Survey sez..."I'm hit!"
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) A resident was killed and six others were injured on Thursday in a family feud that erupted in the Gaza City neighborhood of Tel Al-Hawa, medics reported. Less filling!
Tastes great!
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG...
Head of emergency and ambulance services in Gaza, Muawiya Hassanein, said seven were taken by ambulance to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. All were admitted with wounds from tools used in the fray, as well as knife and gunshot wounds, Hassanein said. Hey, doc...this guy's got a pair of vice grips up his ass!
One of the seven injured arrived in critical condition and was pronounced dead before reaching the surgical room. The victim was identified as Ayman Adib Hajaj, 20, who sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Probably a ricochet off his foot...
Police had not yet quelled the brawl, which Hassanein said continued after Hajaj was pronounced dead. He said the Hajaj family and the "L" family would be charged by police for the incident. Mahmoud! Round up the "L"'s!
What?
Police said an investigation was opened by police, and charges were expected.
Google Translate. For a map, click here. More information tomorrow.
A Tamaulipas Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) prison is where at least 14 inmates have died in a prison brawl, say Mexican press reports.
The prison is located near Matamoros near the US border and housed mostly Mexican federal inmates. The riot began at about 0500 hrs Friday morning.
#1
Ummm I'm reading this at 5pm Central standard time, and the prison is two time zones west, something's wrong it's only 3pm there right now?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2010 18:07
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#2
Tamaulipas is in the Cdentral Times zone, and I dunno how to explain the difference, All the news services are saying the riot began at. Mexican news services said the riot began at 1700 hrs. Changing to the corrected time of 0500 hrs.
The frequency of international terrorist attacks has dropped in recent years, but a State Department report also finds that more Western-reared individuals are hearing the siren of radical Islam.
BILLINGS, Mont. -- A brazen black bear with a late-night hankering for supreme pizza surprised a Montana resident last week, and it's not the first time the animal has eluded capture. Is it racist to call a black bear "brazen" or is it racist to call a brazen bear "black"? I'm confused.
The bear is believed responsible for about 21 break-ins in the Red Lodge area in south-central Montana over the past few weeks.
In the most recent heist, Marek Rosin said he awoke at about 1:30 a.m. on July 29 to find the bear had pushed open the door to his back porch and was raiding his chest freezer. "He was about four feet from me with his head in the freezer munching on a pizza," Rosin said. "It was almost comical if it wouldn't have been that close."
Rosin scared the bear off before it could eat anything more. Must have been the scream
Most of the break-ins involve the bear climbing through a screened window or breaking through a screen door to access picnic baskets refrigerators or freezers, said Shawn Stewart, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist. Stewart said he thinks a single adult black bear is causing most of the problems. Two culvert traps were set up, but the bear has avoided them. Another bear was captured and relocated.
Over the past four days, no new reports of bear break-ins have come in. It's unknown if the bear might have left the area. Or he got tired of frozen pizzas
Bear incidents are also being reported south of Bozeman, east of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and around Jackson Hole, Wyo. "It's fairly widespread," Stewart said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/06/2010
14:15 ||
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#1
"Hey Boo-Boo, lookee here, no more pic-a-nic baskets for me."
"Gee Yogi, I don't think the Ranger is going to like this."
Follow up from yesterday...
No need to jack up the price of a glass of lemonade. Turns out kids won't have to shell out $120 for a health permit to run their lemonade stands after all.
Multnomah County's top elected official apologized Thursday for health inspectors who forced a 7-year-old girl to shut down her stand last week because she didn't have a food-safety permit.
#2
Professional and government employee don't exactly go together. There is a reason they made up the saying, "Good enough for governemnt work." The only professionals I've ever seen in the government are from the military.
