling on the Hamas de-facto administration to immediately end the campaign of abuse and to agree to the establishment of an independent, non-partisan national commission of experts to investigate the claims.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#1
"...afraid to speak publicly for fear of retribution."
#3
Looks like another case of Offended Palestinian Dignity. And go blame the Jooooos, like you're supposed to...
Gaza -- Ma'an - Amnesty International accused Hamas of waging a violent campaign against its Palestinian opponents in the Gaza Strip, to which the party responded calling the report "unfair" and "discriminative."
The report is based on false stories and propaganda against Hamas, spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement Wednesday. "This report directly insults Hamas and its reputation," the statement said and suggested it was "better for Amnesty to look for the Israeli war criminals that killed hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip instead of tracking Hamas."
He added, "Amnesty has to bring real evidence and submit it to the international institutions and to the international court instead of making the entire world busy with Hamas and blinded to the Israeli crimes in the latest war against the Gaza Strip."
#4
has anyone noticed how now that Obama is in and the US is no longer a force to be reckoned with, outfits like the UN and Amnesty are actually bad-mouthing the bad guys. Fairly easy to tell whom they considered the greater enemy.......
The reason for it to have such a strange look is because it was used later by Russian army to test the influence of Russian alternative to napalm inside of the brick houses.
Due to very high temperature of napalm the bricks started melting just like ice melts in the spring forming the icicles, but those icicles are of red brick.
#1
Why, they're stalagtites. Now can you comprehend how effective it is against someone who's being nasty toward you ? And, it sticks to humans like glue.
Some 150 Rwandan Hutu rebels due to be repatriated from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have gone missing, the UN said in a statement.
The group, ex-fighters of the Hutu Rally for Unity and Democracy of the Rwandan People (RUD) and their families went missing overnight Sunday to Monday -- on the eve of their planned return to Rwanda, the United Nations peacekeeping mission MONUC said.
A UN official said the group left all their belongings in a camp in the eastern village of Kisaki, where they were staying.
The mission offered no explanation for their disappearance, but a UN official suggested the group might have been threatened by members of another Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
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Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed Tuesday stressed the need to further consolidate people to people contacts between Pakistan and China adding Pakistan-China friendship is need of the hour for attaining regional peace. "We have good relations at government level, but there is need to strengthen people to people contacts" the JI Chief told media on Tuesday. The Jamaat delegation is currently visiting China at the invitation of ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the delegation at a meeting held today with Vice-Chairperson of National People's Congress Tali Waldi agreed that the Sino-Pak friendship is immortal and would continue to deepen with the passage of time. He said that the exchanges and contacts between the political parties would bring politicians and parliamentarians of the two countries closer. On the occasion, he also called for further enhancing cooperation in economic field. The delegation, which arrived here on Monday attended a reception the same evening hosted by Ambassador Masood Khan at Pakistan House. On the second leg of their visit to China, the JI delegation will leave here for Xian Wednesday. It will also go to Shanghai on a 3-day visit starting from Feb 14.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
I understand there has been quite a bit of Pak-Chinese trade build-up in recent years. Licit and illicit. On the licit side, in very low cost manufacturing sub-contracting, since the Chinese operating/labor costs have risen with their commercial growth.
#4
ION CHINA > PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA IN ARABIA [Saudi Arabia]/ CHINA TO BUILD [US$1.8Bilyuhn]MECCA MONORAIL [connect wid MINA, ARAFAT, + MUZDALFAH areas as per Faith-required Muslim Pilgrimages].
Iran gave a strong signal yesterday that it is prepared to start a mould-breaking dialogue with the United States in response to the dramatic call by Barack Obama for the Islamic Republic to "unclench its fist".
Oh goody. Expect 'negotiations' the way Iran handled the EU-3 ...
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's hardline president, used the final rally of celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the 1979 revolution to declare a readiness for talks with the US "based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere". Ahmadinejad told a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Tehran that change by Washington would have to be "fundamental and not tactical" - and attacked the former president George Bush, who included Iran in his notorious "axis of evil".
But the Iranian leader reinforced the impression that the Obama administration's emollient signals are being taken seriously - even if the prospects for change remain highly uncertain.
Overnight, Obama had predicted face-to-face discussions with Iran within months. "We will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face-to-face with diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in the new direction," he said at his first press conference since taking office.
The timing and location of Ahmadinejad's remarks could hardly have been more symbolic, marking the events - the overthrow of the US-backed shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic - which opened up a chasm of hostility between the two countries. Underlining the continuing animosity, many in yesterday's crowd in Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square carried placards reading "Death to America" or burned US flags. Other slogans included "30 years of freedom, 30 years of pride" and "Death to Israel."
"The new US administration has announced that they want to produce change and pursue the course of dialogue," Ahmadinejad declared. "It is quite clear that real change must be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes."
Celebrations of the revolution's anniversary have been relatively lowkey, not least because approximately 70% of the Iranian population was born after 1979 or has no memory of the shah's rule. Iranian state TV has been broadcasting archive footage of the revolution every day since 31 January, the anniversary according to the Persian calendar, of Ayatollah Khomeini's return from exile.
But if disagreements persist over past relations between the US and Iran, dealing with present problems will be even more difficult, with the west locked in confrontation with Tehran over its nuclear programme, which the US claims is an attempt to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes.
The US administration must also take internal Iranian developments into account, especially since Sunday's announcement by the reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, that he will challenge Ahmadinejad in June's presidential elections. Reported attacks on Khatami by stick-wielding demonstrators yesterday were a reminder of how volatile that contest is likely to be.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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#1
After those completely STUPID comments that the annointed one made in his presser about Iran, the mullahs think they have a live one.
He practically wrapped himself around their ankles like a lost puppy.
We are so screwed if he thinks we can negotiate with meaning with those people.....once they get enough U-235 to cobble together a nuke, I think they will be less willing to negotiate and more willing to committ terror.
I wonder how the Saudis are taking all of this in? After all, one nuke in Iran makes their grip on the reins of power less firm.
Posted by: James Carville ||
02/11/2009 10:49
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The Election Compass for the 2009 Knesset elections in Israel is an interactive tool designed to inform the Israeli voter about the positions on various issues of the diverse political parties, to present the political landscape in Israel and to show the voter where he or she is situated in it according to his or her positions, views and feelings. After answering the questions, a red compass needle will indicate your position. Fun
(AKI/The Jakarta Post) - An Indonesian medical team is continuing its humanitarian mission in the Gaza Strip, despite a final call issued by the Egyptian government for foreign volunteers to leave the Palestinian territory. Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) executive Joserizal Jurnalis said four members of the group were carrying on their services at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
"As of today, four of our volunteers are staying in Gaza to continue their mission and work on a project to build a hospital there," Joserizal said Sunday as quoted by Indonesia's state news agency Antara.
Egypt had set a 5 February deadline for all volunteers to return to Egypt through the border town of Rafah, following a 17 January unilateral cease-fire by Israel, after a three week offensive that killed over 1,373 Palestinians.
