ISLAMABAD: In the past, jubilant Pakistani authorities have announced that foreign (read Indian) agents were involved in explosions and attacks in the restive Swat region based on examination of the corpses of the killed attackers.
But the acid test cops and officials used to determine whether any of the dead ones was Indian was to check whether the man had been circumcised. If not, they would summarily dub him Hindu and therefore an Indian agent.
But as more such cases showed up, in places where there was not a ghost of a chance of any Indian involvement, doctors and officials began to worry about the methodology. Its then that they stumbled on a little-known anthropological fact about Pashtun tribes in Waziristan, from where many of the Tehreek-e-Taliban or Pakistani Taliban come.
It appears that many in the backward tribal areas of the country like Waziristan dont undergo the mandatory circumcision that all Muslim males should undergo. The story took a rather comic turn when some of governments own injured paramilitary soldiers, when examined, were found to be uncircumcised. This was especially true of wounded soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary from Waziristan, engaged in fighting Taliban militants.
Kamran Khan, a legislator from Waziristan in Pakistans lower house of parliament, told the Times of India that many in the poor tribal areas fail to undergo circumcision because it is either not mandated in their tribal codes or because in many villages there are neither hospitals or even barbers, who perform most circumcisions in rural areas.
People are either circumcised in hospitals or barbers do the job. Neither we have hospitals in Waziristan nor institution of barbers, Khan said, adding that poor people of Waziristan cant afford to take their male children to other areas for circumcision.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
17:55 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Neither we have hospitals in Waziristan nor institution of barbers
You don't need that - just a knife. Lorena Bobbit can give you lessons.
Scrappleface, folks. Believe it or not...
Vice President Joe Biden, under fire from Karl Rove and other former Bush administration officials for bragging that he ridiculed George W. Bush face to face in the White House, today claimed he had also once defeated President Bush in arm wrestling.
"We were all alone in the Oval Office, as we often were," said Mr. Biden, then a U.S. Senator. "I had just dissed old Georgie with another of my famous presidential put-downs, when he challenged me to arm wrestle...the truth from my lips to Gods ears, I swear. So we get down on our knees next to that little coffee table between the sofas. And I get the grip on him, you know, the old Biden clutch grip. It was over in seconds."
The vice president said he had promised that he would never publicize the humiliating incident, "but now that Bush says he owes the Obama administration his silence, I feel at liberty to tell the story...you know, since hes not going comment on it, and no one believes Karl Rove or Dick Cheney anyway."
Mr. Biden added that President Bush had reacted angrily to his loss, and pushed the table over to clear the rug for a "winner-take-all Indian leg-wrestling bout," but Sen. Biden politely declined.
"You gotta respect the office," said Mr. Biden, "even if the man is a failed leader with absolutely no followers, and has a bicep like Ann Coulters wrist. It was pathetic."
Republican strategist Karl Rove called Vice President Biden a "liar" on Thursday, dramatically escalating a feud between Biden and aides to former President George W. Bush over Biden's claims to have rebuked Bush in private meetings. "I hate to say this, but he's a serial exaggerator," Rove told FOX News. "If I was being unkind I would say liar. But it is a habit he ought to drop." Rove added: "You should not exaggerate and lie like this when you are the Vice President of the United States."
Biden's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although Biden spokesman Jay Carney told Fox on Wednesday: "The vice president stands by his remarks."
Carney was referring to two controversial assertions by Biden, the latest coming Tuesday during an interview on CNN. "I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office," Biden began, "'Well, Joe,' he said, 'I'm a leader.' And I said: 'Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.'"
Continued on Page 49
Foiling an infiltration bid, BSF troops on Friday gunned down a Pakistani intruder along the international border in Samba sector of Jammu region.
"BSF troops deployed observed suspicious movement of a Pakistani around 3.15 am," a BSF spokesman said here, adding the ambush party asked the intruder to stop but he started running towards the border fence.
The troops opened fire and the intruder died on the spot about 150 meters inside Indian territory, he said adding an FIR has been lodged and dead body handed over to the police.
The body of intruder could not be identified and efforts shall be made to hand over his body to Pakistani rangers after post mortem, the spokesman said.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
16:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
should leave the dead bodies where they fall for the birds and animals to feed on, and make it well known among the ISI/Jihadi tools
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2009 18:34
Comments ||
Top||
#2
There are a lot of implied falsehoods here. The government has never denied the existence of a facility there. How could they restrict it without admitting that it exists? They have denied that it is called Area 51, which is the truth, it isn't.
"Project Oxcart" is not some new revelation, it was the original codename for the project that led to the SR-71 via the single-seat A12. Collins's crash in a prototype A-12 has been publicly documented for many years.
The mysterious ultra-wide truck load in the picture is the mirror for the 200 inch Hale telescope, shown being moved to Mount Palomar in 1947. The same photo appears in the Glass Giant of Palomar by David Oakes Woodbury and (of course) it has nothing to do with the Groom Lake test site, aka Area 51.
#5
The best UFO Story has nothing to do with Area 51.
That there are Alien Bodies in cold storage in Florida.
Then President Richard Nixon supposedly showed them to golfing buddy, TV personality and movie actor Jackie Gleason (Sheriff Buford Justice - Smokey & The Bandit) in 1971...
Former aides to President Bush and Vice President Cheney are warning their successors in the Obama administration to be wary of Russian pledges of cooperation in the multilateral campaign to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
The warnings came after FOX News reported on Thursday that top Obama aides believe Russia will be willing to sign on to "much more severe" sanctions against Iran if the Islamic republic refuses to halt its uranium enrichment activity by 2010.
A senior U.S. official serving under Obama told FOX News Moscow's new openness to tough sanctions stems from an admission by the Kremlin that American intelligence estimates on the pace of the Iranian nuclear program have been more accurate than Russia's own.
During their G-20 summit meeting in London earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Obama, according to the U.S. official, that "your assessments have been more right than ours."
But former Bush administration aides said Russia is playing a familiar tune.
"We have been there before," said David Wurmser, a former Middle East adviser to Cheney and founder of the Delphi Global Analysis Group, a private consulting firm in Washington.
"At several key moments from 2003 until 2006, Russia displayed irritation at Iran and evinced to us such exasperation at Tehran's behavior that they not only threatened tough action, but even somewhat delivered," he said. "The problem was, however, that it was never truly decisive, nor genuinely biting against Tehran."
Wurmser said Russia and China -- two countries that wield veto power at the United Nations Security Council, which has imposed relatively mild economic sanctions against Iran three times since 2006 -- knew the evidence of Iranian nuclear progress was compelling. But the American-led invasion of Iraq complicated the Bush administration's efforts to persuade other countries to take aggressive action to contain Iran's nuclear threat.
The Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the European Union all operated from "roughly the same set of facts, with only some differences in the granularity of the information" about Iran, Wurmser said in an e-mail to FOX News.
"The differences in policy emerged in the different political calculations we all had," Wurmser added. "[H]ard information we were getting [showed American officials that] the primary aim for the E.U. and Russia in 2003 to 2006 was to avoid giving the U.S. a pretext to attack Iran. No matter what information ever came to light, they were terrified we would use it to justify a strike on Tehran.
"Every time in this period I landed in a European capital at [U.N. Ambassador] John Bolton's request to discuss Iran, the first thing I got was: 'What is your end game here; are you going to use the information to pull another Iraq? Tell us where you are going with this before we tell you how much we will admit Iran is going down the path to a bomb in the U.N.' When I failed to give them a guarantee that we will not strike Iran, they stalled on moving ahead with acknowledging or using the evidence in public which in private they accepted."
Russia, he added, "was like the E.U. on hormones in this regard."
BOSTON (Reuters) - Textron Inc (TXT.N) shares were up 47 percent after a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that a consortium of Middle Eastern companies was closing in on a deal to buy the diversified U.S. manufacturer.
Al-Watan newspaper said in an unsourced report that a United Arab Emirates-Kuwait consortium was close to securing a deal to buy the world's largest maker of business jets, offering $21 a share. It did not identify the companies.
The New York Stock Exchange said in a statement it had asked Textron to "issue a public statement indicating whether there are any corporate developments which may explain the unusual activity" but that the company said its policy is not to comment on market rumors.
A Textron spokeswoman also declined to comment to Reuters.
The report comes in a week when Textron's beaten-down shares have climbed roughly 80 percent, a rally that started on Monday amid speculation that Lockheed Martin Co (LMT.N), the world's No. 1 defense contractor, or its smaller rival Raytheon Co (RTN.N) were possible buyers for the company.
Lockheed and Raytheon officials on Monday declined to comment on those reports.
"Compared with earlier press speculation that has focused on large defense contractors as potential acquirers of Textron, the interest from a Middle East consortium would appear to make more sense," Macquarie Capital analyst Robert Stallard wrote in a note to clients.
The Middle East is an important growth market for business jets where Textron's Cessna brand is well known, he said.
Textron shares were up $4.31 to $13.42 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Over the past year, they have fallen 84 percent, a steeper drop than the 55 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's capital goods industry index .GSPIC.
Given the pounding of the shares, management might have a hard time resisting serious takeover bids, an analyst wrote.
"Given the legacy of execution issues at Textron, high investor dissatisfaction with recent company performance and continued liquidity uncertainty, a legitimate takeover attempt will be hard to resist," wrote Citigroup analyst Jeffrey Sprague, in a note to clients.
According to the newspaper report, the consortium of buyers would plan to sell off Textron's military businesses -- Bell helicopter and Textron Systems, which makes armored vehicles. That could help to alleviate the national security concerns that could be triggered if a foreign buyer tried to buy a U.S. defense contractor.
Another question facing any potential bidder for all of Textron would be what to do with its troubled finance arm, which lost money last year. The Providence, Rhode Island-based company is dramatically scaling back that operation to focus on financing products it manufactures.
"A more obvious reason we do not believe any company would be interested in acquiring Textron is Textron Financial, which over the last year or so has been the primary cause of value destruction at the company, in our view, and remains a significant question mark for investors," Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Stephen Velgot wrote in a note to clients.
In February, Textron Chief Executive Lewis Campbell said the company would consider selling one of its core units if it needed to do so to protect cash flow, though he argued it would be unlikely that it would need to make such a drastic move.
In March, the president of United Technologies Corp's (UTX.N) Sikorsky helicopter unit said it would be "an interesting hypothesis" for his business to take over Textron's helicopter arm.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/10/2009
16:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan's president has called on America to provide his country with an arsenal of drones and missiles to target militants blamed for a wave of violence rather than carrying out independent operations that violate the nation's sovereignty.
In an interview with The Independent, Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan had made it clear that it was willing to "take out high-value targets on our own, and we welcome the technology and intelligence assistance that will give us the ability to succeed". He added: "I cannot condone violations of our sovereignty even when they are done by allies and friends. We would much prefer that the US share its intelligence and give us the drones and missiles that will allow us to take care of this problem on our own."
Mr Zardari's comments, made in a wide-ranging interview in which for the first time he conceded more than one of the 10 militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks may be Pakistani, came as senior US officials visited Islamabad and called for greater trust between the two countries. The Obama administration's regional envoy, Richard Holbrooke, said: "The United States and Pakistan face a common strategic threat, a common enemy and a common challenge and therefore a common task."
Pakistan is confronted by a fresh spike in militant violence. Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in recent weeks and a senior Pakistani Taliban leader has vowed that his suicide bombers will carry out two attacks every week.
Ironically, the wave of violence, believed to have been carried out by militants loyal to the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, has been seen as a response to an escalation by the US in the number of missile attacks launched against militants in Pakistan's tribal areas using pilotless drones. Mr Mehsud told journalists his recent operations were a direct act of revenge.
Pakistan is under intense pressure to deal with the militants, especially those blamed for cross-border raids against Western troops in Afghanistan. Despite public denials, it is understood Pakistan co-operates with the US drone strikes. But there is little doubt that such tactics are increasingly unpopular with the Pakistani public.
Mr Zardari said: "President Obama once said that he would act if we weren't willing and able. We certainly are willing and with international support we will become even more able."
The President also acknowledged that more than a year after elections, many in Pakistan are growing frustrated with a seeming lack of progress. "After a decade of dictatorship the people had enormous expectations of rapid improvement in their lives. That is still very much our priority but the enormity of the economic crisis both within Pakistan and internationally, compounded by the war that we fight within and along our borders, has made progress much slower than we hoped."
Asked about the disputes between his party and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N at a time when many hoped the country's democratic parties would be working together, he said: "The ups and downs of democracy should not be interpreted as a lack of stability ... There is the usual tug of power politics and the tendency of some observers to paint Doomsday scenarios. But I think the people appreciate that our democratic government is functioning."
He claimed Pakistan was co-operating with India's investigation into November's Mumbai attacks that left 164 people dead and that a "substantial" number of arrests had been made. He said those responsible were also threatening the "very existence" of his country. Asked about the nine militants whose bodies still lie in a Mumbai morgue, he said: "Our investigation ... is continuing. Some of these terrorists may in fact have been born in Pakistan. But we believe that this operation was international, with significant support from within India itself."
Asked about a deal to allow sharia in the Swat valley, Mr Zardari said he and his allies had been led by "ground realities". He said the deal was intended to uncouple public demand for swifter justice from support for the Taliban. "I think it would be premature to call it a bad deal. It's an evolving situation."
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
15:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sorry, boys, but if you want drones you'll have to build your own, like the Israelis. How about you send in some, y'know' soldiers and do the job the old-fashioned way?
#3
How about you send in some, y'know' soldiers and do the job the old-fashioned way?
What a cruel person you are, expecting the Pakistan army to actually walk the 20 ft across the street from Frontier Corps HQ and act against Haqqani or drive the half mile from Peshawar Garrison and its 60000 troops to the Taliban training camp.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009 16:18
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Besmirching the Mighty Pak Army.
Ya oughta be ashamed, Johnny...
#8
Let's keep things the way they now stand. If you are a Talibunny in NW Territory. ask not for whom the drone toils. It toils for thee. Kaboom! Never more will you do your evil deeds. Never more. If I were one of them, I would call the reconnisance drones "The Shadow". The Shadow knows. OK, I'm done with my punning for awhile. The drone groans can end.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
04/10/2009 17:35
Comments ||
Top||
#9
I think this could work. But with dual controls, like Drivers Ed cars. They start the mission, then it gets magically diverted to a real target, for which they get the responsibility, then we return control.
#11
ION WORLD MILITARY FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish tranlation] > IIUC THE USA WILL NOT INTENTIONALLY FIND, KILL OSAMA BIN LADEN BECUZ IT COVERTLY USES THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN TO CONTAIN RUSSIA AND CHINA. THE US TO DESTROY OSAMA BIN LADEN IS TO DESTROY THEIR PROXIES AL-QAEDA AND THE TALIBAN.
So when does it become cheaper to just start giving your crews guns?
CHICAGO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Shipowners navigating the Gulf of Aden are seeing insurance premiums for kidnap and ransom increase tenfold as piracy escalates, said Chicago-based global insurance broker Aon Risk Services on Thursday, one day after Somali pirates hijacked a U.S. cargo ship.
This means shipowners could be paying 30,000 U.S. dollars premium for 3 million dollars of coverage for one journey through this piracy hotspot. However, more are opting for coverage to protect their employees as well as avoiding lengthy detours that threaten supply chains and increase petrol costs.Specialist piracy policies for kidnap and ransom insurance can include cover for consultant and negotiator costs, ransom demands and medical care. These can be bought for individual transits or on an annual basis to bring down the cost. One stop shopping for all your pirate ransom needs...
"The cost of insurance is simply rising in correlation with the risk of kidnap in piracy hotspots. Despite the presence of naval ships, the spate of piracy attacks over the last six months does not seem to be abating with increased civil unrest and pirates' easy access to rocket launchers and AK47s. As such we've seen enquiries for cover escalate as shipowners seek to protect their employees and businesses," said Ashley Leszczuk, an analyst from Aon's crisis management team.
Aon indicated that some 70 percent of shipowners are opting for localized policies for the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea stretching down to Somalia and the Straits of Malacca while a third of policies placed by Aon cover all locations worldwide.
Australian astronomers have been studying an intergalactic assassin poised to wipe out life on Earth. Maybe. Observations indicate that cosmological curiosity WR104 may be a killer - and we might be the victim.
The pretty pinwheel that makes the system so distinctive is now know to be a combination of two stars - a blue star orbiting the Wolf-Rayet 104. Note that the "Wolf-Rayet" name is the astronomical equivalent of a beeping red LCD countdown reading "0:01" - it's a swollen star getting ready for final supernova detonation. At the moment its fusion reactions are blasting its own photosphere off into space, where the blue companion orbits and illuminates the material, creating a seriously impressive spiral over twice the size of our solar system.
We have a perfect view of this pinwheel pattern, since the spiral is at right angles to us, in the same way a man being held at gunpoint has a perfect view of the little hole the bullets come out of. And the gun is over twenty-five times the size of the sun. When a binary system collapses into a black hole, which astronomers call 'coalescence' (a euphemism which makes 'heated debate' a valid description of World War II), it can release a gigantic burst of gamma rays. Gamma rays are the ultimate high energy electromagnetic radiation, and while the burst lasts less than two minutes it can contain more energy than the entire mass of the sun converted into energy by E = m c^2. You'll notice that the mass of the sun and the speed of light, c, are extremely large numbers.
On the upside we'll never see it coming. The EM-burst travels the speed of light so the only warning we'd have is dying - which most people will accept is a little too late....Even better, this Earthicidal explosion may have already happened with the lethal radiation already speeding its way right at us. Okay, Gloomy Gus, is there any good news.
On the other hand, the big boom might not happen for hundreds of thousands of years - and might do so without a peep of gamma radiation. I feel better already.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/10/2009
13:52 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#7
"On the upside we'll never see it coming. The EM-burst travels the speed of light so the only warning we'd have is dying - which most people will accept is a little too late"
But Bursts may be drawn to previously landed meteors. The Superman/Kryptonite thoery...
So, it could be drawn to a certain mystic rock in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. The effects of that energy could be unpredictable. 72 Virgins for everybody! Irrespective of race color or creed....
Posted by: Voice in the Wilderness ||
04/10/2009 19:28
Comments ||
Top||
#8
YAWN. They try to say the same thing about Eta Carinae every now and then. Both EC and WR104 are about 8000 light years away. It would take a REALLY lucky hit for the gamma burst to even fry a satellite, much less us.
The Crab Nebula 'event' (1054AD) was much closer (6500 light years.) An we still haz provurbyal cheezburger.
Well, at least somebody's doing something over there...
One French hostage has died and four others have been freed in a rescue operation by French troops on a yacht off Somalia, French officials say. Two pirates were killed in the operation and three were captured, the French presidency says. Two French couples had been seized with a child, who was among those freed from the yacht, Tanit, seized last week.