#3
That's a little broad. There are plenty of professionals at NIH. I know them personally.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2010 18:53
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#4
Actually, I've found professionals in a number of government offices over the past 20 years. They're not anywhere near a majority, however. The REALLY professional ones don't stay on the government payroll very long, though. They figure out what the government is doing wrong, and open a private business to compete - or to offer suggestions (at a very steep price) that the majority of government employees ignore.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/06/2010 20:34
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#5
Every organization has 2 basic types of people. The first type works to carry out the purpose of the organization. The other works to increase the size and power of the organization regardless of its purpose.
#6
Lets put people like this agency head on a list every year and pick 10 at random at years end for execution. I bet the frequency of these outrages would drop off to nearly nil...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/06/2010 21:15
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#7
A century ago my great-grandmother tried to run a mini-grocery store out of her farmhouse for benefit of the Indian village she lived in. The county authorities used the same sort of crap to drive her out of business. SSDC -- C referring to century.
#8
Chairman Jeff Cogen also said he has directed county health department workers to use "professional discretion" in doing their jobs.
Ah, yes "discretion". Hayek had a whole chapter about "discretion" in bureaucratic, totalitarian states. How you get treated depends on who you know, what you can do in return, and who is looking at the time.
Rule of law, people! If this law is wrong, show some guts and change it! Otherwise, charge the kid the $120.
It hasn't been confirmed, but there was reportedly a small seismic event in northwest Missouri yesterday. The temblor was centered near the town of Independence, where President Harry S. Truman is buried. Mr. Truman, it seems, can no longer rest in peace, given the U.S. decision to send a representative to this Friday's ceremony in Japan, officially marking the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
More from AFP, via Breitbart:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that US President Barack Obama "thought it appropriate" to recognize Japan's atomic bomb anniversary as he wants to rid the world of nuclear arms.
The United States, 65 years after a mushroom cloud rose over Hiroshima, will for the first time send an envoy this Friday to commemorate the bombing that rang in the nuclear age.
"President Obama is very committed to working toward a world without nuclear weapons," even if he sees it as a "long-term goal," Clinton told reporters when asked for comment on the anniversary.
"I think that the Obama administration and President Obama himself believe that it would be appropriate for us to recognize this anniversary and has proceeded to do so," she said.
Why has the U.S. never dispatched a representative to the event in the past? Because its solemnity is something of a fig leaf; the annual ceremony has anti-American, anti-nuclear and anti-military overtones, with no effort to explain the events in the broad sweep of history. Listening to some of the participants, you'd never know that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was preceded by almost four years of bloody war that began at Pearl Harbor. That important context is typically missing from the Hiroshima remembrance, but we're still dispatching our ambassador in Tokyo to attend the event.
His presence will be widely interpreted as a de facto apology from the United States. That's hardly surprising; some wags have described President Obama's foreign travels as a global apology tour, and there's genuine speculation that he will offer some sort of mea culpa for Hiroshima and Nagasaki when he visits Japan in November--after the mid-term elections.
Of course, this entire episode leaves us wondering: what does the U.S. have to apologize for? Looking for the quickest way to end the war--and reduce casualties on both sides--Mr. Truman made the fateful choice to use atomic weapons. His decision is more remarkable when you consider that Truman had never been briefed on the Manhattan Project as a senator or Vice-President; he didn't learn of the nation's nuclear program until after President Roosevelt died in April 1945, leaving it up to Mr. Truman to give the final okay.
Harry Truman was every inch a realist. He understood the terrible new weapons would inflict horrendous casualties, and Japanese civilians would not be spared. But Mr. Truman also realized that a planned invasion of Japan's home islands would be even more horrific. U.S. commanders expected our troops would suffer a minimum of 250,000 casualties during Operation Olympic the preliminary invasion of Kyushu (the southernmost of Japan's main islands), scheduled for November 1946.
Olympic would be followed by Operation Coronet, the main landings on the island of Honshu and the Tokyo Plain. Enemy resistance was expected to be determined and fierce; Japan hoped to shatter the invasion forces on land and at sea with massive suicide attacks. Japanese kamikaze pilots sank 32 American vessels during the battle for Okinawa; they hoped to destroy up to 800 U.S. ships supporting the invasion of Japan, using more than 12,000 aircraft still at their disposal.
