Two Muslim converts were arrested in East London yesterday on suspicion of plotting an attack against the London Olympic canoeing venue.
The arrests were said to be based on a tip-off after men were seen behaving suspiciously close to the venue in Waltham Abbey, Hertfordshire on Monday. Local police officers began combing the banks after three men were seen in a dinghy on the River Lea.
A friend of the arrested men named the younger man as Jamal ud-Din and said the older man was someone he knew only as "Zakariya."
Mizanur Rahman said the arrests "might have had something to do with the fact that they recently went canoeing" on a branch of the River Lea, which runs through the Olympic site in east London.
"It's just people trying to get into the Olympic spirit," he said, but he believed the authorities would try "painting it as jihad training."
#3
Glad they weren't shifty Calvinists. Those folks can be real trouble.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/29/2012 8:25
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Honestly, Calvinists are scarier than muslims. Muslims are like wild feral chimps. Calvinists are somber, humorless people, like the man in the black suit that never smiles, walks slowly and can still catch up to you no matter how fast you run, drive, etc. Then he shoots you right in the head and simply turns to walk away, never changing expression.
The Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health care law on Thursday, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a possible Republican vice presidential contender who has refused to establish a federally mandated health care exchange in his state, said Friday that he will continue to ignore it.
"We're not going to start implementing Obamacare," Jindal said during a conference call with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. "We're committed to working to elect Gov. Romney to repeal Obamacare."
Under the Affordable Care Act, states must set up a health insurance exchange program by Jan. 1, 2014, and will receive grants from the federal government to implement it. Several Republican governors, including both Jindal and McDonnell, have put off setting up the exchanges in the hope that the law would be repealed or struck down by the court. Now that the first major challenge to the law has been upheld, Jindal said he won't change course and is looking to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to lead the repeal effort if he takes office in 2013.
"Here in Louisiana we have not applied for the grants, we have not accepted many of these dollars, we're not implementing the exchanges," Jindal said. "We don't think it makes any sense to implement Obamacare in Louisiana. We're going to do what we can to fight it."
Despite the court ruling, there is still a chance that Republicans in Congress can repeal much of the law next year even if they don't have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Because Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the mandate to purchase health insurance--one of the key provisions of the law--was a tax, Republicans can use a procedure called "budget reconciliation" to pass a repeal bill that requires only a simple majority to pass. But this scenario relies on the Republicans' ability to win the White House, keep the majority in the House and gain enough seats in the Senate.
Don't forget to vote in November. And check the boards of elections for your previous residences to make sure you're only registered at your current address.
#1
Was going to post the same article. Appears that LA and VA will not implement (for now, at least). Tennessee's governor was quoted with a very high $$ pricetag yesterday, which leads me to believe they will not implement either. Very interesting chess match lining up....
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2012 14:49
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Scott Walker in Wisconsin say yesterday that he's waiting until after the November elections to see if he'll implement this or not.
Of course the usual idiots are now crying for his arrest.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/29/2012 14:58
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In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record.
The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOPs Fast and Furious gun-walking probe.
The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause in the Constitution, which offers immunity for Congressional speech, especially on a chambers floor.
According to the letter, the wiretap applications contained a startling amount of detail about the operation, which would have tipped off anyone who read them closely about what tactics were being used.
Holder and Cummings have both maintained that the wiretap applications did not contain such details and that the applications were reviewed narrowly for probable cause, not for whether any investigatory tactics contained followed Justice Department policy.
The wiretap applications were signed by senior DOJ officials in the departments criminal division, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco and another official who is now deceased.
In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns bought by straw purchasers to walk, which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.
The tactic, which was intended to allow agents to track criminal networks by finding the guns at crime scenes, was condemned after two guns that were part of the operation were found at U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terrys murder scene.
Straw purchasers are individuals who buy guns on behalf of criminals, obscuring who is buying the weapons.
While Issa has since said he has obtained a number of wiretap applications, the letter only refers to one, from March 15, 2010. The full application is not included in what Issa entered into the Congressional Record, and names are obscured in Issas letter.
In the application, ATF agents included transcripts from a wiretap intercept from a previous Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that demonstrated the suspects were part of a gun-smuggling ring.
The wiretap affidavit details that agents were well aware that large sums of money were being used to purchase a large number of firearms, many of which were flowing across the border, the letter says.
The application included details such as how many guns specific suspects had purchased via straw purchasers and how many of those guns had been recovered in Mexico.
It also described how ATF officials watched guns bought by suspected straw purchasers but then ended their surveillance without interdicting the guns.
In at least one instance, the guns were recovered at a police stop at the U.S.-Mexico border the next day.
The application included financial details for four suspected straw purchasers showing they had purchased $373,000 worth of guns in cash but reported almost no income for the previous year, the letter says.
#1
The application included financial details for four suspected straw purchasers showing they had purchased $373,000 worth of guns in cash but reported almost no income for the previous year, the letter says.
Did the so-called straw purchasers report any campaign donations?
#2
This is a big deal. It demonstrates clearly that Holder knew what was going on when he said he didn't. Now we at the Burg already know that Holder is a liar, but it's going to become increasingly difficult for the MSM to dance around the issue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2012 16:48
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#3
but it's going to become increasingly difficult for the MSM to dance around the issue
Issue? What issue? If the MSM doesn't report on it, then it seems that over half the folks out there would have no clue it was an issue, if they even knew it was happening.
#4
If you are someone who gets their international news listening to NPR on the way to work, you have no idea anything of importance is happening in Mexico and absolutely no idea what Fast & Furious might be.
Just like with Obama turning off credit card verification, if the MSM ignores it, it never happened.
#5
As Reverend Wright said one time about someone else: "He's riding dirty!" If there is nothing to hide, why would Holder ask Obama to invoke executive privilege? Why would Holder lie to Congress? The wiretap applications show that people high up in the DOJ knew of F & F. Things are not coming out that should be coming out before the American people.
#6
Issa brought a gun to a Chicago knife fight. In teh end, I suspect Obama will either throw Holder under the bus or pardon him on O's way out the door. Issa has whistleblowers in the BATFE. He'll do a "Breitbart" where they dribble stuff out and prove the spinners as liars with further releases
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2012 21:00
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#7
If there is M O N E Y involved in this, it may be a very, very "dirty ride".
#8
Frank G is on point, though this is several degrees more serious than Breitbart's best efforts. That said, the AG still has arguable grounds to deny knowledge. Arguable, but weak and getting weaker fast. I wonder where Issa goes next. If the dems keep challenging him, would he go for an independent counsel? Or, is he content to keep this a political mess, particularly if he's called on the immunity issue. The Dems could call his bluff there by agreeing to an independent counsel, and depending on his evidence, that could split the dems three ways - what the Potus wants, what the AG wants, and what the house dems want.
Given what Fitzgerald did to Libby with next to nothing, I'd expect the AG to resign long before a prosecution starts, but that may not be enough.
Watched it burn while she went out to protect Estes Park. Even with yesterday's political news, hope springs eternal with young folks (she's 18) like this.
Rookie firefighter Emily Franklin battled her first blaze this week and among the casualties was her own house.
The fire, one of several wildfires plaguing Colorado, turned her childhood home into cinders and reduced her car to a metal skeleton in the driveway.
"This is my first fire and it was my own home," Franklin, 18, told ABC News."Great way to kick off a career."
Franklin actually watched her own house going up in smoke while working with her colleagues to help save the town from the fire.
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2012
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#1
If helicopters from the High Park fire had not been diverted Estes Park could easily have turned into a Co. Springs scenario. When Rocky Mountain National Park catches on fire it will be the ultimate conflagration with 70% beetle kill and impossible terrain.
#2
bman, 70% beetle kill? It's been 13 years or so since I've been in that area. Maybe a "good" fire would help the beetle situation (not that I'm wishing any of these spread uncontrollably)????
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2012 14:47
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Only spruce fir and aspen left alive in most of the park. I suppose nature's best would be to have it burn and get the cycle going, but I would surely hate too lose my casita at this stage of my life.
United Technologies, Canada-based Pratt and Whitney and US-based Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation entered guilty pleas to criminal charges and agreed to pay more than $75 million to the government in a settlement, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Pratt and Whitney admitted to selling to China military software that is designed to test and control the company's helicopter engines, it said. The technology helped China develop a new combat helicopter, the Z-10.
Pratt and Whitney pleaded guilty to violating the arms export control act while United Technologies and Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation admitted to making false statements to US authorities.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/29/2012
11:27 ||
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#2
Ike's admonishment regarding the "military industrial complex" was certainly correct. I doubt he could have imagined a Chinese Communist connection however.
#3
Decertify them from bidding on US defense contracts. Do that once and all the other defense contractors will get the message.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2012 16:50
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#4
I seem to remember a few years back that some company of ours was working with the Chinese on a rocket and it failed. This company sent them a huge report on everything they did wrong because we didn't like being blamed for the failure. Boy, we sure showed them.
#1
Better have an undisclosed backup encryption system ready in case we actually go to war with someone who knows what they are doing, or is friends with someone who knows what they are doing.
Maybe a backup GPS on the opposite wingtup that can double-check the main GPS would be nice. One that cannot be spoofed. Or would 0.001mg be too heavy to add to the system without messing up its balance or some other goat-dip reason similar to why they can't include some sort of self-destruct/brain-ejection system in case of defection.
#4
I'm not convinced. Apparently this doesn't take any super intellect and GPS spoofing devices are available on the market mostly used for spoofing GPS on mobile phones to show a location different from reality.
"It's easy to spoof an unencrypted drone. Anybody technically skilled could do this - it would cost them some £700 for the equipment and that's it," he told BBC News."
#2
There was another fatality in 1948 when a DC-4 crashed into 16,000 high Mt. Sanford, east of Glenallen. Flying at night at 11,000 feet visual, and ran into the mountain. Not good.
Northwest flight 4422 was a non-scheduled charter flight en route from Shanghai-Lunghwa Airport to La Guardia Field. An intermediate stop was made at Anchorage. Take-off from Anchorage was accomplished at 20:12 and the DC-4 climbed to the cruising altitude of 11,000 feet. The last position report was at 21:03 when the flight reported being over the Gulkana radio range station. At that point the airway deflects to the north, its course being 23 degrees, to provide a safe lateral distance from Mt. Sanford which has an elevation of 16,208 feet. The DC-4 continued off the airway and flew into Mount Sanford. The wreckage slid down for about 3000 feet before coming to rest. The wreckage was spotted the day after the accident, but it took until July 24, 1999 before someone was able to reach the crash site.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot's failure to see Mt. Sanford, which was probably obscured by clouds or the aurora borealis or both while flying a course off the airway."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/29/2012 17:49
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Trying to clean up the formatting, but the post in question quotes from various sources. You're best advised to click through.