However, sporadic flare-ups of tit-for-tat violence have continued.
MER-C presidium chairman Sarbini Abdul Murad said the Egyptian government's policy was unclear, particularly for volunteers maintaining a presence in Gaza. "We observed that people were streaming into Rafah from Gaza even after the 5 February deadline," he said.
Arief Rachman, head of the MER-C mission currently serving in Gaza, said his team was helping victims of the war at Al-Shifa Hospital. "We are here to carry on the work of the first team to build a hospital," he said.
During a recent meeting with MER-C representatives, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the government would provide Rp 10 billion (850,000 dollars) to help the MER-C build the two-story hospital. With the project estimated at Rp 20 billion, Joserizal said MER-C would cover the rest of the cost through a fund-raising program.
MER-C has sent two teams to Gaza, the first of which, led by Joserizal, arrived back in Indonesia on 31 January and 3 February.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#1
yah, like Nazi Germany had "volunteers" in Civil War Spain.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni led exit polls after Tuesday's parliamentary election but her Kadima party's two-seat lead over right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu left it too close to call who would be prime minister.
The polls released by three Israeli television channels showed Kadima ahead with 29-30 seats followed closely by Likud party with 27-28 seats in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament.
Whatever the final outcome, which could take until well into Wednesday to confirm, jubilant Kadima supporters broke out into dances and jumps of joy at the exit poll projections. If Livni wins she will form Israel's next coalition government and become the first woman leader since Golda Meir in the 1970s.
Netanyahu dismissed the exit polls and voiced confidence that he would become Israel's next prime minister. His Likud party had seemed to be cruising to victory until Livni and her centre-left coalition launched a three-week assault on the Gaza Strip in late December that won popular support in Israel despite an international outcry over the 1,300 Palestinians killed in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
However, some analysts noted that soldiers, whose votes could account for a couple of seats, had not been counted in exit polls and that could favor Netanyahu as tallying continues through into Wednesday.
One television station put the right-left split at 64 seats for the right to 56 for the left, which could deny Livni the premiership and persuade President Shimon Peres to ask Netanyahu to try to form a coalition government.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Its a shame, I wanted Natanyahu-extreme right to win with a large majority.. Time for the world to see Israel for what it is, a war mongering nation..
Livni is no better but she can hide behind ''we want peace'' thus fooling the world, while maintaining same aggressive policies...
Last month, India celebrated a road-building triumph that went unnoticed in much of the world.
The new highway linked the Afghan towns of Zaranj, on the Iran border, and Delaram, 217 kilometres to the northeast. It was constructed at the cost of six Indian and 129 Afghan lives, victims of attacks by an increasingly muscular Taliban insurgency. And it was hailed as a landmark in co-operation between India and Afghanistan.
Its strategic value -- connecting the Iranian port of Chahabar with major Afghan cities -- set alarm bells ringing in neighbouring Pakistan, whose relations with India are at a low point after Islamic militants carried out a massive attack on Mumbai in November.
An attack yesterday on a Khyber Pass bridge closed down the vital NATO supply line between Afghanistan and the Pakistani port of Karachi, strengthening conviction that it is time to seek an alternative in a country where dirt tracks are more common than paving.
A NATO official hinted that transit through Iran, once condemned as part of the "axis of evil," might be an alternative to the escalating risks of Pakistan's lawless borders.
If the Indian-built road becomes part of a new transit route, it would be an added boost to relations between India and the West, even as the U.S. cools toward Pakistan.
"It's a Pakistani nightmare," said Kamran Bokhari, director of Middle East analysis for the U.S.-based intelligence analysis company Stratfor. "India believes the only way to neutralize Pakistan and keep it in the box, is to have good relations with the Afghans.
"But Pakistan's situation gets worse and worse."
A series of projects that have made India Afghanistan's largest regional supporter. Since the Taliban were defeated in 2001, India has spent $1.2 billion (U.S.) in Afghanistan on projects ranging from dams and roads to backing for international agencies' nutritional campaigns.
It has about 4,000 aid and security officials working in the country, and has trained Afghan police officers.
Indian aid is visible on the ground. Hungry Afghan school children nibble high-nutrition biscuits between classes. Once-parched villages are rejuvenated by newly dug tube wells. Homes that were in the dark are connected to power sources with the construction of transmission lines.
In a hearts-and-minds campaign, India is on the home stretch.
Pakistan, which tried to shore up its security and influence in a hostile neighbourhood after the Soviet invasion of 1979, backed Islamist insurgents who have added to Afghans' misery.
Afghanistan is only one forum for rounds of rivalry between India and Pakistan that began with the partition of India in 1947 and continued through a succession of bloody wars, including conflicts over Muslim-dominated Kashmir.
A nuclear arms race raised the stakes of the conflict. But Pakistan's backing for the militants, including the Taliban, has sparked outbreaks of violence that have killed hundreds of Pakistanis, including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Now, says GTA-based security and defence analyst Sunil Ram, "Pakistan is using both Afghanistan and Kashmir as a means to get rid of its more radical elements, sending them on a jihad."
Some are suspected of travelling to India and perpetrating November's Mumbai attack, which has been called "India's 9/11."
But, says Ramesh Thakur, director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs: "Indians find it difficult to accept that the government is serious about tackling what is a common threat -- a threat that is consuming Pakistan from within."
While India ponders how to respond to the attacks amid fierce criticism from its own angry citizens, it is continuing its support for Afghanistan's reconstruction. Meanwhile, says Bokhari, "Pakistan's Islamist project has backfired, they're being attacked by their own creations, the U.S. is on their tail, and Afghanistan still has a hostile regime."
This article starring:
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: john frum ||
02/11/2009
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RIYADH - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived on Tuesday in OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia for a visit aimed at securing more energy supplies for the worlds most populous nation. Hu landed in Riyadh with a large entourage of Chinese officials and executives, underscoring the growing importance of the relationship between the worlds biggest oil exporter and its most populous country.
The trip, Hus second to the desert kingdom, highlights Chinas focus on securing energy, petrochemicals and other mineral resources that power its massive manufacturing sector.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing was interested in strengthening energy ties with Saudi Arabia, which has the largest oil reserves in the world. Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil exporter to China. We value the role it plays and look forward to strengthening cooperation in this field, Jiang said.
Trade with Saudi Arabia has more than doubled since 2005, rising 65 percent last year alone to reach 41.8 billion dollars, as China has bought increasing amounts of oil and gas.
While Hu and Saudi King Abdullah are expected to sign several accords on trade and other cooperation, Chinas imports of Saudi oil products will remain the core of the relationship, the Chinese embassy in Riyadh said. According to news reports, Chinese oil processing giant Sinopec could ink agreements with the Saudi state oil company Aramco on participating in the construction of two Saudi refineries.