In another development on Friday, pirates released a Norwegian cargo ship, the Bow Asir, and its crew, the vessel's owners said. The Bow Asir had been held since 26 March.
The French operation to free those on board the Tanit - the third time French troops have freed hostages from pirates - began late on Thursday, five days after the yacht was seized, the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
Negotiations with the pirates which began earlier this week had failed to secure the release of the hostages, the president's spokesman said. When talks broke down troops immobilised the vessel before moving in, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris. "With the threats becoming more and more specific, the pirates refusing the offers made to them and the [yacht] heading towards the coast, an operation to free the hostages was decided upon," he said. The spokesman confirmed that one of the hostages was killed, but added that the others - including the child - were now "safe and sound".
Earlier in the week Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had left open the possibility that troops could launch an effort to free the French hostages, telling reporters French officials knew the location of the Tanit. ...and our hostages sound like a couple of beauties.
However, it also emerged that the families on board the yacht, which was reported to be heading down to Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, were urged not to travel through the Gulf of Aden. The region has become a haven for pirates and is the scene of frequent seizures and attacks on international shipping. A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said the couple - named as Chloe and Florent Lemacon - were "repeatedly warned" not to travel through the area. "It is difficult to understand why these warnings were not heeded," spokesman Eric Chevallier said. Certainment, zee pirates will not bother us...
The couple had refurbished the Tanit, a 12.5m (41ft) boat, and given up jobs in a bid to escape consumer society and navigate a route along the African coast to Zanzibar. I often wish I had a yacht to escape "consumer society"...
Speaking to French newspaper Ouest France, Mr Lemacon said they wanted to change their priorities in life. "We don't want our child to receive the sort of education that the government is concocting for us. We have got rid of the television and everything that seemed superfluous to concentrate on what is essential," he said. We would, however, like the government to bail us out when zee pirates kidnap our pretentious asses...
1815: Tambora volcano in the East Indies erupts with a mighty roar. It sends enough pulverized rock into the atmosphere to disrupt weather around the globe for more than a year.
Tambora sits on Sumbawa Island, east of Java in what is today Indonesia. Geological evidence shows it probably hadn't erupted in 5,000 years....The big show began April 10. Three columns of fire were seen towering into the sky. By the next day Tambora had ejected about 12 cubic miles of magma into the air.
But the mountain's solid towering peak was also gone. The eruption left a deep summit crater, with a rim 4,100 feet lower than the peak had once been. People in Surabaya, 300 miles away on Java, felt the earth move possibly the result of the caldera collapse. Between the magma ejected from below and the pulverized mountaintop above, Tambora sent more than 36 cubic miles of pulverized rock into the atmosphere. The ash falling on islands nearby immediately suffocated crops. That alone probably killed 92,000 people.
The cloud of ash that was fine and light enough to stay in the atmosphere circled the globe. Average temperatures dropped as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next year ... and beyond. Many Europeans and North Americans called 1816 the "year without a summer." In elementary school, we had a story on it in our reading books. IIRC the title was "Eighteen-Hundred and Froze-to-Death."
Snow fell in New England and Eastern Canada in June. (Quebec City got a foot of the stuff.) Frost was recorded in each of the summer months. Drought struck in July and August, and the sunlight was weak. Crops were stunted or failed entirely. Much of what survived and looked near to harvest was killed off by a September frost.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/10/2009
13:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Tough call. "Lurid Crime Tales" or "Olde Tyme Religon"...
The police booking photo of alleged child killer Nour Hadid released Tuesday is an "insult against our religion," says Hadid's husband, Alaeddin. What isn't?
Orland Park police detectives say the 26-year-old Muslim woman was treated as any other suspect in a murder probe would be, and they did not intend to humiliate her when they photographed her Sunday without her headscarf and wearing only a skimpy top. And she alledgedly beat a two year old to death so we really didn't give a shit...
Nour Hadid is accused of beating her 2-year-old niece Bhia Hadid to death over four days at her home on the 9000 block of West 140th Street. The child had 55 separate bruises and was beaten "from head to toe," according to prosecutors, who say Hadid confessed. Nice. Is that an insult to hubby's religion too, or did the little slut deserve it?
But Alaeddin Hadid - who insists his wife is innocent - said Orland Park police are "really going to be in big trouble" for releasing the woman's booking photo to the news media after she was charged with first-degree murder. What're ya gonna do, cut the chiefs head off?
The Hadids are Muslims and Nour "never leaves the home without covering up," said Alaeddin, who's vowed to sue. Oh. Just sue. Must be a Moderate Muslim...
By custom, some practicing Muslim women wear the hijab, or headscarf, and cover their arms and legs when in public. In the mug shot, a bare-headed and obviously emotional Nour appears to be protecting her modesty with her hands. The same hands she beat the kid to death with?
"It is against our religion; we do not do this in our culture," Alaeddin said. "People have been calling me about this all day." All day, I tells ya! Whadda pain in the ass!
Bhia Hadid's funeral took place Thursday.
Orland Park police Cmdr. Chuck Doll said the mug shot was taken "for identification purposes" before Hadid made her confession. Her headscarf was handed back to her after the photo was taken, Doll said. "A matron was with her at all times while she was in our custody," Doll said. A matron is a law enforcement official who works with women held in custody. "She was wearing a tank top, and she had the headscarf when she was interviewed." I can't believe I've gotta justify this shit...
The headscarf later was taken from her after she made suicide threats, he said. Give it back to her. Maybe some shoelaces and a belt too Need a razor to shave your legs, honey?
A sobbing Hadid appeared without the headscarf at the Bridgeview courthouse Tuesday and is being held without bail at the Cermak Medical Center at the Cook County Jail, where she remains on suicide watch. Think she'll do it, Muldoon?
Why? Is there a pool?
Police have said her husband's possible involvement in Bhia's death still is under investigation. A Muslim guy involved in something like this? Why that's...unthinkable.
Nour Hadid's attorney, Frank Celani, said he hopes to speak with her today about the mug shot. Yeah, you can get around to beaten to death kid part later...
Islamic advocacy groups seem wary of taking up Hadid's cause. Spokesmen for the Council on Islamic American Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Bridgeview Mosque Foundation all declined to comment Thursday. Woah! Watch out! Hot potato!!
But Dr. Mohammed Sahloul, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Chicago, said that while police should follow the usual procedures with all defendants, "they should respect the modesty of the accused." So police "should should follow the usual procedures with all defendants". Except Muslims, right, doc? Cuz they're special, right, doc?
Sahloul, who made it clear he was not aware of the Hadid case and was speaking in general terms about the hijab, pointed out that Muslim women are allowed to wear hijabs in photos for their state IDs. "If it's for the purposes of identification and they cover in public, then that's going to be more effective in identifying them anyway," he said. Stupid infidels! Why do I have to expalin it to you?
Former chairman Kareem Irfan said, "It's particularly humiliating because she appears to be in her underwear. I don't condone what she's alleged to have done. But if it was a nun accused of these crimes, would they treat her the same way?" Why, yes. Yes they would. The offensive mugshot and Nour in her pious days:
Bhia was pronounced dead at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights at 6:27 p.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiners office. An autopsy Monday found she died of blunt force trauma, which caused hemorrhaging to the brain, kidneys and intestines. Her death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiners office said.
Hadid admitted to repeatedly beating the child's body using wooden spoon, a stick and shoes, prosecutors said. She also bit and pinched the child on the chest.
Hadid allegedly said she beat the child because her husband accused her of stealing money and called her names. In a videotaped confession, she said she took it out on the child, according to court records.
#3
Jordanian, to answer your questions and...there's more...
Alaeddin Hadid also protested his wife's innocence. "This is a misunderstanding," he told reporters. He claimed Bhia had fallen down a staircase at the family home.
"I always told my wife to close the door or one of the children would fall down and she'd end up in jail," he said. He claimed his wife had "stupidly" not told police about the accident when she was arrested and that, as recently as Friday evening, when the family ate a meal at KFC and took a trip to the mall, Bhia was unhurt.
It's not the first time one of Alaeddin Hadid's spouses has been accused of hurting children. His first wife, Samer, was disfigured and three of the couple's children burned in 2003 when she told police she "accidentally" poured gasoline on a fire at their home in Hickory Hills.
Neither she nor Alaeddin Hadid was charged in connection with that case, which has not been reopened, investigators from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force probing Bhia's death said Tuesday.
#4
Police not only have the right but have a duty to release photos of accused individuals. Otherwise you'd have a police state in which we would never know the identity of who's been arrested. Alaeddin might be more comfortable with that.
In turn, newspapers have an absolute right to print booking photos.
So Alaeddin doesn't have much to complain about, which is why he's harping on the photo and not on his dead niece.
Full disclosure: I live a few miles away and had heard about this earlier, but didn't have a news account that I could point to on the web until the Southtown came to press.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 13:22
Comments ||
Top||
#5
If anyone is wondering if the average American understands the issues, take a look at the comments to the news article.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 13:23
Comments ||
Top||
#6
According to another report I read, Alladin liked to stash his money under his mattress and that's what he accused her of stealing.
Perhaps the IRS might like to pay him a visit?
#8
Can't help wondering if Alladin is the killer and the woman is taking the rap for him for fear that he'll kill her too. It'd just kinda fit into a pattern, now, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/10/2009 13:55
Comments ||
Top||
#9
But Alaeddin Hadid - who insists his wife is innocent - said Orland Park police are "really going to be in big trouble" for releasing the woman's booking photo to the news media after she was charged with first-degree murder.
----------------------------------------------
Police have said her husband's possible involvement in Bhia's death still is under investigation.
----------------------------------------------
Who might be in BIG TROUBLE -- methinks is a matter of debate
Until B.O., Harry Quisling, and Nimrod Nancy put out a decree changibg it, one plus one still equals two.
#12
BigEd, strictly speaking this is a local law enforcement issue. The federal government should have nothing to do with it.
Of course, I said "should", rather than "will". These days, all government is federal.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/10/2009 20:49
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Big fat hairy deal.
What doesn't insult I-slam?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2009 21:20
Comments ||
Top||
Britain should refer suspicious student visa applications to Pakistan as a way to help ensure that the ISI plants aren't discovered prevent terrorism, the country's high commissioner to Britain said Friday.
Wajid Hasan's suggestion came the same week that 12 people were arrested in Britain with suspected links to al Qaeda. Eleven of those arrested were Pakistani nationals, some of whom were in Britain on student visas, officials told CNN. "If they (the British authorities) had referred these cases to us, we would have made inquiries, and then told them whether to issue them visas or not," Hasan told CNN from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
"That's why I suggested, I've been suggesting, that in case there are doubts, they should always be referred to our home ministry ... so that we could also be made responsible for it."
The Paks can give up some cannon fodder and a few false flags while making sure the best ISI plants get settled nicely into Cambridge ...
British authorities have not yet given any evidence related to the arrests to their Pakistani counterparts, Hasan said. As soon as they do, he said, Pakistan is ready to start its own investigation.
"Once the investigations are over in England, probably these boys will be released and they will have no evidence for (prosecution)," he said. "I don't know, because we have not been provided any information as far as what they have found on them to make suspicions they were planning to commit some sort of mischief there.
"They could be innocent students," he added. "So we have to check it here as well, and they have to make the inquiries thoroughly because otherwise it will have a very bad impact for the Pakistani community."
They could be innocent students. I could be the next Lotto winner. I could lose fifty pounds and Morgan Fairchild could be my wife.
Hasan said he doesn't blame Britain for not referring the applicants to Pakistan before issuing them visas. The application procedures are already "quite tough," he said, and require the applicant to provide evidence that he is a student and has gained admission to a school in Britain.
He suggested that in the future, Britain should consider asking for Pakistan's help to investigate suspicious applicants. "It's difficult, but it can help if they are referred to Pakistan if they suspect any student of having any links to anybody," he said. "We could make inquiries here."
The chief constable for Britain's Greater Manchester Police indicated Thursday there would have been the potential for terrorist acts this coming weekend if police had not made the arrests. The 12 people were arrested Wednesday night at several locations, mainly in northwest Manchester, and counterterrorism police were questioning them and carrying out searches as part of the probe.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
11:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fox opens new henhouse franchise...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/10/2009 11:56
Comments ||
Top||
Whilst Afghanistan was seen as the training ground of terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 attacks, recent experience has shown that increasing numbers of al-Qaeda extremists are being trained across the border in the tribal areas in the north west of Pakistan.
President Obama openly refers to his "Af-Pak" strategy for combating militancy, such is the prevalance of terror suspects who have been radicalised in Pakistan.
"have been" radicalized? They've been radicalized from day one.
Of the four men who carried out the London suicide bombings in July 2005, three were young British men of Pakistani origin who had travelled to the country to receive religious and military training.
Just rounding out their education, much like Brits of old would travel to the continent to learn about wine and which fork to use at dinner ...
Mohammed Siddique Khan, the leader of the plot, was raised in Beeston, West Yorkshire, but was understood to have made regular trips to terrorist training camps in southern Punjab, and was captured on video at Karachi airport in November 2004 with his accomplice Shehzad Tanweer, 22, another British national of Pakistan origin. They returned to Britain the following February. The third bomber of Pakistani origin, Hasib Hussain, aged 18, had travelled to Pakistan 12 months before the attack.
Meanwhile, the alleged plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester has been linked by MI5 to two al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan - British Pakistani Rashid Rauf, who has been implicated in at least one other alleged terror plot, and Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban movement who has promised attacks on the West in hate-filled pronouncements in recent weeks.
So many UK terror suspects have links to Pakistan that thousands of innocent travellers between the two countries every year are now closely monitored for signs of suspicious activity.
Which apparently is wrong, or at least suspicious, since the poor dears will be traumatized by having been briefly considered as terrorists ...
Latest estimates suggest 4,000 young British Muslims have been trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan, and with 400,000 British citizens visiting Pakistan each year, there are fears that many more will become radicalised.
They aren't being radicalized in Pakistan, they are radicalized in Britain by imans in British mosques. They're going to Pakistan to polish their skills.
Monitoring of regular visitors has intensified, which has raised the possibility of a change in tactics by terrorists, who may have switched to using Pakistani nationals who may not be so closely monitored when they visit the UK.
Shahid Aslam, a British employment solicitor who runs an immigration consultancy in Lahore, said terrorists could easily take advantages of gaps in the British visa application process to enter Britain on a valid visa. He claimed there had been a number of cases where employees of agencies processing visa applications in Pakistan had accepted inducements to speed and guarantee entry visas.
So the agencies and their employees need to be screened, tossed and turned to Brit advantage.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
11:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So...is this progress? Cuz I figured 99% easy...
#3
What annoys me is the continuing silence and denial from the muslim community.If we were not oppressed in Iraq/Afghan/Palestine/Kasmir/Chechyna blah blah blah!!!!
The suspects in the alleged terrorism plot include two security guards, an English language and three accountancy students. Of the dozen men detained, eleven of them are Pakistani and arrived in the UK on student visas at different times in the past six months.
Sounds like the Talibs and Qaeda honchos were flooding the zone. Either they were planning an especially big op and needed the muscle or else they were getting sloppy ...
Some of the suspects, whose ages range from their late teens to 41, were said to speak fluent Pashto, the language of the Pashtun people of Afghanistan, and another had alleged links to Yemen.
Pakistani intelligence sources said that one of the men held had confirmed links to the Waziristan area of Pakistan, a Taliban stronghold on the frontier with Afghanistan.
As often seen with massive police raids, local residents were shocked at the implication that there were terrorism suspects in their midst on the terraced streets of Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancs.
The Daily Telegraph can disclose the names of six of those held.
:: Sultan Sher was arrested at a cyber net café in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, alongside a man called Tariq.
:: Abdul Khan, 26, an English language student was arrested in Liverpool, where a student known as Adil was also detained.
:: Abid Nazeer, 22, the alleged ring-leader of the group, who was born in Pakistan and lived with two others arrested in Cheetham Hill, including Hamza Shinwari.
Neighbours said the men moved in around September last year, during the festival of Ramadan.
Bushra Majid 33, said she had heard the two men speaking on mobile telephones in Pashtun dialect used by Afghans. She also described the men as having the appearance of Afghans, with darker colouring and longer beards than most Pakistanis.
Mrs Majid, a housewife with four children, said that they worshipped at the nearby Al-Falah mosque every day. "They were very nice neighbours, they were very religious to the extent that, out of respect, they would not look me in the eye," she said.
"They were always giving alms to the widows so that they could buy ammunition. Such thoughtful warriors!"
Two suspects were arrested at the Clitheroe branch of Homebase, where they worked as security guards, having checked into a local guest eight days ago (April 2). The pair, both Pakistanis, paid £30-a-night for rooms at the Brooklyn Guest House. Each morning they walked the quarter of a mile to Homebase where there job was to sign staff in and out as they stocked shelves in readiness for the store's official opening yesterday.
Thirty pounds is sixty dollars. That's $400 a week. That's a decent hotel bed in a quiet, outlying suburb in the U.S. Where did these jokers get the money? Or is that such an obvious question that no one in Britain has asked?
"They both just seemed like nice, ordinary lads in their late twenties," said a Homebase source. "One spoke relatively good English, the other not too well. I was amazed to hear they'd been arrested."
All dozen suspects appeared to have kept a low profile in the areas they lived.
Sleepers, each one, and recently activated to do a big job ...
Neighbours and landlords said they knew very little of them and had contact with them only on an occasional basis for mundane reasons, such as when they needed a faulty washing machine to be fixed.
The Pakistani accountancy students were at Liverpool John Moores University and had started renting a property three weeks ago. They paid cash up front for six months.
Businessman Ali Shalash, whose rented the flat to them spoke of his surprise. "They spoke good English and just said they were students. I think they said they were doing accounting. I have been in the flat many times in the last few weeks to do things like fix the washing machine.
LMK: "There was nothing about them that was suspicious in any way. They are very nice people, gentle and polite. Let's see what happens. "Maybe it's a mistake."
Safwa Mohamed, 26, who is studying nursing at John Moores University and lives in Wavertree, Liverpool, where three men were arrested, said she used to travel on the same bus as the men into college. "They would stay as a group and they would wander around together -- they were pretty quiet," she said. "They would get the 86 into town and then walk to the university. I used to see them walking on the road."
One neighbour of the group said: "Loads of men live there, they are all Yemeni and I used to talk to them because my husband is also from Yemen. I was very shocked when I heard they had been raided by terror police."
You bring in Yemenis when you need boomers and cheap muscle. Ditto for most of the Paks. Real question is, where's the masterminds?
Three other students were arrested in Cheetham Hill and are believed to be at Manchester University.
At a property raided Manchester police sealed off a grey MG Rover ZR, which contained on the driver's seat a copy of the English-speaking newspaper from Pakistan called "The News". The headline read: "Taliban blamed for sectarian suicide attack on Mosque".