Firearms connected to Operation Fast and Furious were used in the 2010 slaying of the brother of the former Chihuahua state attorney general, according to a U.S. congressional report.
The report said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced two of the weapons suspected in the murder of lawyer Mario Gonzalez Rodríguez, but did not report this fact to the Mexican government until eight months after the tracing.
Chihuahua state police arrested eight men in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of Mario Angel Gonzalez Rodriguez, the brother of the former Chihuahua state attorney general.
His body was found half-buried in a house under construction in Chihuahua City after one of the men told officials where they could find him, federal police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said at a news conference.
Gonzalez, a lawyer, is the brother of Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez, who left office when a new governor took over.
Police allege that the men worked for the Sinaloa drug cartel, which has been battling the Juarez drug cartel.
Let this stand as a harsh reminder that Holder's department intentionally allowed guns to be placed into the hands of extremely violent cartel members. Holder not only remains in office as head of the DOJ, but now actively uses the office to cover up the wrong in this terrible, tragic episode.
This is the type of governance Barack Obama blesses and protects.
#3
One must wonder if the late David Koresh ever made the mistake of obtaining BATF weapons? As I recall, informaton on the weapons recovered in the tragic fire at the Waco compound were never released.
#4
How many of the two murdered agents would still be alive if the US Justice Department gave the same thousands of Assualt Weapons to Mexican Police Departments, Federals, and Military instead of the drug cartels?
Answer: 2
How many Mexican citizens would still be alive?
Answer: Far more than the 200 killed by those weapons, because these weapons COULD have been used to prevent muders by all the other cartel weapons. Maybe 1,000?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Ruth Warrick aka Emily Monroe Norton Kane in "Citizen Kane (1941)" aka Phoebe Tyler Wallingford / Phoebe English Tyler Wallingford Matthews Wallingford in "All My Children (19702005)" aka Countess Isabelle Gravini in "The Corsican Brothers (1941)" aka Amy Winkle in "Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)" aka Lea Damaron in "Secret Command (1944)" aka Ruth Treadwell in "The Great Dan Patch (1949)" (Died in 2005 at age 88)
[Dawn] A woman was killed and a dozen others, including some coppers and children, sustained wounds when a police van entering a crime-infested locality of Dalmia came under a hand grenade attack on Wednesday, officials said.
The officials added that more than a dozen officials of the Aziz Bhatti cop shoppe, acting on a tip-off, moved into the thickly-populated Mujahid Colony on two vans. As the vehicles entered Street 12, a hand grenade went kaboom! near the one in front. The kaboom was followed by a gun attack.
"Most of the coppers remained unhurt, because they were inside the moving vehicle at the time of the kaboom," said an official at the Aziz Bhatti cop shoppe.
"But the blast left many pedestrians and children, who were playing in the street, maimed," he said, adding that all the victims were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
The victims were identified as 40-year-old Shakila, Naseeb Gul, 40, Safdar, 20, Siraj, 21, Mohammad Junaid, 18, Abdul Waheed, 19, seven-year-old Shehzad and his brother, Rustam, 10, Sultan, 12, five-year-old Sunny, eight-year-old Faisal Siddique, Sub-Inspector Mashooq Ali and 40-year-old police constable Mohammad Naveed.
"Shakila died during treatment. A few others were released after being provided first aid, while some of the injured underwent minor surgeries," said the official.
Heavy contingents of Rangers and police cordoned off the area following the kaboom and gunfire.
"The attackers were most probably associated with Mama Ishaq group -- an offshoot of Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... gangsters," said DSP Pervez Iqbal Bhatti, the area's sub-divisional police officer.
"We moved to the area on reports about the presence of criminals wanted in several cases of murder, drug peddling, robberies and kidnapping for ransom. Finding themselves trapped, the criminals attacked the police party."
Following the grenade and gun attacks, the suspects also held one of the injured coppers as hostage but abandoned him shortly afterwards while fleeing after the area was cordoned off by the law enforcers.
"We have rounded up nearly half a dozen suspects. They are being interrogated. The findings will hopefully lead to more action from the law enforcers," he added.
Two bodies found
Earlier before dawn, officials of the Kalri cop shoppe on patrol spotted a suspicious-looking gunny bag, which contained the body of a young man, near the Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i cop shoppe.
"With a single bullet wound, the body has severe torture marks. The victim's hands and legs were found tied with rope," said a police official.
Another body bag was found in a garbage dump near Hoti Market in Ramswami at night, said an official at the Nabi Bux cop shoppe.
"The victim, in his 20s, had sustained two bullet wounds to his head and chest," said DSP Zahid Hussain Siddiqi.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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[An Nahar] Russia said Thursday it backed a political transition in Syria but rejected Western pressure to call for the exit of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad, Supressor of the Damascenes... ahead of international talks on ending the spiraling conflict.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov poured cold water on hopes that world powers have already agreed a common strategy ahead of the weekend talks in Geneva, saying Moscow was opposed to any solution imposed from abroad.
He also said it was a mistake to exclude Syria's ally Iran from Saturday's meeting of world and regional powers.
Assad's fate "must be decided within the framework of a Syrian dialogue by the Syrian people themselves," Lavrov told a news conference with his Tunisian counterpart.
"Foreign players should not be dictating their solutions to the Syrians. We do not and cannot support any intervention or solutions dictated from abroad," he said.
Lavrov said there was "clearly" a need for a political transition in Syria but said world powers had still not agreed on a final document based on proposals by U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... for the talks.
"There are no agreed drafts. Work on a possible final document continues," he said.
Lavrov complained bitterly that "individual working formulas" had been leaked to the press overnight. "I view this as a manifestation of an unfair approach to diplomacy."
Diplomats at the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... in New York said Annan has proposed setting up a Syrian transitional government in a bid to end the country's near 16-month conflict and that world powers generally back the plan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
Support Annan Solution Include Islamic Jihad Representive Peacekeeping Observers and Iran Delegation : Also ! UN & THE ARAB LEAGUE : Hizbollah : HAMAS : FATAH : AND : MURSI INVOLVED !
[An Nahar] Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded, scientists said Wednesday, in a finding that could debunk one of the most commonly-held images of the extinct giants. When I was a child dinosaurs were cold-blooded creatures akin to lizards. The brachiosaur was reputed to have had a brain so tiny it needed a spare in its tailbone to keep its back end synchronized with its front end. At some point some genius noticed that no dinosaur had hips built like lizards'. Somebody else -- or maybe even the same guy -- noticed that the primary differences between an allosaur and a chicken were size and teeth. Evidence has even been found that at least some dinosaurs had feathers. Now, even a fool like me knows that chickens are warm-blooded. Therefore it's pretty logical that all dinosaurs except for exceptions like the ankylosaur (which had a lizard's hips and shoulders) were warm-blooded.
Researchers in Spain and Norway reported in the journal Nature they had found tree-like growth rings on the bones of mammals, a feature that until now was thought to be limited to cold-blooded creatures ... and dinosaurs. They also found evidence that dinosaurs probably had a high metabolic rate to allow fast growth -- another indicator of warm-bloodedness. When I look around the Wonderful World of Nature there are a number of things that I notice without half trying, which, since scientists don't seem to have noticed the same thing makes me think that either I'm smarter than I think I am or scientists are dumber. F'instance, literal herds of duckbilled dinosaurs used to roam western North America, though I think they called it Gondwanaland or something like that back them. (I forget -- it was a long time ago. I was still in junior high...) Adults ranged in size between 10 and 40 feet long. Herbivores that size would consume quite a few bales of hay in a single day. An African elephant, which is not nearly as large as a 40-foot dinosaur, eats about 450 kilograms of vegetation per day. The climate back in those days must have been pretty lush to support bison-sized herds of the critters.
"Our results strongly suggest that dinosaurs were warm-blooded," lead author Meike Koehler of Spain's Institut Catala de Paleontologia told Agence La Belle France Presse. Another thing I've noticed is body conformation. The allosaurs and Tyrannisaurus Rex and similar creatures were bipedal, which is pretty rare in nature. And they had eentsy-weentsy forelegs which they presumably used to hold down duckbilled dinosaurs and brontosaurs and such while ripping their throats out. But the only creatures still around with approximately the same body conformation as the velociraptors are kangaroos and wallabies and such. I'm much too old and fat and dignified to giggle, but the thought of a tyrannisaur hopping across the plains to fall upon Donald Duckbill occasionally has me in stitches.
If so, the findings should prompt a rethink about reptiles, she said. I'm not too sure why we should rethink anything about reptiles since dinosaurs were chickens, only bigger and with teeth...
Modern-day reptiles are cold-blooded, meaning they cannot control their body temperatures through their own metabolic system -- relying instead on external means such as basking in the sun. Yeah, and some of them had walnut-sized brains at each end...
While the dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded, their other characteristics kept them squarely in the reptile camp, said Koehler. I saw Jurassic Park, so I know better. If they didn't have lizard hips they weren't lizards. Quod erat, as they say, demonstrandum...
Palaeontologists have long noted the ring-like markings on the bones of cold-blooded creatures and dinosaurs, and taken them to indicate pauses in growth, perhaps due to cold periods or lack of food. The bones of warm-blooded animals such as birds and mammals had never been properly assessed to see if they, too, exhibit the lines. Koehler and her team found the rings in all 41 warm-blooded animal species they studied, including antelopes, deer and giraffes. The finding "eliminates the strongest argument that does exist for cold-bloodedness" in dinosaurs, she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
They have found in oxygen trapped in amber of that time to be around 38%. So I have always thought that increased size would be the result. Ram charged so to speak. I also never believed we were using fossil fuels. That idea is getting more attention these days. Fred, I enjoyed your meanderings.
#3
The bones of warm-blooded animals such as birds and mammals had never been properly assessed to see if they, too, exhibit the lines.
Yeah right, nobody studied the bones of mamals. Not even those of homo sapiens. BTW, Institut Català de Paleontologia: for dcades cataaln independentist hacve tried to gain recognition for Catalonia through any means. That is a asecond reason for believing the study is a fraud.
Also: the warm-blooded hypothesis has been around for at least half a century with differnt arguments than those of the study.
#4
The climate back in those days must have been pretty lush to support bison-sized herds of the critters.
Ah, yes, but 'the science is settled'. What is apparently settled is that at one time the Earth was in an optimal state and that everything else before or since then has been an anomaly.
As Dale pointed out in the first post, no one really knows the composition of the atmosphere at times beyond our own existence. It's both 'assumed' or speculated.
#5
I think the determining datum is predator/prey ratio. Slow, cold-blooded metabolisms require eating maybe every couple of weeks, or a month. See crocodiles, for example. So you can have a high predator number to prey animals.
