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Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 al-Qaida militants
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Treblinka was disguised as a railway station
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 20:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Mine union boss: Coal industry could suffer same fate as bin Laden
The coal industry will suffer the same fate as Osama bin Laden under new climate regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the head of the United Mine Workers of America said this week.

"The Navy SEALs shot Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Lisa Jackson shot us in Washington," Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union, said during an interview Tuesday on the West Virginia radio show MetroNews Talkline.

Roberts blasted Jackson, the EPA administrator, over the proposed regulations, which would limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants. Opponents of the regulations, including Roberts, say the new rules would be the death knell of the coal industry.

New coal-fired power plants would have to install technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions in order to comply with the rules. The technology, known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), "is not commercially available," Roberts said.

"This rule is an all-out, in my opinion, decision by the EPA that we're never going to have another coal-fired facility in the United States that's constructed," Roberts said.
First rule, you can't please everyone. By pleasing the envirowienes, Obama just pissed off the Union guys. IMHO, the faster the rank and file union people realize that Obama will screw them over happily to please their bosses and the Hollywood money, the faster they will abandon him.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/04/2012 16:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Start by sending unionized coal workers to luxury flats in Pakistan & wait 10 years BEFORE assassinating them.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 17:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Coal industry investors are "suffering" as we speak...believe me! Of course suffering is in keeping with the Obama CONOP (concept of operation).
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 19:54 Comments || Top||

#3  The industrial unions are turning against the Democrats. Same happened with a Wisconsin mining union when the Democrats blocked a mining project for no reason but to deprive Gov. Walker of a success, at the expense of the miners union. The miners are very angry with the Democrats.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/04/2012 21:29 Comments || Top||

#4  And who did they endorse in the last election? Let us Google...

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for President of the United States after a unanimous vote of the union's National Council of the Coal Miners' Political Action Committee (COMPAC) in favor of the endorsement.

"We are extremely proud to make this endorsement today," UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said today. "Sen. Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families.

"Most of all, Sen. Obama will implement the clear change in direction UMWA members-- indeed, all American working people--must have if they are to once again move forward and have a true opportunity to realize the American dream," Roberts said. "After eight years of being pushed aside by an administration which neither respects nor values the contributions American working families make to our society, we are looking forward with great anticipation to a new era in our nation starting with the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

"We looked at the positions of both Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) when considering this endorsement,” Roberts said. “On issue after issue, it is clear that Sen. Obama will be on our side while Sen. McCain will not."


Tough shit, rubes...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/04/2012 21:37 Comments || Top||

#5  It gets better; a project up here in the NW wants to enlarge the Cherry Point terminal to berth bulk cargo ships and fill them with coal mined in the Montana/Wyoming area. that would involve up to 9 trains daily, each about 1.5 miles long rumbling through a bunch of libtard sanctuary cities ( Bellingham being the most 'tarded) the ecoweenies and NIMBYs are banding together to stop this project, even though employment is still down.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 22:05 Comments || Top||

#6  When will the rest of the residents tell them to knock it off?

Get active. Post comments on your local newspaper website. Don't let the place become some libtard echo chamber. Bet if you looked those would be the only comments seen.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/04/2012 22:14 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Suicide bombing at Somalia's national theater kills top sports officials
At least six people, including two of Somalia's top sports officials, were killed when a female suicide bomber attacked a ceremony at Mogadishu's national theater in an attack aimed at killing senior government officials.

Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the blast on Wednesday that killed the leaders of Somalia's soccer federation and Olympic committee. The bombing was also an apparent attempt to kill the prime minister as he gave a speech at an event to commemorate the first anniversary of the country's new satellite television channel.

The African Union said a female suicide bomber was responsible for the blast in the theater. Prosper Hakizimana, deputy spokesman for the AU's AMISOM force, said, "So far six died and 10 were injured, mostly civilians. The Prime Minister was speaking inside the theatre when the blast took place, but he is safe, unhurt."

A witness at the scene said corpses were strewn across the floor and some of the dead were still in their chairs. Ambulance workers were collecting the bodies. Sirens wailed as the injured were rushed to hospitals.

Al Shabaab said it had targeted government officials and lawmakers with explosives planted ahead of the event, but denied that it had used a suicide bomber.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, said, "We were behind the theater blast. We targeted the infidel ministers and legislators, and they were the casualties of today."

While the prime minister escaped unharmed at least one minister and a member of parliament were wounded and the country's top sporting officials bore the brunt of the attack.

Kadija Dahir Aden, acting president of Somali athletics, said, "The government sent us four invitation cards. And of the four officials who went, two are dead and the other two injured. It is a black day. Many great people have died today."

She said the Somali Olympic Committee chairman, Aden Yabarow Wiish, and the president of the Somali Football Federation, Said Mohamed Nur, had died, while the deputy at the Olympic committee and the chairman for Somali boxing were both wounded.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/04/2012 11:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They've got sports officials and a "new satellite channel" but not basic societal stability. Nice to know out of whack priorities are not for bloated first world governments only...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/04/2012 12:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Burqa bomber?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/04/2012 16:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Somalia had a national theater?
Wow!
Posted by: Water Modem || 04/04/2012 20:11 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Al Qaeda's new breed of 'just do it' terrorists
Posted by: ryuge || 04/04/2012 11:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Does the US secretly support Muslim Brotherhood election run?
Posted by: ryuge || 04/04/2012 11:45 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama does.
Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 || 04/04/2012 12:29 Comments || Top||

#2  If you play out the future...
(1) Muslim brotherhood takes over.
(2) Reasonable Egyptians leave (that is probably the bulk of their officer corps) and military equipment starts to go bad.
(3) Egypt attacks Israel with waves the way Iranians attacked Iraq.

A large war and totally humiliating defeat of Egypt and would probably do more towards middle east peace in the long run then than a peaceful government. Since Egypt is likely to start such an war it would be hard to blame the Israelis for keeping the penninsula this time and Palestianan reactions might make it easy to displace the Gaza population into the newly occupied territory creating a Palestinian state with smaller borders with Israel.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/04/2012 15:11 Comments || Top||

#3  secretly???
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/04/2012 18:55 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq's fugitive vice president leaves Qatar
Iraq's fugitive Vice-President Tarek Al Hashemi has left Qatar.

The Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported, "He left on Wednesday morning at the end of an official visit of several days and he was seen off at the airport by Shaikh Hamad Bin Nasser Al Thani, the state minister."

Shaikh Hamad had welcomed Al Hashemi to the Qatari capital on Sunday. On Tuesday, Qatar declined Iraq's demand to hand over the fugitive Iraqi official.

Khalid Al Attiyah, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, said, "Diplomatic norms and the post of Al Hashemi prevent Qatar from doing such a thing."

Al Hashemi, wanted by the Iraq for his alleged role in acts of terrorism, had initially left the Iraqi capital for Kurdistan. However, the Kurdish zone wouldn't hand him over. His trip to Qatar sparked bitter domestic and international disputes.

Al Hashemi's office said that he left Kurdistan for Doha in response to an invitation he had previously received.

The office said that Al Hashemi would spend some days in Qatar before visiting unnamed other countries and returning to Kurdistan. Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani received Al Hashemi at his court. The QNA reported that the two reviewed bilateral relations and the developments in the region during their meeting.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/04/2012 11:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian Destroyer Smetlivy Passed Through Bosphorus
Pics of the Smetlivy on its way to Tarsus, Syria. Worth a look if you're an old naval salt.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 10:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Puts out a lotta smoke.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 12:07 Comments || Top||

#2  I think they have some woodchips down in the boiler room, trying to smoke some BBQ while under way. Either that, or its engines are being maintained by JS The Ragman.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/04/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||

#3  That thing looks like one leaking oil fire away from a watery grave.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/04/2012 16:23 Comments || Top||

#4  JS the Ragman! And you wonder why a lot of us refused to fly in anything the Russians maintained or taught the maintainers, or really even built, excpet maybe vintage AN-2 Colts amaintained in the west. That was a tough old bird.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/04/2012 16:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Couldn't they get some seasoned wood for the thing?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/04/2012 17:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Washington Freebeacon: Chicoms and Russians to
Join Forces For Wargames + Spotted 2 Chinese Stealth J-20 fighters
Posted by: Omoluque Hapsburg8162 || 04/04/2012 17:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Whoa - the Russkis named a DD after PENELOPE PITSTOP'S "CORPORAL SMEDLEY", the WW1 Flying German Toon Dog???

DO PENELOPE + THE BARON + TOM SLICK KNOW???

lol.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 19:48 Comments || Top||

#8  STOP THAT PIGEON, STOP THAT PIGEON, D *** NG IT, STOP THAT PIGEON NOW!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 19:49 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Japan and Britain 'set to agree arms deal'
Japan and Britain are set to agree to begin joint development of arms following Tokyo's easing of its ban on exports of military equipment late last year, the Mainichi daily reported on Wednesday.
Perhaps Japan is figuring out what Canada and other allies are figuring out -- that it's not a good idea to tie yourself exclusively to the U.S. these days.
It will mark the first time that Japan has worked with a country other than the United States on military equipment after making an exception for the US missile defence programme.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified senior defence ministry official as saying that it could take the two countries about a year to decide on specific items for joint development as even with the relaxation of rules, Japan still imposes restrictions on sales to third parties.

The two countries may gradually start joint development with small military equipment, rather than big machines like fighters, it said, quoting an unidentified senior foreign ministry official.
That might change if we continue to refuse to allow Japan to buy the F-22.
Japan in December decided to relax its self-imposed decades-old ban to allow it to take part in the joint development and production of arms with other countries and to supply military equipment for humanitarian missions, opening new markets to its defence contractors.
Posted by: || 04/04/2012 10:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, the good old F-22. I miss those days.
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 23:33 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Can Bicycling Affect a Woman’s Sexual Health?
Gorb, FYI


Spending time on a bicycle seat, which has been linked to erectile dysfunction in men, may also be a hazard to a woman’s sexual health, a new study shows.

Many women who cycle or take spin classes are familiar with the numbness that sometimes can occur from sitting on a traditional bike seat. Bike seats are designed in such a way that body weight typically rests on the nose of the seat, which can compress nerves and blood vessels in the genital area. In men, this raises the risk of erectile dysfunction, something that has been documented in studies of male police officers on bicycle patrol.

But female cyclists have not been studied as closely. A study by Yale researchers in 2006 found that female cyclists had less genital sensation compared with a control group of female runners. As a result, some scientists believe that female cyclists probably are at similar risk for sexual problems as male riders.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/04/2012 10:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
UK school standards at risk from attempts to 'cure social ills'
Education standards are being put at risk by repeated attempts to force schools to cure the country's biggest social problems, a minister warned today.

Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, said the "first answer" to almost any challenge facing society -- such as obesity, teenage pregnancy and knife crime -- was to give schools a new duty to tackle the issue.

He said he was regularly presented with proposals "from one well-meaning group or another" to add "something socially desirable" to the curriculum.

But Mr Gibb warned that the move risked cutting the amount of time available for teaching traditional subjects -- the "best way out of poverty" for young people.

The comments come just a week after a major report into last year's riots in England suggested that schools should be required to "develop and publish their policies on building character".

It suggested that primary and secondary schools should undertake regular assessments of pupils' character, in a move likely to cover issues such as self-confidence, honesty and sense of right and wrong.

But addressing the Association of Teachers and Lecturers annual conference in Manchester, Mr Gibb said: "Today it seems that the first answer of many to almost any problem in society is to give a duty to schools to tackle it -- be it obesity, teenage pregnancy, or knife crime.

"It feels like every other week I am presented with proposals from one well-meaning group or another to add something socially desirable to the curriculum.

"I see my role as resisting those pressures so that schools can concentrate on educating young people and teachers can focus on teaching."

The last Government was repeatedly criticised for introducing a series of new duties for English state schools.

This included compulsory lessons in citizenship, a new onus on schools to promote community cohesion, nutritional standards for food and an overhaul of the curriculum covering personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons.
The issue being, of course, how to assimilate the children of immigrants - and how to maintain and restore civic values in general. That was a major reason for establishing public schools in the first place, but has been hijacked to change rather than reinforce society.
Posted by: || 04/04/2012 10:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It suggested that primary and secondary schools should undertake regular assessments of pupils' character, in a move likely to cover issues such as self-confidence, honesty and sense of right and wrong.

I thought that was the parent's job.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:47 Comments || Top||

#2  In other words, public schools have been tasked with fixing the government's misguided immigration policies, and it isn't working. What a shock.

At least a government minister is saying it out loud. That is, until he suddenly resigns "to spend more time with his family."
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 16:45 Comments || Top||

#3  That was a major reason for establishing public schools in the first place, but has been hijacked to change hijack rather than reinforce traditional society.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 17:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Get government out of school provision. The hammer of government cannot teach.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/04/2012 18:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Here is a threat to schools. Just kicking it up a notch or two.

Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 19:52 Comments || Top||


US intelligence agencies are holding back evidence from Britain over fears of open courts
American intelligence has begun "cutting back" on material provided to British agencies over fears information could be compromised in UK courts, Kenneth Clarke has said.

US security services had become "extremely cautious" when dealing with Britain on the basis that shared national secrets risked being made public in open hearings.
The Justice Secretary revealed US security services had become "extremely cautious" when dealing with Britain on the basis that shared national secrets risked being made public in open hearings.