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A Guardian film smuggled out of Zimbabwe brings home the economic devastation and deprivation Robert Mugabe has wreaked upon his own people. With Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, preparing to take up the post of prime minister in a unity government, Sam Chakaipa, at considerable risk to himself and as an act of resistance, returned clandestinely to his village, 125 miles from Harare, to document the plight of his former neighbours.
The opposition activist has produced extraordinary footage of what Zimbabweans have to do in order to survive in a wrecked economy. As money is worthless -- Zimbabwe is plagued by the world's highest inflation rate -- the villagers are reduced to panning for gold in rivers. Instead of attending school, youngsters from the village scrabble knee-deep in muddy water or dig ever deeper holes in a desperate search for a few grains of gold.
These small supplies of the precious metal have thus become a crucial commodity Zimbabweans can trade for food; a loaf of bread is worth 0.1 grams. But only the young have the strength to dig and pan for gold; the village elders must go hungry, unless they have friends or relatives they can rely on. Some parents have been forced to feed rats to their children, and hunger has turned family members against each other.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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Okay-y-y, so we're clearly NOT talking about MUGABE's = NOKOR's KIMMIE'S PERSONAL, EXPENSIVE, LUXURY FOOD DIET.
#8
Botswana. Even Kenya, compared to, for instance, Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009 13:20
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Botswana by the standards of Sub-Saharan Africa is a roaring success. Per capita GDP is $17,000 (ppp) or $7,000 (nominal). About the same as Brazil.
#12
Not all roses. Botswana still struggles to seal its border from thousands of Zimbabweans who flee economic collapse and political persecution; Namibia has long supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River at Kazungula crossing, thereby de facto recognizing the short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary
Interesting stat:
Saudi Arabia was saved from worse trouble with local terrorists by the growing violence in Iraq between the Sunni Arab minority, and the Shia majority. This attracted many Saudi fanatics, and greatly depleted the number of al Qaeda backers inside Saudi Arabia. Over 5,000 Saudi Islamic radicals are believed to have died in Iraq. From 2003-7, up to half the suicide bombers have been Saudis, and about half the foreigners held in U.S. military prisons in Iraq were Saudis. Back in 2007, American intelligence believed about 45 percent of the foreign fighters (less than ten percent of all terrorists there) were Saudis. The next largest group was Syrians and Lebanese (15 percent), followed by North Africans (10 percent). The other 30 percent were from all over, including Europe.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009
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#1
I think the Saudi school curriculum needs looking at again re teaching their kids to kill infidels!!!!
Saudis are happy as it keeps the unemployent down and the trouble away from their door!!!
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is finding that her job description is dissolving under her feet, leaving her with only a vestige of the power she must have thought she acquired when she signed on to be President Obamas chief Cabinet officer.
Since her designation:
Vice President Biden has moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the Inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of backup.
Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.
Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administrations point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.
Samantha Powers, Obamas former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a monster, has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of multilateral affairs.
Gen. James L. Jones, Obamas new national security adviser, has announced an expansion of the membership and role of the NSC. He pledges to eliminate back channels to the president and wants to grow the NSCs role to accommodate the dramatically different challenges of the current world situation.
Susan Rice, Obamas new United Nations ambassador, insisted upon and got Cabinet rank for her portfolio, and she will presumably also have the same kind of access to Obama that she had as his chief foreign policy adviser during the campaign.
So where does all this leave Secretary of State Clinton?
While sympathy for Mrs. Clinton is outside the normal fare of these columns, one cannot help but feel that she is surrounded by people who are, at best, strangers and, at worst, enemies. The competition that has historically occupied secretaries of State and national security advisers seems poised to ratchet up to a new level in the current administration.
Hillarys essential problem is that she is an outsider in the current mix. She was the adversary in the campaign, and Rice and Powers at the very least know it well, having helped to run the campaign that dethroned her. Can they and she be devoid of bitterness or at least of normal human trepidation? Not very likely.
The fact is that the power of the secretary of State is not statutory, nor does it flow from the prestige of the posts occupant. Former Gen. Al Haig, once supreme commander of NATO and chief of staff to President Nixon, found that out when he was undercut as secretary by the White House troika of Mike Deaver, James Baker and Ed Meese. Bill Rogers, Eisenhowers attorney general and Nixons California confidant, found himself on the outs from the moment he became secretary of State, with Henry Kissinger soaking up all the power through his direct access to Nixon as national security adviser.
The power of the secretary of State flows directly from the president. But Hillary does not have the inside track with Obama. Rice and Powers, close advisers in the campaign, and Gen. Jones whose office is in the White House all may have superior access. Holbrooke and Mitchell will have more immediate information about the worlds trouble spots.
So what is Hillarys mandate? Of what is she secretary of State? If you take the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan out of the equation, what is left? One would have to assume that the old North Korea hands in the government would monopolize that theater of action. What, precisely, is it that Hillary is to do? The question lingers.
And for this she gave up a Senate seat?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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#1
Lest we fergit, NOT EVEN FOREIGN GOVTS WHOM HATED DUBYA = USA ARE CONVINCED YET THE BAM-MAN WILL STILL BE POTUS AFTER 2010 or 2012???
#5
Lets see what happens to these special envois (I understand India already told Holbrooke to FOAD, and I don't expect much more enthusiasm in Israel for George O'Ahmad.).
#6
Obama has created many new positions, created new committees, expanded the size of existing ones (ala NSC in the article), and has not clearly defined roles, responsibilities or authority. This is going to be an extraordinarily chaotic administration.
#8
ARE CONVINCED YET THE BAM-MAN WILL STILL BE POTUS AFTER 2010 or 2012???
Unless he is impeached, which I judge highly unlikely, President Obama's term will end in 21012, JosephM. I doubt he will manage to get himself re-elected, and may choose not to run after the experiences of these next four years.
The Derb man strikes again
If professional investment advisors sometimes can't make sense of the economy, how good do you think politicians and bureaucrats are at it? Right. They don't have the beginning of a clue. Keep that in mind when you hear them talk about "stimulating consumption" and "creating jobs." The congresscritters, paper-shufflers, and gubmint time-servers of Washington D.C. don't have a freaking clue. They're not wealth-creators; they're wealth-eaters.
That includes the new administration. Why would they have a clue? Very few of them have ever done anything an ordinary citizen would recognize as work. Here's the Obama cabinet.
Attorney General Eric Holder Government lawyering
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Lawyering, politics
Secretary of Commerce Judd Gregg Lawyering, politics
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates CIA, MilInt
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Education bureaucrat (never taught)
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu Research physicist, academic Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle MilInt, politics
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano Lawyering, politics
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan Govt. bureaucrat
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Lawyering, politics
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Professional Hispanic
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Politician's wife, Politician
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood High School teaching, politics
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy_Geithner Lobbyist, bureaucrat, diplomat, tax evader
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Eric Shinseki Military
Just look at those résumés! Military service is certainly honorable; Steven Chu seems to have added something to human understanding and capability; and I suppose there is some necessary number of lawyers, bureaucrats, and even politicians we have to put up with. (Though in these days of telecommuting, I don't see why they can't all be sequestered on one of the Aleutian Islands so we don't have to look at their sleek, smug, self-important faces.) Nobody in that list, though, not one, has any acquaintance with the production of wealth.