With warm-blooded, there are many, many fewer predators because they have to eat so often that a given prey population will support fewer predators.
So I guess we could--or somebody could--count.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/29/2012 8:38
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#6
I thought the consensus in the scientific community shifted to warm blooded dinosaurs sometime around Jurassic Park. Then the feather idea came around by Jurassic Park III.
#7
P2k, the paleo-chemistry field is pretty interesting (at least to a nerdy geek [or is it geeky nerd?] like me). The composition of rock formations are checked for content and it's known that certain compounds only form under certain conditions. So, if something is found in a formation of a certain age, then the conditions, such as wetness or amount of oxygen or ... you get the picture, can be determined. So, not everything is as assumed as it used to be.
Clear as mud?
#8
I thought the big debate was about if T-Rex was a hunter or if he just strolled up and scared the hunters away from a fresh kill that looked tasty. In that scenerio little-bitty arms wouldn' be a handicap while in hunting they could be a problem.
I thought the other big debate was who put the wrong skull on top of apatasaurus and caused generations of kids to misname him brontasaurus and made archialogists look a bit wonkers in the process.
#11
My brilliant reply to this comment got eaten by a tyrannosaur. Short version:
This has been speculated since the 1970s, and in 1986 Robert Bakker wrote the popular Dinosaur Heresies discussing it.
There were, indeed, many dinosaurs with lizards' hips, the Saurischians. These include your upright meat-eating types.
Then there were the Ornithischians, the bird-hipped dinosaurs, which included some upright plant-eating types (like Donald Duckbill), plus (among others) the ankylosaurs.
Actual birds did not evolve from the Ornithischians, but from the Saurischians, which is very perverse of them.
#13
The goofy guy with the beard and the straw hat from Green Acres, the palentologist peer of Bakker, did some research on dinosaur bones and they found structures in the bones which are only present if the animal is warm blooded.
He, the goofy guy in the hat, says he had done some biometric calculations on a T-Rex (pretty impressive for a goofy guy with a funny straw hat, that a T-Rex could run at about 25-35 mph, ergo to him at least that sort of contradicted the cold blooded torpid model of dinosaurs. So he researched further. To him at least, there is enough "anecdotal and second hand evidence" that dinosaurs should have been warm blooded.
BTW as for settled science, the intellectual fascists that are the Clovis First crowd spent fifty years and zillions of dollars of research to preserve their paradigm, not to mention all the careers they ruined. Funny thing for the Clovis First crowd, DNA proved the Siberian land bridge migration was only one of three separate migrations to the new world, the others being the mid pacific migration and the south pacific migration. Plus, the Clovis spear head, that beautiful piece of artistry, has no comparisons in Siberia. Seems the only place in the world that had that type of spear head making technique was in Central France. Now DNA suggests the Clovis culture is later and came from Europe migrating by boat along the Second Ice Age polar cap extending south into the Mid Atlantic.
Too bad academics when they ostracize and demonize people that don't march to the paradigm, don't apologize when an avalanche of evidence suggests the paradigm is full of crap. Scientists tut tut over how the Church treated Galileo and they act the same way now.
BTW, I think Brachiosaurs are neat creatures and would never say anything bad about one.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/29/2012 10:48
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#14
Ah... but early dino-era birds found the huge bugs tasty and that why we don't have giant bugs today... except in government.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/29/2012 10:53
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#17
Anyone have an opinion on Bakkers guess the Brachiosaurus might have had a trunk (nostral holes on top of the skull similar to elephants). I like how he thinks out of the box but this combined with feathers on some of the meat eaters are crushing my childhood.
The idea that a T-Rex ran around looking like some kind of crazed parakeet is disturbing.
I spent most of my childhood reading everything I could find about dinosaurs. I find a lot of the new research refreshing and welcome, however brachiosaurs with trunks and Allosaurs with feathers does give me pause.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/29/2012 15:40
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#19
does a dinosaur have lips?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2012 16:35
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#20
Scientists tut tut over how the Church treated Galileo and they act the same way now.
[Dawn] Shortly after sneaking across the Afghan border this week, more than 100 Death Eaters loyal to Pak Taliban leader Fazlullah waited patiently on a mountain for Pak troops to approach.
Several days later, the fighters released a video of what they said were the heads of 17 ambushed soldiers, along with their identification cards.
Laid across a white sheet, they were a chilling reminder of the major security threat the man once known as FM Mullah or Mullah Radio still poses to US ally Pakistain, three years after the army pushed him out of the Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Valley, a former tourist spot he terrorised.
"He is a very big problem for Pakistain," said a Western diplomat.
During his heyday, Fazlullah, who like many senior Taliban members is known as a mullah, or preacher, organised thousands of fighters who roamed picturesque Swat, imposing his radical version of Islam.
Opponents, and those deemed immoral, were publicly flogged, or even beheaded and hung in squares and at intersections.
Girls' schools and government buildings were burned down.
Nowadays, Fazlullah's men control a 20-km stretch of the rugged and largely unpatrolled border with Pakistain from areas in Afghanistan's forbidding Nuristan province, described by nearby US troops as "the dark side of the moon".
From there, Fazlullah, a burly man in his thirties with a heavy black beard, plots cross-border raids that don't kill many soldiers but agitate Pakistain's military, which thought it had defeated him during a Swat offensive in 2009.
His activities in the border area, described by US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... as the world's most dangerous place,could complicate efforts to stabilise the region before most foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
BIG AMBITIONS
Fazlullah is a distraction for Pakistain's military, which is also fighting Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain group blamed for many of the suicide kabooms across the South Asian country.
Sirajuddin Ahmad, Fazlullah's front man and cousin, said the group's aim was to recapture Swat, and take control of Pakistain.
"The establishment of sharia (Islamic law) is our goal, and we will not rest until we achieve it. We will fight whoever stands in our way," he told Rooters by telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
Fazlullah has slowly rebuilt his militia by securing shelter and support from Afghan Death Eaters in an area where groups form loose alliances against the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistain.
"He is extremely dangerous," said a Pak security official. "Fazlullah has 150 men, rocket-propelled grenades and light machine guns. You just need a small amount of men to carry out effective operations. This is a big number."
Fazlullah, once known for fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... radio sermons, was the first Taliban leader that took control of an area in Pakistain outside the unruly ethnic Pashtun tribal belt along the Afghan border.
There are no signs that he will be able to penetrate deep inside towns or cities. His men usually arrive in a big wave, attack and retreat back into Afghanistan.
But his operations have prompted Pakistain's military -- one of the world's largest, to repeatedly urge the Afghan government and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... forces to go after the bad boy leader.
On Monday, Pakistain protested to NATO and the Afghan military, accusing them of failing to act against bad boy havens in Afghanistan after the cross-border attack in which the Pak soldiers were killed.
Nuristan police chief Ghulamullah Nuristani says there are no signs that anyone intends to eliminate Fazlullah, even though he was creating havoc for people there, charging illegal taxes, stealing supplies from trucks and sometimes killing drivers.
"We can't attack them because they are armed with light and heavy weapons which are much better than ours," he said. "If we get support from the central government or coalition forces we will be able to destroy their strongholds."
Fazlullah's fighters usually slip across the border into Pakistain at night and take positions on high ground.
"We have patrols and vehicles moving in the area to guard the border, so they wait and try to ambush them," said a Pak intelligence official.
Intelligence officials say Fazlullah's men operate in the Afghan provinces of Nuristan and Kunar, and enjoy the support of hundreds of Death Eaters there.
Support goes both ways when it comes to fighting the US-backed governments in Afghanistan and Pakistain.
Some Death Eaters have long-standing bonds.
"Many of us know each other from before, as we studied in the same madrassas (religious seminaries)," said a commander of a bad boy group in Kunar.
"When we need to conduct an operation in Afghanistan, we request help and they give us fighters. When they need to conduct an operation, we provide them with assistance as well."
Few experts expect Fazlullah to make the kind of gains he seems determined to achieve. But he is making a big impact.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
"The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat..."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! ROTFL :-)
Winning comment of the week.
And you thought nobody in the audience was paying attention :-)
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... hailed Thursday's decision by the Supreme Court to uphold his health care reforms as a "victory" for people across America and urged opponents to swing behind the law.
"Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives are more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it," Obama said.
Obama spoke after the Supreme Court handed down a decision upholding Obama's landmark health care reform which seeks to expand insurance coverage to another 32 million people.
"The highest court in the land has now spoken. We will continue to implement this law. We will work together to improve on it where we can," Obama said.
"But what we won't do, what the country cannot afford to do is to refight the political battles of two years ago or back the way they were," he said.
Republicans, however, vowed to fight on to repeal the "Affordable Health Care Act," with the House of Representatives scheduling a vote on it July 11.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
Mitt Romney raised $3.2 million overnight from over 30,000 donors, according to Atlantic magazine, and yesterday pledged to make appealing Obamacare a Day One priority.
The Weekly Standard mentions that the twenty three lawsuits against the contraception/abortion mandates are unaffected by yesterday's ruling, and are continuing to send their way through the courts.
So the individual mandate/tax is not the only arrow in the anti-Obamacare quiver, and President Obama may well discover that he was victorious in this first battle, only to lose the war.
#6
Dale, while I admire your ability to be optimistic at this late date, I fear that all of us here at the 'burg and other places who espouse center/right, Western thought just had our chances of dying in a civil war or a Dem reeducation camp brought to the "virtual certainty" level.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/29/2012 7:37
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#7
Here let me prescribe this little tonic for you no mo uro. I have found it to be a comfort to myself;
Posted by: Sempre Forte ||
06/29/2012 9:41
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#12
Well the pressure will certainly be on Mitt now if he's elected he damned well better follow up on that day one promise with everything he has or he's gonna be the last Republican President ever.
#13
Roberts' is a clown. I just listened to that P.O.S. Geraldo Rivera deify him on Fox news for his supposed brilliant legal move. Pathetic. SCOTUS's role is to uphold the U.S. Constitution and interpret laws within that framework. Period. The Chief Justice is not supposed to parse or publish half-measure jibberish in order to kowtow to the politicial whimsies of the day. Disgraceful. Kagan is an absolute piece of crap as well.
Penalty = Tax? Really? So w/that logic, I guess a Tax should be seen as a Fine? And now the U.S. Congress has fining powers on individuals merely because they exist? I'm sure James Madison and the rest of the men who put this thing together in the summer of 1787 would have liked to hear that one...and doesn't the house have some say on tax bills and how they originate?