By comparison, U.S. intelligence believed the Japanese military had only 3,000 planes to defend the home islands, and our estimates were off in other areas as well--mistakes that would have added to the carnage during the planned invasion. Intel officers believed the U.S. would suffer 1,000,000 casualties by the fall of 1946 (less than a year after the first landings on Kyushu), and that estimate was considered conservative in many circles. Casualty totals among enemy military personnel and civilians was expected to be much, much higher, as the Japanese literally fought to the death.
Against that backdrop, President Truman made his decision to unleash atomic weapons. An estimated 64,000 Japanese died at Hiroshima, while 40,000 perished at Nagasaki. While tragic, their deaths were less than 10% of the estimated U.S. casualties in the planned invasion of Japan. When you factor in projected Japanese military and civilian casualties, the death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki represents (perhaps) five percent of those who would have been killed, wounded or maimed in a U.S. invasion of Japan.
That is another, vital contextual elements that is missing from the Hiroshima ceremony, but it won't deter the White House or Mrs. Clinton's crew at Foggy Bottom. They view the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities as a wrong that must be corrected, to enhance America's standing in the world. Harry Truman never saw any need for that; he understood that war is a terrible business that sometimes requires leaders to make the most difficult decisions. From what we've read, Mr. Truman had no regrets over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and felt no need to apologize for ending a war that Japan started.
As Sarah Palin would say, the man from Independence had "cajones." That used to be a requirement for the presidency.
Twas not an endorsement, Doc. My favorite characters supported the contitution, even though they thought the President and Congress were wrong to support the unilateral disarmament. I seem to remember Kirk Douglas, George Kennedy and the guy that played the conservative senator. Burt Lancaster's general and the others were not admirable characters.
The point is/was that people sometimes act irrationaly out of perfectly rational fears.
#7
As I've said before, I used to be ambivalent about the bombings until I read "Downfall" by Richard Frank. He covered the events leading up to the bombing, including the firebombing of Tokyo and other cities, which also caused horrendous civilian casualties.
If we had not bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and if the Japanese had not surrendered, we would have started bombing the railroads and bridges that went from the farms to the cities. The result would have been mass starvation. This is besides the civilian casualties that would have resulted in an invasion. The civilians were being trained to resist the Americans in any way they could - even if it meant their deaths.
Not to mention, if the Japanese had not surrendered when they did, the Russians were getting ready to invade the northern islands, which they would have claimed as war booty.
What the bombings did is to give the Japanese Emperor a face saving way of surrendering. Even though it was obvious that Japan was losing the war, there were still elements in the military that wanted to keep fighting to the very end.
After the war, Gen. MacArthur ran Japan for several years. He saw to it that the Japanese were fed. When Americans said we should just let them starve, his reply was "We're better than that". And we are.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/06/2010 20:34
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#8
After the war, Gen. MacArthur ran Japan for several years. He saw to it that the Japanese were fed. When Americans said we should just let them starve, his reply was "We're better than that"
There were other possible outcomes. There was a faction of Imperial militarists who attempted to depose Hirohito secretly & then speak in his behalf. They would never have surrendered under any circumstances. Hirohito himself was so little known to his subjects that when he did address them over the radio after the nuke attacks, his subjects had trouble recognizing the emperor's dialect.
There were plans for Imperial forces to murder all the POW's and civilian internees should the Home Islands be invaded.
Consider if this had all happened, there had been no surrender after the first 2 nuke strikes, and then all the prisoners had been executed.
I suspect the Allies would have been quite content to let the Japanese starve at that point. Either that, or build up a larger nuclear arsenal & repeat the nuclear attacks until there was no possible further resistance. We were basically good people, but there are limits to what any nation will tolerate in extremis.