Our civilization rests on our having enough citizens possessed of the ability to turn a nickel into a dime, and a government that keeps out of the way while they do it. Nobody in Obama's cabinet has any idea how to turn nickels into dimes, least of all the Wealth-Eater-in-Chief. In his autobiography, Obama described his one brief experience in the world of private enterprise as a sort of endurance test--a purgatory he had to suffer before ascending to the heaven of "community organizing." He felt, he tells us, "like a spy behind enemy lines." Those private-sector money-grubbers, trying to squeeze some wealth out of a reluctant world--that's the enemy in Obama's universe. A friend would presumably be someone who squeezes wealth out of big, litigation-whipped corporations, guilty white liberals, foundations taken over by leftist ideologues, and of course the ever-milkable taxpayer.
This is an administration of wealth-eaters and wealth-spenders, not wealth-creators. If you were to sit at Obama's cabinet table with all officers present and ask them where money comes from, they would reply in happy unison: "Why, from a government paycheck, of course! Everybody knows that!" The grubby, demeaning work of pulling things out of the earth, or harvesting things grown on the earth's surface, or turning things into other things, or persuading people to buy things--all of that is mysterious to them, and they would prefer it to remain so.
We should, therefore, do well to heed the words of Arnold Kling:
Sooner or later the U.S. government is going to have to get serious about stripping the assets of those of us who have tried to live within our means. Sooner or later, the profligate are going to take from the prudent, the grasshopper is going to confiscate the property of the ants.
I feel sure the wealth-eaters--Obama and his pals--are furious with the productive working people of the country for somehow having fallen down on the job--the job, that is, of providing wealth-eaters with, as Sir Robert Walpole used to say, "enough pasture for all the sheep." We exist to feed them. Without the money they take from us, they will have nothing to eat. Kling is undoubtedly right: When their fury abates, they will set about taking their revenge by robbing us blind, using all the force of law, all the power of the federal government, and all the gassy pseudo-inspirational rhetoric our Wealth-Eater-in-Chief can muster.
#1
Two of my personal prerequisites for President.
1. Has to have worked for ten or more years in the for-profit private sector.
2. Has to have served in the military.
Obama has neither. And we'll all suffer for it.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/11/2009 8:10
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#2
I very much enjoyed being lectured in generalities by a haughty Tim Geinther on the telly the other day. The longer he spoke the more I felt like pitching a chair through the screen. The thieving bastard was just about all I could stand.
#3
Simply a load of arrogant, pompous clowns. Peloosi isn't cabinet but certainly one of the dumbest trogs in DC. These bumblers will do one thing only, turn gold into lead.
#5
> When their fury abates, they will set about taking their revenge by robbing us blind, using all the force of law, all the power of the federal government, and all the gassy pseudo-inspirational rhetoric our Wealth-Eater-in-Chief can muster.
But only ONCE! After the golden goose is murdered you will have nothing and the other golden flock will fly away.
#7
This is a radical overthrow of our form of government. When the officer corp starts to leave, Obama and his minions will then raise their "brown shirt" domestic army to control the rest of us. They said it could never happen here. Bah.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 12:51
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#8
I would not be at all surprised to see General Petreaus drop his retirement papers any day now.
Poland has asked the U.S. for support in hunting down the Taliban militants suspected in the beheading of a Polish engineer in Pakistan, the nation's foreign minister said Tuesday. Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland's ambassador in Washington has submitted a note to the U.S. State Department "with a request for support for our efforts to capture the killers." He added that Warsaw has filed the same request with other countries, but did not specify which ones.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said he had not yet heard of the request. "But of course, should they come to us with a request for assistance, we will do whatever we can.''
Sikorski said Poland is also offering a 1 million zloty($290,000) reward for information that would lead to the arrest of those who killed Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak. Warsaw also has plans to issue an international warrant for their arrest. "Today, Poland is going to focus on carrying out its investigation and capturing and putting the culprits on trial,'' Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. "We have enough examples, as well as patience and the means, to bring the case to a just end.''
Authorities received a video Sunday purportedly showing militants beheading Stanczak. Sikorski told reporters that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry officially confirmed Stanczak's death earlier Tuesday, but still had no information on the fate of his body. Speaking at a joint news conference alongside Sikorski, Tusk saidit wasn't clear how the Pakistani authorities were able to confirmthe death without the body. Officials have said that a seven-minute video purporting to showthe 42-year-old's slaying appeared authentic.
Also Tuesday, Polish Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz called off a three-day visit to Warsaw this week by Pakistani lawmakers, but said it should not be seen as an unfriendly gesture. He said its timing would have been inappropriate in the aftermath of the killing, which has horrified the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#3
I concur with SteveS. Give them whatever they need. The Poles are true allies. Spare no expense. As has been previously pointed out on related threads, the Poles saved Western Civ once before back in 1683. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. From time to time the USA has been accused of kissing the ass of an enemy at the expense of a friend. Let's not go down that road again.
(AKI) - Pakistan said on Monday it will ask India for more information soon to enable investigators to complete a probe into the terror attacks that struck Mumbai in November.
New Delhi blamed the Mumbai attacks on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba. LeT, which is active in Indian-ruled Kashmir, has denied any involvement .
"In order to complete the investigation the questions which are arising from the inquiry carried out by the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) need to be answered by the Indian authorities," said a statement issued after a cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani.
"These will be communicated to the Indian authorities shortly," the statement added.
"Without substantial evidence from India it will be exceedingly difficult to complete the investigation and proceed with the case," the statement said.
Top Pakistani army officials also attended the meeting.
India and Pakistan have each blamed the other for the November assault on India's financial capital, when 10 gunmen killed 173 people during a 60-hour siege. The attacks sharply escalated tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and put on hold peace talks over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
India last Thursday for the first time directly accused Pakistan's military intelligence agency of involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan rejected the claim accusing India of contributing to a "a global smear campaign" against it.
Gillani's government also denied that information from New Delhi in January linking the Mumbai attacks to 'elements' in Pakistan constituted proof.
Gillani has said that anyone found guilty in Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks will not be extradited but will be punished under Pakistani law.
US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, arrived in Islamabad on Monday for meetings with senior Pakistani government officials, military leaders, business and civil society leaders.
"I am here to listen and learn the ground realities of this critically important country," Holbrooke said.
"The United States looks forward to reviewing our policies and renewing our commitment and friendship with the people of Pakistan."
It is Holbrooke's first visit to Pakistan since US president Barack Obama appointed him special representative last month.
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Shells hit a make-shift hospital in Sri Lanka's war zone, killing 16 patients, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC said in a statement on Tuesday that the temporary facility in Putumattalan was shelled on Monday. It did not say who was responsible for the attack in an area where government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels are locked in fierce combat. "We are shocked that patients are not afforded the protection they are entitled to," said Paul Castella, head of the ICRC delegation in Colombo.