Also, I don't look to the avg congressional repub to be worth a shit either - bunch of wimps. Repeal and Replace? How about just repeal and let the free market reign for a change? As someone else already mentioned, and I say this with sadness in my heart - buy ammo and be vigilant. I despairingly and unfortunately feel that in the future (maybe near) that there will only be one way to right the ship. Never thought I'd ever feel that way.
"SCOTUS - we make up Constitutional interpretations as we go along, and, if it's not in there, we'll find it!"
#14
Just remember, when the civil war does come, it's the Zombie Apocalypse, and the demonrats are the zombies.
I ran out of mercy a long time ago for them. Everytime I look at my tax return or W2 or even think about what this country is like now vs when I was growing up, I find myself thinking that certain parties could use a good kick in the forks, followed by a muzzle to forehead insurance policy.
The very fact I feel this way bothers me the most. So FUCK YOU very much demonrats.
#15
Silent Brick - "I ran out of mercy a long time ago for them. Everytime I look at my tax return or W2 or even think about what this country is like now vs when I was growing up, I find myself thinking that certain parties could use a good kick in the forks, followed by a muzzle to forehead insurance policy."
That effectively describes my point of view also. In the upcoming producer v parasite battles, I expect brutality. The battles will start in California, the day after the state runs out of money to pay our police departments.
#18
While at the hospital today for cadio workout I asked the Nurses what had been discussed about this Health care action. They are very concerned. Nobody knows. They had a meeting on this last week.
#21
All part of the ClowardPiven's strategy for crashing the system and having it replaced with a statist system based on social justice and redistribution of the wealth.
I am concerned about the next bunch of $hit coming down the pike: The UN administered Law of the Sea Treaty (Lost) which cedes considerable sovereignty to the UN. Hillary is pushing this. It basically has the potential to collect and redistribute part of our wealth to less developed countries. Surporisingly, there are quite a few pushing this such as the US Chamber of Commerce, Verizon, Hillary Clinton, John Fn Kerry and others. The Senate needs 34 votes to oppose this. Some 27 Senators have expressed their opposition to this treaty. I look for a push in the lame-duck session.
The UN Small Arms Treaty is being also being pushed by Hillary which neuters our 2nd Amendment.
Both of these treaties have been lying around for some years and are part of the collective fantasy of Progressives.
#22
If you do not have something the government thins you should have (health insurance in this case), you must pay a tax. Never has the US government taxed any one for what they do NOT have.
Crazy. That is why the Obama Admin will try to rename this as a "penalty", not a tax, which is what it is, an IRS enforced TAX.
They thought they slipped that by, but the Supremes shined the spot light on it.
[An Nahar] Tehran on Thursday condemned the United States for backing the United Arab Emirates in its dispute with Iran over three Gulf islands, dubbing it "clear interference in Iran's domestic affairs."
"The three islands of Abu Musa and Lesser and Greater Tunb have always been and always will be an inseparable part of Iranian soil. Interference by a third country is aimed sowing division and tension in the region," Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdolahian was quoted as saying by official media.
Iran "has always maintained that it is ready for constructive talks with all countries, including the Emirates, for boosting ties and cooperation," he added.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... and UAE deputy armed forces commander Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan issued a joint call for a peaceful resolution of the status of the three islands in the Gulf whose ownership is fiercely disputed by Tehran and the UAE.
The United States "strongly supports the UAE's initiative to resolve the issue through direct negotiations, the International Court of Justice, or another appropriate international forum," the statement said.
The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards made a pointed visit to the islands late May. That was seen as a provocation by the UAE, which claims the islands under the terms of a 1971 agreement signed when Britannia ended its colonial-era reign over that part of the Gulf.
But Iran rejects any UAE claim to the islands, saying they have always been part of its territory and that it never renounced its ownership.
Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad triggered the fury of the UAE and its allied Arab monarchies when he visited the islands in April to reinforce Tehran's position.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called the trip "a flagrant violation of the illusory sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands."
Iran's military has vowed to defend the islands. It maintains a permanent military base and airfield on Abu Musa, the biggest of the three and the only one to be inhabited.
The islands are at a strategic location in the oil-rich Gulf, permitting control over access to the waterway.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Washington Post] BEIRUT -- Turkish military reinforcements began arriving along the Syrian border Thursday following tough warnings that Turkey is not prepared to tolerate the downing of one of its planes by Syria, heightening regional tensions ahead of a conference of world powers in Geneva this weekend.
A bomb kaboom in the heart of Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... further underscored the sense of urgency building around the international gathering, which is being convened by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... in an effort to salvage the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... ' faltering diplomacy in Syria.
The dispatch of Turkish reinforcements came five days after Syria's attack on a Turkish air force F-4 jet sent tensions soaring between the estranged neighbors, whose once close friendship had already been ruptured by differences over a 15- month-old uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... Turkey's National Security Council -- made up of the president, top ministers and military generals -- stepped up the pressure on Syria with a sternly worded warning that Turkey does not intend to let the downing of the jet pass without response.
"Turkey will act with determination to use all its rights within the international law against this hostile act," said the statement, issued after a five-hour meeting.
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[Dawn] Militants kidnapped three peace activists in Khyber Agency on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, official sources said.
They said that members of banned jihad boy group Lashkar-e-Islam kidnapped three volunteers of Akkakhel Peace Committee at gunpoint from Sultankhel area. The kidnapped volunteers identified as Naseem Khan, Mohammad Imran and Faraz were on routine patrol in the area when they were intercepted and taken away at gunpoint. No clue to their whereabouts was found till late Wednesday.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes... security forces jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! at least eight suspected faceless myrmidons during a raid on a house in Alamgudar area on Wednesday.
Officials said that Rustam Khan, a local commander of Lashkar-e-Islam, and three of his brothers were also among the jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! persons. Identity of the rest of the jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! men could not be established.
Also, tribal elders and activists of different political parties have strongly condemned suspension of privileges of Bar Qambarkhel tribe by the political administration.
Shah Jehan, a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... in Bara, said that residents of the area had already suffered owing to the ongoing military operation. The suspension of privileges also affected the issuance of national identity card, domicile certificate, marriage certificate and other necessary documents to tribal people.
He said that it was unjust to punish the entire tribe for refusal of Bar Qambarkhel to raise an armed lashkar.
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#1
The kidnapped volunteers identified as Naseem Khan, Mohammad Imran and Faraz were on routine patrol in the area
[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. slammed on Thursday the latest security instability in Leb, most notably the unrest in Beirut, saying that any action on the ground is aimed at "undermining the authority of the state."
He said in a statement: "The street action was not conducted by undisciplined forces as some sides would lead the people to believe, but some powers are orchestrating the developments in order to create chaos, terrorize the people, and undermine the state's authority."
"The state must assume its duties and control the security of the whole of Leb and the country's various vital facilities," he continued.
"We reject any street action, regardless of its sectarian or political affiliations," he added.
"Any action must take place within the authority of the law and within the Lebanese people's rights to express themselves through legitimate democratic action," explained Hariri.
The state took a step in the right direction by ordering that political cover be lifted off the sides creating the unrest, stressing that "lifting security cover and armed protection of the sides blocking the roads is the real request," continued the former prime minister.
He slammed the sides "creating chaos and organizing sit-ins in Beirut, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , Sidon and other regions."
"Some sides are providing the security and logistic support for the powers that are creating chaos. These forces are known to all and this situation must stop," he stressed.
"The recent developments in Beirut jeopardize peace and national stability," he noted.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Wednesday launched a one-month security plan aimed at restoring stability in Leb.
"We hope that the one-month security plan will be implemented throughout the year," he added.
The the first day of the plan however was marred by the blocking of the airport highway and attempts to cut other roads in the capital in protest at the arrest of Wissam Alaeddine, a member of the group that attacked al-Jadeed television's building on Monday.
The day also witnessed rioting inside a Justice Palace courtroom in Baabda during the trials of 14 suspects transferred from the Roumieh prison.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... a personal dispute between members of the families of Jaafar and Dirani and Paleostinian elements erupted into gunfire on Wednesday in the Beirut southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh.
The incident did not cause any casualties, the agency added.
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[An Nahar] Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, warned the EU in a letter on Thursday that new sanctions will have "repercussions" on talks over his country's atomic activities.
The letter, made public by Iranian state media, "warned the West of repercussions of taking action which is far removed from the logic in the talks and of using illegal methods against the Iranian nation."
It was sent on the day the United States ratcheted up sanctions on foreign companies doing business with Iran's central bank, and just ahead of the full implementation on Sunday of an EU-wide embargo on Iran's oil exports which has been phased in since it was announced on January 23.
Iran and world powers this year revived negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, but have reached an impasse after three rounds of talks.
The next meeting has been downgraded to the level of experts and is scheduled to take place in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Jalili's letter was addressed to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the so-called P5+1 group (the United States, Britannia, La Belle France, Russia and China, plus Germany) engaging Iran.
In it, he said Iran stands ready to "share initiatives that can make the talks a success and move them forward," according to the Farsi version of the letter.
But he added that such progress depended on "cooperation and a framework of building trust."
Jalili wrote that "if the constructive talks are damaged, the responsibility will be with the party that is implementing illegal tools instead of logic in the negotiations."
Iran considers four sets of sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council, and a raft of additional sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , to be "illegal" and it has insisted it will resist them.
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After Rahimi blames Jews for int'l drug trade, EU's Ashton reaffirms Europe's commitment to fighting "racism," "anti-Semitism."
"Shut up, you idiot! One simply doesn't say such things in public," she added. Ashton's love for the Jooos, particularly in pâté form on toast points with a sprig of parsley garnish is well known.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday condemned Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi for a speech he gave at a UN conference in Tehran this week in which he said Jews controlled the international drug trade.
"The high representative is deeply disturbed by racist and anti-Semitic statements made by Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi at the UN International Day against Drug Abuse," Ashton said. She added that such statements are "unacceptable," and reiterated the "EU's absolute commitment to combating racism and anti-Semitism."
During his speech, Rahimi blamed Judaism for the spread of illegal drugs around the world and said the Talmud teaches to "destroy everyone who opposes the Jews."
He went on to assert that there are no drug addicts who are Zionists: "The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran will pay for anybody who can research and find one single Zionist who is an addict. They do not exist.
This is the proof of their involvement in drugs trade," The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... quoted Rahimi as saying.
Diplomats present at the conference criticized the speech, but remained for the rest of the event.
In Israel, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman swiftly condemned the comments.
"Hitler also said crazy things and succeeded in carrying out his plan," Liberman said, adding that the world has not yet come to understand the danger Iran poses.
"The fact that UN representatives and representatives of European nations are still participating in conferences held in Tehran, in which the worst kind of anti-Semitics remarks are made, legitimizes the the regime of the ayatollahs," he said.