On the vehicle dashboard in front of the gearstick, there was a small paper cut-out of a foreign military figure holding a machine gun.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
11:39 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Mrs Majid, a housewife with four children, said that they worshipped at the nearby Al-Falah mosque every day.
Ah, the old student visa mode of getting around (and carrying out terrorism "man-caused disasters"). I'm no genius but Ima thinkin the worship thingee at the local mosque might be part of the problem.
Six people, including an alleged Indian spy, have been arrested by Pakistani authorities for indulging in "suspicious" activities, a media report claimed on Friday.
They were arrested at Sihala, close to the garrison city of Rawalpindi near here, Dawn News channel reported.
The alleged Indian spy was arrested on suspicion at the Police College in Sihala after being spotted in the area, it quoted the Commandant of the College as saying. The five other suspects were rounded up following information provided by the alleged spy, the report said.
The Commandant declined to give name and details of the alleged Indian spy, but claimed that maps of important cities and phone numbers were found in his possession, the report said, adding a special team has been formed to question him.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
10:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You know you've made it when a "special team" is formed just for you.
#2
but claimed that maps of important cities and phone numbers were found in his possession
That's me pretty much any time I travel.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 11:15
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Except that your phone numbers don't connect to safe houses in Quetta ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 12:27
Comments ||
Top||
#4
WAFF > TAMIL POLITICAL LEADER IN INDIA WARNS OF VIOLENCE IFF LTTE LEADER IS HARMED. INDIA must STOP SRI LANKA [Govt-Army] from destroying the TAMIL TIGERS and aligned.
In a surprising statement, Pakistan on Friday said it has "credible evidence" of Indian involvement in the March 3 terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team here, more than a month after it ruled out any Indian link to the incident.
"With the help of other intelligence agencies there has been considerable progress in this case. One thing is for sure that there is an Indian hand behind the attack," Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore told reporters here.
"I must tell you that there is credible evidence of Indian involvement in the attack," he said.
Mr. Rathore's comments come nearly a month after Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik ruled out any Indian involvement in the attack that killed eight people and injured several others, including six Sri Lankan cricketers.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
10:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"With the help of other intelligence agencies there has been considerable progress in this case.
Called in the ISI did he?
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009 10:33
Comments ||
Top||
#2
If I needed evidence manufactured I'd certainly call in the ISI ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 10:43
Comments ||
Top||
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il is officially back on center stage following a reported stroke, but has promoted a trusted in-law to the spotlight in the clearest sign yet he is making preparations for an eventual successor, analysts said Friday. Yeah, you don't look so good, Kimmie...
Though looking thinner and grayer, and limping slightly, Kim's appearance at the closely watched first session of the North's new parliament Thursday was more than enough to lay to rest any lingering doubts about his health, and prove he is in charge. "Was more than enough to lay to rest any lingering doubts about his health".
Oh, really? I don't have any lingering doubts. He'll be jibbering and soiling himself real soon. Continued on Page 49
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden truck into a wall around a police headquarters in northern Iraq on Friday, killing five American soldiers and two Iraqi policemen in the single deadliest attack against U.S. forces this year, the U.S. military and Iraqi police said.
A sixth American soldier and 17 Iraqi policemen were also wounded in the blast that took place near the national police headquarters in southwestern Mosul -- Iraq's third-largest city and al-Qaida's last urban stronghold. Suicide bombings -- a hallmark of al-Qaida's attack style -- continue to threaten the city.
Lt. Col. Michael Stuart, chief of U.S. operations in Mosul, said the target was the Iraqi national police complex and not the U.S. patrol. He said the American patrol just happened to be on the same street when the attack occurred. "It was just bad timing," Stuart told The Associated Press.
Friday's blast was the deadliest single bombing attack against U.S. troops this year. A suicide car bomb struck a U.S. patrol in Mosul on Feb. 9, killing four American soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter. Also, four U.S. soldiers were killed Jan. 26 when two helicopters collided over the northern city of Kirkuk.
The suicide bomber made a sharp turn as he approached the police complex, then rammed his truck through an iron barrier, hitting a sandbagged wall beyond it and detonating his vehicle near the station's main building, Iraqi police said. The blast shook the entire complex, according to witnesses and police.
The U.S. military said two people were detained in connection with Friday's attack, which is under investigation, and the names of those killed were being withheld pending notification of families.
Although U.S.combat troops have to leave of Iraqi cities by the end of June under the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that went into effect this year, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, told The Times of London this week that the American troops may have to stay in Mosul and another northern city, Baqouba, after the deadline because insurgents remain active there.
The policemen wounded in Friday's blast were taken to a nearby hospital, said a Mosul police officer with the provincial command. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Mosul had been relatively quiet in recent weeks compared to Baghdad where attacks killed at least 53 people this week.
#1
What a refreshing breath of sanity! From a state school, no less.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
04/10/2009 11:05
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds like a bunch of angry coffee shop people to me. Seems like they are trying to reason why that since he is president, why shouldn't he receive honorary degrees? There was the one brave soul, "Have to pass Speech 101 first", heh. Some posters who had reasoning/good points were shouted down, so on.
#7
I just took on a bunch of those whiney posters at Huffpo on this, got insulted left and right and it was worth it.
God, its like a hornets nest of whiney sycophants at Huffpo. Lets see if they still feel so good about Obama in about 2 years...
#11
Notre Dame and ASU having some problems sorting out their commencement policies??? Jimmy Carter has a significant body of work despite nearly all of it stinking--they could have invited him if that were the standard. These honorary degrees are largely symbolic [and political]--kind of like the the Nobel Peach Prize.
#13
Good to stir the hornets nest every now and then Girl Thursday. You are right, I think BO is a one term President like Jimmy Carter--the disenchantment will set in before four years.
Battered residents of this western Arkansas city waited for daylight Friday to dig out from a "direct hit" by a tornado that killed three people, injured at least 30, and flattened homes and businesses.
The twister sliced through the Ouachita Mountains community shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. The county sheriff described the sky turning green, while the airport manager said darkness fell quickly as the twister crossed the Oklahoma line 10 miles away.
"Me and the dog ran to the bathroom when we saw it on the TV," said Rick Lanman, the manager of the Mena Airport. "It was here in less than a minute."
Sirens warned the community for earlier storms north and south of town. When they sounded a fourth time, "experience was telling me that we were in trouble," said Lanman, who said he been through tornadoes before in Oklahoma and Illinois.
Before first light Friday, a convoy of trucks from electric utilities streamed into Mena. Their flashing yellow lights illuminated downed trees and buildings whose roofs and sides had been ripped away. Blue lights from police cruisers lit up debris downtown.
"It just looks like a war zone," Mayor George McKee said.
Prosecutor Tim Williamson said the storm uprooted 100-year-old trees and damaged Civil War-era homes that had been restored. He said the town once looked "pastoral" but added, "It's not anymore."
Emergency workers planned to go door-to-door Friday morning to account for the city's 5,700 residents. Firefighters would likely be needed to slice away fallen trees to clear a path.
"They'll have to cut in for us. It's going to be a long day," Polk County Sheriff Mike Oglesby told Little Rock television station KTHV.
Williamson said dispatchers at the county courthouse had been trapped inside immediately after the storm. He said the county jail was "uninhabitable" and efforts were being made to transfer inmates to nearby counties.
The twister tore the roof off a local community college building destroyed two businesses at the city's industrial park, Williamson said.
The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the South and parts of the Midwest. The National Weather Service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, La., when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossett in far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.
As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.
Arizona this week became eligible for more than $100 million in additional aid to needy families, but those families likely won't see any of it.
In fact, the state could lose more than $400 million in federal funds it already receives if a plan by the Legislature's Republican majority to fix the state's budget deficit is enacted. The plan is circulating among lawmakers and agency directors.
Losing the federal funds is "very likely," a Department of Economic Security spokeswoman said, assuming the state agency's budget is cut by at least 10 percent. As a result, when the new fiscal year starts July 1, Arizona may have walked away from more than half a billion dollars in annual federal aid to the working poor. The cuts would make Arizona the first state in the nation to lose its federal welfare program and the assistance it provides to tens of thousands of people.
The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, known as TANF, provided $264.5 million this year to assist low-income families with rent payments, utilities, job training and other services. The money is distributed directly by the DES and through local agencies, which use it to provide shelter to the homeless and aid domestic-violence victims.
Congress created TANF in 1996 as part of welfare reform, replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
In order to accept the $100 million, Arizona would have to spend $125 million more on social services. Given the state's nearly $3 billion deficit for fiscal year 2010, additional spending is unlikely. Instead, DES officials are wondering whether they'll be able to hold on to all the funding they now receive - $717 million from the state's general fund for 2009.
"What we've turned into is folks continuing to think that everyone has the right to live off the backs of those who work for a living," said Pearce, R-Mesa, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Most taxpayers have had enough." The State legislature is known for very quickly and decisively addressing problems. What they are doing will be seen in other States, and soon
#1
Importantly, this has a cascading effect, because for years, the federals always made money to States conditional on unrelated things and unfunded mandates.
But when this starts to unwind, the less federal money you take means the less of your money you have to spend, *and* the less federal control over you.
The big two federal control monies are free school lunches and transportation. Once they are gone, the federal power over States is slashed, because so many onerous demands are piggybacked on them.
#2
Just as the administration is refusing payback from the banks in order to maintain control over them, you can expect the feds (the Donks) to find a way to order the states to do what they want anyway. All they need to do is pack the court, which itself is very good at assuming more and more power 'for the common good'.
#3
Bonus: this sends the welfare mooches back to where they came from: Mexico and CA.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/10/2009 11:07
Comments ||
Top||
#4
The State legislature is known for very quickly and decisively addressing problems. What they are doing will be seen in other States, and soon.
Plus someone forgot to tell B-O that by putting Napolitano in as Homeland Security Secy, Arizona gained a genuine REPUBLICAN governor*, Jan Brewer, and she may me more helpful to the AZ state legislature in doing what they want to do.
NEW DELHI: Striking a fine balance, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and two Indian warships will be visiting China to take part in its International Fleet Review (IFR) this month, even as India gears up for the trilateral Malabar naval wargames with US and Japan soon after.
The deft counter-balancing is to ensure China is not miffed, especially since Beijing is always quick to view any multi-lateral naval grouping in its neighbourhood as part of a grand strategy to build a security cooperation axis in the Asia-Pacific region to "contain'' it.
I think it would be appropriate if the Indians did 'miff' the Chinese. The Chinese just recently reasserted their claim to parts of India. Be a good idea to push back a little.
The 13th Indo-US Malabar wargames held in Bay of Bengal in September 2007 had led to a formal protest by China, especially as they were expanded to include the Australian, Japanese and Singaporean navies.
CPM and CPI, who were then supporting the UPA government, too, had jumped into the fray, claiming the US was using India as a tool against China. Scarred by the protest, the government had restricted the Malabar exercise in 2008 to just India and US.
Things, however, are different now. With the Left albatross no longer hanging around its neck, the government has given the go-ahead to include Japan in this year's Malabar exercise to be held in the "general area of Okinawa''.
Admiral Mehta, however, will first be leaving for China on April 19, with two guided-missile destroyers, the 6,900-tonne INS Mumbai and 5,000-tonne INS Ranvir, already on their way to the northern Chinese naval port of Qingdao for the IFR scheduled from April 20 to 24.
"Admiral Mehta will be delivering a speech on `maritime cooperation, diplomacy and constructive engagement' during the symposium to be held with the IFR. It's part of our broader engagement with Beijing. Chinese Navy chief Admiral Wu Shengli had visited India last year,'' said an official.
After the IFR, INS Mumbai and INS Ranvir will be joined by missile corvette INS Khanjar and tanker INS Jyoti to undertake combat manoeuvres with American and Japanese warships in the Malabar wargames. "Since our warships were already on an overseas deployment, usually undertaken to show our presence and ability in our primary area of interest, and headed for the Chinese IFR, we have utilised the opportunity to hold Malabar off Japan this time,'' he added.
India may want to be seen as "a neutral player'' in the entire power-play but the fact is that it remains extremely wary of China's swift modernisation of its armed forces, the military infrastructure build-up in the Tibet Autonomous Region and, of course, its deep strategic nexus with Pakistan.
Moreover, Beijing has been increasingly making strategic moves in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), which India views as its own backyard, to secure its expanding energy needs. Experts reckon China will soon start making regular naval forays in the IOR.
China, of course, is leagues ahead of India in military capabilities. If India has just 16 conventional diesel-electric submarines, for instance, China has 62, 10 of them nuclear-powered and at least three armed with long-range strategic ballistic missiles (SSBNs).
China's underwater prowess was rudely brought home by the discovery of the sheer extent of its underground nuclear submarine base on the southern tip of Hainan Island, which will also house its new Shang-class (Type-093) nuclear-powered attack submarines and the Jin-class (Type-094) SSBNs.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
08:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[17 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
US, India, and Japan...
Lots to agree on about the region there
Don't trust China, and dont't trust Pakistan...
And Okinawa is only 900 miles from Pyongyang, Kingdom of Kimmy.
#3
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC NORTH KOREA-JAPAN WAR SCENARIO: JAPAN DOES NOT HAVE ANY LR BALLISTIC MIISLES NOR SIZABLE CAPACITY FOR SPECIAL FORCES-TYPE WARFARE. NUCLEARIZING NORTH KOREA DOES, AND CAN USE THESE TO LAUNCH COVERT COMMANDO ATTACKS AND BALLISTIC MISSLE ATTACKS [Nuclear-WMD] AGZ JAPAN AND DEFEAT HER.
#4
Also on WMF > LARGE NIMITZ-STYLE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ARE OBSOLETE. CHINA IS DEVELOPING THE ABILITY TO SINK CARRIERS WITH LR MISSLES. CHINA HAS NO REASON TO DEV AIRCARFT CARRIERS EXCEPT TO MILITARILY PROVE THEIR OBSOLESCENCE, AND TO FORCE ITS GEOPOL SUPERIORITY AND RIGHTS IN THE TAIWAN AND TIBET ISSUES, I.E. TO DEFEAT TAIWANESE INDEPENDENCE [[next year in TWN electoral referendum] AND TO KEEP/FORCE TIBET BACK INTO CHINA'S SOVEREIGN CONTROL.
Looks like they wanna raise the stakes...
NAIROBI, Kenya Escalating a dramatic Indian Ocean standoff, more U.S. warships as well as pirate reinforcements with an international gallery of hostages rushed Friday toward the spot where four Somali bandits are holding a U.S. sea captain aboard a drifting lifeboat.
The pirates apparently fear being shot or arrested if they hand over Capt. Richard Phillips captured in a failed effort to seize the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday and hope to link up with their colleagues who are using Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages captured in recent days as human shields.
U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said U.S. warships also are headed to the area, more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast. "We want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days," he said.
Pirates have been holding Phillips hostage aboard the lifeboat since his crew thwarted the attack Wednesday on the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama.
Mohamed Samaw, a Somali resident of the pirate stronghold in central Eyl town, who claims to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked Monday, said four foreign ships previously captured by pirates are heading toward the lifeboat. A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships, citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan. "The pirates have summoned assistance skiffs and motherships are heading towards the area from the coast," said a Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "We knew they were gathering yesterday." Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday afternoon. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in central Somalia, and the fourth one was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was already only 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the lifeboat.
He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvalus.
Another man identified as a pirate by three different residents of Haradhere also said the captured German ship had been sent to the rescue. "They had asked us for reinforcement and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said the pirate who asked that only his first name, Badow, be used to protect him from reprisals. "We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said. "All we need, first, is a safe route to escape with the captain, and then (negotiate) ransom later," he added.
Phillips thwarted Wednesday's takeover of the Maersk Alabama by telling his crew of about 20 to lock themselves in a room, the crew told stateside relatives. The crew later overpowered some of the pirates but Phillips, 53, surrendered himself to the bandits to safeguard his men, and four of the Somalis fled with him to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.
The freighter that was the target of the pirates headed away from the lifeboat Thursday, Maersk shipping line said, and a teams of armed Navy SEALs is on board, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. The Alabama was sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa its original destination and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second-in-command of the vessel.
FBI hostage negotiators started Thursday to work with the U.S. military to secure Phillips' release. The sea captain has a radio and has contacted the Navy and the crew of the Alabama to say he is unharmed, Maersk said. Company spokesman Kevin Speers told AP Radio the lifeboat was out of fuel and "dead in the water." Most of the lifeboats are about 28 feet (8.5 meters) long and carry water and food for 34 people for 10 days, said Joseph Murphy. The lifeboats are covered and Murphy, speaking after a briefing by the shipping company, said he suspects the pirates have closed the ports to avoid sniper fire.
Maersk said the lifeboat is within sight of the USS Bainbridge, the Navy destroyer that arrived on the scene earlier Thursday.
Gen. Petraeus said other warships would arrive shortly. U.S. officials said the guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton was among ships en route.
Steve Romano, a retired head of the FBI hostage negotiation team, said he doesn't recall the FBI ever negotiating with pirates before, but he said this situation is similar to other standoffs. Although pirates release the vast majority of their hostages unharmed, the difficulty will be negotiating with people who clearly have no way out, he said. "There's always a potential for tragedy here, and when people feel their options are limited, they sometimes react in more unpredictable and violent ways," Romano said. More. Looks like he tried to make a break for it... WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Department officials say the American boat captain held by Somali pirates tried to escape but was recaptured. Captain Richard Phillips jumped over the side of the small lifeboat where he has been held for two days and began swimming.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about unfolding operations, say Phillips was retaken by the pirates after he jumped from the boat around midnight local time in open ocean off the Somali coast. A U.S. Navy ship patrolling nearby was able to see Phillips moving around and talking after his return to the pirate's boat. The defense officials think he is unharmed.
#1
Very aggravating. 4 dolts in a life boat hold the US at bay. I wouldnt be half surprised to see if they get away with that. Have to admit it, they have balls. It will be interesting to see what happens when their armada arrives. Sounds like they are more organized then we are.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/10/2009 9:59
Comments ||
Top||
#2
So why did the Navy not sink the lifeboat when the captain jumped out?
#3
Appears the Navy and the SEALS hands are tied until the State Department lawyers and/or the White House, Attorney General tells them to act. I can't imagine they would NOT have that lifeboat under 24x7 sniper night vicion coverage. The frustration from USN operators must have been intense when Captain went overboard. I'm sure they want to ventilate that life boat with sniper fire.
#4
When the pirates transfer themselves and the captain to one of the arriving hostage ships, it's check mate at best. Our options are rapidly shrinking.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 10:47
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Actually, this is starting to look like a pirate flypaper tactic. The booty boyz phone home for help and all their boyfriends come out to help, only to be taken out by the US Navy once they try to engage.
A Somali in contact with a pirate leader said the captors want a ransom and are ready to kill the hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips, if attacked.