"Once more, we call on both parties to meet their obligation under international humanitarian law to spare at all times the wounded and sick people, medical personnel and medical facilities," he was quoted as saying by AFP.
Sri Lanka's army is pushing ahead with a massive offensive to crush the rebels, who have been accused by the government of using civilians in the war zone as "human shields". Didja ever notice how, according to the papers, the Lankans seldom shoot at anything other than hospitals?
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Notice that the LTTE is never called out when they explode hospitals or other innocents? Almost like how Dems are not identified in articles when they have "done wrong".
SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese fishing vessels have moved out of waters near a disputed sea border between the two Koreas, a South Korean military official said on Wednesday, which could signal a North Korean missile test is imminent. North Korea usually orders its vessels to stay out of Yellow Sea waters off its west coast when it conducts short-range missile tests. China is the closest thing the North can claim as an ally and is its biggest benefactor.
"The (Chinese) fishing boats have disappeared, but no other unusual moves have yet been detected," said an official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff who asked not to be named. The official would not comment on a possible missile test.
Impoverished North Korea, angry at the hard-line policies of the South's government, in recent weeks has stepped up tension by threatening to reduce its wealthy neighbor to ashes and making moves to test fire its longest-range missile.
Analysts said the steps were aimed at putting pressure on the South and at attracting the notice of new U.S. President Barack Obama, who is sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region next week to discuss regional security concerns. "We are hopeful that some of the behavior that we have seen coming from North Korea in the last few weeks is not a precursor of any action that would up the ante or threaten the stability and peace and security of the neighbors in the region," Clinton said during a new conference in Washington on Tuesday.
It takes weeks for North Korea to prepare a launch of its Taepodong-2 missile, which is eventually supposed to be able to hit U.S. territory. The missile was last launched in 2006, fizzling less than a minute after launch.
The North can easily test-fire short-range missiles, with South Korean government officials telling a leading local daily they suspect such a test may take place soon near the disputed naval border called the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
Posted by: Steve White ||
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TOPIX > HILLARY CLINTON: US DEPLOYMENT OF MISSLE DEFENSE TO EUROPE MAY NOT BE NEEDED IFF IRAN CHANGES ITS NUCLEAR POLICIES.
I don't think so, as Radical Islam needs NUCLEARIZATION for PAN-MUSLIM/ISLAMIC PRESTIGE + IDEO-RELIGIOUS CREDIBILITY, GEOPOL, AS WELL AS FOR PRAGMATIC JIHADIC VICTORY AGZ TECH-SUPERIOR FOES.
#4
ION WORLD MIL FORUM/WORLD AFFAIRS BOARD > CHINA THREATENS TO TAKE STRONG ACTION AGZ JAPAN OVER DAOYU ISLANDS.
* CHINA > Iff you escalate, we will escalate; JAPAN [Foreign Ministry] says Okey-Dokey.
WMF POSTER > opined CHINA will likely choose ECON RETALIATION FIRST [see agz FRANCE] OVER ARMED FORCE - REAL ACTION IS TO DEFEAT THE [ANTI-CHINA/IMPERIALIST]STRATEGY OF THE USA???
Also on WMF [GOOGLE Chinglish translation]> IIUC ARTICLE - THE REPOSITIONING OF JAPAN VEE CHINA AND ASIA IS KEY TO RESOLVING THE ESCALATING DAOYU ISLANDS DISPUTE [Prioritize China-Japan Bilater Regional Diplomacy, Japan Repositioning while retaining CHIN/PLA-specific options for military force agz Japan]: + OP-ED > OFFICERS: CHINA MUST BUILD POTENT OFFSHORE MILITARY BASES TO ASSUME THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A GREAT POWER.
#5
WORLD MILITARY FORUM > IIUC US-SOUTH KOREA ANALYSIS: NEW NORTH KOREA MISSLE LAUNCH AND PAST LAUNCH TEST HISTORY SHOW NORTH KOREA HAS MASTERED LONG-RANGE BALLISTIC MISSLE LAUNCH TECHNOLOGY [NOKOR still needs more work on WARHEAD DESIGN, MRV TECHS, + ACCURACY/
TARGETING].
* SAME > IIUC SOUTH KOREAN INTELLIGENCE: NORTH KOREA'S LOOMING MISSLE LAUNCH IS POSSIBLY A TEST OF AN IMPROVED LONG-RANGE TAEPONGDONG-2 ICBM CAPABLE OF STRIKING JAPAN AND CONTINENTAL USA [ western US], + SOUTH KOREAN INTELLIGENCE: STRATEGIC FLIGHT PATH OF ANY NORTH KOREAN MISSLE TEST-LAUNCHED FROM MUSUDAN-RI MISSLE BASE EXTENDS/FLIES DIRECTLY OVER JAPAN AND TOWARDS THE USA.
Security forces claimed Tuesday killing as many as seven another militants amid an ongoing operation against militants here in Bajaur Agency, security forces said. While US drone planes continued hovering over North Waziristan and Landi Kotal all day, sources added. According to a local security soldier Mustakim Shah told that security forces which were backed by Gun ship helicopters, started operation in Ainaiat Kali a remote area of Bajaur agency. A rocket was fired by extremists which fell upon a shop starting fire in it, however no casualties were reported. Security forces also fired Artillery strikes and Mortar shells killing 7 militants. On the other hand Taliban representative Moulvi Omer while talking to media envoy on phone claimed that they have killed 5 security officials in Ainaiat Kali and blew a tank also. According to eyewitnesses cross firing was still going on till last reports came in however no casualties were reported till the filing of the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field near the western Negev city of Sderot on Tuesday evening, just half an hour before the polls were to close on Israel's general election.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Here we go again...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance companies seized by regulators, may need more than the $200 billion in funding pledged by the U.S. government if the housing market continues to deteriorate, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart said.
The companies' needs will depend largely on the direction of home prices, Lockhart said in an interview in Las Vegas yesterday. His comments followed statements from Fannie Mae in November and Freddie Mac Chairman John Koskinen last week that the government's funding commitment through 2009 may fall short of what the companies need to make good on their obligations.
#1
It appears that by the time the final bill is tallied with all the pork and add-ons, it would probably have been cheaper just to buy all the homes in the first place with a restructure of mortgages to cover the principle without interest.
At least 21 people have been killed in a fight between gunmen and Mexico's army after gang members kidnapped nine people in the state of Chihuahua.
The gunmen murdered six of the hostages while the Mexican soldiers killed fourteen gangsters on Tuesday, AFP reported. At least one army soldier was killed in the gunfight.
The accident took place in the town of Villa Ahumada in the northern territories where Mexico's drug cartels have carried out deadly attacks recently, killing more than 220 people in separate clashes.
Mexico's bloody drug war killed around 5,300 in 2008 despite the government's campaign to crack down on the gang members. Analysts blame corrupt elements in the police and government for the crime wave in Mexico.