Mr Clarke made his comments following continued criticism over controversial plans by the Coalition government to hold court cases and inquests behind closed doors.

A cross-party group of peers and MPs has today attacked his proposals for so-called secret justice claiming the system would be "inherently unfair" and was based on "spurious assertions".

Speaking this morning on the BBC's Today programme, Mr Clarke refuted the suggestion that plans to allow spies to give evidence in camera to protect national security was the result of "immense American pressure" being exerted.

However, he agreed that a decision to disclose US intelligence during the case of UK resident Binyam Mohamed had led to a lessening of cooperation between the two countries. In 2008 Mr Mohamed took the British government to court to secure the release of documents relating to his detention in Guantanamo Bay prison between 2004 and 2009.

Posted by: || 04/04/2012 09:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And foreign intelligence agencies are holding back on information shared with the US over fears information could be compromised in some future issue of Foreign Policy magazine.

Posted by: crosspatch || 04/04/2012 15:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Read, TOO MANY POLITICAL-LEGAL PROTECTIONS = EMPOWERMENT OF SHARIA IN BRITAIN.

Muslims in Germany are using the regular/normal democratic electoral process to formally rename their areas of German Cities into Arabic; while pro-Islamist Brit Muslims are forming their own "Moral Police" + Muslim-only "Courts" as iff Sharia was already in place, AKA IGNORING WHITEHALL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 19:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Candidates in Orbit -P.J. O'Rourke
We’ve had some fun with space policy in the 2012 presidential race. Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, candidate debates, and other forms of low comedy had us all laughing at Newt Gingrich’s proposal for moon statehood. Ron Paul said, “I think we should send some politicians up there.” So it would be a blue state, and there goes Republican control of the Senate. Mitt Romney said, “If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I’d say, ‘You’re fired.’ ” Ha, ha. A president, a Congress, and a number of wives have tried to fire Newt, and he’s still on the job.

But fun with space policy is about all we’ve had. Space is not an issue in this election. There are good reasons it should be. NASA is cheap. Its budget is $17.7 billion, one-fourth the budget for the Department of Education, which ought to​—​considering the state of public schools, where none of the kids can do this math​—​give its money to NASA.

National prestige is important, even if our current president doesn’t know it. China is trying to become America without democracy while America is trying to become France without cheese calories.

We’ve gained technological advantages from our space program, and not just Tang and Teflon but satellite radio for listening to Howard Stern, GPS telling Mitt Romney how to get to Washington without going by way of the moon, the foam that protects skulls in football helmets and keeps my little linebacker from becoming any dumber than 8-year-olds already are, the cordless drill to facilitate household DIY projects, and the scratchproof sunglasses my wife wears to conceal eye-rolling at the way the bookshelves tilt. The hang glider, that California fool-killer, owes its “para-wing” to NASA research on returning payloads to Earth. Then there’s hazardous gas sensors, filtration devices for kidney dialysis, flame-resistant clothing for firemen, and the Hubble telescope. The Hubble’s imaging problems turned out to be the same problems doctors had looking for tumors in mammograms. Someone you love is alive today, not because of a NASA success, but because of a NASA failure​—​a design flaw in the Hubble telescope.

Much more at the link
Posted by: Beavis || 04/04/2012 08:16 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
German Nobel laureate Guenter GraSS' new poem: Israel is a threat to world peace
German Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass published a poem Wednesday in which he accused Israel of being a threat to world peace.

In his poem, the 85-year-old author claims that Israel's nuclear reactor -- and not Iran's -- presents a threat to world peace. Grass' poem calls for Germany to cease supplying Israel with submarines, and warns against an Israeli strike on Iran.

The poem, entitled "What must be said," will be published on Wednesday in the New York Times, the Deutsche Zeitung, and La Republica. In the poem, Grass writes that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a "big mouth," and that the intentions of the Iranian nuclear program are not proven.

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world"

-- Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani December 2001


Read Grass' poem in German.

Grass also claims that "Israel's nuclear potential has been stealthily growing for years," without being under any kind of international supervision. Grass believes that Israel is planning to arm submarines recently purchased from Germany with nuclear warheads.

"Germany could be responsible for a crime that can be foreseen," Grass said.
That crime would be Israel's survival.
Grass achieved fame with his first novel "The Tin Drum." Many of his stories have been translated into Hebrew and English. In 2006, Grass admitted for the first time to serving in the SS during the Second World War. Today, Grass is an active member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Posted by: Sputh Glinegum5011 || 04/04/2012 08:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The New York Times will be publishing an anti-semitic poem by a Nazi? Well color me surprised...strange bedfellows indeed.
Posted by: gromky || 04/04/2012 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Funny how Israel has all these nuclear weapons but doesn't actually blow people up or threaten to use them on a daily basis. Some folks project a lot.

Discussions on war and peace from a German are humorous. The lesson the World learned from WW2 is dictatorships are bad. The lesson the Germans learned is War is bad. As if war suddenly just happened to the 3rd Reik out of the blue.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/04/2012 10:25 Comments || Top||

#3  GraSS.... GrASS

fixed....
Posted by: Pliny Chuck8245 || 04/04/2012 14:08 Comments || Top||

#4  The Tin Drum trilogy are some of favourite novels of all time, but Grass always was a socialist. Firstly a National Socialist, then the post war kind.

The Left's real problem with Israel is that Israel shows how their their Tranzi vision could turn into an apocalyptic hell.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/04/2012 15:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Unfortunately there are no minimum standards as to what qualifies as a poem... or literature... or common sense
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/04/2012 17:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm a little surprised the EU *doesn't* have standards for poems. They seem to have their EUcratic fingers in pretty much every other pie.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/04/2012 19:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't give them any ideas...
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/04/2012 21:00 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Truck falls off snowy cliff in Norway
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 01:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
US Offers $10 Million Bounty for 2008 Mumbai Terror Suspect
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 01:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fire Exchanges Between Hamas, Islamic Jihad In Gaza
Paleostinian sources have reported that their were exchanges of fire between Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
in the Khan Yunis area in the gaza Strip.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More, more.
A pox on both your houes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/04/2012 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Foot stomp, foot stomp.....test question coming up: ....The reason why we should stay out of Arab Spring Mooslim internal conflicts?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 0:51 Comments || Top||

#3  This is what they do when they can't kill the Juice.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, well, the Islamo-Commies versus the Islamo-Fascists.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 21:18 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan near deal on night raids
US and Afghan officials are close to a deal to change the way night raids are conducted in Afghanistan, giving Afghan security forces the lead role and providing judicial oversight of a practice hated by Afghans but seen as effective by American forces, a US defence official has said. The deal is expected to help clear the way for a broader strategic partnership agreement that will govern the US presence in Afghanistan once Afghan forces take full responsibility for security by the end of 2014.

There was general acceptance on both sides that Afghans should take the lead role in any night raids and that there should be some form of warrant system to give Afghans judicial oversight of the process. But some differences remain over issues related to the detention of people for interrogation, the official said.

Afghanistan's constitution requires a judge to approve house searches by security forces.

US officials have described the night raids as an unpopular but extremely effective tactic against Taliban militants and their allies.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told a news conference the United States and Afghanistan were "making progress and heading toward an agreement on this and a broad range of other issues."

"This has been a concern of the Afghan government for some time. We recognize that. We recognize the effectiveness, as well, that the night operations have had over time. And that's why we're working through an agreement with our Afghan partners," Little said.

He noted about half of night operations currently are led by Afghan security forces and that most take place without a shot being fired. But he said it was important to reach a written understanding on how operations should be handled in the future.

"This will be, at the end of the day, something that they're responsible for ... as part of the transition process. And codifying that, we think, could benefit Afghanistan, the United States and our coalition partners," Little said. "It makes sense."
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great, just great. reading that first sentence reminded me of that old Bill Cosby schtick about the Redcoats and the Colonists in the War of Independence: " The settlers can shoot from behind rocks and trees and ever'whar and the British gotta wear red and march ina straight line..."
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 1:01 Comments || Top||

#2  He noted about half of night operations currently are led by Afghan security forces and that most take place without a shot being fired.

The other "half" (where no one one knows ISAF forces are coming) are highly successful!
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:13 Comments || Top||

#3  USN, that were Rogers Rangers by GOD.RLTW
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 1:59 Comments || Top||

#4  What about night "letters" ?
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 2:01 Comments || Top||

#5  I grow so weary of this nonsense.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
AU slaps sanctions on Mali coup leaders
ADDIS ABABA: The African Union (AU) on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Mali’s military coup leader and his allies, who are preventing a return to constitutional order in the West African nation.

“(The African Union decides) to impose with immediate effect a travel ban and asset freeze to the leader of the military junta, as well as entities contributing to impeding the return of constitutional order in Mali,” Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, told journalists following a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Lamamra also said the AU endorsed the decision by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states to activate their standby force.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The rebel junta is made up of desert warriors, who lost their jobs when Gadawful took a bullet. They are really hard core, and affiliated with al-qaeda in the maghreb. They have been doing jihad mercenary work for 200 years. America needs a President who understands that muslims have been on a 1400 year war with the world. Helping them nation-build means: subsidizing their jihad.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe we already have that president.
Posted by: bman || 04/04/2012 9:37 Comments || Top||


Arabia
S. Arabia Aims Cash Laundering Law At 'terror' Groups
RIYADH - Soddy Arabia has passed an anti-money laundering law aimed at stopping cash getting to violent beturbanned goon groups - a move sought by Washington after the 9/11 attacks - a local newspaper quoted the government as saying on Tuesday.

Saudi Information Minister Abdul-Aziz Khoja said the law contained "rules related to the crimes of financing terrorism, terrorist acts and terror organizations," according to the Arab News daily.

A further law is planned that specifically focuses on beturbanned goon financing, the paper said, a probable reference to an anti-terrorism bill now before the advisory Shoura Council.

Soddy Arabia began to crack down on beturbanned goons' financing after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and a subsequent series of bombings on its own territory.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  only took them 10 years to act.
Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 || 04/04/2012 9:16 Comments || Top||


Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 al-Qaida militants
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni officials say the latest government airstrikes in the country’s south have killed 43 al-Qaida militants. Military officials say government forces on Tuesday took control over a mountainous area of al-Rahha in the southern province of Lahj, after pounding al-Qaida hideouts there for the past three days. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The offensive followed a surprise attack by militants on a Yemeni army base in the area earlier in the weekend.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336100 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do the 43 include the 'collateral damage?'
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/04/2012 11:06 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US wants to ‘strengthen democracy’ in Russia
WASHINGTON - The United States said Tuesday that it sought to strengthen democracy and civil society in Russia after Moscow charged that US funding to groups in the country was posing a problem in relations.
So now we have quangos in Russia, and Vlad, always a sharp operator, sees a way to discredit them, keep us off balance, and tar his domestic opponents. Brilliant.
The State Department has proposed to set up a $50 million fund that would support non-governmental groups which promote human rights and accountability in Russia, where Vladimir Putin is preparing for a third term as president.
No doubt it'll be the outreach program of the Democratic party. They can go to Russia and see how socialism really worked, right?
“This is designed to support a vibrant civil society in Russia and to allow us to work with those Russian NGOs who want to work with us,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

The fund would allow the groups “to develop their skills and their voice and their ability to represent the aspirations of Russians to increasingly deepen and strengthen their democracy,” Nuland said.

Putin has repeatedly accused Washington of bankrolling the mass street protests that first rose against his 12-year domination of Russia three months ago — a charge that US officials firmly deny.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday that Moscow has raised the issue “repeatedly” with US officials and had still not received a clear assurance about the funding’s ultimate aims.

“This activity is reaching a scale that is turning into a problem in our relations,” Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency.

The democracy fund needs approval from the US Congress. The money would come from the liquidated US-Russia Investment Fund, which was set up in 1995 to promote a free market economy in the former communist nation.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview Sunday with CNN, said that the Russian people were “incredibly talented” and that the United States wanted to give them “a real stake in the future there.”

“That has nothing to do with us. It has to do everything with the Russian people themselves,” she said of the proposed $50 million fund. “We in the United States believe that every country would be better off if there were greater freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly."
So we'll export of bunch of nosy-parker apparatchiks on expense accounts to tell the Russians how to do it. That'll turn out well.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lotsa Luck.
Long and winding road there.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/04/2012 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey State, how about starting at home? You know like prompting free and fair elections without corrupting the voting system.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/04/2012 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  They have the University of Wisconsin. We have our non-governmental groups.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 0:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Ehh? Russians know more about American civics than even the "constitution in chief".
Never joke about Vladimir, democrat "smart diplomacy" usually means fertile ground where there are no balls.

Moscow laughed at you years ago. Old Al in Deadwood scoffing at US? Really?

Expect no less.
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 2:19 Comments || Top||

#5  When Vlad was on the side - to some extent - there were advances towards a free press. Numerous versions of US magazines - including Playboy, Cosmopolitan, etc - are sold openly in Russia. Their internet is largely free. Vlad no longer has the public support to drop the heavy hand. He doesn't appear much in public since he was jeered at an MMA event. As for Syria, I don't give a damn about dead islamists. I don't want them to vote: I want them to die.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:40 Comments || Top||

#6  I they should send Hans Blix as he can not find anything and drag a search out a decade if necessary.