The pirates' strategy is to link up with their colleagues, who are holding Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages, and get Phillips to lawless Somalia, where they could hide the hostage and make it difficult to stage a rescue, the Somali said. That would give the pirates more leverage and a stronger negotiating position to discuss a ransom. Anchoring near shore also means they could get to land quickly if attacked.
The Somali, who helped negotiate a ransom last year to pirates after they seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he has talked with a pirate leader in Somalia who helped coordinate the failed effort to seize the Alabama.
He said the pirate leader had been in direct contact with the lifeboat via a satellite phone but lost contact after Phillips' captors threw the phoneand a two-way radio dropped to them by the U.S. Navyinto the ocean, fearing the Americans were somehow using the equipment to give instructions to the captain. They acted after Phillips' failed effort to escape.
#15
If Obama fails to give an ok for taking the pirates out, this captains life is on his head. It's his administration and he's the power behind it. We should have already resolved this when the captain got away the first time.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/10/2009 14:16
Comments ||
Top||
#16
The President has to make a decision or not. He and Hilarity have to consult. She is an expert with regards to the Barbary Pirates. They have to make certain no involved or not involved countries aren't being insulted and whether or not we need to apologize to anyone now or later. Being a lawyer, he has to check with a bevy, flock, or herd of lawyers. The lawyers will have to approve any targets which could take a really long time--particularly if they have to file a lawsuit against the pirates. There is the lawsuit complaint and then the interrogatories and answers to the interrogatories for both sides. Then there are the depositions of witnesses and expert witnesses. And then the motions. And then the trial... We're down the road a few years and some good paydays for the attorneys. I'm beginning to worry about the captain about this time.
#17
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a drifting lifeboat want $2 million for his release, a fellow pirate onshore said on Friday.
The pirate, speaking to Reuters from Haradheere port, also said other pirates were taking a hijacked German ship, with foreign crew on board, toward the scene in the Indian Ocean where the lifeboat is floating, watched by U.S. warships.
"Knowing that the Americans will not destroy this German ship and its foreign crew, they (the approaching pirates) hope they can meet their friends on the lifeboat," said the pirate, who has given reliable information in the past but asked for his name not to be used.
"Our friends (on the lifeboat) hope for $2 million ransom as well as their own safety," he added.
...and,
A second US warship -- this one bearing helicopters -- arrived Friday off the Somali coast amid a tense standoff with pirates holding a US ship captain whose recent escape attempt failed, the Pentagon said.
The guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton "is on site, in the vicinity" of the small lifeboat where pirates are holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage, said US Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The Halyburton "brings helicopters" to the volatile scene, said Whitman, who declined to say if the warship was within view of the lifeboat adrift in the Indian Ocean.
The US destroyer on site, the USS Bainbridge, has been monitoring the lifeboat but has no helicopters, another US official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer was also in the region but further away than the other two vessels, he added.
#18
Big Zero to FBI Negotiators
"Dang. Forgot to include the Somalis in the bail out bill. Tell em we're working on it, then Congress needs to vote on it, and remember, we are not at war with you."
#22
As for trying to sink the lifeboat (Boston Whaler), probably wouldn't work too well.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/10/2009 15:46
Comments ||
Top||
#23
The those with more naval knowledge than I do: How difficult would it be to lay up the other ships the pirates haveheading toward the scene? Not a sink'em thing, just a stop the ships ability to move thing.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 15:48
Comments ||
Top||
#27
This "government" can't protect it's citizens along our own border. How can we expect to be protected 10,000k's away on the high seas? Forget it, we're toast with Barry and this bunch.
#28
I think if I'm George W. Bush right now I'm really, really happy that I never did anything about these pirates for the simple reason that now I get to watch and laugh while Bambi tries to deal with this particular situation. Somebody's gonna have to pay the ransom for that captain and there won't be a damn thing Bambi can do about it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/10/2009 17:35
Comments ||
Top||
#29
Obama's response to the pirates: "Uhhhh Ummm....Present!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2009 18:55
Comments ||
Top||
#30
FAR SIDE > Well, this should'nt last long.
Pragmatically, "MARITIME JIHAD/PYRI-I-I-TE NAVAL CAMPAIGN" > IIRC Pirate Histoirez they will wage a LT ACTIVE DEFENSE all along the African coasts, ultimately toward the DEFENSIVE MISSLE-AIR UMBRELLAS OF NUCLEARIZING IRAN +INCREASINGLY MILTERR TRUUUBLED INDIA.
HIDDEN FACTORS = Islamist destabilzation of EGYPT, SAUDIS, + ETHIOPIA???
#32
WAFF.com > STRATEGYPAGE - WHY THE[Somali/African]
PIRATES ARE IMMUNE FROM ATTACK? The Somali Pyraaates now operate as far east the SEYCHELLES ISLANDS. The SOMALI RADICALIST GROUP AL-SHABAAD has warned KENYA NOT to interfere with its armed gunmen along the coasts - EITREA + SUDAN are prob sympathetic towards the Somali pirates. The pirates are not only well-armed and vilently aggressive, but are also MEDIA-SAAVY [read, POLITICAL]???
Rep. Spencer Bachus, the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee, told a hometown crowd in Alabama today he believes there are several socialists in the House. Actually, he says there are exactly 17 socialists in the House of Representatives. according to the Birmingham News.
But he said he is worried that he is being steered too far by the Congress: "Some of the men and women I work with in Congress are socialists."
Asked to clarify his comments after the breakfast speech at the Trussville Civic Center, Bachus said 17 members of the U.S. House are socialists.
Searching the POLITICO style book and the official U.S. House listings, we don't see a category for socialists -- just a lot of Ds and Rs next to lawmaker names. And Bachus didn't name names of the socialist 17. He's being kind, I figure he's off by a factor of 10
When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef 860 miles.
Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff. He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaign trail last autumn.
'It's surreal, it's a huge honour,' said Mr Sommers, who owns Pi restaurant in St Louis. 'It will be a casual lunch and hopefully we'll have a chance to say hello to the president.'
Mr Somers was accompanied by this business parnter Ryan Mangilardo who will help prepare the dinner for 140 this evening. It will feature his signature dishes - ten deep dish and ten thin crust creations. He is also planning a pizza especially for the president - the Hyde Park topped with chicken and hot sauce.
That's enough abomination right there! Chicken and hot sauce? He's no Chicagoan! Send this clown Sommers home and bring in a dozen deep dish pies from Giordanos!
#5
Look prez. Stop spending money you don't have, get that Captain off of that lifeboat NOW, and stop it with your kingship with the 500 people you carry with you. You are really failing as a leader.
#6
Chicken and hot sauce? I had that at an all-you-can-eat CC's in State College. It wasn't bad, but once you start soaking that place's pizza in hot sauce, pretty much anything'll taste fine - it was like setting a flash-bang off in a pitch-dark room.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/10/2009 12:01
Comments ||
Top||
#7
Moving to a city without any good pizza joints (that I've been able to find) makes this almost understandable. I've been drooling for a Savoy pizza for mony months.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 12:40
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Remind anyone else of Clinton's traffic stopping haircut?
#11
Good for him. If I were President Id do the same damn thing. And if Michelle Malkin carped about it Id tell her to shut up, put on a short skirt and make sure everybodys beverage glass never got half empty. Sheesh!
#14
Good for him. If I were President Id do the same damn thing.
Not with my tax dollars, tyrant. This BS is for the President and his staff. There is a kitchen in the White House with a full time staff. Flying in cooks and their staff at tax payer expense used to get government officials in trouble. But if everyone is kissing your (_*_) you think you deserve it. But you don't.
Tyrant tyrant? Get a grip people. Its not like hes flying in a chef from France to prepare a 10-course gourmet meal. Its two guys coming from St. Louis to DC to cook fuckin pizzas. I guess it goes to show that childish whiney people arent just the Bush Haters.
#19
Geeze. And I used to make fun of Kimmie flying in sushi in from Japan. That's a bus ride compared to St. Louis - DC. But since making light of The One is forbidden, now I must exalt Kimmie in his exquisite taste in fresh fish. All hail B. O.! (and Kimmie too.)
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 16:38
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Think for a moment. Can't you see what he and his mutant staff are doing? This is brazen, sophmoric arrogance of the first order. They knew this would instantly light conservatives. That's why they did it. Simple in-your-face arrogance. Not a thought in the world about setting some kind of proper example. We won, we'll order the Pizza.
US Senator John McCain Friday backed a call by President Barack Obama, his former rival for the White House, for a planet free of nuclear weapons and this should start with North Korea and Iran. The Republican senator from Arizona was speaking in Japan on the last leg of an Asia tour, after Tokyo was angered by Pyongyang firing a rocket over its territory Sunday.
"Concerning President Obama's commitment to the removal of nuclear weapons from the Earth, I certainly support that ambitious goal," McCain told a Tokyo press conference. "We have two countries in the world that could destabilise both parts of the world -- the Iranians and the North Koreans. They both are on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them."
McCain reiterated a view held by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, saying the North Korean launch was "a direct violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and against the norms of decent behaviour as a citizen of the world."
He added that "Iranians risk a destabilisation of the entire Middle East as they continue on their path to acquire nuclear weapons."
While speaking out against regimes holding nuclear weapons, McCain voiced support for peaceful countries using nuclear power to shift away from carbon-based energy sources and to slow down climate change. "As the United States increases and accelerates our efforts for energy independence as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, I believe that nuclear power must play a major role," the senator said.
McCain, who serves on the Senate committees on armed services and energy, was travelling with fellow senators Lindsey Graham and Amy Klobuchar on an Asian tour that earlier took him to Hong Kong, Hanoi and Beijing.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
08:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Civilized is a much-misunderstood word, thanks to the rule of law crowd that is making our planet an increasingly dangerous place. Civilization is not an evolution of mankind but the imposition of human good on human evil. It is not a historical inevitability. It is a battle that has to be fought every day, because evil doesnt recede willingly before the wheels of progress.
There is nothing less civilized than rewarding evil and thus guaranteeing more of it. High-minded as it is commonly made to sound, it is not civilized to appease evil, to treat it with dignity and respect, to rationalize its root causes, to equivocate about whether evil really is evil, and, when all else fails, to ignore it to purge the very mention of its name in the vain hope that it will just go away. Evil doesnt do nuance. It finds you, it tests you, and you either fight it or youre part of the problem.
The men who founded our country and crafted our Constitution understood this. They understood that the rule of law was not a faux-civilized counterweight to the exhibition of might. Might, instead, is the firm underpinning of law and of our civilization. The Constitution explicitly recognized that the United States would have enemies; it provided Congress with the power to raise military forces that would fight them; it made the chief executive the commander-in-chief, concentrating in the presidency all the power the nation could muster to preserve itself by repelling evil. It did not regard evil as having a point of view, much less a right to counsel.
Thats not our position anymore. The scourge of piracy was virtually wiped out in 19th century because its practitioners were regarded as barbarians enemies of the human race (hostis humani generis, as Bret Stephens recently reminded us in a brilliant Wall Street Journal essay). They derived no comfort from the rule of law, for it was not a mark of civilization to give them comfort. The same is true of unlawful enemy combatants, terrorists who scoffed at the customs of civilized warfare. To regard them as mere criminals, to assume the duty of trying to understand why they would brutalize innocents, to arm them with rights against civilized society, was not civilized.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/10/2009
08:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Except for one thing: The Americans on the Alabama, like the Americans on Flight 93, didnt wait for the international community to send the pirates a strong letter. They saw evil, they took it on, and as a result they took their ship and their lives back. The president may not think the United States is a particularly exceptional country, but you can bet Islamic radicals on land and sea noticed that dealing with a U.S. crew is an exceptional experience. There remains something in the American character that wont slide so easily into the straitjacket.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/10/2009 18:15
Comments ||
Top||
MUMBAI: An Oman national, who was intercepted at the Sahar airport last year for carrying explosive substances inside the heels of two pairs of shoes, was convicted by a sessions court to five years' rigorous imprisonment on Wednesday. The court also levied a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused Ali Hadi Badar Nassar Mohammad (29).
According to the prosecution, Mohammad was to board a flight (WI 808) to Muscat on July 23, 2008, when officers at the baggage screening counter detected firecrackers in his luggage. The crackers were placed in a polythene bag. Air India security staff, who were screening the baggage, removed the polythene bag as it is illegal to carry explosive substances in an aircraft. However, an officer realised that the scanner detected more explosive substances than were found. He immediately informed the Sahar police who searched Mohammad's baggage thoroughly. They came across four shoes with unusually large heels. They were broken open to reveal 68 explosive substances including two sound crackers, small silver foil-coated bombs, anar and sutli bombs (firecrackers). Mohammad was booked under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Aircraft Act.
During interrogation, Mohammad told the police that he had first visited India in 1992. In 2000, he went to Thailand. Then, he came back to India in 2003 and again in 2006. In 2008, he travelled to five Indian cities in a span of 21 days. The officials found his movements suspicious. On July 22, he picked up a consignment of explosive substances from a person in Mumbai.
Mohammad told the police that two men in Muscat had asked him to bring the consignment. He added that he had travelled to different Indian cities for medical treatment but the police could not find any hospital records.
"We traced a trader in Chor Bazaar from whom Mohammad had purchased the shoes. A cobbler who concealed the explosive substances inside the shoe heels was also traced,'' Patil added.
The anti-terrorism squad also questioned Mohammad. A chargesheet was filed and the case was tried by the Sewri sessions court. Chemical analysis reports were produced as evidence.
Mohammad's counsel, Majeed Memon, said his client had a mental ailment and they would appeal in the HC. Memon added that the police were required to secure a special sanction from the district magistrate before filing a chargesheet which they did not do.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
08:07 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
This week I not only won a libel case in the High Court but a victory against religious fanaticism within Britain's Muslim community. Muslim Weekly, a conservative newspaper, had falsely accused me of belonging to a heterodox sect and therefore being a heretic. I was apparently less of a Muslim than the readers of that paper.
As the head of a progressive Muslim organisation in Britain that is dedicated to an enlightened, egalitarian and erudite Islam, I was victimised, like other forward-looking Muslims, by a campaign of classic McCarthyism. Just as Senator Joseph McCarthy ruined the lives of countless Americans during the 1950s when he and his committee smeared innocent people as communists, the Muslim hierarchy in Britain have used witchhunts to maintain their unquestioned theological power. Any Muslim freethinker is automatically branded as heretical or un-Islamic and excommunicated from the community - and debate is shut down.
I hope that my public vindication in the courts will embolden more progressives, dissenters and particularly thinking women to put their heads above the parapet and challenge the fundamentalist mullahs. Only then can we loosen the deadly grip of the self-appointed religious fraternity on what it is to be a Muslim in Britain.
Unfortunately, Islam in Britain has been taken over by the followers of a warped manifestation of the faith. The Muslim Council of Britain, the main Muslim newspapers and many of the big mosques are dominated by men who subscribe to a virulent and backward-looking brand of Islam that has been exported from the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.
We need a reformation that saves Islam from foreign-inspired zealots. That reformation is already under way, with Muslims going back to the pristine teaching of the transcendent Koran, not taking on trust the hadith (a compilation of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad recorded some 250 years after his death by non-Arabs) or the corpus of medieval man-made Sharia (religious law). But because this reformation is still in its infancy, the reactionary clergy and its supporters is doing everything to strangle it.
Most if not all the thorny problems of faith that British Muslims face today - whether it is apostasy, blasphemy, jihad, women's oppression, homosexuality, religious intolerance or the democratic deficit in and outside the community - can be traced either to fabricated hadith or the masculine-biased Sharia.
Although the Koran repeatedly declares that God's revelation is conclusive and sufficient guidance for Muslims and that there is no need for any supplementary legal authority in Islam, the traditional Muslim clergy defies this explicit divine assurance. They falsely convince their flock that they cannot be true believers without the hadith. They falsely assert that this source of Islam is at the heart of being a real Muslim. Most Muslims have been told that the hadith are the sacred authentic words of the Prophet, but the plethora of fictitious and forged hadith proves otherwise.
Granted, there may be some useful guidance in the thousands upon thousands of hadith but they need to pass a rigorous double test. First, they cannot contradict the Koran and, second, they must not defy reason and logic. Unfortunately, most Muslims have been programmed to regard hadith as sacrosanct teachings that cannot be challenged. This holds all Muslims hostage to the antiquated prejudices or distortions of the narrators and recorders of the prophetic traditions.
The rampant oppression of women in Muslim society does not stem from the Koran but is chiefly the product of misogynistic hadith. For example, a famous authentic hadith declares that there will be a preponderance of women in Hell. But the facts here on earth suggest otherwise - male criminality far exceeds that of females.
These anti-Koranic perspectives will continue to predominate in the British Muslim community as it becomes more directly tied to ultra-conservative and extremist sects - such as the Wahhabi, Deobandi, Jamati Islami and the Tabligh Jamaat. These ideological radicals propagate a highly toxic caricature of Islam. They regard creed and culture as indistinguishable, refusing to grasp that Islam is a global religion, not a faith that is linked to one particular people or place.
Although Muslims have their own specific territorial cultural traditions, there is no such thing as an Islamic culture. Therefore the modern trend among British Muslims blindly to emulate Arab ethnic dress or grow beards or for women to wear the Wahhabi-sanctioned niqab or face masks has nothing to do with the Koran but everything to do with the primitive tribal mores and sexist practices of Arabia.
The relentless importation of Wahhabi-influenced theology and tradition into the body politic of the Muslim community is mainly the result of two factors. First, the Saudis control Mecca and Medina, the centres of Islam. This gives the Wahhabi Saudis both a spurious legitimacy and a captive market to peddle their sectarian poison.
Second, with their petrodollars the Saudis can afford to export the most horrendous brand of Islam around the globe. Here in Britain, conservative mosques and madrassas receive funding from the despotic Saudis and in turn extol their nefarious interpretation of Islam.
It is essential therefore that all thinking Muslims resist this foreign theological imposition and create a British Islam that is not only faithful to the original uplifting teachings of the faith but one that is natural to and at home in modern British society.
Dr Taj Hargey is the chair of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and the Imam of the Summertown Islamic Congregation in Oxford
Wyatt Shev, The Examiner In 2003, radical historian Howard Zinn (not Thomas Jefferson) asserted that "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Apparently, that statement had an expiration date.
The Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party-people consider themselves a coherent and diverse network of Americans from every conceivable walk of life....In reality, their 'movement' is incredibly divisive, a mindset that stands in sharp contrast to Obama's calls for bipartisanship in this time of great national need. Their arguments have the potential to divide the country along titanic lines not seen since the bloody days of the Civil War.
Think I'm exaggerating here? The Tea Party movement is an incredibly dangerous concept, fuelled by the usual gushes of sycophantic support from the conservative news media (here's looking at you, Fox).... If the country continues down this dark path, a second Civil War might not just be a cool idea for a sci-fi novel anymore. Can you imagine the potential for chaos if some of these 'protesters' decide to exercise the Second Amendment and bring their weapons to these rallies? There's a thin line between peaceful protest and bloodthirsty patriotic fervor, especially if those protesting are used to being on the side of the mighty status quo.