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ION COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > WAR IN AFGHANISTAN COULD BE LOST BY SUMMER.
Weirdly and Mysteriously, but of course only PCo-incidentally + Correctly, SUMMER is also the period various Mil Forum Netters believe the USA MAY HAVE TO INVADE MEXICO as due to possib GOVT. = NATIONAL COLLAPSE???
(AKI) - A new message purportedly from Al-Qaeda accuses Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika (photo) of betraying his country by allowing a CIA agent accused of raping two women while he was stationed there to return home.
"O beloved nation, what more do you want these rulers to do to make you to speak with one voice and say 'enough'!" said the message posted to Islamist websites.
"Doesn't this scandal prove to you that Bouteflika and his government are no different from that of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan or Nouri al-Maliki's in Iraq?" the message said.
The CIA has said one of its agents has returned to the United States after being accused last September of committing the two rapes in Algeria.
The scandal could take its toll on Bouteflika's prospects in polls taking place on 9 April. He is running for election to a third presidential term.
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#1
You are barbarian. The depths of evil you concieve are beyond all models. You rape women to kill them. Al-Qaeda is an abomination.
#2
Oh, well, bouteflika is a pimp (his original line of work), and a war criminal (his only actual fait de guerre in the algeria war was to come back to algerai after the Evian armistice, and then manage the slaughtering of pro-France Harki troops, with whatever islamic refinement you might imagine). He's also very small, and obnoxious in his scapegoating of France for everything that is wrong with his "country", his claims that France invented the nazi gas chambers when french troops smoked out caves during the conquest of algeria, or that algeria was a country "as developed, with a longer democratic tradition" than France when it was colonized,... all the while getting subsidies from the old Motherlnd and asking for yet more visas to export his population surplus (like the algerian junta did with their berber youth, after the 1997 revolt), and keeping control of said export population on the french territory, through various networks (up to and including the main strain of "french islam", from the grand mosque of Paris, directly controlled by algiers)... but a traitor? To what principles?
#3
Interesting that these people bitch slap 24/7, stone and consider their women breeders and chattel and rarely is there a peep of protest, but once you get a Westerner involved all of the sudden they become honored and Cinderella-esque and have to be protected. Is there a more hypocritical people on earth (not including the Democrat Party and Hollywood)?
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
02/11/2009 9:38
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StrategyPage. Take it FWIW. January 29, 2009: The CIA has removed its station chief in Algeria, Andrew Warren, after he was accused of drugging and raping two women. Warren, a convert to Islam, is one of the more successful CIA counter-terror operatives, because he speaks Arabic and mixes it up with local Moslems in mosques and has a remarkable ability to keep track of local Islamic politics. The charges are a bit murky, and there is suspicion this is a ploy to keep Warren from finding out too much about scandalous behavior by Algerian officials.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2009 9:45
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Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani warns that the US incursions inside Pakistani territories have fueled anti-American feelings across the country.
Gilani said in Islamabad that the "policy of the US incursions" had proved counter-productive, a Press TV correspondent reported Tuesday.
The premier noted that the deadly attacks were severely undermining public support for counter-terrorism measures.
Gilani made the remarks at a meeting with visiting US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
Washington "should reconsider... US incursions as such actions have proved counter-productive and are promoting anti-American feeling in the area while severely undermining the public support for the counter terrorism measures," a spokesman for the premier said.
Earlier on Monday, President Barack Obama called for a 'concerted effort' to root out militant safe havens to guarantee success in Afghanistan.
'My bottom line is that we cannot allow al-Qaeda to operate,' Obama said, adding that 'We cannot have those safe havens in that region, and we're going to have to work both smartly and effectively, but with consistency, in order to make sure that those safe havens don't exist.'
The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become a safe haven for militants after a US-led invasion in late 2001 toppled Taliban in Afghanistan and sent insurgents to border areas with Pakistan.
The US and its western allies have accused Pakistan of 'not doing enough' to prevent attacks on supply routes as well as cross-border operations carried out by insurgents against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Pentagon has used the allegation as a pretext to launch drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal regions -- a move that has increased tension between Islamabad and Washington and has triggered anti-American sentiments among the Pakistani people.
Pakistan says that the drone attacks undermine the country's sovereignty and trigger public anger.
Over 500 people -- suspected militants as well as civilians -- have been killed in such attacks, which started under the Bush administration.
Pakistani Foreign Minster Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Holbrooke was visiting Pakistan to observe ground realities and to listen to the view point of country's leadership.
The Pakistani senior official called for a new strategy of dialogue to combat militancy and urged Washington to reconsider military action on its territory in its first talks with US President Barack Obama's envoy.
"The new US strategic policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan is likely to come out by April 2, as the new US administration is reviewing Bush regime's policies", the minister said.
"I am here to listen and learn," in "this critically important country," Holbrooke said in a US embassy statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
Our drone attacks may have fueled Pakistanian anti-American feelings, but their protection of al Quaeda and Taliban terrorists has certainly fueled my anti-Pakistani feelings.
And, since Jan 20, 'feelings' are the most important thing, right?
#8
US incursions inside Pakistani territories have fueled anti-American feelings across the country.
Uh huh. Guess those zillion idiotic demonstrations since, oh, the early 80s were fueled by .... premonitions of strikes by non-existent UAVs against terrorist outfits yet to be formed? Only using the special Inverse Chronological Causation Principle (discovered by Palestinians) that current events can cause things in the past.
Paki anti-Americanism is the pure, idiotic, brainless, drooling, envious, racist thing. And it's worse among the toxic, loathsome "elite" than the unappealing masses. Seen it myself up close in the Beltway. Funny side-notes: the Paki KBR staff in Iraq were wonderfully friendly and seemed to like us just fine (and appreciated the special fundraising for earthquake victims); the only booze I ever got as a Christmas gift was from the Paki embassy, back in the late 80s. Good brandy.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that the era of US dominance was over, in a broadside to Washington almost six years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The Shiite premier, boosted by the strong showing by his allies in provincial elections, said Iraq was now taking charge of its own destiny and was making good progress toward rebuilding the war-torn country.
His remarks were a pointed rebuke to US Vice President Joe Biden, who last week said Washington would have to be more aggressive in pushing Baghdad toward faster political reform.
Ah, the Bambi administration, making friends and winning influence around the world ...
The time for putting pressure on Iraq is over, Maliki told reporters, asked about Bidens comments. The Iraqi government knows what are its responsibilities. We are carrying out reform and we are in the last step of the reconciliation.
Biden said the January 31 provincial electionsin which Malikis allies triumphedhad shown that progress was being made, but more needed to be done as Iraqs leaders had not gotten their political arrangements together yet.
The new US administration of President Barack Obama would have to be much more aggressive... forcing them to deal with those issues, Biden said.