"Nope, no anti-democracy forces here. Couldn't find one."
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 04/04/2012 9:59 Comments || Top||

#7  I think Russia is having more success at strengthening communism in the US.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||

#8  United States wanted to give them “a real stake in the future there

The unmitigated arrogance of these people is breathtaking. I really cannot imagine a more insulting / patronising statement.

She's not talking to some 4th world tribe that just mastered fire and is starting on the wheel.

Disgusting.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/04/2012 15:08 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt Liberals Spurn Islamist Offer, Threaten Protest
Egyptian liberals have refused to sit on a body drafting a new constitution dominated by Islamists, despite an offer by the Moslem Brüderbund to give them more seats, in a sign of growing political polarization after the fall of Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
The new constitution is due to be written by a 100-member assembly of politicians and public figures over the next six month. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
the body is dominated by Islamists, reflecting their resounding victory in parliamentary elections, and dozens of non-Islamist representatives have already walked out complaining that their voices are being drowned out. That has put the assembly's legitimacy in doubt.

Around 30 members of the assembly have so far withdrawn including the state's top Islamic authority Al-Azhar, the Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical churches and a Constitutional Court representative.

Late on Monday, a group of liberal parties who hold around a dozen seats in the Constitutional Assembly refused an offer by the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) stay on the understanding they could take 10 seats vacated by FJP members. Instead they vowed to take their protest to the street.

"It isn't enough, there must be rules set for the selection criteria based on proficiency and the non-religious stream's representation should be higher," said Basel Adel, an MP from the Free Egyptians party - one of those to withdraw.

It is unclear whether the assembly will be able to operate with less than its full complement of members.

The Brotherhood has repeatedly been saying it does not want to monopolize political institutions in the new Egypt but earlier this week it reversed a pledge not to contest the presidential election in May and June. It is set to form a government after that vote.

It also disputes accusations that Islamists dominate the assembly, saying it contains only 48 Islamists, 36 from parliament and 12 from outside. Efforts by Brotherhood leaders to bring back those who have withdrawn have failed amid accusations from their opponents that many more members have Islamist leanings and that candidates' selection was based on loyalty, not expertise.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
ICC won't investigate Gaza war because Palestine is 'not a state'
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
will not investigate Israel's conduct during its December 2008 offensive on Gazoo because Paleostine is not a state, the world prosecutor said Tuesday.

In a statement, the ICC prosecutor acknowledged that over 130 countries and some UN bodies recognize Paleostine as a state.

But, Paleostine still holds observer status in the UN, and so the ICC cannot at this time investigate allegations of war crimes committed on Paleostinian territory, the prosecutor said.

President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
applied for full UN membership in September at the UN Security Council. The US vowed to use its veto to block the bid and the council has not yet made any recommendation to admit Paleostine.

The ICC said it could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Paleostine if the Security Council determines that Paleostine is a state.

Israel 'worked quietly' against bid

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that diplomats had worked against the Paleostinian request for an ICC investigation into Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 3-week offensive on the Gazoo Strip that left nearly 1,400 Paleostinians dead, including 300 children.

Commenting on the ICC's rejection of the bid for a tribunal, Lieberman said: "Not many understand how much work has been put into this issue," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

"We have kept it out of the media," Lieberman said. "The Foreign Minister worked very professionally, discreetly and quietly."

ICC 'open to accusations of political bias'

Amnesia Amnesty International said the ICC's decision meant victims of Israel's war on Gazoo were likely to be denied justice. The prosecutor's decision opened the ICC to accusations of political bias, it added.

The rights group said ICC judges should decide on the court's jurisdiction. It said the prosecutor had "dodged the question," after considering it for three years.

"For the past three years, the prosecutor has been considering the question of whether the Paleostinian Authority is a "state" that comes under the jurisdiction of the ICC and whether the ICC can investigate crimes committed during the 2008-9 conflict in Gazoo and southern Israel," said Marek Marczynski, head of Amnesia Amnesty International's International Justice campaign.

"Now, despite Amnesia Amnesty International's calls and a very clear requirement in the ICC's statute that the judges should decide on such matters, the Prosecutor has erroneously dodged the question, passing it to other political bodies," he added.

Most of the 1,400 Paleostinians killed in Operation Cast Lead were civilians.

According to UN figures, Israel's military destroyed over 3,500 residential homes and made 20,000 people homeless during the 22-day assault.

A UN fact-finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes found that Israel committed "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Greek refiner stops Iran oil purchases
Greece’s top refiner Hellenic Petroleum has suspended purchases of Iranian crude in April as approaching sanctions on Tehran have made banking payments virtually impossible, a senior source at the firm said.

Greece’s financial difficulties have made Athens reluctant to reduce its purchases of Iranian crude, which is cheap, ahead of a EU-wide embargo that is due to come into force on July 1. But the source at the refiner said no European Union banks were willing to handle the business any more, forcing it to suspend buying this month.

“We were using a Turkish bank all the time but we have to use an EU corresponding bank to make the payment from our Greek bank to the Turkish one and the EU banks are refusing that,” the source told Reuters.

“It is very unlikely we will lift (Iranian oil) in May. We can’t pay. If we can later, we will respect our contract but only lift the minimum,” he added.

Greece’s debt problems mean it has struggled to purchase oil from other suppliers as banks have pulled the plug on financing exports, although a second bailout deal between Greece and international lenders in March has helped improve the country’s debt profile. The United States has exempted Japan and 10 EU nations, including Greece, from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil.

The Hellenic source said the refiner had hoped the US decision would ease the situation.

“(But) in practice it is not applied. The banks are not clear on what they can do, so for them it is safer to do nothing,” the source said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As reported yesterday, No pay, No oil, you can't pay for it so you get none.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/04/2012 0:34 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Joe Biden blames Haliburton for earthquakes

Time for the Earthquake Division to go underground.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dammit,

I want a transfer to this division! It sounds like alot more fun than what I'm doing now. Besides, rumor mill states they get paid double day rate all the time!
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division || 04/04/2012 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Johnson, we've got Biden's address on file don't we?
I believe we do, sir...
Posted by: Halliburton:Earthquake/Tsunami Division || 04/04/2012 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  This really is a big fracking deal!
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 0:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Can we make it a law that anytime any politician says something this dumb they get wacked in the head with a lead pipe by a union thug?

Please?
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/04/2012 1:02 Comments || Top||

#5  At least he didn't blame it on Bush (yet).
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 1:11 Comments || Top||

#6  And he blames them for his hair loss.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I want a transfer too! They're way ahead of the weather machine and germ warfare divisions.
Posted by: gromky || 04/04/2012 10:25 Comments || Top||

#8  At least he didn't blame it on Bush (yet).

Chaney, Bush's VP, was once CEO of Haliburton. It's a cat fight between the VPs.
Posted by: Varmint Glavilet6964 || 04/04/2012 11:45 Comments || Top||

#9  As per FREEREPUBLIC, Perts are warning the world may face "Global Economic Collapse" come 2030 at current rates of consumption or utility.

Add to our future OWG-NWO outlawing "fracking" as a "Crime agz the Planet" [Humanity] at that time.

1960'S WORLD-THREATENING SIRIUS EVENT [Solar] = NOT-A-GUAM-TAOTAMONA-OR-USDOD-ACRONYM, WORLD-THREATENING SIRIUS STAR SYSTEM CIRCA ANOTHER 100 YEARS [Year 2110 +/-].

HMMMM, HMMM, SO IIUC, COMET APOPHIS + GUAM, EARTH-VISIBLE MOON EXPLOSIONS 2030 IS ACTUALLY THE "GOOD" NEWS???

D *** NG IT, IS LOURDES A BETTER SINGER ANDOR ACTRESS THAN MOM MADONNA!?

Well there ya go ....
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 20:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Clashes In West Libya Kill Four
Heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
between gunnies in western Libya yesterday killed four people and left several more maimed, a local official told AFP.

"At least four people were killed today but that number could rise," said Othman Ben Sassi, a member of the ruling National Transitional Council, and a native of Zwarah, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, near Tunisia.

He added that the exact number of casualties remained unknown.

"The situation is critical in Zwarah. It is being hit by rockets fired from the (nearby) towns of Regdalin and Jamil," he said.

Tensions have simmered in and around Zwarah since the collapse of slain leader Moamer Qadaffy's regime last October. Residents there were accused of supporting the dictator during the 2011 conflict.

Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali told journalists on Tuesday that efforts were underway to put an end to the fighting.

"The interior ministry has sent a force of 200 men towards the region," he said, urging both sides to act with restraint.

These festivities come soon after tribal fighting in the southern city of Sabha, which left more than 147 dead and 395 maimed in a week, before the government imposed a ceasefire.

The interim government has struggled to impose its authority on dozens of brigades comprising of former rebels who fought against Qadaffy's forces and who now have become a law unto themselves.

Tribesmen, militias and residents of several regions have shown little hesitation in using force to settle disputes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Six policemen among 8 killed in Afghan attacks
KABUL: Terrorists Insurgents killed six policemen and two civilians in southern Afghanistan in a pair of attacks, including an ambush on a checkpoint after terrorists allegedly poisoned the officers manning the outpost, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Helmand province governor’s office said in a statement that ‘terrorists insurgents poisoned’ the food at a checkpoint in the Nahri Sarraj district and then attacked the police there late on Monday. Four policemen were killed and two were wounded in the attack. The bodies of two civilians also were found at the checkpoint. The governor’s office did not say whether the dead were killed by poisoning or in the fighting.

Helmand police chief Ahmad Nabi Elham said, “Three police are missing, along with a vehicle and some weapons. We don’t know if the three missing are involved in the poisoning or if the militants have taken them away. The investigation is underway.”
Or they were the insiders in the job...
Police at the scene later clashed with terrorists insurgents, leaving two terrorists dead, he said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yausaf Ahmadi rejected the government’s account of the clashes, saying Taliban terrorists fighters attacked the checkpoint and seized weapons and a vehicle but didn’t poison the police. The Taliban terrorists said they had killed 10 police in an attack on a post in the district. “The way they were fighting, it looked like they might have been on drugs. That’s why the police are claiming that we terrorists poisoned them,” he said. “We didn’t.”

In neighbouring Kandahar province, two Afghan policemen were killed on Tuesday morning when their vehicle ran over a roadside bomb in Shah Wali Kot district, provincial police chief General Abdul Razaq said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea 'Has 10,000 Missile Experts'
There are about 10,000 people working on missiles in North Korea, three times more than in the South, a high-ranking South Korean military officer said Monday. He added they have "considerable research skills."
I'm betting they're among the few who get three meals a day...
North Korea started developing ballistic missiles in the mid-1970s. It produced Scud-Bs with a range of 300 km and Scud-Cs with a range of 500 km and deployed them along the frontline in the 1980s.

The South Korean military estimates that North Korea has spent US$3.1 billion on developing and testing long-range ballistic missiles so far. The rocket North Korea plans to launch this month is likely to cost $850 million which, according to a South Korean official, is equivalent to a year’s food supply for 19 million people in the impoverished country. The South Korean military believes that even more money was spent on training missile specialists.

In contrast, South Korea has about 2,000 rocket propulsion experts in the civilian and public sectors excluding the military, some 200 of them at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. A defense industry insider said, "Even counting the military workforce, the total capacity for missile research is far behind from North Korea's with a mere 3,000 experts."
All of whom are better fed, better paid, and have better lives. Perhaps we should be getting that message out to the Nork missile techs?
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "10,000 Missle Experts ... considerable resarch skills" > which, of course, explains the failures???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Ten K who THINK they're expert is nore like it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/04/2012 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Any country, even the US, has to make investment decisions since you cannot fund everything. So the Norks are investing in missiles. Conclusion: Someone is paying them to invest in missiles. So who is (are) the customers, besides Iran?

PS. I kinda liked the auto-generated name: Shirong Turkeyneck1340

:-)
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 04/04/2012 3:52 Comments || Top||

#4  When I visited Communist countries, I noted that when presented with a simple question, it took 5 sovietskis to talk about it, before one would answer it. A country with antique communication systems is an open book. A lot of SK talk is purely tactical.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 4:08 Comments || Top||

#5  I think they meant ex-spurts.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/04/2012 4:13 Comments || Top||

#6  An Army mortarman counts as a missile expert, doesn't he?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/04/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#7  The whole squad, Glenmore. They're surely cross trained, aren't they?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 04/04/2012 11:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Other countries call them "archers"...
Posted by: Thereque Ebbeper5747 || 04/04/2012 14:07 Comments || Top||

#9  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SOUTH KOREA THREATENS TO STRIKE JIM JEOUNG-UN 'S PALACE IFF SEOUL ATTACKED.

BLOGGER/POSTER = the ROK has changed its Policies toward one of Pro-Invasion, + Immediate or Unlimited Mil Retaliation, agz the North for any future North-led mil provocations, ala THE "Chonan" + "Yeongpyeong" Incidents.

IMO, the ROK "Offensive/Aggressive" retaliatory Policy Changes shows that Seoul does recognize, iff only quietly or covertly, the DPRK's increasing vulnerability to DE FACTO CHINESE TAKEOVER, BE IT UNILATERAL BEIJING-ORDERED "REGIME CHANGE" AGZ KIMS, OR FORMAL ANNEXATION AS A CHINESE STATE PROVINCE.

and

* SAME > MORE THAN 40 NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS DURING YEONGPYEONG BATTLE: YONHAP NEWS.