[Dawn] At least thirteen people, including coppers and Shia Mohammedans, were killed and 20 people were maimed when a bus carrying pilgrims was targeted with a bomb in Hazar Ganji area on the outskirts of Quetta, DawnNews reported.
The passengers of the bus were returning back from Iran's city Taftan after a religious pilgrimage.
The bus was collided with a car before both the vehicles went kaboom!, eye witnesses told the media representatives.
The impact of the kaboom was so intense that the bus turned over, eye witnesses added.
There is no confirmation on the nature of the blast as yet.
There were around 80 passengers in the bus. Rescue teams are busy in taking passengers out from the bus.
The injured are being shifted to the civil hospital of the city and Bolan Medical complex hospital. Emergency has been imposed in all the hospitals of Quetta.
Police and Frontier Corps (FC) cordoned off the area after the incident as investigation went underway.
"A bus carrying Pak Shia Mohammedans was coming to Quetta from Iran when a bomb went kaboom! near it, killing eleven people including nine Shia pilgrims and two escorting coppers," senior local police official, Hamid Shakeel, told AFP.
"Our initial investigation suggests it was a remote controlled device planted along the road," he said.
Another senior local police official, Sikandar Tareen, confirmed the casualties.
Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... has become an increasing flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistain's majority Sunni Mohammedans and minority Shias, who account for around a fifth of the country's 167 million population.
Balochistan is also rife with Islamist militancy and a regional insurgency waged by separatists who rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's wealth of natural resources.
It is one of the most deprived regions of Pakistain despite its wealth in resources, and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. activists have accused the military of mass arrests and extra-judicial executions in its bid to put down the separatist insurgency.
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(Ma'an) -- The Interior Ministry in Gazoo announced Thursday that it will broadcast confessions of Paleostinians who collaborated with Israeli intelligence.
The ministry will release video footage of collaborators' confessions on Thursday evening on its website and other outlets, it said in a statement.
The film includes information about Paleostinians working for Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service in Paleostinian factions since the 1960s who collaborated in the killings of Paleostinians and to destabilize Paleostinian society and spread rumors on the Paleostinian street, the ministry says.
In 2010, the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, ministry in Gazoo offered collaborators a two-month amnesty to hand themselves in.
Fearing advanced Syrian weapons landing in rogue hands, IDF upgrading border infrastructure, preparing for Syrian refugees.
The IDF is bolstering defenses along the Syrian border and beefing up its forces due to concern that terrorist groups are planning a cross-border attack in the Golan Heights, commander of Division 36 Brig.-Gen. Tamir Hyman said on Thursday.
Hyman briefed news hounds during a tour of borderline military positions throughout the Golan Heights. Division 36 is the IDF formation in command of the Golan and Israel's border with Syria.
"Our assumption is that a terror attack or a war can happen without warning," Hyman said. "We are upgrading our infrastructure and renewing operational commands to prepare accordingly."
Israel's concerns range when it comes to Syria and includes the option that the country's advanced weaponry - like Scud missiles and chemical weapons - will fall into rogue hands as well as the possibility that Global Jihad elements operating in the country will try to attack Israel along the border.
"The government's loss of control and the instability is a convenient area of operations for Global Jihad elements in Syria," Hyman said. "Even without signs that this is already happening, we need to be prepared. This is the main challenge."
The IDF is concerned by a number of different types of attacks, including a cross-border infiltration into an Israeli town in the Golan, the potential abduction of a soldier or Israeli civilian as well as rocket fire into Israel from Syria.
The IDF is also preparing for the possibility thon the lam numbers of Syrian citizens will rush the border to try and flee the Syrian military's violent crackdown.
The IDF has prepared a number of areas along the border where it plans to contain the civilians in such a case and protect them from Syrian military forces if needed. The final decision, if to allow the refugees into Israel would be up to the government.
#2
What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now... Here's looking at you kid.
Oh to be a young man again in these times. Such opportunity.
[An Nahar] Bahraini security forces are searching for three suspects believed to be planning "terror" attacks in the kingdom and harboring materials used to make explosives, media reports said on Thursday.
Bahraini security forces had "identified three suspects believed to be involved in these terror activities... for whom there is a search operation underway," public security chief Tareq Hasan told news hounds in Manama late Wednesday, according to the state news agency BNA.
Hasan said recent raids uncovered "terrorist hideouts ... which resulted in the seizure of materials and tools used in the manufacture of bombs."
He said the suspects involved managed to "flee" after the hideouts were raided.
Last week, Bahraini police announced they had placed in durance vile I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! five of a group of 20 people wanted over "terror attacks" which included bombings and harming civilians and security personnel.
On May 5, the interior ministry said four coppers were maimed in a "terror blast" in a Shiite village. A similar kaboom in another Shiite-populated village left four coppersmaimed in April.
In a separate incident, a Bahraini court lifted a travel ban on prominent Shiite rights activist Nabil Rajab, a day after he was released from prison, a court official told AFP on Thursday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Rajab was also ordered to pay a $800 fine for posting comments deemed insulting to Bahraini security forces on his Twitter account.
Rajab was released Wednesday after a three week detention for his tweets.
He remains on trial for five separate charges, including two related to comments on the micro blogging site and three for anti-regime protest actions.
The tiny Gulf kingdom's Shiite majority claim marginalization by the Sunni regime, and have for months been calling for political and social reforms.
Amnesia Amnesty International says around 60 people have been killed since the anti-regime protests first erupted in February 2011.
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(Ma'an) -- Egypt's Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after comments made by Dubai's chief of police that the ministry described as being against Egypt, state-run media reported.
Gulf monarchies such as the UAE have been wary of the rise of Islamists in Egypt and other states in the wake of the Arab Spring for fear that it will stir up Islamist groups and dissent on their turf.
Egypt's official news agency MENA said the envoy to Cairo was summoned to request "clarification from the United Arab Emirates about statements that do not go along with the nature of the special relationship between the two countries".
It said the statements, made on Twitter, were an "attack on Egypt", without citing the remarks that caused the offense.
State-run newspaper Al-Ahram's website said Egypt was responding to Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan who made comments about Egypt on Twitter after Moslem Brüderbund candidate Mohamed Mursi won the presidential election.
"If they tried to shake the security of the Gulf, bloodshed will be up to their knees," Khalfan said, according to the tweet reported by Al-Ahram which was no longer on Twitter.
In other tweets, also after Mursi's win was announced, he said: "An unfortunate choice. The repercussions of this choice will not be light for poor ordinary people."
And if the new government of Egypt steps out of line, no more money will flow from the Gulf into Egyptian coffers, and then how will the people eat?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/29/2012
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[Dawn] A series of attacks in Iraq killed 20 people and maimed more than 100 on Thursday, security and medical officials said, the latest in a wave of deadly attacks this month.
In the worst incident, a car booming in a popular market in the capital killed eight people and maimed 30, a police colonel and a medical official said.
Another car boomwent kaboom! near a Shia place of worship in Baquba north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killing six people and wounding 51, said police and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba General Hospital.
That attack came after a bombing in the city killed two people and maimed four, a police lieutenant said, while a police major said three people were maimed in an attack near the city.
Ibrahim said the hospital had also received two bodies and seven people maimed in the earlier attacks.
Another car boom killed two people and maimed 15 in Taji, also north of Storied Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
In Samarra, farther north, gunnies killed two Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons and maimed two more at a roadblock, according to a Sahwa leader and a medical source.
And five people were maimed in the former myrmidon town of Ramadi west of Storied Baghdad when a car boomwent kaboom! in a parking area belonging to a state-run immigration office, police and a medical source said.
Thursday's deaths brought to more than 200 the number of people killed since June
13 -- a far higher toll than the 132 killed in the entire month of May.
Attacks on June 13, which killed 72 people across the country, were later claimed by Al-Qaeda's front group, the Islamic State of Iraq.
Two car booms targeting Shias killed 32 people in the capital on June 16, while two days later, a jacket wallah killed 22 people in an attack on Shia mourners in Baquba, north of Storied Baghdad.
At least 12 people were killed by roadside kabooms, a suicide car boom and a shooting on June 22, while 12 more killed in two bombings on June 25.
And on Wednesday, three bombings killed 11 people, security and medical officials said.
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06/29/2012
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[Jerusalem Post] Jordan's King Abdullah hosted Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader Khaled Mashaal in Amman on Thursday, calling the Paleostinian issue the core of conflict in the region and reiterating his support for the establishment of a Paleostinian state on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital, the official Petra News Agency reported.
Abdullah was quoted by Petra as saying that "Jordan will continue its support to the Paleostinians to ease their suffering through providing them with every possible assistance in the West Bank and the Gazoo Strip."
[An Nahar] Egypt was to decide Thursday the venue for Islamist Mohamed Morsi's swearing in as the nation's first civilian president, as Washington praised the military for facilitating a "free" poll.
Media reports said Morsi was consulting with a cross-section of Egyptian society ahead of appointing a prime minister and a cabinet that would largely comprise of technocrats.
Morsi's front man Yasser Ali told the official MENA news agency the venue for Saturday's swearing in ceremony would be decided on Thursday.
Traditionally the president takes the oath in Egypt's parliament but the country's top court has ordered the disbanding of the Islamist-dominated parliament.
The military subsequently assumed legislative powers and also formed a powerful national security council that is headed by the president but dominated by generals.
Egypt's private television CBC quoted one of the ruling generals, Mahmoud Hijazy, as saying that Morsi will be sworn before the constitutional court.
But by doing so Morsi would be acknowledging the court's decision to dissolve parliament.
The Moslem Brüderbund, which fielded Morsi as a candidate in the presidential polls, insists that the be taken before the parliament.
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06/29/2012
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#1
31°46'29.5608", 033°08'44.7072"
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/29/2012 8:46
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An imam and a visitor to a countryside mosque have been killed in Dagestan, the republics interior ministry reported on Friday.
A ministry spokesman said, "Unknown armed assailants entered a mosque in the village of Karamakhi, killed its imam and a believer. After that, they set the mosque on fire and escaped."
He said local residents put out the fire on their own.
The spokesman also said the attackers stole a car parked nearby.
The four sailors reportedly on last Friday's helicopter flight from Colima state to Veracruz state were confirmed dead by the Mexican Secretaria de Marina (SEMAR), the controlling agency for the Mexican navy, according to a news release by SEMAR.
The four dead were unidentified, but it is known one was a pilot and two others were naval officers. The bird went down in a remote area of Jalisco state Friday afternoon, only minutes after commencing a return flight to its base in Veracruz. The helo left International Airport Playa de Oro in Manzanillo, Colima at about 1135 hours but lost contact before it was to reach Urupan Michoacan at around 1210 hrs.