Malikis remarks are a strong signal ahead of a general election due to be held in about a year that he is unwilling to allow the United States to dictate how Iraq should rebuild and consolidate its fledgling democracy. We succeeded in solving problems created by Paul Bremer (head of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority put in place after the 2003 invasion), like the dismantling of the army and other institutions, he added, in another dig at the history of Americas influence in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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#1
Hope! And Change! in action.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/11/2009 4:24
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#2
Any guesses on how long Maliki will live once US military leaves?
#3
Maliki seemed overconfident last year in hitting Basra, over our warnings, but he was successful. I think that success made him the 'strong horse' in Iraq, strong enough to attract substantial support from the general population. I suspect he can go on without us now, as long as Iran doesn't interfere. Of course, I would not be a bit surprised to see him adopt the old mid-east tactic of getting the US and Russia bidding against each other for his backing. It makes me wonder whether we knew the Iraqi government was stonger than we let on for a while, to try to keep them believing they were dependent on us - and thus keeping them from getting too close to Iran and/or Russia (and/or China, now.)
#7
Oh the hell with the clown Biden and his twink intern boss.
Allowance For Idiotic Internal Politics Circuit On: Maliki's barking for a home audience
Circuit Off: listen, you little twerp, not a single decent or civilized thing going on in your country outside of Kurdistan would be happening, or even possible, without the courage, patience, and seriousness of certain US political leaders now gone from the scene, US and Coalition military personnel, and a few foreign civilians. US "dominance" translates as: payrolls get paid, not stolen; projects (generally) get completed, not derailed; detainees are taken on a reasonable basis and well-treated while in custody; foreign (including sub-human Sunni Arab and Persian IRGC) interlopers are thwarted, hunted, and defeated; the competence and integrity of every process with a US influence is immeasurably greater than anything ever seen in the entire Arab world, or likely to be seen for several generations.
Remember, "honor/shame" culture is a euphemism coined by apologists - such cultures, almost utterly, lack any honor of any sort. In that vein, all Iraqis who fail to show gratitude and respect for the US and what it has done for Iraq can drop dead, as can their children, grandchildren, first and second cousins, clan chiefs, imams, and flocks of sheep.
Eliminating the Ba'athist regime and replacing it with something far better was in our interests, but most Iraqis remain completely unworthy of the sacrifice of one US soldier.
Palestinian professor says if Kadima and Labor fail to win many votes, it will be a sign of victory for Hamas. That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. Of a sort...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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JERUSALEM, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The makeup of Israel's next government remained unclear early Wednesday as votes counted thus far showed the Kadima and Likud parties neck and neck.
Kadima, the party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, was projected to have won 29 Knesset seats and Likud, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, 28 with 76 percent of the votes counted as of 2:30 a.m., The Jerusalem Post reported. Israel Beiteinu was projected to pick up 16 seats, Labor 12, Shas 11, Meretz 4, United Torah Judaism 4, National Union 4, Hadash 4, Bayit Hayihudi 3, United Arab List 3 and Balad 2 seats, the newspaper said.
Voter turnout was 65.2 percent, or 2 percentage points higher than in the 2006 national elections.
Though votes were still being tabulated, Netanyahu declared early Wednesday he would be Israel's next prime minister and that talks with other parties would start as early as Wednesday, the Post reported. "With God's help I will stand at the head of the next government," he told the supporters at Tel Aviv's airport.
With a key bloc of seats, Israel Beiteinu were to discuss the electoral situation Wednesday, though party leader Avigdor Lieberman indicated he favored siding with Likud. "It's true that Tzipi Livni won a surprise victory," Lieberman said. "But what is more important is that the right-wing camp won a clear majority ... . We want a right-wing government."
Kadima leaders claimed victory, too, saying Livni would be able to form a government with at least Labor, Meretz and Israel Beiteinu.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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It ain't over until the military votes are counted.
President Obama is shelving a plan announced in the final days of the Bush administration to open much of the U.S. coast to oil drilling, including 130 million acres off California's coast from Mendocino to San Diego.
On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered the plan be put on hold while his agency conducts a 180-day review of the country's offshore oil and gas resources. Salazar's critical comments about the plan signaled that the new administration will seek to rewrite it if not completely scrap it.
The Bush proposal "opened the possibility of oil and gas leases along the entire Eastern seaboard, portions of offshore California and the far eastern Gulf of Mexico with almost no consultation from states, industry or community input," Salazar said at a news conference in Washington. "In my view it was a headlong rush of the worst kind."
Not true, bubbo. Everyone knew what was going on. We've been debating this for three decades. The states know. The communities know. The industry certainly knows.
He said his agency will hold four public meetings over the next few months - one in Alaska, one on the West Coast, one along the East Coast and one near the Gulf Coast - to hear from governors, local officials, industry groups and environmentalists about the plan.
Especially the environmentalists. Expect the oil industry groups to be treated as the enemy.
Salazar did not directly address the bigger question: Whether Obama will seek to renew the three-decade-old presidential moratorium on drilling off most of the East and West coasts, which Bush lifted last July amid growing public anger over soaring gas prices.
He echoed comments made by Obama during last year's campaign that the administration would be open to more offshore drilling,
"We also need an enemy and a scape-goat."
but only as part of a broader energy policy focused on producing more renewable energy from wind, solar, geothermal as well as tidal and wave power. "For those of you from the oil and gas industry ... I pledge to you that you will have a seat at the table," Salazar said. "We need your expertise and your resources as we move forward. But as President Obama has said and as I believe ... a drill-only energy approach, onshore and offshore, is not enough."
Drilling now would start to bring oil and NG on line in a few years. It would be a wonderful boost to the economy. These are high-paying jobs, and in case he hasn't noticed, California and the other coastal states could use those.
The congressional moratorium on offshore drilling also expired last year, and the Bush administration moved quickly to forward a lease sale plan that would open areas off most of the U.S. coast, from the Gulf of Maine to Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico, plus the Pacific Coast. The plan also opened new areas of Alaska's Bristol Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Bush's top Interior officials released the plan on Jan. 16, the final business day of the Bush administration, knowing the new president was likely to rewrite the plan.
Oil industry leaders were disappointed by Salazar's announcement. Barry Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America said, "This unnecessary delay will hold America back, at the precise moment when we need to move forward the most."
But environmentalists praised the move, calling it a sharp break from the pro-drilling policies of the Bush administration.
Of course they did.
In California, the Bush administration's plan would open three major areas, one in Northern California and two in Southern California, which it claimed had "known hydrocarbon potential." The plan would have allowed drilling on 44 million acres of federal waters off Humboldt and Mendocino counties, and 89 million acres off San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
One of the leases would have required special directional drilling equipment to reach oil beneath the Santa Barbara Ecological Preserve. In Southern California, there are 79 existing leases with 43 producing and 36 undeveloped.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2009
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#1
By and large the industry took no action when Bush opened these waters; we knew full well it would be wasted effort, as the Dems would surely re-close them at the first opportunity.
#5
Memory is bad, but I thought that Gov. Palin was going to take the EPA/feds to court about the right of States to determine how to use their resources.