Looks like the NOKORS feared Artillery = Battery, Counter-Battery fire doesn't rule the DMZ roost after all???

* SAME > DEFECTORS: "SUNSHINE" POLICY PREVENTED NORTH KOREA COLLAPSE. The DPRK = NoKor was on the verge of complete State collapse until "the Policy" came along out from Hell.

versus

* SAME [old] > GOLDMAN-SACHS: UNIFIED KOREA COULD HAVE LARGER ECONOMY THAN FRANCE, GERMANY, + [possibly] JAPAN BY 2050.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 22:30 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian Olympic Team Goalie Arrested For Terror Attack
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The goalie of the Paleostinian Olympic soccer team and Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy employees were among 13 West Bank residents locked away for an attack on Israeli soldiers.

The arrests in the Jan. 20 shooting attack against Israeli troops were announced Monday by the Israel Defense Forces. No injuries were incurred during the attack but a vehicle was damaged, according to the IDF.

Omar Abu Rois, 23, the goalie, is affiliated with the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror organization and works for the Red Islamic Thingy, according to the IDF. He carried out the attack  with Red Islamic Thingy guard Salih Bar'al using AK-47 rifles procured by Munzar Abbas, 41,  an officer of the Paleostinian "General Intelligence" in Ramallah who is responsible for security at the Red Islamic Thingy.

The IDF said the group, who all live in the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, intended to carry out similar attacks in at least six other locations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What you expect from the "religion' of pieces
Posted by: ana || 04/04/2012 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  It could happen to anybody.
Posted by: gorb || 04/04/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia Says Kills Five Islamists In Caucasus
MOSCOW - Russian security forces killed five beturbanned fascisti suspected of plotting suicide kabooms in the capital of the republic of Ingushetia on Tuesday, Russia's anti-terrorism committee (NAK) said in a statement.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus and President Dmitry Medvedev has called the North Caucasus separatist movement Russia's top domestic security problem.

The NAK statement said the rebels opened fire on security forces after they attempted to stop their car. It said all five were killed in the shooting. It said two of the rebels had belts loaded with explosives, which are often used by jacket wallahs.

More than a decade after federal troops toppled an Islamist government in Chechnya, security forces are fighting hard boyz in a regionwide insurgency, fueled by anger at poverty, clan feuds and corruption.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought it was 8. Get it together TASS.
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 1:54 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli Court Convicts Nazareth Imam Of Incitement
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM -- An Israeli court on Sunday found the imam of a mosque in the northern city of Nazareth guilty of incitement and supporting "terrorism", the verdict read.

Nazem Abu Slim -- the outspoken imam of the Shihab Al Din Mosque -- was placed in long-term storage in October 2010 on suspicion of having ties with resistance groups.

He is known for preaching a radical version of Islam hostile to Israel's Jewish majority as well as to Christians and moderate Mohammedans.

"Nazem Abu Slim of Nazareth, born in 1965... was convicted of inciting to violence and terror, and supporting a terror group," a statement from the court spokesperson's office read.

"He did this by preaching in the mosque, distributing pamphlets... and spreading his messages via the Internet."

The court said that Abu Slim distributed booklets and brochures that support the global jihadist ideology and the ideology of Al Qaeda group, "which does not allow its followers to remain dormant".

Sentencing will begin on April 23.

In Sunday's ruling, the court said that Abu Slim's sentiment could have no other interpretation than being a call for violence and bloodshed, "whether against other Mohammedans or against the State of Israel and its residents".

The court also noted that "members of his congregation who were convicted of severe deeds testified they were directly influenced by Abu Slim's preachings and his inspiration on jihad, in their decision to commit their deeds."

In June 2010, police and the Shin Bet domestic security agency placed in long-term storage seven Israeli Arabs from the Nazareth area, who media said took part in prayers in the Shihab Al Din Mosque, on suspicion of planning to attack Jews and Christians.

Nazareth has the largest concentration of Christian Arabs in Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
S Arabia beheads Pakistani heroin smuggler
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani man on Tuesday after he was convicted of smuggling a 'large amount' of heroin into the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said. "Salim Shah Sayed Shah, a Pakistani, was accused of smuggling a large amount of the heroin drug into the kingdom," said an Interior Ministry statement carried by state news agency SPA, adding that he was executed in the holy city of Makkah.

Shah's execution brings the number of beheadings in the kingdom so far this year to 16, according to an AFP tally based on official reports. Human rights group Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia executed 79 people in 2011.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's a start.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/04/2012 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Sailing scimitars, think of the money WE could save.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3  But if he was only wasting kafir lives, that would please allah.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:49 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Cheney out of hospital after getting new heart
WASHINGTON: Former Vice President Dick Cheney was released from the hospital Tuesday, 10 days after getting a new heart, his office said. Cheney, 71, received the organ from an unknown donor on March 24 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.

“As he leaves the hospital, the former vice president and his family want to again express their deep gratitude to the donor and the donor’s family for this remarkable gift,” aide Kara Ahern said in a statement.

Cheney waited nearly two years for the transplant. His lifelong history of heart disease includes five heart attacks, with the first one striking him at age 37 and the most recent one in 2010. That year, Cheney also had surgery to implant a small pump to help keep his weakened and diseased heart beating. The “left ventricular assist device,” or LVAD, helps a person live a fairly normal life while awaiting a heart transplant, although some people receive it as permanent therapy. It was one the few steps left, short of a transplant, to keep Cheney alive in the face of what he had acknowledged was “increasing congestive heart failure.”

The odds of survival are good. More than 70 percent of heart transplant patients live at least five years, although survival is a bit lower for people over 65.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So skippy - the Texan whom should have been President out-lived his stints. Good on you man, and thank you for being so kind to US while being Dick to everyone else.

Here is to another 30 years at least :)
Thanks for your support man and by GOD shoot more lawyers!
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 2:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Last of the great cowboy sidekicks...
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 17:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Newc's comment didn't seem trap-worthy to me. Oh, well.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/04/2012 19:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Must have been the "shoot lawyers" thing. I took the rest as complimentary. And for the record, the 'shooting' was a minor dove hunting accident and the shootee was a friend, IIRC.

As for Darth Cheney himself, say what you will about the man, but you always knew whose side he was on - ours. I wish him well.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/04/2012 20:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Appeals court fires back at Obama's comments on health care case
In the escalating battle between the administration and the judiciary, a federal appeals court apparently is calling the president's bluff -- ordering the Justice Department to answer by Thursday whether the Obama Administration believes that the courts have the right to strike down a federal law, according to a lawyer who was in the courtroom.

The order, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, appears to be in direct response to the president's comments yesterday about the Supreme Court's review of the health care law. Mr. Obama all but threw down the gauntlet with the justices, saying he was "confident" the Court would not "take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."

Overturning a law of course would not be unprecedented -- since the Supreme Court since 1803 has asserted the power to strike down laws it interprets as unconstitutional. The three-judge appellate court appears to be asking the administration to admit that basic premise -- despite the president's remarks that implied the contrary. The panel ordered the Justice Department to submit a three-page, single-spaced letter by noon Thursday addressing whether the Executive Branch believes courts have such power, the lawyer said.
"The letter is to be printed in black ink in ten or twelve point Ariel font for ease of reading, with the title, date, and case number at the top right of each page. The pages are to be numbered at the bottom. One letter grade will be knocked off for each deviation, before addressing the content."
The panel is hearing a separate challenge to the health care law by physician-owned hospitals. The issue arose when a lawyer for the Justice Department began arguing before the judges. Appeals Court Judge Jerry Smith immediately interrupted, asking if DOJ agreed that the judiciary could strike down an unconstitutional law.

The DOJ lawyer, Dana Lydia Kaersvang, answered yes -- and mentioned Marbury v. Madison, the landmark case that firmly established the principle of judicial review more than 200 years ago, according to the lawyer in the courtroom.

Smith then became "very stern," the source said, telling the lawyers arguing the case it was not clear to "many of us" whether the president believes such a right exists. The other two judges on the panel, Emilio Garza and Leslie Southwick--both Republican appointees--remained silent, the source said.

Smith, a Reagan appointee, went on to say that comments from the president and others in the Executive Branch indicate they believe judges don't have the power to review laws and strike those that are unconstitutional, specifically referencing Mr. Obama's comments yesterday about judges being an "unelected group of people."

I've reached out to the White House for comment, and will update when we have more information.
Yeah, let's hear the former constitution law scholar debate the limits of Marbury v Madison. No teleprompter, either...
Posted by: Beavis || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, let's hear the former constitution law scholar debate the limits of Marbury v Madison. No teleprompter, either...

He would lose.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/04/2012 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Mr. Obama's comments yesterday about judges being an "unelected group of people."

Which is quite nearly as heinous as illegally elected!



Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:07 Comments || Top||

#3  more I read and think bout it, more I'm sure one of his stoolies whispered something to him. If,n I was one of the SCOTUS justices that was wavering, Bambi's challenge would easily tilt me over to the side of 'unconstitutional'.
What's he gonna do then??? stomp his tiny feet, blame 'da Man?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 1:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I agree USN, Ret. His timing gave him away.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:19 Comments || Top||

#5  It's funny how Obama is criticizing legislating from the bench, as it has been a favorite tactic of the Left for so many years.
Posted by: gromky || 04/04/2012 2:48 Comments || Top||

#6  A Kaiser Foundation report found that both Obamacare and draft GOP replacement plans, are unsustainable. Costs MUST be lowered. I had a Colonoscope process last Friday, and I can tell you this: these can be done by nurses, with an MD intervention only where specified issues - colon tear - arise. FYI: while I was under sedation, I watched the entire 25 minute scope on CCTV. The doctor operated the probe machine, while a nurse manipulated parallel spot cleaning. Two "polyps" (live, but largely bloodless growths) were removed in seconds by means of a lasso like device that burns off tissue. The nurse bags these for biopsy. Note - cancerous tissue will retain blood; benign polyps are white. Should a nurse detect Cancer, it would be up to an MD to determine "node" presence (say: 10 of the 22 nodes). Scope MDs earn up to $300,000 per year, with the hospitals billing $3-4000 for the 2 bowel process. And Specialists work only the early afternoon, because the last (4 hour) stage of the nasty "purgation" (bowel cleansing) process, is prescribed to commence from 6AM. If you are over 50, most providers will pay for a scope every 5 years. And one study found that 80% of the public learn they have Colon Cancer only after they are dropped at Emergency. Maintaining the status quo is dangerous to public health and is piecemeal of dysfunctional costing. The AMA loves to maintain easy to enter "Specialist" training. But how many hours does it take to learn operation (theory, prior to practical training) of Scope devices? Four. Detecting Crohn's Disease and other complications isn't rocket science. There are dozens of areas where healthcare can be improved while costs are slashed. There is no choice but to rationalize healthcare.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Marbury? For 20 years after 1776, 100% of SCOTUS appointees were non-lawyers. When bar associations took control of the process, they concocted "judicial review" powers in order to devise a means to confer private benefit on one of their own: Marbury was a judicial officer. The manipulation went like this: where a constitutional right was declared, remedy must follow in spite of a lack of either prescribed judicial power or enabling statute. Thus, lawyer-judges get tenure. Sounds good? Flash forward to 1857 when Dredd Scot pleaded a right to constitutional liberty. Remediable? SCOTUS preserved slavery by proclaiming that Scot, like other Negros, was an "inferior sort of being," and void of remedy for wrongs. About 800,000 bodies later, Congress undid that Seditious act of pseudo governance.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 3:24 Comments || Top||

#8  There was no SCOTUS till 1789, it did not render a decision till 1791 and John Jay was a member of the NY bar.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/04/2012 7:25 Comments || Top||

#9  while the Obama intimidation of the court was despicable, the 3 judge panel of the 5th circuit has acted inappropriately and stupidly.

Posted by: lord garth || 04/04/2012 7:41 Comments || Top||

#10  And don't forget to spell check it!
Posted by: Spot || 04/04/2012 8:03 Comments || Top||

#11  Not really garth. They're asking 'why the hell are we here' if the Executive has decreed that the Judiciary does not have the power of Constitutional review. It is an Appeals Court reviewing questions that are predicated upon points to be decided or have been decided upon fundamental Constitutional issues.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/04/2012 8:31 Comments || Top||

#12  Intimidating a Federal Judge while hearing a case is a felony.
Posted by: Ulerens Prince of the Hemps4603 || 04/04/2012 8:50 Comments || Top||

#13  There will be riots in the street if Obama is not elected, or the Obamacare law is unconstitutional.

Romny will spend his first year fighting domestic terrorism directed by community organizers.

It will be safe in the fly over zone.
Posted by: bman || 04/04/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||

#14  There will be riots in the streets if a team wins the NBA finals or Super Bowl. Yawn.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 04/04/2012 10:01 Comments || Top||

#15  Cost is actually a very good way to ration treatment. When new treatments become available they are very expensive. After a while the price comes way down and nearly everyone can afford it. Think Lasik.

When the government intervenes they just screw it all up. They either artificially lower the cost so that everyone can have the new and expensive treatment, or they prevent the new treatment from ever becoming available. The first scenario is our current situation. Obamacare is the second.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/04/2012 10:29 Comments || Top||

#16  After a while the price comes way down and nearly everyone can afford it. Think Lasik.