I hope April 15th comes and goes without major incident. And I hope the protesters fail in their mission to bring their message to a national audience. It's a message of fear, prejudice and, quite frankly, hate.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/10/2009
05:52 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Please, oh merciful God, tell me that this is a parody...
#2
Rubbish of the first order. Bio of author Wyatt Shev.
Wyatt is an unabashed atheist who says he's doomed whether or not the world ends on December 21, 2012. But that doesn't stop him from taking a dark interest in all things apocalyptic. Join him as he explores the various signs that portend the End of Days
#6
a second Civil War might not just be a cool idea for a sci-fi novel anymore
A 'cool idea' huh? Tells a lot.
There's a thin line between peaceful protest and bloodthirsty patriotic fervor
Did he just say that not wanting to pay crushing taxes is patriotic?
It is my understanding that it is the leftists who show in dress, store urine bombs and buy out tasers, and leave a scene under a sheet of garbage are the one's who are out of control.
#7
Their arguments have the potential to divide the country along titanic lines not seen since the bloody days of the Civil War.
Yes, because THIS is the thing that will ignite the country. Not abortion, not evolution, not even Illegal Imigration. No, it's peaceful protests over TAXES that will doom us.
You can tell with Bush gone they are really reaching for the doom and gloom outside of the White House.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/10/2009 11:38
Comments ||
Top||
#8
Can you imagine the potential for chaos if some of these protesters decide to exercise the Second Amendment and bring their weapons to these rallies?
If nothing else these folks are transparent. Because of this guys vivid imagination of a potential for chaos he views constitutionally protected RIGHTS as a threat. Because after all the Second Amendment is synonymous with indiscriminate gun violence dontcha know.
#11
Revolution has to be just around the corneer...
Got a few years yet. IF the economy keeps sliding for years to the point where it puts a stop to the bailout and handout programs and causes massive job losses by not being able to retain all the people that are going to be hired for this stimulus programs, dumping them back into an economy with double digit jobless rates etc. Then maybe we're only a POTUS election or two away.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 12:58
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Hmm I need to proofread my own comments. That last one of mine looks like a stroke victim wrote it.
Meant to write about the rise in debt, which will have to be paid back.
#13
a second Civil War might not just be a cool idea for a sci-fi novel anymore
so who exactly is the armed american -- most likely a rebublican voter....sure would not want to be in a crowd of leftist -- communist - anarchist-- seditious - 5th element traitors when that shit hits the fan
Posted by: Dan ||
04/10/2009 15:48
Comments ||
Top||
#14
This looks to me as one of the first steps toward creating enough turmoil that His Royal Highness can be declared PREMIER (Or whatever word the public will swallow,) but means "Dictator"0 FOR OUR OWN GOOD. (Of course)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/10/2009 15:51
Comments ||
Top||
#15
It's been a long time since I read several of the Left Behind novels, but this guy could easily be the 'World Leader' instituting the universal currency and One World concept, who turns out to be ... well, sort of this AntiChrist-like figure, who - well, he gets killed and comes back to life.
I hope I don't get "Left Behind".
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/10/2009 18:09
Comments ||
Top||
#16
This guy - meaning The Annointed One, not the author of the tripe above...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/10/2009 18:10
Comments ||
Top||
Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.
Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.
Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.
There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.
The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism
It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a free-market economy attracts substantially more support than capitalism may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.
Other survey data supports that notion. Rather than seeing large corporations as committed to free markets, two-out-of-three Americans believe that big government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.
Fifteen percent (15%) of Americans say they prefer a government-managed economy, similar to the 20% support for socialism. Just 14% believe the federal government would do a better job running auto companies, and even fewer believe government would do a better job running financial firms.
Most Americans today hold views that can generally be defined as populist while only seven percent (7%) share the elitist views of the Political Class.
#1
Since they haven't taught the true differences between Capitalism and Socialism since the late 60's in public schools, and Socialism is actively promoted in most University systems, this is no surprise.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/10/2009 8:05
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm going to introduce a new term post-American
#6
Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided.
In other words, over 60% of those surveyed believe they dont or never will have a skin in the game. The good news is fear and self-interest has an ironic way of changing those beliefs
#9
Yet "70% of U.S. voters say a free market is better than one managed by the government." directly contradicting the premise of this article. All it says to many people get their news Entertainment Tonight. LOOK everyone! Britney is flashing her yaya!
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 16:46
Comments ||
Top||
#10
Lest we fergit, 1990's CLINTONISM/PCSpeak > "CAPITALISM" is merely De-REGULATED, LIMITED, ERROR-PRONE SOCIALISM-GOVTISM, NOW "GLOBALISM" [OWG-NWO].
The story of Sheikh Salman al-Awda and his transformation from arch critic of the House of Saud and hero of Osama Bin Laden to something approaching what might, by Saudi standards, be considered moderate is one that intrigues many in the kingdom.
Saudis speak of two al-Awdas -- pre-prison and post-prison. Born in Buraida, a town deep in Saudi Arabia's conservative heartland, al-Awda became a key figure in al Sahwa -- Arabic for awakening -- a revivalist movement which called for the reasserting of purist Wahhabi traditions.
In the mid-1990s al-Awda was jailed after he and a number of other clerics denounced the Saudi regime for drifting from the principles of Islam and agreeing to the presence of American troops in the kingdom. His fiery condemnation of the al-Sauds and exhortations to jihad earned him the admiration of Bin Laden, who praised him for "enlightening" Muslim youth. In the first World Trade Centre bombing trial, al-Awda was identified as a spiritual adviser to Bin Laden.
But he came out of prison a changed man. "You would think he spent his sentence in a western culture. His whole ideology took a 180-degree turn," as one Saudi blogger put it. In an interview with The Irish Times during his visit to Ireland this week, al-Awda welcomed the recent appointment of Saudi Arabia's first woman deputy minister, hailing it a "wise decision"; decried those who flock to Afghanistan and Iraq for jihad; and said the kingdom's ban on women driving had nothing to do with Islam.
The Saudi cleric was in Dublin this week for a series of talks and lectures at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland based in Clonskeagh. It was his second trip to Ireland. The first, in October 2007, proved controversial after the imam of Ireland's only Shia mosque raised concerns over an article al-Awda had written for a Saudi newspaper describing Shias as "non-Muslims". Al-Awda denies he used such terminology. "There is a serious difference between Sunni and Shia and we should not deceive each other about that," he says. "But, despite these differences, all the time I warn against clashes. I believe there can be good relations between the two." He bats away the suggestion that he was something of a hero for Bin Laden. "I consider it a rumour," he says.
In September 2007 al-Awda caused a sensation across the Muslim world when he chose the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to broadcast an open letter to Bin Laden in which he railed against al-Qaeda, accusing it of "making terror a synonym for Islam". "My brother Osama, how much blood has been spilt?" the letter said. "How many innocent people, women, children and the elderly have been killed or displaced in the name of al-Qaeda? Will you be happy to meet God Almighty carrying the burden of these hundreds of thousands or millions on your back?"
Asked to give an example of what he considers a justifiable jihad, al-Awda replies: "Palestine -- the Palestinians are defending themselves and this is jihad."
What about Afghanistan and Iraq -- what would he say to a young Saudi eager to follow the thousands of others who have travelled there for jihad? "I would tell him not to go. Even if he wanted to go to Palestine I would say no. We do not support young Muslims leaving their countries for fighting right now. If they go to another country, they are causing harm to themselves and to the country. They will cause nothing but chaos." It appears al-Awda has changed his mind on Iraq. In 2004 he and 25 other Saudi clerics declared that fighting US troops there was a religious duty.
Most recently he caused controversy in Saudi Arabia when he declared there was nothing wrong with celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, drawing the ire of those within the kingdom's religious establishment who consider the practice unIslamic. Al-Awda smiles when asked his view on Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. "This is not an Islamic rule. You will see women driving in other Muslim countries. It is merely a social decision in Saudi Arabia," he says. "If the ban is removed I would see that as a positive thing provided it is done in a way that is socially accepted."
He is concerned about the fate of young Saudis, as they struggle to balance their experience of modernity with life in what remains a deeply conservative society. "In time they will hopefully find ways of reaching reconciliation with what they have been brought up with and what they are facing from outside."
Asked about his own evolution, al-Awda becomes circumspect. "Man should know that he is in need of being flexible enough to learn from others. He should not be very fanatic with regard to his views, and he should not only listen to himself. And he should also sometimes learn from his opponents."
The first Canadian found guilty under Ottawa's anti-terror law is appealing his conviction, Canadian media said Thursday.
Momin Khawaja, a 29-year-old Canadian of Pakistani origin, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison last month for participating in a foiled plot to attack several sites in the United Kingdom. He is eligible for parole five years into his prison term. The plot included attacks on a nightclub, a shopping center and electrical and gas facilities.
The software developer's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, filed a notice of appeal with Ontario's Court of Appeal, arguing that Khawaja's sentence was excessive, CBC public television reported. In his filing, Greenspon said the sentence was too harsh because the judge had indicated in his ruling that authorities were unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Khawaja was aware of the specific details of the plot planned by a British terror group, according to CBC.
During the trial, the defense had argued that Khawaja wanted to participate in jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan but had never intended to collaborate in terror attacks in Britain. Five of Khawaja's suspected accomplices were found guilty and sentenced to long prison terms in April 2007 in Britain.
Aides and family are on the list to attend the dinner, a follow-up to last year's Seder. But Jewish leaders in the Washington area wonder where their invitations are.
President Obama broke new ground Thursday by personally hosting a White House Seder dinner for the Jewish holiday of Passover. But by limiting invitees to an exclusive group of staffers and family, he apparently irritated some constituents.
When the White House announced the Seder, Jewish leaders from the Washington area began calling wondering where their invitations were, according to White House e-mails accidentally distributed to the press. "Apparently Jewish [residents] here and in neighboring states are now calling wondering why they have not been invited," one staffer wrote, asking to take the event off the public schedule. The White House, which kept the dinner on the schedule because it had been announced, would not say who had sought invitations.
First Lady Michelle Obama's Jewish cousin, Rabbi Capers Funnye of Chicago, thought that though Seders are traditionally held in the spirit of inclusiveness, it might be a bit much to host all those seeking to celebrate at the White House. "I would hope that there would be a sense of understanding that . . . also, Seder is about family," said Funnye, a convert to Judaism, who was not at the White House. "I think you would certainly have to limit it. . . . You want to be inclusive, but you also want to be prudent in being inclusive as well."
Most of those invited had also attended a Seder dinner last year on the campaign trail in Harrisburg, Pa. When campaign workers couldn't get home to celebrate the holiday with their families, they organized a celebration in the Sheraton Hotel's basement. Jewish tradition at a Seder is to say "next year, in Jerusalem," but according to Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the attendees set their sights instead on the White House. Both Seder dinners were planned by Eric Lesser, aide of senior advisor David Axelrod, Gibbs said. Two of the highest-profile Jewish members of the administration did not plan on attending this year's Seder: Axelrod and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The event was lauded by at least one Jewish group, the National Jewish Democratic Council. "By hosting the first presidential Seder in America's history, President Barack Obama shows the personal and deep relationship he has with the Jewish community," Deputy Executive Director Alexis C. Rice told the Associated Press. "There is no question, Obama is a true friend of the Jewish community."
#1
Jewish tradition at a Seder is to say "next year, in Jerusalem," but according to Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the attendees set their sights instead on the White House.
If I was Jewish I would be insulted. This is a selfish perversion of their holiday.
The CIA has stopped using contractors to interrogate prisoners and fired private security guards at the CIA's now-shuttered secret overseas prisons, agency Director Leon Panetta said Thursday.
Panetta told agency employees in an e-mail message that the guards will be replaced with CIA officers at the sites, which President Barack Obama ordered closed on his second day in office.
Terminating the private security guards who watched over the secret sites would save the agency $4 million, Panetta said. The CIA refused to provide details about the contract, including its total value and the company or companies that were fired.
The secret prisons are now empty, Panetta said, and the agency has not taken any new prisoners since he became director in February.
The CIA is now preparing plans for the prisons to be permanently shut down. An intelligence official said the facilities have to be cleaned of any potentially sensitive materials before they can be closed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the process of shutting down the secret sites.
The CIA, however, still has the authority to hold and interrogate prisoners for short periods. Panetta said they will be interrogated by agency employees, not private contractors, and then quickly handed over to the U.S. military, or to their home countries or countries that have legal claims on them.
Between 2002 and 2006, the CIA held and interrogated fewer than 100 prisoners, former CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress last year. It used harsh interrogation methods on about a third of them. Three prisoners were subjected to waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009
01:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The secret prisons are now empty, Panetta said, and the agency has not taken any new prisoners since he became director in February.
Certainly add an entirely new dimension to the therm "we ain't taking any prisoners." Fits right in to the administration's Cum Bi Ya strategy. The enemy should see this as very good news.
OK, I am taking the liberty of sharing a post my brother made on his blog, but apparently it made Hugh Hewitt and Mark Steyn laugh (I almost always try to listen when he appears on Thursday, but naturally I forgot all about it yesterday. I guess I'll have to get myself a podcast.) Biased as I may be, I do think that his image of Obama as buccaneer, at the link, turned out pretty well.
After maintaining his silence for two days, President Obama will soon make his first public statement about the pirate attack upon an U.S.-flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa. After several inquiries and a few well-placed bribes, Exurban League has received an early transcript of the President's remarks:
Good evening. As you know, early yesterday, Somali-based pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama, a freighter carrying relief supplies to Kenya. While we do not yet know all the details, the Alabama's crew re-took control of the vessel and forced the pirates off the ship.
Since the pirates are still holding the captain, I have sent FBI negotiators to facilitate his safe and speedy release. I assure his friends and family that I will not stop until this man-made disaster is resolved in a peaceful, tolerant and ecologically-sound manner.
Obviously, this incident has raised many concerns among Americans. There have been calls for justice and even violence against the misguided perpetrators. But such an emotional reaction has led to the disparagement of entire groups with which we are unfamiliar. We have seen this throughout history.
For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.
The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.
Some of us wonder if our current Overseas Contingency Operation would even be needed had the last administration not been so quick to label Pirates as "thieves," "terrorists" and worse. Such swashbucklaphobia can lead to tragic results, as we have seen this week.
To address this issue, I have instructed Vice President Joe Biden to create a cabinet-level Czar of Pirate Outreach and Buccaneer Interrelation. In addition, June 1-7 has been designated as Pirate Awareness Week, during which all federal buildings will fly the Jolly Roger and sponsor sensitivity training. Thankfully, my American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will fund free grog and hard tack for all attendees.
Finally, to all pirates listening to international broadcasts, shortwave services and ship-to-shore radio, let me say this:
Ahoy, me regret arr relationship has set sail in a scurvy manner. Arr people share many mutual 'alues and concerns on t' raging main. Perchance, could ye handsomely release the cap'n o' the ship and I assure that no harm will come t' ye or ye hearties. Let us smite t' reset button and launch our seabond on a new pegleg. Savvy? Godspeed t' ye and t' ye beauties. Aye, me parrot concurs.
Posted by: Barry Obama ||
04/10/2009 9:55
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The White Huse needs to create an Inter-Pirate Out-reach program to show that we are not against all pirates, just the ones who take Americans hostage.
#12
I have a new line for Talk Like a Pirate Day:
"Thanks for the two mil, President Obama!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2009 18:59
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Janet Napolitano:_"OK, you Rantburgers, they are not pirates! We consulted with experts and learned it's best not to offend them. Hence, from how on they will be referred to as: Would-be Wall Street Bankers who didn't get chance to go to Harvard or Wharton and chose a short-cut to wealth at the expense of shipping magnates".
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
04/10/2009 20:55
Comments ||
Top||
#14
I nominate Ace for Pirate Czar.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2009 21:04
Comments ||
Top||
#15
Is he circumcised? He could be an Indian spy!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2009 21:09
Comments ||
Top||
#16
He's not circumcised, dang!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2009 21:13
Comments ||
Top||
#17
Ace might argue with that "dang," Deacon. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2009 21:16
Comments ||
Top||
#18
Could be hiding out from the glue factory scouts.
#19
Ace is a proud Warhorse who will charge an Artillery battery, Infantry line, or Cavalry line. If I get killed, he starts eating. He ate my outline once during a long fight.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2009 21:28
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Whahahahah... looks like a very good friend DB.
I'll put this under "Arabia" since the author says it's (mostly) their fault.
AT the recent meeting of G-20 nations in London, officials from many nations agreed on one thing -- that the United States is to blame for the world recession. President Obama agreed, speaking in Strasbourg of "the reckless speculation of bankers that has now fueled a global economic downturn."
One problem with this blame-game is that last year's recession was much deeper in many European and Asian countries than it was in the United States.
By the fourth quarter of 2008, as the nearby table shows, real US gross domestic product was just 0.8 percent smaller than it had been a year earlier. The contraction was twice as deep in Germany and Britain and much worse in Japan and Sweden. In February, US industrial production was 11.8 percent lower than a year before -- while Singapore was down by 22.4 percent, Sweden by 22.9 percent and Japan by 38.4 percent.
What was the mechanism by which US problems were supposedly spread to other countries? It wasn't international trade. The dollar value of US imports didn't start to fall until August 2008, and imports of consumer goods didn't fall until September -- many months after Japan and Europe fell into recession.
Indeed, most of the economies that fell first and fastest were not heavily dependent on exports to the United States. Even Japan accounted for just 6.6 percent of US merchandise imports last year, compared with 15.9 percent for both Canada and China -- whose economies fared relatively well.
Even if all of the weakest European and Asian economies could plausibly blame all their troubles on the relatively stronger US economy, how could anyone possibly blame banks? There were no bank failures last year in Japan, Sweden, Canada or any other country on this list except Britain. And US and British banks didn't fail until September-October -- at least nine months after the Japanese and European recessions began
What did all the contracting economies have in common? Not all had housing booms -- certainly not Canada, Japan, Sweden or the other countries at the bottom of the economic-growth list.
What really triggered this recession should be obvious, since the same thing happened before every other postwar US recession save one (1960).
In 1983, economist James Hamilton of the University of California at San Diego showed that "all but one of the US recessions since World War Two have been preceded, typically with a lag of around three-fourths of a year, by a dramatic increase in the price of crude petroleum." The years 1946 to 2007 saw 10 dramatic spikes in the price of oil -- each of which was soon followed by recession.
In The Financial Times on Jan. 3, 2008, I therefore suggested, "The US economy is likely to slip into recession because of higher energy costs alone, regardless of what the Fed does."