#9
Anguper, we only had three nukes at the time. The first one was tested at Trinity Site, the second dropped on Hiroshima (Kyoto had been first choice as of May '45, but that changed) and the third on Nagasaki (secondary target to Kokura, the primary target, which was too clouded over that day to make a valid assessment of the damages).
It would have taken up to six months to produce another bomb.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/06/2010 21:39
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#10
I've said it before so forgive me if you've read this bit but...
In his autobiography Akira Kurosawa talked about how everyone expected the Emperor to order everyone to suicide rather than face the shame of occupation. Kurosawa was one of the most western folks in Japan at the time and his response to this thought was to get married so he'd be married before he suicided.
Let that sink in a bit. The entire nation was expecting to kill themselves and a large chunk of them probably would have.
Add that to the number of Americans that were expected to be casualties of an invasion of the main Japanese islands and the number of folks saved by those two bombs is incredibly, astronomically high. Anyone that says the bombs were bad is ignorant.
#14
"Why is this man laughing?" Because he (Albert Einstein) believed in the America that existed when this picture of him was taken---We've devolved considerably since then. Today, we would NEVER mention the BATAAN Death March or the Japanese atrocities upon an unsuspecting, undeserving Chinese population. FUC* these LIB crybabies who have no sense of our history! Stupid Ass-H*les
#15
It would have taken up to six months to produce another bomb.
I'm aware of that. My proposed scenario after Japan's refusal to surrender after being nuked twice, would have had the US face a population bent on death before surrendering while producing the maximum number of casualties on US invasion forces. The US then would have had to choose an invasion or then taking the time to produce & then use further nukes.
Dummies... The kidnapping conspiracy charge stems from a plan to kidnap a Baka al-Gharbiya man they mistakenly believed was Bassam Adel, a Syrian Mig-23 pilot who defected to Israel in 1989 with his fighter bomber. After his landing, which took Israeli authorities by surprise, Adel immediately requested asylum and has been living in an undisclosed location in Israel ever since.
The three men are also suspected of making a number of videos of IDF facilities. They also reportedly shot footage of a power plant in Hadera and tracked the movements of Israel Navy submarines in Haifa.
Syrias Foreign Minister Walid Muallam on Thursday night protested at the arrests, which he said were unjustified, and urged the UN to intervene over the affair. Geez, why don't you just stamp "Guilty" on their foreheads...
A suspected al Qaeda operative who lived for more than 15 years in the U.S. has become chief of the terror network's global operations, the FBI says, marking the first time a leader so intimately familiar with American society has been placed in charge of planning attacks. Soon to be intimately familiar with a Hellfire missile. Adnan Shukrijumah, 35, has taken over a position once held by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was captured in 2003, Miami-based FBI counterterrorism agent Brian LeBlanc told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. That puts him in regular contact with al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Osama bin Laden, LeBlanc said.
Shukrijumah and two other leaders were part of an "external operations council" that designed and approved terrorism plots and recruits, but his two counterparts were killed in U.S. drone attacks, leaving Shukrijumah as the de facto chief and successor to Mohammed - his former boss. "Congratulations, Adnan. You've just been promoted to Number Three! Adnan? Adnan? Hey, Achmed, get the smelling salts!"
"He's making operational decisions is the best way to put it," said LeBlanc, the FBI's lead Shukrijumah investigator. "He's looking at attacking the U.S. and other Western countries. Basically through attrition, he has become his old boss."
Continued on Page 49
#3
The big question is not whether this guy understands US society, but US politicians. I can think of a half dozen things with a low enough profile to pull off that would cause a lot of long term damage all out of proportion to the the initial loss thanks to the multiplier effect of stupid democrat reflex actions.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/06/2010
12:04 ||
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Cote and other members, including the commission's co-chair Alan Simpson, are focusing instead on "freezing military pay, making military people pay for their health care."