Later it was determined the Eurocopter Panther AS565 helicopter had crashed atop a mountain at a remote location about 18 kilometers south of Pihuamo municipality in Jalisco state. That area has long been known as a haven for drug traffickers.
SEMAR has yet to release a determination of the cause of the crash.
Meanwhile, a Mexican Naval Infantry unit dismantled a synthetic drug laboratory in the same municipality as the crash, Pihuamo municipality in Jalisco state.
According to a second news release by SEMAR, the unit found a total of 875 kilograms of caustic soda, 198 kilograms of sodium acetate, 25 containers of various capacities, some with unidentified chemicals, 10 burners, two cook chimneys and 10 pewter steamers.
The lab was found about 30 kilometers northwest of Pihuamo municipality on 26 June.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[An Nahar] More than 100 Sudanese lawyers in black legal gowns demonstrated on Thursday in defense of free speech, Agence La Belle France Presse reported, on the 13th day of unprecedented public protests.
"Demonstration is a constitutional right," said one of their banners,
No doubt they can show exactly where it is in the laminated copy of the Sudanese constitution each keeps in his hip pocket.
while another declared "Freedom of expression is a legal right."
Eighty legal practitioners in Khartoum held the silent protest by standing outside a courthouse for about an hour, while another 40 carried out a similar action in the capital's twin city of Omdurman, the news hound observed.
They also held signs objecting to high food prices.
Rights groups say scores of people have been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! since the protests against inflation began on June 16 at the University of Khartoum.
After President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. announced austerity measures, including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel, the protests spread to include a cross-section of people in numerous locations throughout the capital and other parts of Sudan.
Demonstrators in groups of 100 or 200 have burned tires, thrown stones and blocked roads in a growing call for regime change, which has been met by police tear gas.
In a rare show of restraint, riot police stood by while the lawyers protested.
On Sunday, lawyers erupted into the streets for a protest in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state, but some were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! , witnesses said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the government on Thursday to avoid "heavy-handed suppression" of protesters, who say they will intensify their actions on Friday.
Rights groups say scores of people have been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! Pillay called on Sudan "to immediately and unconditionally release those who have been tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! for merely exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
"Reports of ill treatment in detention are very worrying and must be investigated promptly."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
More than 100 Sudanese lawyers in black legal gowns demonstrated on Thursday in defense of free speech
Does one still have to be a USCIT to be nominated to the US Supreme Court? Just asking.
An aide of the acting governor of the autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao (ARMM) was killed in an ambush by two motorcycle-riding gunmen in Cotabato City, police said on Thursday.
ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman also confirmed the killing of Jesus Dillo, 45, his development consultant and an active peace advocate in Mindanao, while on his way home on Wednesday night. Police said Dillo died while undergoing emergency surgery for multiple bullet wounds. Witnesses said his attackers casually walked away from the scene and boarded their motorcycle after the killing.
Police have yet to establish the motive but Hataman said Dillo was one of the most prominent civilian leaders who helped him implement major reforms in ARMM, one of the poorest and corrupt regions in the country.
Catholic priest the Reverend Eliseo Mercado Junior joined Hataman in denouncing the killing of Dillo who was active in the political empowerment of Muslim and lumad (indigenous peoples) communities not only in ARMM but also in the whole of Mindanao.
[An Nahar] A remote-controlled kaboom killed eight Pak troops and maimed three others Thursday in a restive Pak tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
The incident took place in Bara, the main town in the lawless Khyber tribal region where Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked Death Eaters have carved out strongholds.
"At least eight troops including an officer were killed and three others maimed in a bomb kaboom, targeting two vehicles of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC)," a front man for the force told AFP.
The vehicles were on a routine patrol when attack happened, he added.
Earlier, the front man had said that four troops were killed and six maimed.
Local government official Nasir Khan also confirmed the new toll.
Pakistain's seven tribal districts near the Afghan border are rife with homegrown gunnies and are strongholds of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives. Washington calls it the most dangerous region on Earth.
Elsewhere in the northwestern Haripur district, three Pak men, allegedly tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... by security forces when they disappeared a year ago, were found dead Thursday after authorities ordered that they be produced alive in court.
The case spotlights the plight of the "missing" in Pakistain, where judges are seeking to bring the powerful military and intelligence agencies to book over mass arrests of alleged terror suspects, who are never seen again.
According to a preliminary autopsy report, the three men aged 30 to 35 were recently killed -- first poisoned, then their necks were broken.
Their bodies were discovered in the district of Haripur, part of the northwest where the army has been fighting to put down a Taliban insurgency.
"The dead bodies were recovered from three different places," Mohammad Ali Gandapur, district police chief, told AFP.
He said police were investigating who killed them and why.
Relatives of one of the victims told police he was tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... by security forces and had been missing for 11 months, Gandapur said.
Television footage showed the bodies being taken away by ambulance, accompanied by relatives and rescue workers.
A senior police official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said the victims had been tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... by intelligence agencies.
An unnamed relative said the victims were three of 170 missing people ordered to be produced court by judges in the northwestern capital Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.
Earlier this month, the high court in Peshawar ordered spy agencies, police and the provincial government to provide details on the status of 170 people.
Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand, provincial deputy attorney general, told AFP that the court is hearing cases from 170 petitioners who want their relatives back and accuse the intelligence agencies of holding them illegally.
The court will next hear the case on July 11.
Pakistain's Supreme Court is also investigating the cases of missing people in the northwest and southwestern Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province, where the military has been accused of rights violations in its bid to put down a separatist insurgency.
In February, seven men allegedly held by intelligence services appeared before the Supreme Court, more than a year and a half after being allegedly tossed in the clink You have the right to remain silent... in connection with terror attacks.
It was an unprecedented development that challenged perceptions that Pakistain's feared Inter-Services Intelligence operates above the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
So the other day, the terrs beheaded a dozen Pak soldiers and put the video up.
Isn't it about time the Pak army discovered who the bad guys really are? I mean, what more does it take?
Never mind.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/29/2012 11:31
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A federal judge has upheld the legality of Florida's purge of non-citizens from voting rolls, denying the B.O. regime's request for a halt to the program, which could handicap Obama's performance in Florida.
#7
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said that, according to his reading of the law, the 90-day provision did not apply to removing non-citizens from the rolls.
-exactly. Finally someone w/an oz. of commonsense & respect for the Constitution. I'm glad there was someone else out there that clearly saw Non-citizens on voter rolls as the oxymoron it is.
I bet this judge really pissed off a lot of Menshecrats with that ruling.
#8
I think it she be known that anyone convicted of election fraud, and make it manditory for groups like Acorn to announce penalities to their signature gatherers and such, gets 20 years in prison and actively go after the slime would change a lot of attitudes.
#9
Actually preventing vote fraud may be important in removing and replacing Obamacare. Although fraud probably doesn't amount to more than a few thousand votes in any given State, it could swing an Senate seat or two or a half dozen House seats.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/29/2012 15:54
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[An Nahar] U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... will demand "irreversible" steps by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... and the Syrian opposition to end the country's conflict, according to a copy of his transition plan obtained by AFP.
A blueprint for multi-party elections and an offer for "significant" international funding to rebuild Syria will also be discussed at a meeting of foreign ministers from the major powers and other key countries in Geneva on Saturday.
With the battle between Assad's forces and opposition groups becoming more bitter by the day, the special envoy's plan says it is "essential that any settlement provides for clear and irreversible steps in the transition according to a fixed time frame."
Annan calls for a "transitional government of national unity" to establish a "neutral environment" for the transition, according to the plan, given to AFP by diplomatic sources.
The interim government "could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation.
Diplomats have said this means that Assad could be ruled out of the government but did not automatically exclude his participation. It could also mean certain opposition figures would be kept out of the transition authority.
Assad's future is likely to be a key part of the Geneva talks when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Livingstone ... will negotiate with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, along with the foreign ministers of Britannia, La Belle France, Russia, Qatar, Turkey and Kuwait.
Russia is Syria's last major international ally and Lavrov said Thursday that "foreign players should not be dictating their solutions to the Syrians. We do not and cannot support any intervention or solutions dictated from abroad."
Annan's transition plan calls for a "national dialogue process" which he insists must be "meaningful." "That is to say its key outcomes must be implemented."
He says there must be a review of the constitution and legal system "subject to popular approval."
"Once the new constitutional order is established, it is necessary to prepare for and conduct free and fair multi-party elections for the new institutions and offices that have been established," the document says.
But Annan, who agreed a six point peace plan with Assad that has not been carried out, stresses that the conditions for a political settlement must be put in place now.
"There must be an end to bloodshed. All parties must re-commit themselves credibly to the six-point plan. This must include a cessation of armed violence in all its forms and immediate, credible and visible actions" to carry out the plan.
Both sides must "engage genuinely" with Annan and name "effective" negotiators to work on a settlement.
"The organized international community, including the members of the Action Group stands ready to offer significant support for the implementation of an agreement reached by the parties," says the document.
"This may include an international assistance presence under a United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... mandate if requested. Significant funds will be available to support reconstruction and rehabilitation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
So how much exactly is 'irreversible' in US dollars?
[An Nahar] Imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah mosque Salafist holy man Ahmed al-Asir warned on Thursday that he would take escalatory measures as part of his open-ended strike if the issue of non-state arms were not resolved.
In remarks to Voice of Leb radio (100.5), al-Asir said: "Our sit-in in Sidon is peaceful and civilized. It includes women, children and elderly."
"We can no longer tolerate the spread of arms in the presence of the state," he stressed, saying that his protest does not threaten the month-long security plan launched by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
In remarks to MTV he dubbed his protest an Intifada or Uprising.
Hundreds of the mosque preacher's supporters blocked the northern and southern entrances to the southern city of Sidon on Wednesday night by lying down on the road.
Around 50 protestors resumed their protest on Thursday morning by erecting tents near Abou Bahaeddine Hariri mosque at Sidon's northern entrance.
Mufti ofSidon and the South Sheikh Salim Sousan asked al-Asir in vain to hold the sit-in elsewhere and open the road for traffic.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel also tasked Governor of the South Nicolas Abu Daher and the commander of the southern region Brig. Gen. Tareq Abdullah to do the same.
In his remarks to VDL, al-Asir denied that he received the political backing of the city's officials.
"The decision to hold the sit-in came under my request," he stressed. "Political personalities haven't contacted me."
"It is also untrue that contacts are underway to disperse the sit-in," al-Asir told VDL, warning that if officials do not take effective measures to resolve the problem of non-state arms, starting with Hizbullah's arsenal, then he would take escalatory measures.
The Salafist preacher accuses Hizbullah and AMAL movement of taking over the political decision-making of the state.