Iblis a great example mainly because those that have Lasik have 'skin in the game'. Mandating free bennies will not bend the cost curve down.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/04/2012 10:48 Comments || Top||

#17  Mandating free bennies..

The 'no one can be turned away from an emergency room' mandate basically shut all emergency rooms except those operated by the government directly or through their university/college systems on a loss with the deficit carried by the taxpayers anyway. Now we have private 'urgent care' clinics that provide similar services and screen to pass on more serious cases but are not subject to the mandate.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/04/2012 11:48 Comments || Top||

#18  Procopius,

The code of conduct for federal judges requires judges to distance themselves from political activity. Although the panel's action was not per se political, because of the political situation regarding obamacare, it comes too close for comfort.

If they had waited and made a presentation at a conference or something and simply used Obama's comment to give a lesson on constitutional law, it would be proper.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 04/04/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#19  Does his reasoning mean we don't have to obey his 38 unelected "czars"???
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 04/04/2012 12:13 Comments || Top||

#20  I disagree Lord Garth: the Checks and Balances built into the Constitution REQUIRE that EACH branch of the US Government actively fight for their powers. Problems occur when one branch cows the others into NOT fighting for their powers and not using their powers as a check.

It's this RINO "It's not tasteful" delicati attitude that lets the Left get away with far more than they would if a firm and vigorous ATTACK was mounted.

Obama's incompetence as a lawyer is showing: his complaint about Judicial review could have been spun into "If you're going to talk about Constitutionality, well there is nothing in the Constitution stating that the Supreme Court has the power of Judicial Review and the power to strike down unconstitutional laws!"
Posted by: Ptah || 04/04/2012 12:25 Comments || Top||

#21  the 5th circuit has acted inappropriately and stupidly

I believe what Garth was alluding to had something to do with how the 'Chosen®' described the police interaction with one Perfesser Gates.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/04/2012 12:27 Comments || Top||

#22  The case the 5th Circuit of Appeals is hearing is an Obama Care case. The (Executive Branch) President (the defendant) publicly declared Congress (Legislative Brancch) was superior to the Judicial branch hearing Obama Care Cases.

This can't be ignored.

Posted by: Waldemar Greresing3136 || 04/04/2012 12:53 Comments || Top||

#23  In other words, the President just declared that the Judicial Branch can not test the Constitutionality of laws passed by Congress.

He refuses to disclose the grades he made while studying constitutional law which are rumored to be not so good. Which of course makes him a perfect professor of constitutional law in the eyes of the liberal universities.
Posted by: Waldemar Greresing3136 || 04/04/2012 13:39 Comments || Top||

#24  #8: NS, that is some serious legal geek Kung-Fu. Nice.

There are many excellent arguments against the legitimacy of Marbury v. Madison, of which many points have been made here. But they are almost always made by Federalist Society types. So it's entertaining to see a rube like B.O. ham-fist it like the tin-pot pseudo-dictator he is, when he could have been paying attention in class, and actually learned how to be persuasive.

Con Law professor, my ass. Excuse me for stating it so indelicately, but a sub-par affirmative action hire was given a bullhorn so whitey wouldn't feel guilty anymore.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 14:56 Comments || Top||

#25  I read a comment somewhere last week that said that Obama will get a leak and if he attacks the Supreme Court we'll know things aren't going his way. Wish I knew where I read that because they appear to be spot on.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/04/2012 15:14 Comments || Top||

#26  Just read Taranto's WSJ op-ed. Wow. BHO goes full retard, yesterday:

"Well, first of all, let me be very specific. Um [pause], we have not seen a court overturn [pause] a [pause] law that was passed [pause] by Congress on [pause] a [pause] economic issue, like health care, that I think most people would clearly consider commerce. A law like that has not been overturned [pause] at least since Lochner, right? So we're going back to the '30s, pre-New Deal."

I am no constitutional lawyer or even much of a Court watcher - and even I can think of two landmark cases in which the Supreme Court rolled back Commerce Clause power grabs, post-New Deal.

(1) Truman's attempted nationalization of the steel industry during the Korean War (Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer, 1952).

(2) Reversal of the "gun-free school zones" law that prohibited possession of a gun within 1000 yards of a school, having no Constitutional basis except the Commerce clause (U.S. v. Lopez, 1995).

Let no one forget HOW the Supreme Court was convinced to uphold the New Deal: FDR's court-packing plan. "Do what I want, or I will appoint six more justices who will." I have been waiting for BHO to make the same threat, but by now I am confident he was asleep in class that day.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 15:38 Comments || Top||

#27  Finally (a bit off-topic): this putz has even managed to damage US relations with Canada. CANADA. I mean, just how much of an awful, miserable, bumbling cretin do you have to be, to piss off Canada?
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 15:47 Comments || Top||

#28  This seems to be as good a thread as any to point this out (can't let the best Snark O' The Month™ fade away unnoticed).

From James Taranto's WSJ column:

"It's not exactly that this is false; there are ways in which Obama's career reflects American exceptionalism. Perhaps one could even argue that his tendency toward self-aggrandizement reflects an extreme form of American individualism.

But really, doesn't he have an aide who can tell him that the symbol of America is not the bald ego?"

[my bold added :-D ]
Posted by: Barbara || 04/04/2012 16:11 Comments || Top||

#29  Background on Lockner v. New York.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/04/2012 16:29 Comments || Top||

#30  Even the MSM is getting in on the brawl. Just heard (16:35 4 April 2012) radio reporter Anne Compton say that courts striking down a federal law is "something the courts have been doing for 200 years".
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 16:35 Comments || Top||

#31  The'no one can be turned away from an emergency room' mandate basically shut all emergency rooms except those operated by the government
Before EMTALA was enacted in 1986, virtually all hospital were already dependent on Medicare funds to remain functioning. EMTALA just tightened the screws by forcing an unfunded mandate on these hospitals. Some children are even eligible for Medicare, so most if not all children's hospitals are obliged to follow EMTALA.
See this review article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305897/
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 16:54 Comments || Top||

#32  They either artificially lower the cost so that everyone can have the new and expensive treatment, or they prevent the new treatment from ever becoming available. The first scenario is our current situation. Obamacare is the second.
It's easy to make the case the federal intervention in health care costs has greatly increased the cost of US health care. The cost paid by some beneficiaries (out of their own pockets, that is) may have been decreased, but other malficiaries have to make up for it. A "malficiary" is someone who has to pay extra in one way or another for a benefit provided to a beneficiary who does not pay the actual cost. Malficiaries include those currently paying inflated commodity prices, and those who will suffer the inevitable long term consequences of public debts, among other victims. "Malficiary" does sound a bit better than "bag holder."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 17:01 Comments || Top||

#33  Sounds like Bama was an Affirmative Action Constitutional Scholar as well.

When I went to junior-high school it was taught in basic civics the role of the three branches of government.

The legislative write laws, the Executive executes them and the judicial reviews them.

Now it seems the legislative grandstands. The [Chief] executive writes (Czars), executes, and reviews them (by choosing not to obey them - immigration for exmaple).

While the Judicial should remain 'unpolitical' some things simply cannot be ignored.

You do not ignore the knife at your neck.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/04/2012 17:20 Comments || Top||

#34  All great comments here.

Pharaoh, His Czars and the "New Castrati" would not be amused.
Pharaoh he be sayin',
"So Let It be Written, So Let It be Done."

"Tough Toenails", Ace.
Posted by: canalzone || 04/04/2012 20:49 Comments || Top||

#35  Waiting for this scenario:

Since ( according to Bambi's internal logic) the confirmation of a SC Justice requires 2/3 of teh Senate, then he should be able to 'unconfirm' with that same 2/3 vote......

assuming the SC does toss the entire bill, will Bambi's next budget include $$ to keep the many ( now defunct) offices operating? i bet it does.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 23:49 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
NATO chief denies accelerating Afghan troop withdrawal
BRUSSELS: NATO’s chief denied on Monday that the alliance was speeding up the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan as he sought to clear up ‘confusion’ over the pullout planned for the end of 2014. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted that NATO was sticking to the timeline agreed at the Lisbon summit in November 2010 after recent comments from Western and Afghan officials indicated that 2013 was a new target.

“There is nothing new in all this but maybe it is necessary to clarify these timelines because sometimes they are mixed up in a way that creates some confusion,” Rasmussen told a news conference.

Rasmussen explained that control of the last provinces must be handed over in the middle or the second half of 2013.

“That’s why the year 2013 has suddenly been mentioned,” he said. “It’s not about accelerating the transition process, but it’s actually in order to stick to the Lisbon roadmap that we have to take 2013 into account."

It takes 12 to 18 months to complete the transition of provinces to Afghan forces, he noted. Afghan security forces are in the lead in provinces representing half the country’s population, including the capital Kabul.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Militia clash in west Libya kills 14 people
TRIPOLI: A flare-up of fighting between rival militias in the west of Libya has killed 14 people, the country’s interim leadership said on Tuesday, and officials announced the despatch of a force to restore order.

The clashes, between members of the Berber ethnic minority and their Arab neighbors around the town of Zuwara, are a fresh test for the government which has struggled to assert its authority since a revolt last year ended Muammar Qaddafi’s rule.

Militias from inside the predominantly Berber town, about 120 km (75 miles) west of the Libyan capital, were exchanging mortars and large-calibre fire with fighters from the nearby Arab settlements of Al-Jumail and Regdalin for a third day.

The fighting around Zuwara, on the Mediterranean coast, is typical of the kind of tribal and ethnic conflicts that have flared up since Qaddafi’s fall. In most cases the violence is the result of a toxic mix of vendettas that have been simmering for generations, the huge quantity of weapons in circulation since the revolt, and the lack of a strong central authority.
In other words, the usual since the end of the western Roman Empire...
“There are heavy clashes at the entrance to Regdalin, (and) heavy bombing from Al-Jumail on Zuwara,” Iyoub Sofian, from the Zuwara local council, told Reuters by telephone.

Mohammed Al-Harizy, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council (NTC), told a news conference that four people from Zuwara were killed and 10 from the opposing side. He also said 80 people had been injured on both sides and the fighting continued.

Fawzi Abdel A’al, the Interior Minister, earlier told reporters his men would intervene.

“We have prepared a force of 200 men from the Interior Ministry which has been directed to the region,” he said in Tripoli. A’al said he was also coordinating with the national army for a contingent of troops to be sent to the area.

“I am asking the two sides to restrain themselves ... because there will be no winner in this battle,” he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  mortars and large-calibre fire

Instruments of Islamic natural selection?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Instruments of Islamic natural selection

Probably right Besoeker. But, to me, the combination of "Islamic" and "natural" threatens cognitive dissonance.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/04/2012 2:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "there will be no winner in this battle”

I beg to differ.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/04/2012 14:08 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
10 N. Korean Defectors' Odyssey Ends
Ten North Korean defectors who had been hiding in South Korean diplomatic missions in China arrived discreetly in South Korea on Sunday. They consisted of five who had been hiding in the Consulate in Beijing for three years, three of them family members of a South Korean prisoner of war, as well as defectors who were living at the Consulate in Shenyang.

It was the first time in the five-year tenure of President Lee Myung-bak that the Chinese government has allowed North Korean defectors hiding in South Korean diplomatic missions to come to South Korea. Remarks by Chinese President Hu Jintao in a meeting with Lee on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul on March 26 appear to have played a role in their release.

Hu told Lee that China "is taking a lot of interest and giving consideration to the issue of North Korean defectors and respects [South Korea's] position. It will strive to ensure that the issue is resolved smoothly."

Some say China’s decision is a kind of warning to Pyongyang. China urged North Korea through diplomatic channels to halt the launch of what Pyongyang says is a space rocket but was rebuffed, and some experts believe that prompted Beijing to let the defectors go.

But China apparently stressed that their release was an exception. China's official stance regarding North Korean defectors remains the same, placing more importance on its pact with Pyongyang to repatriate them than the UN treaty on the treatment of refugees.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  CHINA WARNING ...

versus

* TOPIX > NORTH KOREA ON ITS "LAST LEGS", BUT COULD STILL THREATEN US, SAYS FORMER BUSH [POTUS Dubya] ADVISOR.

Victor Cha, now Senior Adviser for the CSIS.

Again, all things equal, IMO the DPRK's greatest single fear is not war wid the ROK = South Korea, BUT ITS TAKEOVER = ANNEXATION BY MAINLAND CHINA. Not even the ROK wants that to happen.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 0:33 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Linda Darnell aka Chihuahua in "My Darling Clementine (1946)" aka Lolita Quintero in "The Mark of Zorro (1940)" aka Lora Mae Hollingsway in "A Letter to Three Wives (1949)" aka Edie Johnson in "No Way Out (1950)" aka Amber St. Clair in "Forever Amber (1947)" aka Tuptim in "Anna and the King of Siam (1946)" (Died in 1965 at age 41)



Now that's a Gam
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/04/2012 4:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Violence grips Gilgit; army called in
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR/DIAMER: As many as 20 people lost their lives and another 55 were injured in a fresh wave of sectarian violence in Gilgit city on Tuesday. The district administration has imposed curfew in the city.

Police officer Basharat Ali told AP that the violence began when five people were killed in Gilgit city in clashes between police and protesting Sunnis.