In a new paper at cato.org, "Financial Crisis and Public Policy," Jagadeesh Gokhale notes that the prolonged decline in exurban housing construction that began in early 2006 was a logical response to rising prices of oil and gasoline at that time. So was the equally prolonged decline in sales of gas-guzzling vehicles. And the US/UK financial crises in the fall of 2008 were likewise as much a consequence of recession as the cause: Recessions turn good loans into bad.
The recession began in late 2007 or early 2008 in many countries, with the United States one of the least affected. Countries with the deepest recessions have no believable connection to US housing or banking problems.
The truth is much simpler: There is no way the oil-importing economies could have kept humming along with oil prices of $100 a barrel, much less $145. Like nearly every other recession of the postwar period, this one was triggered by a literally unbearable increase in the price of oil. Duh.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2009
00:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At least one part of the US economy is already getting healthier. February's trade deficit shrunk even as oil prices rose. US trade deficits:
Feb 2009: $26.0 billion
Jan 2009: $36.9 billion
Jan 2008: $58.2 billion Trade graph
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 0:43
Comments ||
Top||
#2
An anecdote for what it's worth - I have a friend who is a real estate agent, who told me that sales fell off a cliff in 2006 in her area, which is one of the highest income counties in the US (Loudoun VA).
#3
There are many guilty parties. One that gets the usual pass is the destructive nature of socialist laws and economies that drove so many investment dollars out of Europe and into America. It help create an environment that resulted in a 'single point of failure' situation. Notice how much of the AIG bailout went back to European banks. Why were they so heavily invested and exposed in the American market. One is that they can not get a reasonable return in their home environment and two that the US market had more of a guarantee [which the bailouts reaffirmed] than investments in China. Bad economics [investment downturns] at home drove the money towards other venues. Had more money stayed home, the resources to fuel property speculation in the US would have not been available at the level it was and the impact of one major point would have been distributed across a larger field of markets lessening the overall effect.
#4
Pretty basic. The cost of energy (oil & gas in this case) affects the cost of everything. When the consumer (all those blue collar workers everyone ignores but need to buy their products) have a relatively fixed income and their cost for energy goes up drastically something has to give. When the price of homes are tremendously over inflated for the market as well the bubble bursts even more dramatically.
On this day in history: April 10th
1912 The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England for her first and only voyage. (Global Warming the cause)
1916 The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
1919 Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
1933 New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps is created.
1963 129 Sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea. (Global Warming)
1970 Paul McCartney announces the break up of The Beatles. (Global Warming)
1972 For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
#5
http://www.lancerregister.com/member.php?u=132669 ODDITY SEXUAL, YS0F0E, http://forums.hostrocket.com/member.php?u=44104 AMATEUR CAMERA HIDDEN SEX, PAHO60, http://www.worldofraids.com/forums/member.php?u=39225 ASIAN SEX WIFE, cBb2E9, http://forum.xnxx.com/member.php?u=297404 TRACI LORD SEX GALLERY, RQhBkJ, http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/member.php?u=133971 BUSTY HOT SEXY, Ingvdw, http://forums.hostrocket.com/member.php?u=44105 LATEX SEX GALLERIES, HKrecc, http://forum.xnxx.com/member.php?u=297388 JENIFER ANISTON BRAD, 3noyqt, http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/member.php?u=133868 EVE FREE SEX TAPE WATCH, kNE2rs,
KABUL - The US military said Thursday it was investigating Afghan allegations that its troops killed four civilians in an overnight raid, including a woman school teacher and two of her children. The military had issued a statement saying that four militants, including a woman combatant, were killed in an operation in Khost province targeting an extremist Islamic militant. Three more people were arrested, it said.
But the Afghan education ministry later identified the dead as a high-school teacher, her young daughter, a teenage son and a relative. The ministry said in a statement it was deeply moved by the incident.
Khost government spokesman Kochai Naseri said five innocent civilians had been killed, including two men, two females and a teenage student. He accused international troops of not consulting Afghan officials in conducting the operation, contravening regulations.
The US military said it was investigating the incident, which occurred three kilometres (two miles) south of Khost city. Coalition forces are aware of the allegation of non-combatant casualties in Khost district, Khost province, and are conducting a joint investigation, it said in a statement.
The force said earlier that the raid targeted a militant linked to the radical Haqqani network and the Islamic Jihad Union, both associated with Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Woman teacher? Is the Taliban pissed we beat them to it?
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday reiterated the governments commitment to eliminate terrorism and renewed his offer of dialogue to those who laid down arms.
Addressing a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), he warned that the government would strictly deal with those who tried to challenge its writ. The prime minister said the government was working on a three-pronged strategy of corrosion dialogue, corruption deterrence and capitulation development to counter terrorism.
He said the country was facing external and internal threats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government inherited a fragile situation fraught with challenges of terrorism, economic weakness, political instability and energy crunch.
Gilani said the elimination of terrorists and terrorism was the governments priority.
Right up there with developing the country ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
JAKARTA - Indonesias president said he would seek coalition partners after early results from elections on Thursday showed his party ahead but not by as much as expected, jeopardising the chance of sweeping reform.
A quick count of votes gave the Democrat Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a reform-minded former general who has won praise for his solid leadership of Indonesia, about one fifth of the parliamentary vote. That means his party will have to rely on coalition partners in parliament, reducing the prospects for major economic reforms in Southeast Asias biggest economy, analysts said.
We offer a partnership in the next government and of course a healthy, more healthy, relationship between the government and parliament, Yudhoyono told a news conference at his home in Bogor, near the capital Jakarta. A lot more can be achieved in the next five years.
The Democrats, which have led in most opinion polls, were ahead of PDI-P with about 15 percent and Golkar with 14 percent, based on about 90 percent of the quick count vote sample by the widely followed polling agency LSI. Official results are not expected for days, but they are not likely to differ much.
Yudhoyono, 59, is expected to win a second term in the more important presidential election on July 8.
But political parties will now start talking to possible coalition partners for parliamentwhere reforms can be stifledand Yudhoyonos choice of ally or allies will determine the extent to which he can improve the judiciary and the civil service as well as clamp down on endemic corruption. Yudhoyono could either continue with his current coalition partner Golkar, the long-time political vehicle for Suharto, the countrys late autocratic ruler, or turn to one or two of the small Islamic parties instead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The rocket launched by North Korea last Sunday was made using the technology of the Long March-1 rocket China fired in the 1970s.
Couldn't get a more recent set of plans ...
After looking at video footage of the rocket launch released by AP on Tuesday, Chae Yeon-seok, a former president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said, the external appearance of the rocket shows that the North must have used technology of the Chinese rocket to make it.
The assembly method also seems to be Chinese. "The North set the first-stage booster rocket up vertically first, and then put the second and third-stage rockets on one by one. This assembly method is often used in China and backs up speculation that North Korea has borrowed the technology," Dr. Roh Woong-rae of KARI said. "You could see gas gushing out from the upper part of the first-stage booster rocket immediately after the rocket was launched, which is a characteristic of a rocket that uses liquid nitric acid as fuel." He added this corroborates a long-held speculation.
Asked if they believe the rocket was capable of carrying a satellite, experts said it seemed it had enough room in its upper part to carry a satellite.
The difference between the last two launches is that North Korea did not release a video clip of its abortive 2006 missile test, when the rocket flew for 42 seconds and exploded. This time, it released a five-second video. "Despite another failure, North Korea has been telling its people that the launch was a success," Chae said. "It seems the North is trying to mislead the public by at least releasing the video clip of the first few seconds."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
See also WORLD MILITARY FORUM > US ACCUSES CHINA OF HELPING IRAN, NORTH KOREA DEVELOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
ARTIC = Officially, its merely "NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY/-GIES" [read. ENERGY]; Unofficially covertly its SSSSSSSSHHHHHHH NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND LR MISSLES???
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for hearings on the mounting piracy threat as the fate of an American cargo-ship captain remained in limbo Thursday.
"These acts of piracy off of Somalia's coastline may seem surreal, but they're all too real and a thorough policy debate is long overdue," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in a statement. "When Americans, including at least one from Massachusetts, are endangered, you've got a complicated and dangerous international situation brewing, and that includes questions about a hot-pursuit policy on Somalia's coastline." Hey, Dickweed. We don't need hearings, we need ACTION. It's not complicated at all. Jeebus what a pompous ass.
The 20-member crew of the Maersk Alabama, which was carrying food from the World Food Program and the United States Agency for International Development to Kenya, managed to wrest control of the ship from the pirates after the Wednesday hijacking, but the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, was taken by pirates into a lifeboat that was drifting near the Alabama and the USS Bainbridge guided missile destoyer, which had arrived on scene to aid the ship.
"There have been more than 50 attacks in the area this year alone and the problem isn't going away," Kerry said. "I plan to hold hearings to further examine the growing threat of piracy and all the policy options that need to be on the table before the next fire drill becomes an international incident with big implications." I am soooo glad this windbag wasn't elected President.
Vice President Biden was less forthcoming about the unfolding drama when asked at an economic recovery meeting Thursday what the U.S. was going to do about the pirates. "This is being worked on around the clock since this happened, and — but I'm not in a position, right now, to comment on it," Biden said as pool reporters were shown the door. Nobody tol'me nutin'!
The Defense Department was similarly hushed Thursday. "There's intense interest in this, and I appreciate that, but I must ask that you appreciate the fact that this is an ongoing and unfolding situation," Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters at the Pentagon. "For those reasons, I will not talk in any detail of what the military aspect of this may or may not be."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I can see an exclusive luncheon or three, perhaps a conference in Paris and another in Jakarta or some other exotic far-from-the-facts location. Invite Ban and some of the U.N. Regulars....
#5
Kerry said. "I plan [Stall] to hold hearings [Organized Stall] to further examine [Extended Stall] the growing threat of piracy and all the policy options [Ambiguous Stall] that need to be on the table [Diplo-speak Stall] before the next fire drill [Idiom Stall] becomes an international incident with big implications."
With talent like that Kerry must have been just pissed when Hillary was named Sec.of State.
#6
Never miss the chance to grandstand, Jawnny...
Ya think maybe if them pirates had gotten an education, they wouldn't have ended up stuck on a lifeboat in the middle of the Indian Ocean?
A desperate search was under way last night for the terrorist bomb factory from which a suspected al-Qaeda cell planned to launch a devastating attack in Manchester.
Hours after Britains most senior counter-terrorism officer resigned in disgrace, police operations were concentrating on a rundown block of flats east of Liverpool city centre. The block was cordoned off and large quantities of material were seized for examination. People were evacuated from the area around the flats, which had been rented out by a private landlord to foreign students.
A dozen men are being questioned after raids that had to be rushed forward after Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, the countrys most senior anti-terrorism officer, inadvertently disclosed details of the police plans. Ten of the 12 men arrested on Wednesday were Pakistani nationals who entered Britain on student visas.
All were from the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, the heartland of al-Qaeda and mujahidin activity. They appear to have exploited a visa regime described by a minister last week as the major loophole in Britains border controls.
Any thoughts of, you know, closing the loophole?
Security sources are alarmed that terrorists may have exploited weaknesses in the vetting of student visa applicants to plant sleeper cells here.
Gordon Brown said that the police and intelligence services had thwarted a very big plot. He added that he would be raising his concerns with President Zardari of Pakistan.
For all the good that'll do ...
The alleged Manchester plot represents a significant shift in tactics by terror groups based in Pakistan who view Britain as a prime target. Between 2002 and 2006 their emphasis was on training young Britons. But if these plot allegations are proven, they suggest that planners are now exporting operatives here.
This weeks suspects had been under covert surveillance for a month and preparations for the swoop were already advanced before Mr Quick allowed crucial documents to be photographed as he went to brief the Prime Minister. The suspects were allegedly seen filming in central Manchester and intelligence services had intercepted chatter suggesting that an attack could occur as early as this weekend.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
AMMAN - Jordans King Abdullah II pressed on Britain the need for serious negotiations between the new Israeli government and the Palestinians over a two-state solution on Thursday, in a meeting with the British Foreign Secretary.
Even though the Paleos don't support a two-state solution ...
David Miliband, speaking at a joint press conference following the meeting, expressed Britains concerns at Israeli plans to demolish scores of houses in East Jerusalem, leaving around 1,500 Palestinians homeless. It was Milibands first trip to Amman as foreign secretary, where he also met Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, in talks which also took in the global financial crisis.
The monarch discussed with Miliband efforts being exerted with a view to launch serious negotiations to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution, a royal court statement said. King Abdullah underscored the importance of the role of Europe and the world community in pushing forward the peace talks between the Palestinian and Israeli sides towards the establishment of just peace based on relevant UN resolutions and the Arab peace initiative, it added.
"And I don't want them back!"
King Abdullahs remarks reflected concerns on the part of the Jordanian leadership as to the future of the Arab-Israeli peace process after the new right-wing Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to unequivocally support the two-state formula.
Jordanians have been also worried by reports from Israel about plans backed by the new cabinet to speed up the building of settlements in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day war along with the rest of the West Bank.
Miliband expressed his countrys worries over plans by the new Israeli government to demolish scores of Palestinian homes in an East Jerusalem suburb and turn about 1,500 Palestinians homeless. We view with real concern the proposed demolition in East Jerusalem, the British Foreign Secretary said at a press conference he jointly addressed with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh. Jerusalem should be the capital of the Palestinians and Israel, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Jordan and Britain stress two-state solution in talks
Jordan the Palestinian state & Britain the Pakistani state?
LAHORE: The Taliban agreed to leave Buner district unconditionally after successful talks with a peace jirga in Mingora on Thursday. Malakand Commissioner Syed Muhammad Javed told a private TV channel the Taliban had agreed to leave Buner and would completely vacate the area by Friday (today). He said the Taliban had made no demands for vacating the area.
They'll be back ...
Earlier, the local jirga held talks with the Taliban under the supervision of the commissioner. Javed said Maulana Waliullah mediated between the jirga members and Taliban. He said people of the area were satisfied with the result of the dialogue and were happy the Taliban were leaving Buner.
During the jirga, its members had offered the top Taliban leadership in Swat a peace deal and apology to end the standoff resulting from villagers executing 20 Taliban last week, elders told Daily Times. Waliullah confirmed the jirga members unconditional apology to the Taliban. We want peaceful settlement of the Taliban presence in Buner, he said.
"Please don't kill us!"
A group of Swat Taliban moved into Buner last week. However, local villagers resisted them, engaging the heavily armed Taliban and killing 20 of them.
Whatever has happened was a mistake on the part of some people and all us jirga members regret the incident, the statement, quoting the Buner jirga members, stated.
I dunno, whacking 20 Talibunnies should give you confidence ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[16 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hi. The Pakistan official is lying. Buner is as good as fallen to the Taliban - Bill Roggio (Long War Journal) even colored it red a while ago (he relies on CENTCOM). Mandeep Bajwa of Orbat.com says the Pakistan Army has already made clear they're not going to fight for Buner. If you read between the lines, the Buner people have begged forgiveness of the Talibans for resisting them. Taliban came in peace only to discuss imposition of Sharia, say the Taliban. This is another lie: they never come in peace, they are not going to withdraw. They've soften up the locals through fear, and they'll be back in force very shortly on the pretext of "you're not doing the sharia thing properly" or "You havent made reparations for our men you killed", or "you're working with the Pakistan government". This is their SOP and how they've taken over darn nearly the whole NWFP. Its very serious.
Posted by: Ravi ||
04/10/2009 23:03
Comments ||
Top||
LONDON - Somali pirates first seizure of U.S. citizens signals an entirely justified confidence in their ability to keep outwitting the allied naval forces deployed against them. Whatever the outcome of their brief capture of the U.S. freighter Maersk Alabama, an event that puts Somalia higher up Washingtons security agenda, factors including poverty and the seas vastness mean the gangs bold ambition is understandable.
Can you make the high seas secure? No, you cant, said Jim Wilson of Lloyds Register-Fairplay, a provider of information to the maritime industry. Warships cannot be everywhere.
U.S. Horn of Africa scholar David Shinn, in a paper written days before the incident, said: All the worlds naval forces do not have enough available ships to protect the 20,000 vessels that pass through the Gulf of Aden annually and the wider 2.5 million square miles of ocean where Somali pirate attacks occurred in recent years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not received any credible intelligence report about the presence of Al Qaeda leadership inside its borders, Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Abdul Basit said on Thursday.
We have not come across any authentic intelligence which would indicate that Al Qaeda leadership is in Pakistan, and we do not attach importance to speculations, Basit said in a weekly briefing.
Looked in the closet and found nothing more than an old bowling ball ...
He said the United States drone attacks might have achieved certain tactical gains but they were largely counterproductive and in violation of Pakistans sovereignty. We cannot condone these attacks, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So all those alqaeda killed in drone attacks and those hard boyz arrested in the cities eg.KSM etc was a figment of our imagination.
Next they will be telling us no Taliban in Quetta....oh wait!
Leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday warned at a protest rally that the government will be responsible for any untoward situation in the country if it does not cancel the decision of cabinet meeting.
It may be mentioned here that the government has decided on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting that it will request the cantonment board to cancel Khaleda Zia's cantonment residence.
She finally has a reason to cry ...
BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said, "We do hope that the government will rethink the cabinet decision otherwise it will be responsible for any untoward situation in the country. Do not try to harass Begum Zia mentally or any other way. The people of the country will not accept it," he was speaking at a protest rally organized by BNP in front of Nayapaltan Party office yesterday.
He said the government has started politics with a settled issue avoiding national issues. "The government has failed to run the country within three months. People are vexed with oppressions of AL leaders and activists. We are requesting the government not to interfere with law," he said, adding "that the decision is the outcome of vindictive politics and I feel shame when I thing of that narrow minded decision.
Standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharref Hossain said, "The cantonment board handed over the residence to Begum Khaleda Zia in a legal process. The cantonment board can cancel the lease of Khaleda's residence not the government."
He urged the government for withdrawing the illegal decision otherwise the opposition would go for tougher movement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
An al-Qaeda cell was days away from carrying out an "Easter spectacular" of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on shopping centres in Manchester, police believe.
Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend. Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann's Square.
All but one of the men arrested were Pakistani nationals who came to Britain on student visas. This suggested a possible new tactic by al-Qaeda, which had previously used British-based extremists who travelled to Pakistan for training.
The issue of student visas represents a potential security nightmare for the police and MI5. There are 330,000 foreign students in Britain and around 10,000 such visas are issued every year to Pakistanis alone.
Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, has described the student visa system as "the major loophole in Britain's border controls".
Several of the suspects who were being questioned last night, were from the al-Qaeda heartlands in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan.
Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester, said police had been forced to act to protect the public. Asked about al-Qaeda involvement, he added: "We know what is the nature of the threat to this country and where it comes from."
But he sought to reassure shoppers, and added: "I would like to say I would have no hesitation, or any of my family, in using any of those locations that have been mentioned."
The security services suspect that several of the men arrested were trained at religious schools in Pakistan and sent to launch suicide attacks on the West. They were suspected to have chosen Easter as the most significant Christian holiday for an attack.