"If they continue to dominate the political decision-making through controlling the army, the dignity of the Sunni sect and the state institutions, things will never be set straight," he was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
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[An Nahar] British police served an extradition notice Thursday on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has taken refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London requesting asylum.
Scotland Yard said they had served a "surrender notice" on the 40-year-old Australian requiring him to attend a cop shoppe, adding that failure to do so would make him further liable to arrest.
Assange faces extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations, having exhausted his options under British law when the Supreme Court overturned his appeal against extradition earlier this month.
Fearing Stockholm would pass him on to the United States, he sought refuge at Ecuador's embassy in London on June 19, asking the South American country for political asylum.
Scotland Yard has "served a surrender notice upon a 40-year-old man that requires him to attend a cop shoppe at date and time of our choosing," a front man said.
"This is standard practice in extradition cases and is the first step in the removal process.
"He remains in breach of his bail conditions. Failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest."
It is understood that officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit delivered a note to the embassy saying Assange has to present himself to a nearby cop shoppe at 11:30am (1030 GMT) Friday, the domestic Press Association news agency said.
Citing sources, PA said a letter was also delivered for Assange.
The embassy declined to comment on the serving of the police notice.
Assange fears that from Sweden he will be extradited to the United States to face possible espionage charges, after releasing more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables on the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website.
Following a lengthy series of legal challenges that ran out earlier this month, he was given until June 28 to make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, at which point extradition procedures in Britannia could commence.
His lawyer was unavailable for comment on Thursday, while a front man for WikiLeaks told AFP he had talked to Assange on Wednesday, but declined to comment on whether an appeal to the ECHR had been made.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa met Monday with his envoy to London and other brass hats to discuss Assange's request.
"The request for political asylum is being examined along with all the political implications it will have, including for Mr Assange," said Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, adding that no timeframe had been set for a decision.
He is already in breach of his bail conditions, which state he must be at a given address between 10:00 pm and 8:00 am.
But while he remains in the embassy he is protected by diplomatic immunity and beyond the reach of British authorities.
The Ecuadoran embassy is a flat in a mansion block in the plush Knightsbridge district. It is across the street from the well-known Harrods department store.
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[An Nahar] A Saudi national was convicted Wednesday of plotting attacks on the Texas home of former U.S. president George W. Bush, nuclear plants, hydroelectric dams and other targets, prosecutors said.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 22, was locked away You have the right to remain silent... last year after a chemical supplier became suspicious when he tried to order concentrated phenol, a toxic chemical that has legitimate uses but is also a powerful bomb-making tool.
The FBI found journal entries and emails in which he wrote about how he sought a scholarship to a Texas university in order to be able to "target the infidel Americans" and detailed how he would carry out Jihad.
One email he sent himself with the title "targets" contained the names and home addresses of three members of the U.S. military who had been stationed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Another, titled "Tyrant's House," listed Bush's address in Dallas.
The FBI also found evidence that he was looking into using dolls to conceal explosives, targeting a nightclub with a backpack bomb and had emailed himself instructions on how to convert a cell phone into a remote detonator and how to booby-trap a vehicle using household items.
"This case serves as another reminder of the need for continued vigilance both at home and abroad," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco.
"As this trial demonstrated, Aldawsari purchased ingredients to construct an bomb and was actively researching potential targets in the United States," Monaco said in a statement.
"Thanks to the efforts of many agents, analysts and prosecutors, this plot was thwarted before it could advance further."
Aldawsari faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine after being convicted of one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His sentencing was set for October 9.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
How'd he get Gitmo guard home addresses??
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/29/2012 12:31
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#2
Abu Ghraib, not Gitmo.
It's not that hard to do. The press long has 'helpfully' provided the initial information (name, unit, hometown). From there it's just a matter of doing some research.
#3
No, the court did the right thing. Obama has been pushing this as a tax since 2010. He calls balls and strikes, doesn't pass judgement on the manager's strategy. If they want to push it as a tax, it actually is a tax. They passed the law as a tax bill, the IRS collects it, the rules are based in the income tax laws.
The court ruled 7-2 that the commerce clause would not cover this.
When the Democrats wake up this morning they will own the largest middle class tax increase in history after saying they would never increase your taxes if you make less than $250,000.
Benedict Roberts has, in one fell swoop, put the final nail in the coffin of what used to be America.
We all woke up today in the USSA. Anyone who believes otherwise is a deluded fool.
Due to the differences in technology, the Dark Ages after the fall of Rome will be an anthill compared to the one we now will enter. In fact, due to technology, we may never exit.
Won't be celebrating Independence Day this year, or any time going forward, methinks.
Thanks for ripping my heart out. Another Bush family ruling class elite appointee that was a stealth Manchurian justice.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/29/2012 5:43
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#5
A rather complex theory, a bit too complex for my simple mind.
My plan for Saturday afternoon is to wear an old boonie hat bedecked with medals I never earned, hop along on a cane until I reach the curb in front of an Atlanta gay bar, and sit there winking at patrons and handing out Obama bumper stickers until I can regain my self esteem.
#7
I understand the counter-argument advanced by some that Justice Roberts was trying to put limits on the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause, by reminding people that there limits on the powers of Congress.
I don't think this ruling will do that and I think he'll fail, because too many people in this country WANT Congress (and the President) to have all-encompassing, microscopic powers over everyday life.
But I understand the theory.
What bothers me is that while Mr. Roberts might be correct about the third fallback: that Congress does have the power to levy a tax, he then could have tossed Obamacare simply by saying, "and nowhere in this bill is the mandate described as a tax. Congress should try again."
But he didn't do that, having bought the soap advanced by the Solicitor General that the mandate was a tax, after Congress and Champ said it wasn't.
Thus Chief Justice Roberts' major legacy with this ruling: he has allowed the Congress and the President to lie, and get away with it. They may now use any euphemism they wish to describe a tax, and the Supreme Court will okay it.
That is his legacy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2012 7:44
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#9
I think Roberts cleverly gave conservatives a gift, without straying from his philosophy of judicial self-restraint.
He knew he'd take a lot of heat, regardless of which way he decided. The way he chose allowed to him to call the ACA a "tax," four million times. Almost no one understands the ACA, but everyone understands what a tax is.
And, voila: look at how furious and motivated we all are. How determined we are to pull out all the stops for the November elections, and fix this abomination through the elected branches. To a conservative judge, that is exactly the right answer.
I suspect Roberts loathes this law, and Ogabe, as much as the rest of us. Certainly he's aware that his decision would galvanize the right, even if he's getting called a lot of names right now. If Roberts had struck it down, it would have given Dems a lot of traction to whine about evil Republicans and continue confusing the public. He didn't do that. Instead, Dems are preening in the vanity mirror, taking an obnoxious victory lap, secure in their delusion that the ACA is something to brag about. All that is only going to alienate voters even more.
In sum, Roberts basically just handed the election to Pubs, which I believe was his intention.
#10
I'll join you Besoeker and bring my donation hat.
Don't hold your breath, Dale. The homeless populations are the first ones to tell you that folks wearing/showing Obama (or other liberal) stickers and pins almost never drop coins in the can.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/29/2012 8:33
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#11
Congress doesn't have to call it a tax in order for it to be a tax. Congress only has to call it a tax to make it subject to the Tax Anti Injunction Act. They didn't. So this suit was justiciable. Good work by Roberts. There's only one way to get rid of this law. (And now it can't be filibustered)
#13
So, if I understand this ruling, the Congress can impose a tax for failure to engage in a certain type of behavior (in this case, buying insurance).
So, could a future Congress tax someone for failing to vote Dem?
Do we now have a dhimmitude analog in our judicial precedent?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/29/2012 9:04
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Video shows Obama at a political rally, shouting, "Because we fought together, we had worked together, they walked doors (door-to-door) for me, they made phone calls for me, they turned out the vote for me."
Text on the screen then says, "Over 185 union waivers. All exempt from Obamacare mandate. If unions dont have to comply with Obamacare, why should we?"
#18
I'm saddened by the decision but in one aspect I'm happy. The supreme court should judge the law against the constitution and should leave their own personal biases out of it as much as possible. Roberts appears to have done that.
#19
Yes, it appears so Richard. Bailing the boat with one's hat is indeed chivalrous. But if the others simply sit on their arses smiling..... the boat still sinks.
#20
Roberts is a clown. It's not his job to get involved in politics or help w/electing either party. It's his job to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Period. This goes beyond the current political environment, and, if that was in his thinking when he wrote that garbage of a decision it sets a very dangerous precedent....and, how the hell do you regulate or TAX someone's inactivity in commerce?
As Mark Levin so aptly put it in a response to George Will's positive spin of the ruling:
"it is not a tax under the Constitution -- not a direct tax, not an excise tax, not an income tax. That's why Roberts was unable to apply any of those taxes to the penalty in any rational way. Thus, regulating inactivity is out (for now, as the four liberal justices were prepared to expand the commerce clause), but taxing inactivity is in, even where Congress insists it is not taxing but penalizing, and even where the tax/penalty does not meet any of the definitions of permissible taxation under the Constitution. The civics lesson, Mr. Will, is that Roberts's arguments are specious and an example of absurd judicial activism. (I note you defended judicial activism the other day, but you confused judicial review with judicial activism, a matter I can take up another day, assuming I care to.)
Roberts and the other justices had a duty to strike this law because it is not supported by our history, the Constitution, or reason. Roberts had to rewrite the statute, alter the penalty provision, and make a mess of the federal government's taxing powers to get where he wanted to go.
#23
About all those waivers: Correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think the executive branch had the authority to grant tax exemptions. If this whole thing is really a tax isn't that what the waivers really are?
#26
I agree Pappy. Certainly wishful thinking, but definately not in his charter. If Mitt wins, and that is a big "if".... his work is definately cut out for him. Weaning the entitlement crowd from their gov't cheese will be very, very painful. It has gone on far too long.
I did get a good head shaking chuckle out of the odious Geraldo Rivera last night, blaming the pubs for the ethnic capital steps walk-out during the Holder vote. I really liked Geraldo better when he had finger tats.
#27
I don't think the Commerce Clause portion of the ruling represents a big win for us. The Court said that doing nothing can't be regulated as Commerce. Ok, but you do, no matter how local, still is Interstate Commerce. The Court drew a line in the sand where we already are. They did not move the line back at all.
What the Court should have done was reverse Wickard v. Filburn, throw out the entire law and start us back on the noble path of limited, enumerated powers. I guess the feeling was that this was not politically possible.
So let's assume that's Erick's theory is correct. If so, that's a huge gamble. A HUGE gamble. It means we have to win the white house campaigning against ObamaCare, when our guy invented it. Great. It means we have to win the Senate and keep the House. Ok. And then it means that all our guys, every last one of them, has to keep their nerve and overturn this thing. That's where Erick loses me. I don't trust our guys to pull it off.