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
08/06/2010 12:54
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#2
There actually does need for some sense to be put back into military support mechanisms, for the simple reason that they are unsustainable at current levels.
The greater context for this is likely that, with an economic collapse, Defense is going to be slashed by at least 50%, and for years there won't be any major system upgrades, and in many cases, replacements. So the military will have to make do with its current and reserve equipment, of which it has a lot, or has already procured.
This leaves military pay, which is going to take a huge hit. Programs like the G.I. Bill and home loans are out the window. There will probably be significant co-pays for Stateside family members medical, if they get any at all. And they will be Stateside, because there will be no family travel outside the US.
Overseas postings will probably be limited to four or five critical areas, and everybody else is pulled home unless there is a hot war. This means leaving about 90 countries where they are currently posted.
I wouldn't even be surprised if most of the VA hospitals are closed, their patients outsourced to HMOs, if it costs less.
#4
When I enlisted in the USMC in 1968, the promise was free healthcare for life if I did a career. Well, I did, with some truncation, but a full 20+ in the USMC and Army, the Active Duty Guard, title 10.
Now my wife and I get Medicare Part A and Part B for which we pay like everybody else, and whatever is left is Tricare for life after deductibles.
Gee, does that sound like they keep their promises?
#6
This is part of the upcoming larger battle: Battle Looms Over Huge Costs of Public Pensions
It's been easy up to now to promise future payments based on future revenues. The future is biting us on the a** now.
#2
"You have to talk to him (Mullah Omar), and I'm sure it will work out very well," Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul told CNN's fellow traveller Fareed Zakaria in an interview to air Sunday.
#2
Well, the state has sanctioned serial polygamy and polyandry with no fault divorce. Is it much of a leap that next we'll see the point that why even go through the paper work ritual. It's not like sperm donors have to support children that aren't of their making. Oh, wait, never mind...
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/06/2010 13:36
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#5
Bigomy and Polygomy work for the elite males in a society. I'm sure there are a lot of people coming up with excuses right now of how it would be a good thing.
#8
I think there is a Constitutional Right for any of us to marry dead people, particularly those with huge estates, like the late Howard Hughes. Whether the fiance is still alive or gives consent, is a mere bagatelle that the likes of Elena Kagan can easily reason past.
WMF > IRANIAN MUSLIM MILITARY WOMEN IMAGES: PRE-ISLAMIC REVOLUTION VERSUS POST-ISLAMIC REVOLUTION.
ARTIC = Generally, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran led to Shah-era Iranian Armed Forces female Servicemembers to stop wearing MODERN OR COMTEMPORARY FEMMEZ MIL DRESS/UNIFORMS, in favor of TRADITIONAL FULL-BODY BURQUAS SAVE FOR AK-47's + COMMAND SWORDS.
#10
Bigamy was actually legal in the US until President Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in 1862 as part of a crackdown on the practices of the newly emergent Mormons.
Posted by: Gaz ||
08/06/2010 23:04
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#2
For instance, the health care law assumes some $200 billion in savings from productivity gains alone. The trustees called that "far from certain."
Yeah, "government worker" and "productivity" are two things not usually associated with each other.
I think the new strategic plan is, "hurry up and die, granny"...
#3
How many times have I heard libs saying "Oh, but I don't want to hurt the families". Well, now what are they going to do now that there is no money? They have no choice but to do it. Only in spades. Way worse than the conservative route.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 16:10
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#5
These are hard times, the chickens, buzzards, vultures and even the pterodactyls are coming home to roost.
Here's an interesting related article from the NYT Battle Looms Over Huge Costs of Public Pensions We had quite the discussion on this topic on the 'Burg a few days back.
And there are yet more hard choices to be made.
Seven Valley sand and gravel companies, including Fisher Sand & Gravel, which was forced to shut down its south Phoenix asphalt plant, could be barred from bidding on federal projects or face fines because of dust-related violations found at their sites.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent violation notices to each company in July after conducting several inspections at sand and gravel plants and has offered to talk about the violations before determining penalties.