Police believe the suspects may have smuggled bomb-making equipment into the country and were ready to launch their attacks. Yesterday, searches focused on a property in Highgate Street, Liverpool, although nothing "significant" had yet been found.
Sources said police had arrested the man they suspected was the ring-leader, Abid Naseer, 22, at an address in Galsworthy Avenue in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. He is said to be from the tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban and al-Qaeda have established their base.
The alleged members of the cell had signed up for a range of student courses, while two were employed as security guards at a new Homebase store in Clitheroe, Lancs.
Among the locations raided on Wednesday afternoon was the Cyber Net Café in Cheetham Hill, where it is thought the men communicated using emails. Security sources suspect they received their instructions from al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan.
The leader of the Pakistan Taliban is Baitullah Mehsud, who last week claimed responsibility for an attack on a police compound in Lahore and promised to attack the West. At least one of the arrested men is from Mehsud's heartland of South Waziristan, sources in Pakistan said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Enough is enough!US and UK should cut ties with the Pakis until they abandon their jihadi ideology.
Deport the families of any british pakis caught involved in terrorism/spreading hatred about the west!!!!
Much 'analysis' removed.
Venezuela gave the US Coast Guard credit on Thursday for cooperation in a large drug seizure. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said in a statement the US Coast Guard discovered 2,030 pounds of cocaine on a fishing boat off Venezuela's Caribbean coast after Venezuelan officials gave them permission to board. He said five Venezuelans were arrested, but did not say when the seizure occurred.
El Aissami said the search for drugs on the fishing boat some 1,200 miles from the coastal town of Guiria was carried out "jointly with Venezuelan authorities" and he said it proves that the argument Venezuela "does not cooperate in this fight" is false. US Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Matt Moorlag said the Coast Guard located the Venezuela-flagged fishing boat 500 miles east of Brazil, boarded the vessel Wednesday and discovered approximately 2,500 pounds of cocaine. It was not immediately clear what accounted for the discrepancy in the reported size of the seizure. Moorlag said Venezuela has jurisdiction over the case, but Coast Guard officers conducted the search on their own.
Chavez suspended cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005, accusing its agents of espionage -- an accusation the DEA denies. Venezuelan officials have repeatedly expressed anger at US declarations that corruption has helped make their country a growing shipment route for South American cocaine. Two DEA agents still work in Venezuela, but US Embassy officials say their efforts have been severely restricted.
His father Carlos el-Aissami headed the Venezuelan branch of the Baath Party, while his great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a close Saddam ally and served as assistant to the Secretary General of the Baath Party.
Seven more people have joined the growing list of Zimbabwean commercial farmers facing prosecution for being on their land, as part of the ongoing offensive against farmers that has violently intensified in the last week. The growing list of farmers facing prosecution has now reached 100 and includes the wife of Chiredzi farmer, Gary Warth, who has been in hiding for more than six weeks. His wife Teresa was arrested on Monday in a move that Chiredzi police blatantly admitted was to bait her husband out of hiding to face arrest and prosecution. She was later released and is expected in court this week.
Meanwhile the violent offensive in Chegutu has not yet eased, with Mount Carmel farm manager Martin Joubert also being hauled behind bars this week. Joubert joins seven other Mount Carmel farm workers who were arrested over the weekend while trying to defend the land from a gang of lawless thugs. These workers have all been tortured behind bars and on Wednesday were remanded in custody until a later date. The rest of Mount Carmels staff meanwhile is in hiding.
There is no question that the farm attacks, which have been ongoing since February, are the biggest obstacle standing in the way of crucial foreign investment in the country. Despite this, the unity government has done nothing to prevent the attacks. Prime Minister Morgan Tvsangirai has warned that the perpetrators of the attacks will be arrested and last week tasked the Joint Operations and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to deal with the land issue. JOMIC in turn has since argued that farmland under legal protections such as Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs), are not immune to fresh invasions, effectively condoning the new attacks.
The attacks have also continued despite last years SADC Tribunal ruling that tasked Zimbabwes government with protecting land owners from future attacks. The ruling has been blatantly ignored under direct instruction by Zimbabwes Attorney General, and in one case the ruling was effectively nullified by a High Court judge. SADC itself meanwhile has remained completely silent on the farm attacks.
North Korea has accused South Korea of poisoning its football players with an "adulterated foodstuff" ahead of last week's World Cup qualifier match. North Korea coach Kim Jong Hun made the allegation after his team lost 1-0 to South Korea on 1 April. Seoul has denied the claim.
What did the SKors do, feed them Cheetos?
The North's football association said the act was part of Seoul's "moves for confrontation" with Pyongyang. In a statement about the match, the North's football association said: "It was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as [the players] could not get up all of a sudden just before the match."
Coach Kim had asked for the match to be delayed and moved to a neutral venue, claiming three of his players had food poisoning, but FIFA rejected the request.
The Korea Football Association, the South's football federation, said a sports doctor had examined the North Korean players and found no serious problem.
The two teams have played each other a number of times in the past year, during the qualification stages for the 2010 World Cup. But the worsening diplomatic relations between the two countries appears to have translated onto the football pitch.
North Korea's home matches have had to be played on neutral ground in Shanghai, because the North refuses to allow the playing of the South's national anthem or the waving of its flags.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A North Korean with food poisoning? That's kinda funny...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday expressed skepticism about Iranian claims of new advances in its uranium enrichment program.
Of course. It's easier to dismiss and ignore the problem if you're skeptical about it.
But she said the claims underscore the need for Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and return to negotiations on its nuclear program.
The Iranian claims of major advances in its nuclear program came only a day after the Obama administration said it was ready to reverse previous U.S. policy and directly engage Iran over the issue.
But in a talk with reporters, Clinton declined to call the Iranian statements a rebuff to the U.S. overture and also expressed some skepticism that Tehran has actually made enrichment gains. Clinton, speaking after U.S.-Australian security talks that included the Iranian nuclear issue, said U.S. officials do not attribute any particular meaning to the latest Iranian claims.
"We don't know what to believe about the Iranian program. We've heard many different assessments and claims over a number of years. One of the reasons we are participating in the P-Five-Plus-One is to enforce the international obligations that Iran should be meeting to insure that the IAEA is the source of credible information, because there is a great gap between what the IAEA observed about six or seven weeks ago, and what the Iranians are now claiming," she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It is painful to read the headlines and news stories about these people. As Lincoln observed, there are limits to a person's greed, but no limits to their stupidity.
RAJSHAHI, Apr 9 (UNB): Twenty-four suspected cadres of outlawed Sarbahara group and Islamic militant Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were arrested in a special crackdown on them in Bagmara Upazila early Thursday. Police said a "listed Sarbahara cadre" and a JMB man were among the arrested persons.
Bagmara thana OC Shahabuddin Khalifa said police arrested them conducting an overnight operation against Sarbahara and JMB extremists as the two leftist and rightist groups got going again "through regrouping gradually" in the area. "There were cases against the arrested persons in the past," police said, adding that they were being interrogated.
Besides, police also arrested two persons with weapons in Durgapur Upazila. They are Abdul Mannan, 28, son of Abu Taher, and Rahidul Islam, 26, of Singa village.
The special drive was launched Wednesday night as "law-and-order situation might deteriorate due to increase in terrorist activities", police sources said.
Bagmara once was a stronghold of Sarbahara and JMB militants wherein the then JMB leader Bangla Bhai, later executed, had carried out a violent vigilant drive to root out the outlaws in 2004.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
MOMBASA, Kenya - The US navy rushed in FBI negotiators and a destroyer Thursday as Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a lifeboat were drifting on the Indian Ocean with no fuel. In a rare admission it was ready to negotiate with pirates suspected of links to terror-listed groups, the Federal Bureau of Investigations said it was assigning negotiators to help secure the release of the ship's captain. "FBI negotiators stationed at Quantico (Virginia) have been called by the Navy to assist with negotiations with the Somali pirates and are fully engaged in this matter," spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement.
I confess my opening statement to the pirates would be .. simple ...
When the four pirates were ousted from the 17,500-tonne Danish-operated container ship, they took the captain hostage on a lifeboat. "Apparently, the lifeboat has run out of gas," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ahead of a meeting in Washington.
Sorta like the Bambi administration ...
"Most recent contact with the Alabama indicated that the captain remains a hostage but is unharmed at this time," Kevin Speers, a US-based spokesman for Maersk, told reporters on Thursday.
It was believed to be the first US merchant ship hijacked since the North African Barbary Wars in the early 19th century.
Whatcha gonna do about it, Bambi?
A commander from the group of pirates who took the ship said pirate reinforcements were on their way to try and help those holding the hostage, who are effectively surrounded. "We are planning to reinforce our colleagues who told us that a navy ship was closing in on them and I hope the matter will soon be solved," Abdi Garad told AFP by phone from the northern pirate lair of Eyl.
"They are closely monitored by a navy ship and I think it will be difficult for us to reach the area promptly," he admitted, with US helicopters swirling the area. "But we are making final preparations and will try our best to save our friends."
Good luck with that ...
The Maersk Alabama's chief officer, Shane Murphy, told his father that the crew used "brute force" to overpower the pirates, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, ABC News reported.
Bet a lot of pirates woke up the next day stiff and sore. Lunch was soup ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"...the matter will soon be solved, Abdi Garad told AFP by phone from the northern pirate lair of Eyl."
#2
This must not be news, anymore. I search the front page of The Washington Post before I left for work, and didn't see anything...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/10/2009 6:07
Comments ||
Top||
#3
The FBI did such a splendid job rounding up all of the ACORN criminals, nothing much for them to do but sit around. This gives them an opportunity to stay engaged, brush up on their Somali clan linquistic abilities. Besides, how could DoD handle anything this complex ethnically nuanced.
There is no evidence, experts say, of any links between the pirates and Islamic militants in Somalia, and officials said it was unlikely that the United States would strike directly at pirate sanctuaries along the Somali coast
#6
When the pirate reinforcements get ther. Sink. Everything. Then it will be another couple hundred years. If not, the Barry admin is going to end up having to downplay serveral of these events before his time is up.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 11:11
Comments ||
Top||
#7
The NYTimes is telling Obama what to think. Next, it will tell Hillary what to do. Meanwhile, Gates has been found hiding under a desk.
#9
The FBI did a great job of negotiating with the Abu Sayyaff to get the Burnhams released as well. The FBI helped with a money transfer that help to fund the terrorists and in the end, months later, Martin Burnham and Edobora Yap were kill. Grace was shot in the leg. If I am ever taken hostage PLEASE call a used care salesman NOT the FBI, I want someone that can negotiate!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/10/2009 12:44
Comments ||
Top||
#10
PLEASE call a used care car salesman NOT
Sorry, fixed
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/10/2009 12:45
Comments ||
Top||
#11
I'm not entirely certain that I'm the kind of guy you'd want negotiating on your behalf. The only thing I know for certain that would come out of it is, that the hostage takers would get no money. None. But I have this great leathered up Buick in back with E-Z miles on her.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/10/2009 12:53
Comments ||
Top||
#12
I'm with Nimble here, and even worse, how close to you have to get to the USN before they'll rescue you?
The Cap'n attempted escape, at night, but the Bainbridge was a few "hundred meters" away?
Isn't the logic completely backward here - shouldn't the USN be teaching the FBI how to conduct hostage negotiation, rescue, recovey and after action analysis?
The only possible hope is some sort of Eisenhowerian "enlarge the problem" setting - suck in all the reinforcements the Somali navy elects to deploy, track them arriving, besiege them at sea (when has that been done?) and deliver the ultimata.
OK naval historians, RN or USN - what are the protocols and precendents involved?
#13
What will be truly pathetic is if the Bainbridge is jouned by the Decatur (DDG 73) and the Preble (DDG 88). I wonder how many of the sailors will understand the irony. Those guys understood made the protocols and precedents.
#14
What sorry irony that would be, but you're right on the money with the history.
I'm from Ohio originally, near Eaton, which is the seat of Preble County. I'll wander over to the Navy webiste to see if the have a USS Eaton on the roster at present. That would complete the fun.
#17
I'm not entirely certain that I'm the kind of guy you'd want negotiating on your behalf. The only thing I know for certain that would come out of it is, that the hostage takers would get no money. None. But I have this great leathered up Buick in back with E-Z miles on her.
#21
Snowy Mountain, I think you just found a brand new Anti-pirating weapon. When they pirates try to board, launch one of our useless cars at them! I can just picture it now, them all pointing up and yelling "BUICK!"
Posted by: Charles ||
04/10/2009 21:54
Comments ||
Top||
MINGORA: Sufi Muhammad wrapped up his peace camp in Swat on Thursday, in protest against the delay in the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
But the peace deal with the provincial government is intact, Sufi Muhammad, head of Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-Muhammadi, told a news conference before moving out of the district. If something unpleasant happens after our peace camp has been wrapped up, President Asif Zardari will be held responsible, Sufi read a written statement in Pushto. He said the federal government was not sincere.
TNSM spokesman Amir Izzat Khan said Sufi Muhammad left for Amandara town in Malakand where he will chair a shura meeting. The ball is now in the presidents court, he told Daily Times. Malakand Commissioner Syed Muhammad Javed said the federal government would sign the regulation soon. This stage will be crossed, like other stages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr thronged Baghdad on Thursday to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall to U.S. troops, and to demand they leave immediately.
"Down, down USA," the demonstrators chanted as a Ali al-Marwani, a Sadrist official, denounced the U.S. occupation of Iraq that began with the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square.
The crowds of Sadr supporters stretched from the giant Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around 5 km (3 miles) away. Protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of former U.S. President George W. Bush, who ordered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and also the face of Saddam.
"God, unite us, return our riches, free the prisoners from the prisons, return sovereignty to our country ... make our country free from the occupier, and prevent the occupier from stealing our oil," Sadr said in a message read by a Sadr movement aide Asaad al-Nassiri.
Sadr being too busy to attend. I think he's studying for final exams ...
"God, make us the liberators of our land," the message said, drawing roars of approval from the crowd, many clutching or wearing Iraqi flags, and some wearing Iraqi national team tracksuits in a show of nationalist sentiment.
Hammering home the nationalist message, Nassiri exhorted the demonstrators to shake hands with each other and Iraqi police and soldiers overseeing the march. Long queues formed to kiss the police and troops on the cheeks and shake their hands.
Under a bilateral security agreement signed with Bush, all U.S. troops must withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. Many at the demonstration did not trust the United States to live up to the commitment to withdraw.
"Iraq has experience of occupation ... No country has emerged from it through politics and transparency. It will only end through the sword," said demonstrator Khalid al-Ibadi, referring to uprisings against British and Ottoman rule of Iraq.
Other than Germany, Italy, Japan ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Of course, when the US leaves on schedule, there will be a mighty line up to claim credit for having driven the US out.
Hey guys we understand hating the West is well what you do. And we didnt expect any thank-you cards for extinguishing Saddam and Co. But lets not forget both Sadr I and Sadr II were assassinated by the Baathist regime. Seethe on dudes!
#5
Looking at the photos of the crowd, I was certain there were more fans in the stands in Detroit for the UNC-Michigan State NCAA final than marching in Baghdad for this "Huge Protest."
International efforts to thwart Somali piracy would appear to be floundering. Perhaps words from the 19th Century could offer a solution, writes the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds.
If the navies of the world need some advice on ways to stop piracy off Somalia, they could look to Lord Palmerston, British Foreign Secretary in 1841. "Taking a wasps' nest... is more effective than catching the wasps one by one," he remarked.
Palmerston, the great advocate of gunboat diplomacy, was speaking in support of a British naval officer, Joseph Denman. Denman had attacked and destroyed slave quarters on the West African coast and had been sued by the Spanish owners for damages.
It was British policy to try to destroy the slave trade, but this sometimes ran into legal complications. The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that he ...
"cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution...
"[He] is of the opinion that the blockading of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be considered as sanctioned by the law of nations."
Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy carried on with its anti-slavery operations.
James Walvin notes in his book Black Ivory: "Between 1820 and 1870 the Royal Navy seized almost 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 slaves."
With Somali piracy still threatening shipping, it sounds as if modern navies need a few Captain Joseph Denmans, or the like-minded American, Commodore Stephen Decatur. Sent to attack the Barbary pirates off North Africa in 1815, Decatur simply captured the flagship of the Algerian Bey [ruler] and forced a capitulation. When the Bey later tried to repudiate the agreement, the British and Dutch bombarded Algiers.
No such action against the "wasps' nests" along the Somali coast is possible today, even though the UN Security Council has authorised the use of the "necessary means" to stop pirates on the high seas and hot pursuit into Somali territorial waters.
However, the resolutions that made these actions permissible (1838 and 1846) also contain restrictions. Everything has to be done in accordance with "international law" and this is interpreted as complying with the conditions of the International Law of the Sea Convention.
This convention, in article 105, does permit the seizure of a pirate ship, but article 110 lays down that, in order to establish that a ship is indeed a pirate vessel, the warship - and it may only be a warship - has to send a boat to the suspected ship first and ask for its papers. This is hardly a recipe for a Denman - or Decatur-type action.
Add to this legal restriction the relative lack of warships in the seas off Somalia - more than there were, but still insufficient - and the reluctance to tackle the pirates in their home bases, throw in the chaos in Somalia, where there is no effective government, and you have perfect conditions for piracy.
Even if they are caught, they are simply handed over to Kenya whose legal system is not designed to deal with them. The German navy transported another batch of captured pirates to Kenya recently. But nobody knows how long they will be in custody there.
And the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia issued a damning report last December in which it castigated ship owners for paying ransom. "Exorbitant ransom payments have fuelled the growth of [pirate] groups," it stated.
The report also expressed concern about "the apparent complicity in pirate networks of Puntland administration officials at all levels."
Since writing in December last year about the legal problems involved, I have had a lot of e-mails from people angry at the ineffectiveness of the measures taken so far and proposing their own solutions.
These include:
* Convoys. Already done in the case of aid ships going into Kenyan and Somali ports
* Arming the crews. The crews might not want this, though in the latest case the American crew of cargo ship Maersk Alabama did fight back
* Arming merchant ships with heavy guns. Ship owners might not want to risk an engagement at sea
* luring pirates into attacking apparently unarmed ships which then declared themselves as warships. Would this be in "accordance with international law"?
* Other ideas suggested would appeal to officers Denman and Decatur
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"luring pirates into attacking apparently unarmed ships which then declared themselves as warships. Would this be in "accordance with international law"?"
Who gives a rat's behind?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2009 0:18
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'd suggest that you'd be surprised who gives a rat's ass, but you're a regular reader, so you won't be.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009 0:49
Comments ||
Top||
#3
"And the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia issued a damning report last December in which it castigated ship owners for paying ransom. 'Exorbitant ransom payments have fuelled the growth of [pirate] groups,' it stated."