The banned organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat had called for a strike in Gilgit to press the government to release its stalwarts. They were arrested for their alleged involvement in a firing incident on a Shia procession last month.

Reportedly, the extremist Sunni group made faces burnt tyres and rolled their eyes fiercely forced shopkeepers to close down their shops. Clashes erupted after unidentified people hurled a grenade at the protesting Sunnis.

Mosques in Kashroot, hub of extremist Sunnis, made announcements to retaliate against Shias in Diamer and Kohistan districts.

The incident has also triggered anger in Baltistan where hundreds of Baltis carrying sophisticated weapons took to the streets to protest against the Shia killings.

According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the city administration had called army to control the law and order situation. Nine people were killed when unidentified terrorists opened fire on a bus on Karakoram Highway (KKH) near Gonar Farm in Chilas.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Jamsheed Khan and two other police personnel were also injured and were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital. Police and rangers immediately reached the site to control the situation.

Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Mehdi Shah ordered law enforcement agencies to take strict action against the terrorists. He said, “No one will be allowed to derail the peaceful environment in Gilgit-Baltistan.”
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon Frees Ex-General Convicted Of Spying For Israel
Lebanese judicial officials say a former army general who was sentenced to two years in prison for giving information to Israel has been sprung.
 
Tuesday's release of former Brig. Gen. Fayez Karam came days after parliament reduced his sentence to nine months. He was sent to prison in mid-2010, said the officials on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Arrested French Islamists 'planned kidnappings'
Gay Paree - Some of the 16 suspected Islamic Islamic fascisti jugged in La Belle France allegedly planned to kidnap a Jewish magistrate and other people, a source close to the investigation said on Tuesday.

"It looks like some of them planned to carry out kidnappings including that of a magistrate who has a Jewish-sounding name," the source said.

Another source confirmed that a Jewish magistrate from Lyon in central La Belle France was to be targeted.

The head of La Belle France's Central Directorate for Domestic Intelligence (DCRI), Bernard Squarcini, said on Saturday that those placed in durance vile the previous day were Frenchies involved in "collective war-like training, linked to a violent, religious indoctrination".

Some of those placed in durance vile belonged to a suspected orc group called Forsane Alizza, he said, and had been involved in paintball gun games.

Forsane Alizza chief Mohamed Achamlane was on Monday transferred to Gay Paree where he was to appear before anti-terror magistrates who already extended the custody of 15 other suspected Islamists placed in durance vile on Friday.

French anti-terrorism legislation allows for suspects to be held for four days, or until Tuesday.

Three of the 19 people placed in durance vile on Friday have already been released, and those still in jug could be charged later on Tuesday. Gay Paree prosecutor Francois Molins was to hold a presser at about midday on Tuesday.

The alleged Islamic fascisti were netted in anti-terrorist swoops in different French cities a week after self-confessed al-Qaeda bad boy Mohamed Merah was rubbed out following his killing spree in which he killed seven people.

The French opposition has criticised the presence of television news cameras during the arrests as the images could be seen to bolster the chances of right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy's
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
re-election later this month.
Does anybody think the Socialist candidate would have done anything more than hold a beer summit, had he been in charge when the Toulouse jihadi ran amok?

This article starring:
Forsane Alizza
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "a...Jewish-sounding...name..."?

Like Abraham Lincoln?

Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 04/04/2012 20:06 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Report: Cabinet Hears 300 Would Die In Iran Strike
Security cabinet briefed on worst-case scenario in potential war with Iran, Channel 10 reports.
Ah, the Jerusalem Post, the Guardian of Israel...
In the event of an Iranian attack on Israel, less than 300 people would be killed during three weeks of non-stop fighting on multiple fronts, according to estimates delivered to the security cabinet in a briefing, Channel 10 reported on Monday.

According to the estimates, described as a worst-case scenario, thousands of missiles would be launched toward Israel from Leb, Syria and Gazoo as part of the Iranian attack. The scenario took into account Israel's defenses as of 2012, with the Iron Dome rocket-defense system not yet at its full deployment.

Missiles would also be launched at Israel from Iran, according to defense experts briefing the ministers, however, they added, Tehran's conventional missile capabilities are limited.

The estimates echoed comments Defense Minister Ehud Barak made last year about a potential war with Iran. Jerusalem does not want war, he said in an interview with Israel Radio in November, but even if it is drawn into a war against its will, fears of mass casualties are unfounded. "There's no chance in such a situation for 500,000 killed, not 5,000 or even 500 killed."

Despite Barak's assurances of relatively low casualties in a war with Iran, Kadima MK Ze'ev Bielski warned in February that Israel's civil defenses are not ready to protect the population in a missile war.

Almost one in four Israelis lack access to bomb shelters, whether communal or reinforced rooms in private homes, Bielski, chairman of a parliamentary panel on  home defense preparations stated.

"Are we prepared for a war? No," he said. "Things are moving too slowly and we are wasting very precious time."

Such shelters could be vital if Israel were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and Tehran struck back, either directly or through its allies on Israel's borders.

Israel says 100,000 rockets and missiles are pointed at it, many of these held by Syria, Leb's Hezbullies and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, although they may decide to sit out any war between Israel and Iran.

The Civil Defense Ministry, which was set up after Israel suffered thousands of rocket strikes in the 2006 Leb war, confirmed Bielski's data while seeking to play down his alarm.

"Our position remains that if everyone does what they are expected to do during an emergency, the situation will be tenable," one ministry official said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoa - THERMOPYLAE is in IRAN???

Who knew?

Actually, as per NOSTRADAMUS + GUAM TAOTAMONAS + TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROIDS, its indirectly quite appropriate.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  BS. The IDF lost 29 Mareva tanks to IEDs. After 2006, an infantry response is not in the plans. If an attack on Iran didn't lead to immediate regime change, "Hezblebanon" (the south) would be carpet bombed. Escalation to non-conventional means would be inevitable. Some of us would like islamist Iran and saudi arabia to be nothing but bad memories. Mecca, Medina, Qom? Yep.
Posted by: Black Charlie Mussolini6055 || 04/04/2012 4:03 Comments || Top||

#3  I'll give em a thermal pile.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/04/2012 16:40 Comments || Top||

#4   BS. The IDF lost 29 Mareva tanks to IEDs. After 2006, an infantry response is not in the plans

I think the discussion was around civilian deaths rather than military, Black Charlie Mussolini6055. Not being privy to the details, I have no idea how Iron Dome is going to handle the claimed 100,000 missiles and rockets currentky aimed at Israel from Iran,s dependents Syris, Hizb'allah-land/Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip....although I think it was last year when they showed the UN the satellite photo of Hiszb'allah territory with the launch sites marked,
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 19:18 Comments || Top||


Europe
Swedish Activists Plan New Gaza Convoy This Year
Looking toward Failure #3.
Swedish activists say they are planning another aid convoy to Gazoo before the end of this year to protest Israel's blockade of the Paleostinian territory.
 
The group Ship to Gazoo Sweden said Tuesday it has bought a sailboat that would leave from the Nordic region and that ships from other groups may join along the way.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lutefisk overdose, the downside.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/04/2012 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and that ships from other groups may join along the way.

We got ourselves a convoy!
Posted by: C.W. McCall || 04/04/2012 9:27 Comments || Top||

#4 

;-)
Posted by: lotp || 04/04/2012 10:00 Comments || Top||


French Court Charges 'Jihadist' Group
Members of Forsane Alizza, or Knights of Pride, are charged with "criminal association linked to terrorist network".

Preliminary charges have been filed against 13 suspects in La Belle France, a prosecutor has announced, saying some had been calling for Sharia law in the country, stashing weapons and hatching plots, one to kidnap a judge.

Prosecutor Francois Molins told a news conference on Tuesday that members of the Forsane Alizza, or Knights of Pride, received physical training in parks and forests around Gay Paree and religious indoctrination "in order to take part in a jihad", or holy war.

The group preached hate and violence on their internet site which "called for an Islamic caliphate in La Belle France, the
application of the Sharia and incited Moslems to unite to prepare for civil war", Molins said.

The site, which also showed clips of late al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now beyond all cares and woe...
was shut down after authorities banned Forsane Alizza in March.

The charges handed down against some members of Forsane Alizza come amid a crackdown on hard-liners following the March killing spree in southern La Belle France by a 23-year-old claiming links to al-Qaeda. The suspected gunman, Mohammed Merah, was killed after a 32-hour standoff with police.

President Nicolas Sarkozy
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
said Tuesday on Canal Plus TV that there is now "zero tolerance" for hate speech and ideologies which do not conform to the values of La Belle France.

"You will see that in the weeks to come we will continue this absolutely systematic work of assuring the protection of the French by not tolerating such activities," Sarkozy said of the Forsane Alizza group.

The 13, among 17 suspects jugged in police raids last week, faced preliminary charges of criminal association linked to a terrorist network, a sweeping charge with a maximum 10-year prison term that is used in La Belle France to ensure a full investigation of terror suspects.

Nine of the 13 are being tossed in the slammer, Molins said. The other four must report regularly to police. Charges of acquiring, transporting and detention of arms also were issued. The remaining four of the 17 who had been jugged were being released.

The prosecutor said several terror plans appeared to be in the works, including the kidnapping of a judge in Lyon, in southeast La Belle France. An official close to the investigation said the targeted judge is Jewish.

Molins said the investigation, which formally opened in late October, showed the network was organized around Forsane Alizza leader Mohammed Achamlane, who is from the Nantes region in western La Belle France.

"All the suspects confirmed Mohammed Achamlane's role of leader, coordinator and emir and his constant concern about acquiring weapons," Molins said.

Molins said the alleged plan to kidnap a magistrate who dealt with a child abuse case on a member of the Lyon cell was hatched at a September meeting.

The magistrate in question has been placed under police protection.

Other potential targets included people from groups that have spoken out against the Moslem community, the prosecutor said without elaboration.

It was not known whether this was a reference to groups actively seeking to protect French identity and decrying what they claim is the Islamicisation of La Belle France.

Such groups are gaining strength around La Belle France, and have been joined by far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Achamlane's lawyer later denied his client was involved in preparing terrorist acts, saying "there is no material act, no material incident constituting preparation of an act of terrorism, or even kidnapping".
 
Attorney Philippe Missamou claimed the reference to kidnapping of a judge was made at a public meeting of the group and others protesting an investigating magistrate's handling of the child abuse case, and blaming it on "injustice" because the group member was Moslem.

The prosecutor said police found stashes of weapons during their raids last Friday in the Gay Paree region and the cities of Nantes, Marseille, Nice, and Toulouse, as well as documents and computer equipment. The probe so far has shown that members had consulted internet sites showing how to make explosives, Molins said.

The prosecutor stressed the group had no link to the three attacks last month around Toulouse that left seven people dead, three paratroopers, a rabbi and three Jewish school children.
This article starring:
Mohammed Achamlane
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Bomb blast kills security official near Miranshah
MIRANSHAH: A roadside bomb killed a security official in North Waziristan on Tuesday, sources said.

The improvised explosive device (IED) exploded when a vehicle of the Frontier Corps (FC) was escorting a convoy of the security forces near Miranshah. Two security men were also injured in the attack. The security forces returned the fire in the nearby areas, but there was no report of any other casualty. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The main Taliban group in the region has struck a peace deal with the government and both sides do not attack each other. But officials say that splinter terrorist groups are operating in North Waziristan, who routinely launch attacks on convoys of the security forces.

The attack occurred when the authorities had imposed curfew in the area for the movement of army convoys. The authorities routinely clamped curfew in North Waziristan on Sundays but this week was imposed on Tuesday. Local tribesmen have appealed to the security forces to observe curfew on Sundays as the banks and government offices are closed for weekly off. “But curfew on other days badly affect their life and business activities,” tribesmen said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Un Peacekeeping Advance Team Due In Syria Within 2 Days
An advance team from the UN peacekeeping department is expected in Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
within 48 hours to discuss deployment of observers to monitor a ceasefire in Syria, the front man for international mediator Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
said on Tuesday.
 
"A DPKO (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) planning mission should be arriving in Damascus within 48 hours," Annan front man Ahmad Fawzi said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "A DPKO (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) planning mission should be arriving in Damascus within 48 hours"

Depends on #hookers in the airport loading zone and the line at the Starbux.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/04/2012 12:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
"Unlawful Presence Waivers"
In its quest to implement stealth amnesty, the Obama Administration is working behind the scenes to halt the deportation of certain illegal immigrants by granting them "unlawful presence waivers."

The new measure would apply to illegal aliens who are relatives of American citizens. Here is how it would work, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement posted in today's Federal Register, the daily journal of the U.S. government; the agency will grant "unlawful presence waivers" to illegal aliens who can prove they have a relative that's a U.S. citizen.

Currently such aliens must return to their native country and request a waiver of inadmissibility in an existing overseas immigrant visa process. In other words, they must enter the U.S. legally as thousands of foreigners do on a yearly basis. Besides the obvious security issues, changing this would be like rewarding bad behavior in a child. It doesn't make sense.

But the system often causes U.S. citizens to be separated for extended periods from their immediate relatives," according to the DHS. The proposed changes, first announced in January, will significantly reduce the length of time U.S. citizens are separated from their loved ones while required to remain outside the United States during the current visa processing system.