#7
Oil prices are rising. Little notice but they are headed to their July levels. Believe me.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/11/2009 13:00
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#8
Jack, oil prices will rise again. Could be by summer, or might not be for several years. They are not rising right now. Roughly $40 per barrell.
Gasoline prices have been rising. Partly because refineries were offline for mainenance. Partly because of some labor action fears. But that's not enough - not sure what else is doing it. But it does help our downstream profits.
#9
Having seen how Ken Salazar has operated in Colorado, I knew he'd be a disaster as head of Interior. If there were ever a man that ought to be sent to the bottom of Hoover Dam to do an onsite investigation - without an airtank - it's Ken Salazar. Him and his brother in the House, and his cousin in New Mexico, along with the two Udalls, should all be held accountable. Unfortunately it's going to be extremely hard to do.
I thought, back when he was elected, it would take ten years to clean up the mess Obambi will make of this nation. My current prediction, with whom he's selected to be in his cabinet, is more in the range of 50 years or a revolution, whichever comes first.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/11/2009 16:31
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The U.S. Senate approved an $838 billion economic rescue plan on Tuesday, setting the stage for tough haggling this week over the final package of tax cuts and spending aimed at averting a deeper recession.
President Barack Obama wants the Democratic-controlled Congress to deliver a package to his desk this weekend, but the Senate and House of Representatives must first reconcile differences between their two bills. The House has approved an $819 billion plan.
Obama, making a campaign-style stop in an economically hard-hit part of Florida, immediately called the outcome "good news" and "a good start" to his bid to rescue the battered U.S. economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2009
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#1
Like throwing a drowning man an anvil. At least all the prior con game plans involved a vague notion that the borrower 'intended' to repay some of the funds. There is no return on the outflow on this piece of political theater other than unsecured debt.
#2
What they fail to realize or simply deny is a very large percentage of the American people have little or absolutely no confidence in this scheme. No confidence means a continued failure to invest or spend what money they or we DO have. Fear tactics, bullying this package through, ignoring Congressional Republicans and a large segment of the population was not smart and probably guarantees it's failure. The aviation metaphor of a "Death Spiral" may be appropriate here.
#3
"No confidence means a continued failure to invest or spend what money they or we DO have."
If you don't spend what money you DO have, they'll just raise the bet another trillion. Your only choice is spend it or lose it to inflation. Other than the pork and liberal fascist tools in this (and all the other mega-spends), the whole point is to create inflation, and multiply the stimulative (er, laxative?) effect of the government spend by the induced private spend.
#4
Could be Glen, and you are precisely correct about the end state being the creation of inflation and devaluation of the gov't borrowed dollar. It's been on 40 year return to zero devaluation program for many years now. Along with inflation however comes sky-high interest rates (12-14% and higher loans) similar to the ones we saw during the Carter years. Those who had a little money in the bank did pretty well with CD's, deposits, and the underground economy. I guess I'm just stubborn enough to do just the opposite of what these bloody thieving bastards are suggesting.
#5
I am scared to death by this. I lived through the Carter nightmare and remember what inflation did to those on a fixed income.
I'm currently looking at an early retirement package which, if I don't take it, could lead to being laid off with nothing in 3 - 6 months.
I'm looking at hoarding as much cash as possible and planning on living on $500 max / week.
Do I pay off my mortgage which is down to $26K and mostly principle to cut out a $900/month expense? Damned if I know what to do.
#6
Appears you've answered your own question Alan. Congratulations on your early retirement and paid off mortgage! When gasoline goes back up to $4.00 per gallon, you'll enjoy keeping the commuting miles off the Ford I'll assure you. Retirement, even a partial retirement has it's rewards.
An old farmer in Georgia had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back, fixed up nice; picnic tables, horseshoe courts, basketball court, etc. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built.
One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.
He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end of the pond. One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"
The old man replied, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim or make you get out of the pond naked."
"I'm here to feed the alligator."
Moral: Old age and cunning will triumph over youth and enthusiasm every time.
#7
$500 a week, lucky shit, try living on a thousand a month.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
02/11/2009 14:41
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#8
No thanks Jim, been there done that as a young'n and I've no desire to revist Carter's days of pain.
I've worked my ass off for the last 30 years in a well paid profession and skimped and and saved my way to this point INCLUDING 2 college educations for my kids.
This time last year I was thinking more along the lines of $1000 - $1500 a week but this crash took care of that toot sweet.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Canadian government plans to withdraw its combat troops by 2011, feeling the loss of more than 100 troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001. About 2,500 serve there now.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Eight Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests attacked three Afghan government buildings Wednesday in a coordinated assault that killed 20 people in the heart of Kabul just ahead of a planned visit from the new U.S. envoy to the region. The attacks in a city dense with barricades and armed guards underscored the difficulty of fending off the Taliban even with abundant troops and weaponry as the U.S. beefs up its presence.
AUGUSTA -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey and Maine State Climate Office announced today that a minus-50 reading in northwestern Maine held up to scientific scrutiny.
Ted Kindos faces two choices: Continue to be called a bigot or break the law.
(AKI/Asian Age) - One of India's main political parties, the Indian National Congress, has accused the Pakistani government of being too slow to investigate the Mumbai bomb attacks. A key party leader also warned of repercussions if the attacks were not fully investigated.
Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed Tuesday stressed the need to further consolidate people to people contacts between Pakistan and China adding Pakistan-China friendship is need of the hour for attaining regional peace. "We have good relations at government level, but there is need to strengthen people to people contacts" the JI Chief told media on Tuesday. The Jamaat delegation is currently visiting China at the invitation of ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the delegation at a meeting held today with Vice-Chairperson of National People's Congress Tali Waldi agreed that the Sino-Pak friendship is immortal and would continue to deepen with the passage of time. He said that the exchanges and contacts between the political parties would bring politicians and parliamentarians of the two countries closer. On the occasion, he also called for further enhancing cooperation in economic field. The delegation, which arrived here on Monday attended a reception the same evening hosted by Ambassador Masood Khan at Pakistan House. On the second leg of their visit to China, the JI delegation will leave here for Xian Wednesday. It will also go to Shanghai on a 3-day visit starting from Feb 14.
Iran gave a strong signal yesterday that it is prepared to start a mould-breaking dialogue with the United States in response to the dramatic call by Barack Obama for the Islamic Republic to "unclench its fist".
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni led exit polls after Tuesday's parliamentary election but her Kadima party's two-seat lead over right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu left it too close to call who would be prime minister. 
SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese fishing vessels have moved out of waters near a disputed sea border between the two Koreas, a South Korean military official said on Wednesday, which could signal a North Korean missile test is imminent. North Korea usually orders its vessels to stay out of Yellow Sea waters off its west coast when it conducts short-range missile tests. China is the closest thing the North can claim as an ally and is its biggest benefactor.
The U.S. Senate approved an $838 billion economic rescue plan on Tuesday, setting the stage for tough haggling this week over the final package of tax cuts and spending aimed at averting a deeper recession. 
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