Any payment should be regarded as collusion with the pirates. Ship owners should be made aware that funding pirate activity by paying ransoms is enabling pirates to attack other ships. It should be regarded as a very serious offence.
Now that some crews have begun fighting off the pirates (all credit to them), the pirates will start using lethal force more frequently - expect violence associated with hijackings to increase, until the problem is dealt with properly.
#4
Satellite imagery is available which can monitor each of these buggers and how many Lucky Strikes they smoked as they leave their huts and villages, walk to their mother boats, or RB's and put off to sea. The solution is painfully simple. The only components missing are a 5 inch deck gun and the willingness to use it.
#8
Gee, NS, we signed a good portion of the Geneva Convention and had the Senate even ratify it, but that didn't stop SCOTUS Kennedy of ignoring that part about illegal combatants and lack of coverage of rights. Doesn't matter what the paper says or not, the focus of power is not in the waters off of Somalia, its on the bench in Washington. Get to the heart of the matter first, then the pirate issue will quickly disappear.
WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama asked the U.S Congress on Thursday for an extra $83.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, citing threats from al Qaeda and a resurgent Taliban. The request, to cover the rest of the 2009 fiscal year which ends on Sept. 30, comes on top of more than $822 billion that Congress has approved to fund the wars since September 2001, Obama said.
I seem to recall that Dhimmicrats never liked supplemental requests for Iraq funding ...
"We face a security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan that demands urgent attention," he said in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, urging lawmakers to approve his request swiftly. "The Taliban is resurgent and al Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border."
Almost 95 percent of the funding would go to support military efforts to stabilize Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Obama said in the letter released by the White House. The request also includes funding for other national security priorities of the administration, including assistance for anti-drug efforts in Mexico, security assistance in Lebanon and closing down the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Congress has already approved $65.9 billion for the wars in 2009 and some anti-war Democrats expressed reservations about the new request.
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Obama's policies on Iraq and Afghanistan enjoyed broad support on Capitol Hill. "The alternative to the supplemental is a sudden and precipitous withdrawal ... from both places. And I don't know anybody who thinks that's a good idea," Gates said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
From Amit Kumar somewhere across the planet comes this somewhat puckish email: "Dear Sir, Would you kindly clarify as to which flavour of Taliban - the freedom fighters in Afghanistan or the Pakistani Taliban - was responsible for the blast at the Shia shrine in Chakwal? Since you always take pains to shed light on the delicate difference between the two, I thought you would be the best authority on this rather abstruse subject. It leaves everyone confused, including, I must add, the Taliban."
Touche. Whatever the holy fervour of the Taliban - for I guess those were the elements behind the Chakwal attack - what quarrel do they have with the Shia faithful of Chakwal? And how does killing and maiming the innocent advance any cause, just or unjust? These questions anyone will ask. And they will be wholly relevant. There is too much killing going on, killing that is random and mindless, almost as if killing was an end in itself.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
'Devil's Advocate' jury finds no proof he was behind Sept. 11
BERLIN -- A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks.
I thought 'Jerry Springer' and 'The View' were purely American ideas ...
In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show "Devil's Advocate" on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.
The Netherlands, home to "Big Brother" creator Endemol, is known for being on the cutting edge of format-based television. But even for Dutch standards, "Devil's Advocate," from Amsterdam production house AVRO, pushes the envelope. The show features star defense attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world's worst criminals.
In the latest show, Spong was able to convince the jury that bin Laden's connection to Sept. 11 was a product of "Western propaganda." The jury also ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove bin Laden was the real head of terrorist network al-Qaida. However, the jury did rule that bin Laden is a "terrorist who has misused Islam."
bin Laden's gotta be upset. Man goes on video repeatedly taking credit, and these infidels disrespect him like this.
The show is certain to provide further ammunition in the already heated Dutch debate over immigration and the country's large Muslim minority. The Netherlands saw a sharp rise in anti-immigration and anti-Islamic sentiment after the 2004 murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist.
Spong has been at the center of the debate, supporting legal action against anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders.
So he's a self-hater and a hater of everything he's been given ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Have a merry Van Gogh future Eurabia.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 0:57
Comments ||
Top||
LAHORE: President Asif Zardari on Thursday presided over a high-level meeting at the Presidency to review the Swat situationand is likely to sign the Nizam-e-Adl regulation in the next few days, a private TV channel reported.
Where's the 10% on sharia?
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Interior Adviser Rehman Malik also attended the meeting to review the situation after Sufi Muhammads decision to wrap up his peace camp in Mingora.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Mohammed's cut was 20%. Zardari is rubbing his hands in anticipation.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 0:15
Comments ||
Top||
North Korea is set to re-appoint Kim Jong-il for a third term as chairman of the National Defense Commission on Thursday. The Supreme People's Assembly meeting is also expected to strengthen Kim's leadership by reshuffling cabinet and military posts. And the Kim could make his first major public appearance since suffering a stroke last August.
Is he ever looking awful. Don't do a Fidel on us, Kimmie, die already ...
Ahead of the meeting of the rubber-stamp parliamentary, a massive rally took place in Pyongyang on Wednesday where tens of thousands declared their support for Kim and celebrated the recent rocket launch.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
MINGORA: Peace in the country is only possible through the imposition of sharia, Talian spokesman Muslim Khan told a private TV channel on Thursday.
Talking to Daily Times earlier, he joined Sufi Muhammad in condemning the president for not signing the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation. We support Sufi Muhammads stance against the federal government, he said. If clashes between Taliban and the security forces resume, the president will be responsible.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
ISLAMABAD - A spokesman says 'heightened security' is prompting the suspension of routine consular services Friday at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistans capital.
Lou Fintor declined Thursday night to give any more information on what led to the security concern in Islamabad. He said the U.S. consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar will be open Friday.
Fintor says while regular consular services, such as visa processing for Pakistani nationals, wont be available in the capital on Friday, the embassy still will be able to provide emergency services to Americans.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Credible threat?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/10/2009 11:09
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yeah. This one...
Fintor says while regular consular services, such as visa processing for Pakistani nationals...
The International Telecommunication Union, the international agency in charge of radio frequency allocation for satellites, has dismissed North Korea's claim that it successfully put a communications satellite into orbit last Sunday. In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Tuesday, Sanjay Acharya, ITU's chief of media relations and public information, said the organization has no information about a satellite, adding that nobody else has probably been given any information about it either.
Just another fizzle for Kimmie ...
On the day it launched the rocket, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is in orbit and sending the tunes of the paeans "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il" to earth on the frequency of 470 MHz.
Acharya said if the North arbitrarily used the frequency, which the ITU has never allocated, it could interfere with the frequencies of other existing satellites, but added there were no reports or complaints from member states.
Experts regard communication between a satellite and its earth station as the sign of a successful satellite launch. The governments of South Korea and the U.S. have announced that the North's satellite failed to reach orbit. Neither the Radio Research Agency nor KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center in South Korea has received a signal from the satellite.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is in orbit and sending the tunes of the paeans "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il" to earth on the frequency of 470 MHz.
Coming up next on "North Korean Top Two", the "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il". Right after this from Burger King...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2009 14:43
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Should keep in mind, ala WORLD MIL FORUM + OTHER CHIN FORUMS:
* NOKOR = KOREAS, ETC. is the "FACE OF CHINA" to the World.
* NOKOR = KOREAS is CHINA's all-important STRATEGIC BUFFER STATE, espec agz JAPAN + RUSSIA + US-EUROS-WORLD NATIONS [read, MIL-ECON POWERS]that do trade wid Nippon + Russia. LOSS OF KOREAS > Chin fears a "DOMINO/RIPPLE" EFFECT of various ANTI-CHIN GEOPOL TRUUUBLES all along EAST-SOUTH ASIA in consequence.
* CHINA has made it clear many times it will NOT accept nor tolerate any PRO US-WEST, ANTI-CHIN, NON-COMMIE/SOCIALIST POST-KIM REGIME to be in charge of NOKOR.
In sum, IT MAY NOT [yet] BE IN KIMMIE's DYNASTIC = STATE INTEREST TO HAVE A RELIABLE LR MISSLE SYSTEM includ NUC-WMD WARHEAD, not unless he's willing to accept the consequences as per China + GREAT POWER" CONFRONTATIONISM. Despite NOKOR's pervasive hunger prob, Kimmie ala "CHINA PROBLEM" may desire to take a protractive, well-calculated/measured approach to CHINA within the parameters of the POST-9-11, ISLAMIST-LED BREAKUP OF COLD WAR ASIAN NUKULAR ORDER.
Pakistan will have to undertake not to support any person or group involved in activities meant to hurt India and to allow US investigators access to individuals suspected of engaging in nuclear proliferation if it wants to qualify for a threefold increase in US economic assistance.
The clause requiring such a pledge is incorporated in a bill moved in the US House of Representatives on April 2, seeking to provide $1.5 billion of annual assistance to Pakistan for a period of five years.
Clause (J) of the bill, called the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement or the PEACE Act of 2009, requires Pakistan not to support any person or group that conducts violence, sabotage, or other activities meant to instil fear or terror in India.
This means that Pakistan will have to ban all Kashmir groups involved in armed struggle in the valley against India.
Clause (K) of the bill binds Pakistan to ensure access of US investigators to individuals suspected of engaging in worldwide proliferation of nuclear materials, and restrict such individuals from travel or any other activity that could result in further proliferation.
If adopted, the act would enable US investigators to seek direct access to Dr A. Q. Khan and other members of his group accused of providing nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The Indian lobby on Capitol Hill played a key role in including the two clauses into the bill and had formed a special task force for this purpose.
The Pakistani caucus, which once started as an effective lobbying group, has been rendered useless by the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. To ensure that it cannot function as an independent body, the embassy purged all senior people from a support group created to provide technical support to the caucus.
Consequently, the Pakistan caucus, which on papers has the support of almost 100 lawmakers, has become a non-functioning body with no clout on the Hill.
Although two separate bills are now being moved in the House and the Senate for tripling US economic assistance to Pakistan, the motivation for doing so did not come from the Pakistan Embassy or the lobbies.
The motivating force behind the move is Americas fear that if not helped, Pakistan, a nuclear nation of 170 million people, could turn into a safe haven for terrorists armed with atomic weapons.
The need for Pakistans help in fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and Fata also played a key role in motivating US lawmakers for seeking to increase the aid to Pakistan.
But this did not prevent the House members from seeking strict restrictions against Pakistan in return for the aid.
Clause (H) of the bill requires Pakistan not to provide any support, direction, guidance to, or acquiescence in the activities of, any person or group that engages in any degree in acts of violence or intimidation against civilians, civilian groups, or governmental entities.
Clause (I) needs Pakistan to redouble its efforts to prevent the presence of the Taliban and Taliban-affiliated groups in Pakistan that support insurgents in Afghanistan.
To ensure transparency and provide effective accountability of all US assistance and reimbursements provided to Pakistan, the bill wants Islamabad to improve counterterrorism financing and anti-money laundering laws to comply with international standards, to include applying for Financial Action Task Force observer status and adhering to the United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
The task force is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The bill also requires Pakistan to take all appropriate measures to adapt its armed forces to be able to conduct effective and sustained counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations.
The bill, however, also recognises Pakistan as an invaluable friend and ally to the United States, both in times of strife and in times of peace.
It notes that the two countries share many common goals, including combating terrorism and violent radicalism, solidifying democracy and rule of law in Pakistan, and promoting the social and material well-being of the people of Pakistan.
The bill assures the Pakistani people that the United States seeks a sustained, long-term, multifaceted relationship with Pakistan based on friendship between the peoples of the two countries, the commitment to democracy and the rule of law, and the mutual interests of stability, security, and prosperity.
It is critical for the United States to support Pakistan's democratic government and strengthen its democratic institutions, including its parliament and the judicial system, the bill notes.
The bill also makes it clear that the United States supports Pakistan's struggle against extremist elements and recognises the profound sacrifice made by Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, including the loss of more than 1,600 soldiers since 2001 in combat with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist and terrorist groups.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So that's $150M/year for Zardari alone, unless Nawaz Shariff can depose him and take an even bigger cut.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2009 0:19
Comments ||
Top||
#2
The real enemy is the Pak army/ISI and not the civil govt.However Shariff would do us no favours!!!
No charges have been filed so far in a fatal shooting earlier this week on Interstate 45.
Houston police said a man killed one man and wounded two others after they fired at him while driving in the 9400 block of North Freeway about 12:20 a.m. Wednesday.
Officers were called to a gas station in the 7400 block of North Shepherd because three males had been shot. Investigators determined that the men had been shot at the freeway and drove to the Shell station.
According to police, they were driving a white Pontiac Grand Prix when they fired gunshots at the driver of a truck. Then they exited the freeway at West Gulf Bank.
The truck driver stopped on the West Gulf Bank overpass and got a rifle from his back seat for protection, police said. As he looked over the side of the freeway to see the license plate of the Pontiac, he saw the car's driver's side window open and feared the suspects would shoot at him again.
He fired several shots at the Pontiac, hitting the passenger who was sitting in the front seat and another man who was in the back seat.
The front-seat passenger, 17, was taken to Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, where he later was pronounced dead.
The Ponitac's driver, who was cut in the face by flying glass and shrapnel, and rear seat passenger were treated at the hospital. Their conditions are not immediately known.
A 19-year-old man who was passenger in the car ran away, but was later found and questioned.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/10/2009 11:26
Comments ||
Top||
#5
[hysteria]
you see! if we stopped importing buying and making those tewwible guns, those poor young men wouldn't be harmed now. they would've had a decent chance to monitor the next election for O'Bambi! think of the children! blah blah blah blah etc etc
[/hysteria]
muahahahaha! Me likey! I'm surprised the media didn't go nuclear about whether the trucker used a semiautomatic rifle (oh, the horrors)
Forty more BDR men were shown arrested Thursday for their alleged involvement in the Feb 25-26 carnage inside the headquarters of the border force while a big band of 52 remanded, reports UNB. From among the fresh arrests, 20 were taken on five-day remand while another 20 sent to jail.
Court sources said 40 mutiny suspects were produced before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rashid Kabir by CID police in the afternoon. The plainclothes police sought them on 10-day remand for interrogating them as part of a long-drawn investigation process being carried on to unveil the mystery behind the carnage. After hearing, the court granted 5 days.
Meanwhile, earlier-arrested another 32 BDR jawans were also taken on five-day remand when they were produced before the same court this afternoon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2009
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Australian astronomers have been studying an intergalactic assassin poised to wipe out life on Earth. Maybe. Observations indicate that cosmological curiosity WR104 may be a killer - and we might be the victim.
Tambora sits on Sumbawa Island, east of Java in what is today Indonesia. Geological evidence shows it probably hadn't erupted in 5,000 years....The big show began April 10. Three columns of fire were seen towering into the sky. By the next day Tambora had ejected about 12 cubic miles of magma into the air.
Britain should refer suspicious student visa applications to Pakistan as a way to help 
At least three in every four terror plots currently under investigation in the UK have their roots in Pakistan, according to the security services. 
Six people, including an alleged Indian spy, have been arrested by Pakistani authorities for indulging in "suspicious" activities, a media report claimed on Friday.
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il is officially back on center stage following a reported stroke, but has promoted a trusted in-law to the spotlight in the clearest sign yet he is making preparations for an eventual successor, analysts said Friday.
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden truck into a wall around a police headquarters in northern Iraq on Friday, killing five American soldiers and two Iraqi policemen in the single deadliest attack against U.S. forces this year, the U.S. military and Iraqi police said.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee, told a hometown crowd in Alabama today he believes there are several socialists in the House. Actually, he says there are exactly 17 socialists in the House of Representatives. according to the Birmingham News.
Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. 
The story of Sheikh Salman al-Awda and his transformation from arch critic of the House of Saud and hero of Osama Bin Laden to something approaching what might, by Saudi standards, be considered moderate is one that intrigues many in the kingdom.
The first Canadian found guilty under Ottawa's anti-terror law is appealing his conviction, Canadian media said Thursday.
Aides and family are on the list to attend the dinner, a follow-up to last year's Seder. But Jewish leaders in the Washington area wonder where their invitations are.
KABUL - The US military said Thursday it was investigating Afghan allegations that its troops killed four civilians in an overnight raid, including a woman school teacher and two of her children. The military had issued a statement saying that four militants, including a woman combatant, were killed in an operation in Khost province targeting an extremist Islamic militant. Three more people were arrested, it said.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for hearings on the mounting piracy threat as the fate of an American cargo-ship captain remained in limbo Thursday.
SLAMABAD: Pakistan has not received any credible intelligence report about the presence of Al Qaeda leadership inside its borders, Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Abdul Basit said on Thursday. 
Leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Thursday warned at a protest rally that the government will be responsible for any untoward situation in the country if it does not cancel the decision of cabinet meeting.
North Korea has accused South Korea of poisoning its football players with an "adulterated foodstuff" ahead of last week's World Cup qualifier match. North Korea coach Kim Jong Hun made the allegation after his team lost 1-0 to South Korea on 1 April. Seoul has denied the claim.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday expressed skepticism about Iranian claims of new advances in its uranium enrichment program. 
RAJSHAHI, Apr 9 (UNB): Twenty-four suspected cadres of outlawed Sarbahara group and Islamic militant 
MOMBASA, Kenya - The US navy rushed in FBI negotiators and a destroyer Thursday as Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a lifeboat were drifting on the Indian Ocean with no fuel. In a rare admission it was ready to negotiate with pirates suspected of links to terror-listed groups, the Federal Bureau of Investigations said it was assigning negotiators to help secure the release of the ship's captain. "FBI negotiators stationed at Quantico (Virginia) have been called by the Navy to assist with negotiations with the Somali pirates and are fully engaged in this matter," spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement.
BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr thronged Baghdad on Thursday to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall to U.S. troops, and to demand they leave immediately.
WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama asked the U.S Congress on Thursday for an extra $83.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, citing threats from al Qaeda and a resurgent Taliban. The request, to cover the rest of the 2009 fiscal year which ends on Sept. 30, comes on top of more than $822 billion that Congress has approved to fund the wars since September 2001, Obama said.
'Devil's Advocate' jury finds no proof he was behind Sept. 11
North Korea is set to re-appoint Kim Jong-il for a third term as chairman of the National Defense Commission on Thursday. The Supreme People's Assembly meeting is also expected to strengthen Kim's leadership by reshuffling cabinet and military posts. And the Kim could make his first major public appearance since suffering a stroke last August.
ISLAMABAD - A spokesman says 'heightened security' is prompting the suspension of routine consular services Friday at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistans capital.
No charges have been filed so far in a fatal shooting earlier this week on Interstate 45.
Forty more BDR men were shown arrested Thursday for their alleged involvement in the Feb 25-26 carnage inside the headquarters of the border force while a big band of 52 remanded, reports UNB. From among the fresh arrests, 20 were taken on five-day remand while another 20 sent to jail.