The administration also claims that relaxing the rule will also "create efficiencies for both the U.S. government and most applicants." How exactly is not listed in the Federal Register announcement, which gives the public 60 days to comment. That's only a formality since the DHS has indicated that the change is pretty much a done deal.

This appears to be part of the Obama Administration's bigger plan to blow off Congress by using its executive powers to grant illegal immigrants backdoor amnesty. The plan has been in the works for years and in 2010 Texas's largest newspaper published an exposé about a then-secret DHS initiative that systematically cancelled pending deportations. The remarkable program stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who said the government bounced their clients' deportation even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed.
Can you say Open Borders? I think you can. They can probably vote, too. There really is no limit to what this President to side-step Congress.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...or the Court, or the Constitution.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/04/2012 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "Unlawful Presence Waivers"

Oh, look! It's a euphemism!

But the system often causes U.S. citizens to be separated for extended periods from their immediate relatives," according to the DHS.

I suppose if that's such a big deal then they could just return to Ye Olde Sod with their beloved?
Nah.....
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/04/2012 0:56 Comments || Top||

#3  There really is no limit to what this President to side-step Congress. Posted by Deacon Blues

I've never owned a Bentley. Consequently, I'll probably never have an appreciation for what I've missed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 0:58 Comments || Top||

#4  The new measure would apply to illegal aliens who are relatives of American citizens.

Are we talking about B-HOs not-yet-deported relatives here?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/04/2012 1:42 Comments || Top||

#5  They will be the ones to help undermine the country from within and kill people on street corners.
Posted by: Zebulon Shinesing7359 || 04/04/2012 8:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Orwell sues for infringement.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/04/2012 10:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Is little Barry upset because they won't let him have his way?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Ooops. That comment was supposed to go below. Need coffee.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/04/2012 11:33 Comments || Top||

#9  So a nine-months pregant woman crosses the border and gives birth in the U.S.

The kid's a citizen, right. Them momma can get the waiver, so she doesn't have to be separated from the kid.

AND they get to vote!
Posted by: Bobby || 04/04/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#10  If Congress is just going to sit one their hands and let him do this kind of thing, why do we need them? They could be eleminated and save us a lot of money. Just let the dictator do it.
Posted by: OCCD || 04/04/2012 14:06 Comments || Top||

#11  But the system often causes U.S. citizens to be separated for extended periods from their immediate relatives," according to the DHS.

Between 1996-2010, I and/or my ex were AD Army (which is, in no small part, why he is my ex and not my current spouse.) So I'm sorry, but every time some whiny civvie trots out this bullshit, I want to scream and tell them to go piss up a rope.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 14:40 Comments || Top||

#12  I and/or my ex were AD Army - and that means?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/04/2012 17:08 Comments || Top||

#13  Active Duty.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 04/04/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||

#14  I was guessing it wasn't attention deficit. But as you got divorced, maybe it was!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/04/2012 18:34 Comments || Top||

#15  That's not funny, limey. As I am sure many here can attest, the last ten years have been very tough on the US military. My point was, aside from these waivers being stupid, and illegal (the role of the Executive Branch is to execute the laws), it is a damned insensitive argument for the US government to make - and only underscores how Democrats wrote off so many US citizens long ago. No, they can't count on the military vote anyway. But they could at least make an effort not to actively alienate us.
Posted by: RandomJD || 04/04/2012 19:29 Comments || Top||

#16  Hey BP ( is that 'Bright' a sarc nickname?) RandomJD says the last 10 years have been tough on the mil- let my see that 10 and raise about another 20; try going home to the Spousal Unit and tell her that you got your deployment date pulled left a bunch and now she gets to deal with the kids, the car, and oh yeah, a short paycheck about to get smaller cuz you need some living money ( ain't talking steak and limos, either).
unless you wore the uniform or lived w/ someone who did, i suggest you rethink that please. thank you.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/04/2012 22:10 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Huge Explosion Rocks Mezzeh Neighborhood In Damascus
A huge kaboom rocked the Sheikh Saad Al-Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
Tuesday evening, activists said according to Al Jizz.

There were no immediate reports on casualties.

Syria has agreed to UN-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy to Syria Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
's April 10 ceasefire agreement, which would see Syrian troops pull out of cities across the country after a year-long civil conflict which has killed more than 9,000, according to the UN.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is always funny watching Annan try to act like actor Morgan Freeman try to act like a UN guy. When a dog catches a car.....

Vortex and shit.
Posted by: newc || 04/04/2012 1:56 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Dupe URL: ICC won't investigate Gaza war because Palestine is 'not a state'
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Criminal Court will not investigate Israel's conduct during its December 2008 offensive on Gaza because Palestine is not a state, the world prosecutor said Tuesday.

In a statement, the ICC prosecutor acknowledged that over 130 countries and some UN bodies recognize Palestine as a state.

But, Palestine still holds observer status in the UN, and so the ICC cannot at this time investigate allegations of war crimes committed on Palestinian territory, the prosecutor said.

President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full UN membership in September at the UN Security Council. The US vowed to use its veto to block the bid and the council has not yet made any recommendation to admit Palestine.

The ICC said it could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Palestine if the Security Council determines that Palestine is a state.

Israel 'worked quietly' against bid

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that diplomats had worked against the Palestinian request for an ICC investigation into Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip that left nearly 1,400 Palestinians dead, including 300 children.

Commenting on the ICC's rejection of the bid for a tribunal, Lieberman said: "Not many understand how much work has been put into this issue," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

"We have kept it out of the media," Lieberman said. "The Foreign Minister worked very professionally, discreetly and quietly."

ICC 'open to accusations of political bias'

Amnesty International said the ICC's decision meant victims of Israel's war on Gaza were likely to be denied justice. The prosecutor's decision opened the ICC to accusations of political bias, it added.

The rights group said ICC judges should decide on the court's jurisdiction. It said the prosecutor had "dodged the question," after considering it for three years.

"For the past three years, the prosecutor has been considering the question of whether the Palestinian Authority is a "state" that comes under the jurisdiction of the ICC and whether the ICC can investigate crimes committed during the 2008-9 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel," said Marek Marczynski, head of Amnesty International’s International Justice campaign.

"Now, despite Amnesty International’s calls and a very clear requirement in the ICC’s statute that the judges should decide on such matters, the Prosecutor has erroneously dodged the question, passing it to other political bodies," he added.

Most of the 1,400 Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead were civilians.

According to UN figures, Israel's military destroyed over 3,500 residential homes and made 20,000 people homeless during the 22-day assault.

A UN fact-finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes found that Israel committed "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
ICRC chief asks for access to Syria prisons
DAMASCUS - International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger on Tuesday requested access to Syria’s prisons, in a meeting with Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, official media reported. The meeting focused on how the ministry can facilitate the ICRC’s work in Syria “regarding the inspection of penal facilities and meeting inmates in them,” particularly in Aleppo, Syria’s second city, the SANA news agency said.

Kellenberger said he hoped to visit prisons in Syria as he had done on a previous trip, “in coordination with the Syrian Red Moon Shaped Thingy Crescent, to guarantee the best possible conditions of detention” for inmates, the report said.

The Syrian authorities allowed the ICRC to visit the central prison in Damascus for the first time last year, which the organisation said at the time was an “important step” for its humanitarian activities in Syria.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told the visiting Red Thingy Cross chief that Syria would do its utmost to ensure the success of the ICRC mission to the strife-torn country. The ICRC has been pushing for a daily humanitarian truce in the year-long conflict in Syria.

“Mr Muallem... reiterated Syria’s willingness to provide the ICRC with all that is needed to ensure the success of its humanitarian mission,” his office said in a statement.

It added that the two sides had agreed on a “cooperation mechanism” between the ICRC, the Syrian Arab Red Moon Shaped Thingy Crescent and the foreign ministry to overcome any obstacles, without giving details.

“Kellenberger for his part expressed his appreciation to Syrian authorities for allowing the ICRC access to areas affected by the unrest in order to provide assistance to those in need,” said the statement.

Ahead of his third trip to Syria since 2011, Kellenberger said he was “determined to see the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Moon Shaped Thingy Crescent expand their presence, range and scope of activities to address the needs of vulnerable people.

“This will be a key element of my talks with the Syrian officials,” he said in a statement.

Beyond discussing aid issues, Kellenberger would also seek access to detention centres as well as examining “practical measures for implementing our initiative for a daily two-hour cessation of fighting,” the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
US offers $10 million for Hafiz Saeed
We could pass the plate. Hosting isn't costing the Burg that much...
ISLAMABAD: The United States has offered a $10 million bounty for a Pakistani militant leader who allegedly orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks and has been directing an anti-American political movement in recent months.
How much for just the severed head?
The reward is for “information leading to the arrest and conviction” of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who founded the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba with alleged Pakistani support in the 1980s to pressure archenemy India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The US also offered up to $2 million for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s deputy leader, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who is Saeed’s brother-in-law.

Pakistan banned the group in 2002 under US pressure, but it operates with relative freedom under the name of its social welfare wing Jamaat-ud-Dawwa — even doing charity work using government money.

The US has designated both groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Intelligence officials and terrorism experts say Lashkar-e-Taiba has expanded focus beyond India in recent years and has plotted attacks in Europe and Australia. Some have called it “the next Al-Qaeda” and fear it could set its sights on the US

Saeed operates openly in Pakistan from his base in the eastern city of Lahore and travels widely, giving public speeches and appearing on TV talk shows. He has been one of the leading figures of the Difa-e-Pakistan, or Defense of Pakistan Council, which has held a series of large demonstrations in recent months against the US and India. He has rallied against any moves by the Pakistani government to reopen NATO and US supply lines into Afghanistan that were cut to protest the deadly November airstrikes.

Pakistan placed Saeed under house arrest for several months after the November 2008 attacks in India’s financial capital but eventually released him after he challenged his detention in court. The government has resisted Indian demands to do more, saying it doesn’t have the necessary evidence. Saeed denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks in an interview with Al Jazeera television and said the US was just angry about his anti-American demonstrations.

“We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us,” said Saeed. “I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes.”

The reward for Saeed is one of the highest offered by the US and is equal to the amount for Taleban chief Mullah Omar. Only Ayman Al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama Bin Laden as Al-Qaeda chief, fetches a higher bounty at $25 million.

Pakistani defense analyst Hasan Askari-Rizvi said the move against Saeed could be payback for his recent demonstrations against US drone strikes and allowing NATO supplies meant for troops in Afghanistan to travel through Pakistan. Rizvi said it would likely have little impact on Pakistan’s stance toward Saeed, both because of his historical links to the government and the political danger of being seen as doing Washington’s bidding in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant.

“The government is in a difficult position,” said Rizvi. “On the one hand, they will be pressured by the US, but they are not really in a position to arrest him.”

The US State Department describes Saeed as a former professor of Arabic and engineering who heads an organization “dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan.” It also noted that six of the 166 people killed in the 2008 attacks in the Indian city were American citizens.

A Pakistani-American, David Coleman Headley, pleaded guilty in a US court to helping Lashkar-e-Taiba plan the Mumbai rampage targeting a hotel and other sites.

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna welcomed the US announcement, saying it would signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba and its patrons that the international community remains united in fighting terrorism.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, which means Army of the Pure, belongs to the Salafi movement, an ultraconservative branch of Islam similar to the Wahabi sect — the main Islamic branch in Saudi Arabia from which Al-Qaeda partly emerged. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda operate separately but have been known to help each other when their paths intersect.

Analysts and terrorism experts agree that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, known as the ISI, is still able to control Lashkar-e-Taiba, though the ISI denies it.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  **** cough *** cough *** NOT JUST MUMBAI *** cough *** ...

D *** NGED TASTY DONUTS.

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [LeT]LASHKAR CHIEF HAFIZ SAEED DARES US, SAYS HE IS NOT HIDING IN CAVES.

Pak Bloggers = argue that US bounty agz Hafiz proves US criminal conduct because Hafiz was found not guilty by Pak Court as per any links to the Mumbai terror plot. THE ONLY REASON FOR ISLMABAD TO KILL OR TURN HIM OVER TO THE US IS ITS PRO-US INTERNAL CORRUPTION???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Butt they are our friends in the war on terrorism just ask the smart people in Washington.
Posted by: Woodrow Glusoter2123 || 04/04/2012 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Isnt he and Hamid Gul seen as patriotic heroes in Pakistan?
Posted by: Gruth McGurque5303 || 04/04/2012 9:17 Comments || Top||

#4  How much for just the severed head?

$11 million. Make up the difference in Gitmo savings.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/04/2012 11:10 Comments || Top||

#5  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Telegraph.UK] MUMBAI ATTACK "MASTERMIND" HAFIZ SAEED LINKED TO OSAMA BIN LADEN.

ARTIC > US CIA INTEL = indics that OBL had links to LeT since the 1980's, + role in original dev + planning for Mumbai terror strike, espec vee "starter money".

* SAME > US WANTS HAFIZ SAEED "BEHIND BARS".

* SAME > US BOUNTY ON HAFIZ SAEED: PAKISTAN DEMANDS PROOF SUPPORTING ALLEGATIONS.

* SAME > HAFIZ SAEED TO US: I'M IN LAHORE TOMORROW, [US = Obama, etal.] CONTACT ME ANYTIME.