#28
So, could a future Congress tax someone for failing to vote Dem?
Isn't that pretty much what's been going on for years?
taxes have to begin in the House. The PPACA began where?
Began in the house. As some bill about military housing, as I recall. Then the Senate removed all that text from it and replaced it with the Obamacare text. It was a legalistic sleight-of-hand, but it's not uncommon.
#29
If Mitt wins, and that is a big "if".... his work is definately cut out for him.
As long as he's standing behind those podiums with 'repeal and replace' I would maintain that he doesn't even really know what his work is, which is part of the problem.
#30
I looked at the case befor scotus as this: does the govt have the power to force citizens to purchase insurance against their will or be fined if they do not . Basic liberty stuff. Roberts et all played head games and sidestepped the issue. The law needed to be struck down for just that. Congress needs a lesson in civics but they are too far gone for that.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/29/2012 12:50
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#31
It's a tax? 50 votes down in the Senate and it's history.
#32
My plan for Saturday afternoon is to wear an old boonie hat bedecked with medals I never earned, hop along on a cane until I reach the curb in front of an Atlanta gay bar, and sit there winking at patrons and handing out Obama bumper stickers until I can regain my self esteem.
I'll join you if you let me bring my upside down American flag.
As Doc Steve said. Justice Roberts could have have made a judgment on what was in front of him. If he did, he would have said the mandate was unconstitutional. He basically rewrote ObamaCare from the bench. Once he deemed OC unconstitutional, he should have dumped the entire legislation because of the lack of a severability clause; end of story. What comes out of Washington is truly astonishing.
#33
Having read all of these, I hope RandomJD (#9) is closest to correct.
I'll pray she's correct.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2012 17:43
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#34
We should not be satisfied, nor should we desire electoral "gifts" from the Custodian of our Supreme Court. Nor should we desire some sort of egalitarian balance of decision making (liberal vs conservative) from the court. What we should receive is juriprudence based upon a learned intrepretation of the constitution.
Origins and outcomes do matter! A Morton's menu listing a cheaper cut of sirloin taken from an animal with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy would be most unpopular. Obamacare is no less tainted.
Water and Energy minister says Israel will overcome its water shortage over next decade; says 'by end of decade the water we'll all drink will be desalinated'
Neatly taking Israel out of the water wars that have been predicted for the region and the drier areas of the world on the back of rising populations.
Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said Tuesday that the State of Israel will get through its water crisis in the upclong decade.
Speaking at the third annual convention for green economy, Landau said "water is an expensive commodity in our area, which is constantly at a state of a political-economic earthquake."
The minister said that Israel will soon get through the crisis, noting that the world's largest desalination facilities are being used by Israel, producing 300 million cubic meter of water per year.
"In two years, the State of Israel will produce 600 million cubic meters of water, while Israel uses some 1.2 billion cubic meters per year.
"By the end of the decade, desalinated water will flow from the western Mediterranean Sea to almost every house in Israel. By the end of the decade the water we'll all drink will be desalinated. We have yet to emerge from the water crisis, but we are on our way," Landau said.
Commenting on the treatment of waste water, the minister stressed that Israel is devoting resources to deal with the issue and has managed to convince the Paleostinians to treat their sewage.
"Donor states are collaborating on projects related to water purification and preventing contamination of underground water that is within the territory of the Paleostinian Authority. I hope these will yield results soon," Landau said.
Otherwise we'll get more stories of brown ponds overflowing their banks to swamp nearby Palestinian villages.
[An Nahar] The U.N. rights chief on Thursday urged the Sudanese government to avoid "heavy-handed suppression" as demonstrators gear up for mass protests on Friday.
"Tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and other heavy-handed suppression will not resolve the frustrations and grievances of the people, Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
Rights groups say scores of people have been jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! since the protests against inflation began on June 16 in the capital, Khartoum.
The protests spread after President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. announced austerity measures including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel.
Demonstrators in groups of 100 or 200 burned tires, threw stones and blocked roads while calling for regime change.
In response, coppers fired tear gas at protesters in the eastern town of Kassala, witnesses said.
"After 23 years of endurance, the Sudanese people have decided to say enough is enough," said activist movement Sudan Change Now.
In her plea for calm, Pillay also called on Sudan "to immediately and unconditionally release those who have been incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for merely exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
I suspect those rights are not enumerated in the Sudanese constitution, assuming they have such a thing. Though if they did, it must be assumed that burning tires, throwing stones, and blocking roads are not considered protected expression.
Their constitution does make a distinction between a mandate and a tax, however...
"Reports of ill treatment in detention are very worrying and must be investigated promptly."
She also urged protestors to ensure, on their part, that no violence or damage to property takes place during the demonstrations.
Sudan has lost billions of dollars in oil receipts since South Sudan gained independence last July, taking with it about 75 percent of Sudanese crude production.
Pillay's statement comes after Sudan rounded on the United States for criticizing its handling of the protest movement.
"The USA is not qualified to advice on such an issue because it continues bombing civilians in different parts of the world and it cracked down on demonstrators on Wall Street," foreign ministry front man al-Obeid Meruh said on Wednesday.
He was responding to comments by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who said that "arresting and mistreating protesters" will not solve Sudan's political and economic crises.
"There have been reports of protesters being beaten, imprisoned and severely mistreated while in government custody. We call for the immediate release of those incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! for peaceful protest," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was given detailed briefings by Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani and other relevant bigwigs on Pakistain's foreign policy at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
The prime minister in his observation underscored the importance of projecting a soft image of Pakistain through public diplomacy by encouraging people to people contacts, cultural exchanges and promotion of business and trade the world over.
The prime minister also emphasised the urgency of interacting with the third generation of expatriate Paks especially those living in Europe and the USA as sustainability of their attachment with Pakistain will be a great asset for the country.
The prime minister directed the Foreign Office that it should focus on African countries as well because there exists immense potential of bilateral cooperation and that is the reason as to why focus of many emerging powers was shifting to those countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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#1
we are a friendly terrorist nation.Thats better!
(Ma'an) -- President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... will meet Israeli Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz in Ramallah on Sunday but the talks will not entail negotiations, PLO official Saeb Erekat ...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state... said Thursday.
"We do not want to raise expectations or lower them. This is not a negotiation meeting," Erekat told Voice of Paleostine radio.
Erekat said the meeting was arranged at Mofaz's request, but said negotiations were the responsibility of Israel's prime minister and official negotiating teams.
A front man for Mofaz would not confirm or deny that a meeting had been arranged, but he did say there was ongoing contact with Abbas' office toward setting up such an event.
Mofaz told news hounds this month that he intended to meet Abbas "to examine ways to restart peace negotiations with the Paleostinians".
Mofaz, head of Israel's centrist Kadima party, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition in May to form one of the biggest coalitions in Israeli history, a move that commentators said could give Netanyahu a freer hand to seek peace with the Paleostinians.
Negotiations between Israel and the PLO broke down in late 2010 after Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building on occupied Paleostinian land.
The PLO has demanded a halt to the construction before talks resume, but Israel says the settlements issue should be resolved in negotiations.
[An Nahar] Violence killed at least 69 people, including 38 civilians, in Syria on Thursday after one of the bloodiest days of the 15-month revolt left nearly 150 dead, a human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... watchdog said.
Two bombs went kaboom! outside the Palace of Justice in central Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... on Thursday, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
The bombs, which it described as terrorist attacks, went kaboom! in the car park outside the court complex in the al-Marjeh district, but a third did not explode.
A police source told Agence La Belle France Presse magnetic bombs went kaboom! in two judges' cars in the open-air car park, while a third was in the process of being defused.
He said three people were hurt, without identifying them, and that 18 cars were damaged
Also in Damascus, a woman was killed by sniper fire, as military operations continued outside the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Twelve members of the same family, including three children and four women were killed in shelling in the Damascus suburb of Douma, while six people and one rebel fighter were killed in shooting and festivities with regime forces attempting to storm the town, the Britannia-based watchdog said.
Four non-combatants were killed elsewhere in the province in festivities and shooting.
And in the town of Irbin, four soldiers were killed in an ambush by rebels, the Observatory said.
In Deir Ezzor in the east, eight people were killed, including women and kiddies, in shelling and fierce fighting between rebels and troops backed by helicopters in several neighborhoods of the city, the watchdog said.
Ten people were killed in the central province of Homs, including four rebels and two civilians who died in al-Hosn village amid festivities with government troops and militiamen.
The Local Coordination Committees, made up of activists on the ground, reported renewed shelling in Homs city and in Rastan, whose power and water systems are suffering "complete disruption".
In the southern province of Daraa, three people were killed in shelling and sniper fire, while in the northwestern province of Idlib, a rebel fighter and a civilian were killed by regime forces, the Observatory said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit... at least 19 member of the regime forces were killed in festivities with rebels in the provinces of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , Daraa, Deir Ezzor, Homs and Idlib.
The deaths came after at least 149 people, 77 of them civilians, were killed on Wednesday in one of the bloodiest days of the uprising, the Observatory said.
More than 15,800 people have been killed in Syria, the majority of them civilians, since the start of the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's rule in March last year, according to the Observatory's figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2012
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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.
Two Muslim converts were arrested in East London yesterday on suspicion of plotting an attack against the London Olympic canoeing venue. 
In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record.
A woman was killed and a dozen others, including some 
[An Nahar] Russia said Thursday it backed a political transition in Syria but rejected Western pressure to call for the exit of 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded, scientists said Wednesday, in a finding that could debunk one of the most commonly-held images of the extinct giants.
Shortly after sneaking across the Afghan border this week, more than 100 
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
U.S. President 
Tehran on Thursday condemned the United States for backing the United Arab Emirates in its dispute with Iran over three Gulf islands, dubbing it "clear interference in Iran's domestic affairs."
Mahmoud 
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, warned the EU in a letter on Thursday that new sanctions will have "repercussions" on talks over his country's atomic activities.
[An Nahar] Bahraini security forces are searching for three suspects believed to be planning "terror" attacks in the kingdom and harboring materials used to make explosives, media reports said on Thursday.
Egypt was to decide Thursday the venue for Islamist Mohamed Morsi's swearing in as the nation's first civilian president, as Washington praised the military for facilitating a "free" poll.
[An Nahar] More than 100 Sudanese lawyers in black legal gowns demonstrated on Thursday in defense of free speech, Agence 
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was given detailed briefings by Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani and other relevant 
[An Nahar] Violence killed at least 69 people, including 38 civilians, in Syria on Thursday after one of the bloodiest days of the 15-month revolt left nearly 150 dead, a 