* SAME > HAFIZ SAEED BROTHER-IN-LAW ADUL REHMAN MAKKI IS CONDUIT BETWEEN LeT + TALIBAN.

* SAME > HAFIZ SAEED: I WILL USE US$10.0MILYUHN BOUNTY TO DEVELOP BALUCHISTAN, iff + when the US decides to give him the $$$ instead of hunting him.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 21:16 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Leading Afghans cast doubt on election schedule
Influential Afghans have questioned whether the country's next presidential election can go ahead on schedule in 2014, raising doubts about a vote the west is counting on to lay the foundations of a stable government after foreign combat troops leave.

There has been talk in Kabul of either delaying the vote or bringing it forward by a year, even though both options would strain or break conditions laid out in the constitution. The independent election commission has said it will not move the date, and no one else has the authority to do so. The last presidential election was delayed for several months in 2009 due to issues with the weather, logistics and security.

The questioning of a schedule fixed by the constitution is a reminder of how vulnerable the framework of Afghanistan's fledgling democracy remains, despite a decade of western military and political support and millions of dollars of aid.
$52 billion you mean, most of it now in western banks...
There is growing anxiety among many Afghans about the changes 2014 will bring, even as powerbrokers start manoeuvring to take advantage. The last foreign combat troops are due to return home that year, leaving Afghan police and soldiers to fight the Taliban, and there will be huge pressure for a smooth transition.

But violence is spreading in much of the country. Omar Daudzai, a former presidential chief of staff and one of Hamid Karzai's confidants, said security problems could render a poll impossible unless efforts to bring the Taliban into peace talks bear fruit soon.

"We have no choice but to make progress on the peace effort," said Daudzai, now ambassador to Islamabad and a key player in the Afghan government's efforts to pursue negotiations. "Under the current circumstances, or even under a worse situation if the Taliban's presence becomes more dominant, they will intimidate people from coming out to vote. If a significant proportion of the population can't come out to vote, you can't have an election. No election commission will take the risk."

Daudzai said it was possible some Taliban fighters might participate in the elections as candidates for the presidency or for provincial councils. "If we make progress on the peace front quite a sizeable number of them will stand for election," he said. "If we manage to bring some Taliban leaders into electioneering, that will mean that instead of preventing people to vote they will actually encourage them."

Some Afghan politicians have proposed bringing the vote forward, arguing that an election in 2014 could bring too much turmoil in an already turbulent year. An earlier date could mean more western security support.

William Patey, the outgoing British ambassador to Kabul, said: "I've heard people talk about that, we wouldn't have any objections to it ... all we want is a free and fair election."

He said an election in 2013 was "doable" but had not been formally discussed by western diplomats. "There are perfectly good arguments why 2013 would be a good time ... [but] by holding it in 2013 you risk an argument that foreigners brought it forward so they can control it," he said.

It is hard to see what Karzai would gain from cutting short his mandate, when the constitution forbids him from running again. He has repeatedly said he will not seek another term in office, but both Afghan rivals and western diplomats in Kabul are concerned he may use worries about security and stability to extend his rule. According to an influential member of the Kabul establishment, Karzai believes that if elections cannot take place in 2014, "he will hang in there for a couple more years".

A failure to hold elections could create a constitutional crisis and perhaps spur unrest among powerful leaders who for much of the last decade have respected at least the broad outlines of Afghanistan's post-Taliban democracy.

Karzai's spokesman said suggestions he wanted to stay in power after 2014 were baseless. "We strongly reject allegations that the president wants to delay the elections. The Afghan government will try its best to make sure the elections happen on time according to the constitution," the spokesman said.

Even if the poll is held on time, the government will struggle with concerns about its legitimacy, after accusations of widespread fraud marred the 2009 presidential poll and the 2010 parliamentary elections.

The election commission is drafting a list of changes to the polling system, including a more transparent arbitration system and improvements to voter registration, which will eventually be presented to parliament as the basis of a new electoral law. There are concerns it is already too late to sort voter lists in time for the presidential election, given the challenges of widespread illiteracy, a huge population without formal identity documents, and worsening security problems.

Civil society activists warn that the election commission itself needs reforms to the systems for appointing its members, if the credibility of polls is to improve. Currently Karzai appoints its members directly. Members of parliament are discussing a draft law governing the duties and structure of the commission that would give other groups a say in its makeup.

The presidential poll is just one part of Afghanistan's election headaches. A system of staggered elections should see the country hold polls for provincial councils in 2013, the presidency in 2014 and parliament in 2015.

In a country where votes are expensive and hugely disruptive, there will be a temptation to defy the constitution and reschedule at least one of those. If the provincial council elections are held on schedule, it could add weight to any attempt to delay the presidential election to 2015 to coincide with the parliamentary vote.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey Generals Go On Trial, 32 Years After Coup
[AFP] Turkey's 94-year-old former president Kenan Evren is due to go on trial on Wednesday to answer for his leading role in the country's last coup, more than three decades after he seized power.

Evren and his co-conspirator Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, will try to justify their decision to oust the civilian government on September 12, 1980, and establish a brutal military regime which was accused of widespread human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
abuses.

The pair are in poor health and they could end up being cross-examined in their hospital beds rather than appearing in the dock at an Ankara high court.

The military, which has long seen itself as the guarantor of secularism in Turkey, has staged three coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980 -- as well pressuring an Islamist-rooted government to relinquish power in 1997.

But the 1980 coup was the bloodiest of them all. Hundreds of thousands of people were tossed in the calaboose, about 250,000 were charged, 50 were executed, dozens more died of torture and tens of thousands were exiled.

Evren and Sahinkaya are the only members of the military junta that seized power in 1980 who are still alive and their trial is seen as another episode in the current government's campaign against the once untouchable top brass
.Evren and Sahinkaya are the only members of the military junta that seized power in 1980 who are still alive and their trial is seen as another episode in the current government's campaign against the once untouchable top brass.

The Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is a party to the prosecution as one of the alleged victims of the 1980 coup, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament Tuesday.

The pair face life imprisonment if they are convicted of committing crimes against the state -- the heaviest punishment available since Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002.

Evren, who served as Turkey's seventh president from 1982 to 1989, is currently in hospital and both defendants have told the court through their lawyers that they will probably be unable to physically stand trial.

Plans are being made to enable the two defendants to join the trial through a video-conference from their hospital beds.

"He will appear before the court if he is able to do so but his health is not good," a member of Evren's family told AFP.

Dozens of victims of the military junta are set to stage a demonstration outside the courthouse while the generals put their case.

The constitution had exempted the generals from any trial but that prevision was removed as part of a package of amendments adopted in a referendum exactly 30 years after the coup.
The junta has always justified its intervention with the argument that daily festivities between jihad boy right and left-wing groups were bringing Turkey to the edge of a civil war.

After two years of military rule, the junta brought in a new constitution in 1982 which formalised Evren's position as president.

The charter has been heavily amended since Evren retired in 1989 and the military's political influence has declined sharply since the AKP came to power in 2002.

The constitution had exempted the generals from any trial but that prevision was removed as part of a package of amendments adopted in a referendum exactly 30 years after the coup.

The decision to put Evren and Sahinkaya on trial was announced in January. Evren had opted out of public life since his retirement, spending much of his time painting by the sea.

Tensions between the fiercely secularist military and Erdogan's AKP have been building for years with dozens of army officers, including a number of other retired generals, landing up in court over alleged coup plots.

Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug went on trial this month for an alleged bid to topple the government.

Basbug, who headed the armed forces from 2008 to 2010, is the most senior officer to be implicated in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, a hardline nationalist group accused of overthrowing the government.

Critics accuse Erdogan's government of launching Ergenekon probes as a tool to silence its opponents and impose authoritarianism --charges it denies.
Al Jazeera adds historical perspective:
Evren's trial, unimaginable only a few years ago, will be watched closely by hundreds of military, including top serving and retired commanders, as well as by civilians being tried now as members of the alleged "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer" coup conspiracies against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

It was a recent constitutional amendment that ended Evren's immunity from prosecution over the coup.

'Coup house cleaning'

On Tuesday, Erdogan's government, the opposition and parliament joined at least 350 individuals and groups applying to be co-plaintiffs in the trial as aggrieved parties, meaning their grievances will be taken into account during the prosecution and possible sentencing phase.

Erdogan said the government had decided it should join the long list of those wronged.

"We need to erase the names of coup plotters from public institutions and from the names of places," Celik said. "They've already been struck from people's hearts."
"The first and most important injured party of the coups in Turkey have been the government legitimately representing the nation," Erdogan said in his weekly speech to his parliamentary party on Tuesday. "We will follow the case closely."

The 1980 coup leaders argue they were forced to intervene to restore order after years of chaos.

The generals, known widely by their Ottoman title of "Pasha", traditionally saw themselves as the guardians of a secular order set up by soldier-statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

They mounted a coup in 1960, which saw the hanging of the prime minister and two other senior ministers, and then again in 1971 and 1980 to oust governments they saw as a threat to that order.

Each time the coups restored a revised form of democracy, and as recently as 1997 the army forced Turkey's first Islamist-led government to resign.

The country remains haunted by those traumatic times, when virtually the entire political class was rounded up and interned.

Citing the ruling AK Party's spokesman Huseyin Celik, Turkish newspaper Radikal said the authorities were removing the names of key figures in the 1980 and previous military coups from schools, streets, stadiums and military barracks "in a coup house cleaning".

"We need to erase the names of coup plotters from public institutions and from the names of places," Celik said. "They've already been struck from people's hearts."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well thats a quickie invesigation iff there ever was one.

FYI in past World Histoire', it has occurred where the skeletons of dead Leaders have been dis-interred + put on official State/Public Trial, replete wid formal "punishment" afterward, for alleged high crimes.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/04/2012 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Bush blame on steroids.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/04/2012 1:24 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Hafiz Saeed Rejects Us Terror Accusations, $10mil Bounty
Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
chief blamed for Mumbai attacks tells Al Jizz his opposition to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
supply lines led to $10m bounty.


Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
, the leader of a Pakistain-based group blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, has demanded proof after the US announced a $10m bounty on his head.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jizz, Saeed said the US move was prompted by the fact that he had been organising rallies against the re-opening of supply lines through Pakistain to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us," Saeed said. "I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes. 

"I believe either the US has very little knowledge and is basing its decisions on wrong information being provided by India, or they are just frustrated".

US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on a visit to India, said a $2m bounty had also been announced for Abdul Rahman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and the group's second-in-command.

Rewards for Justice, a programme sponsored by the US State Department, announced the cash reward for the 62-year-old Saeed on its website.

"Saeed is suspected of criminal masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six American citizens," the page said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT), designated as a terrorist organization by the US in December 2001, is accused by India of carrying out several attacks besides the one on Mumbai.

LeT is the military wing of Saeed's larger organization, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is also blacklisted by the US.

Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman involved in the three-day rampage in November 2008, has been sentenced to death by an Indian court.

Kasab accused Saeed of organising the attack, which involved 10 gunnies, nine of whom were killed during the shootout.

'Popular man'

India welcomed the move as a reflection of the commitment by India and the US "to bring perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks" to justice.

"[The bounty] sends a strong signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba as also its members and patrons that the international community remains united in combating terrorism," Syed Akbaruddin, front man for India's ministry of external affairs said on Twitter.

Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, where Saeed is believed to be based, said Pakistain was pressured to ban Saeed's organizations after the US invasion of Afghanistan. .

"He started a foundation, and his men played a key role in aid efforts after earthquake in Kashmire, and the floods in Pakistain. They still are the main frontline in any calamity. He has denied that he has any links to militancy," our correspondent said.

"A man who is popular across the country - it's not going to go down very well. It is also symbolic that the annoucment came in India, by a high-ranking US diplomat. That will be an irritant."

Sreeram Chaulia, a professor at India's Jindal School of International Affairs, said Saeed was "intrinsically linked" to Pakistain's spy agency.

"The Pakistain establishment will not hand him over for the bounty, and any private citizen who tries to make cash through tipping off the Americans will be targeted," Chaulia told the AFP news agency.

"I don't think extradition is any possibility," Ayesha Siddiqa, an Islamabad-based defence analyst, told Al Jizz. "Basically, the watch list doesn't mean anything. [Saeed] is just one of many people being watched."

The announcement comes as Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
, Pakistain's president, is due to visit India for the first time since the attacks in Mumbai.

The bounty on Saeed, equivalent to that on Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
, is second only to the $25m bounty on Ayman al Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
, who succeeded the late Osama bin Laden
... who was laid out deader than a mackerel...
as the al-Qaeda chief.

Saeed is the fifth Pak national on the list.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/04/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba



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Wed 2012-04-04
  Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 al-Qaida militants
Tue 2012-04-03
  Oil Pipeline Blown Up In Southeast Yemen, Flows Halted
Mon 2012-04-02
  Twin explosions rocked Mombasa Saturday
Sun 2012-04-01
  Paris: Scientist accused of plotting to blow up 'city size of London'
Sat 2012-03-31
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Fri 2012-03-30
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Thu 2012-03-29
  Gunmen kidnap Saudi diplomat in Yemen
Wed 2012-03-28
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Tue 2012-03-27
  Terror plot uncovered when 11 suicide vests found at Afghan military HQ
Mon 2012-03-26
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Sun 2012-03-25
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Sat 2012-03-24
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Fri 2012-03-23
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Thu 2012-03-22
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