State and county officials are battling with federal regulators who have threatened to withhold federal highway funds to force compliance with the Clean Air Act.
C. William Nichols, president of Kilauea Crushers, said his company tries to comply with the various regulations and curb problems with dust. He added, though, that he feels some of the rules are excessive, especially in a period of low construction when mills are sometimes dormant. "We will have meetings with them and we get everything worked out," he said. "We do the best we can."
"We take these violations very seriously," said Steve Trussell, executive director of the Arizona Rock Products Association trade group. "We'd only be hurting ourselves if we were to jeopardize that highway federal money."
Trussell said he has been meeting with company representatives to discuss enforcement and compliance issues. He said the industry group worked closely with the county for at least eight years on the "interpretation" of Rule 316, and now it will need to start such talks with the EPA. Crap like this is why States are in near revolt against the feds. Just a decade ago, the EPA considered requiring AZ to "water down the desert" to reduce dust. Fortunately one of them had actually been out West and knew that this would be impractical. Though it took him a while to persuade his peers.
#1
Sounds like the Fed is continuing its assault on Arizona. Some brown nosing EPA official must be looking for a promotion. I have always likened the dust particle regulations to trying to regulate the fog in San Fran.
Posted by: 49 Pan in UAE ||
08/06/2010 9:37
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#2
Abuse of Power(c) will be one of the first criteria to do away with a department when the Big Crunch(tm) hits the national government. No lateral civil service transfers allowed. When you hang your hat in one department, you hang with it.
#4
Farmers, being rugged and self sufficient are and Republican are targets of the same "dust" storm from the Obama EPA for political reasons. The Gangster government is our enemy.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
08/06/2010 11:09
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#5
Never watched the pregame, halftime, or postgame show just because of him. My little protest.
Whenever I see the guy, the same thought pops into my head. Lookout at a gangbang.
#6
Now if he was removed from MSNBC and replaced with a real newsperson. Same can be said of Rachel Maddow. I never watch MSNBC. They don't have any news. It seems that all they have is some piece on prisons.
ABU DHABIThe Japanese-owned oil tanker that reported an explosion last week while traveling through the Strait of Hormuz was attacked by terrorists, according to investigators in the United Arab Emirates, citing forensic evidence that found traces of explosives on the vessel.
"U.A.E. explosives experts who collected and examined samples found a dent on the starboard side above the water line and remains of home-made explosives on the hull," according to a statement released by the U.A.E.'s state-run news agency WAM. "An examination carried out by specialized teams had confirmed that the tanker had been the subject of a terrorist attack," the statement said, citing an unnamed coast guard official.
A spokeswoman for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government is still investigating the matter.
A spokeswoman for the shipping company that owns the tanker, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., said that the company had no comment about the evidence disclosed by the U.A.E. investigators. "We saw the news, but we have nothing to say. We have so far not been contacted by anybody of the U.A.E." about the cause, the spokeswoman said.
She added that other than the U.A.E. and Japan's foreign ministry, the U.S. Navy and the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations have also been investigating the issue. None of the parties have contacted the shipping company with regard to the cause, she said, adding that none of them have any legal obligation to inform the company either.
Earlier this week, an al Qaeda-affiliated militant group claimed responsibility for the July 28 incident that has been shrouded in mystery. In a statement posted on a known Islamic extremist website earlier this week, a group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it had targeted the supertanker filled with oil in what it had hoped would be a blow against the global economy and oil markets.
The shipping company that owns the tanker, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., originally reported that the vessel had been hit by an explosion while it was traveling through the strategic waterway through which some 20% of the world's oil travels each day. It had reported damage to the tanker's hull, but no casualties among its crew.
However, during the weeklong investigation conducted by U.A.E., Japanese and U.S. officials as the tanker docked in the U.A.E. port of Fujairah, officials in the region have given conflicting accounts of the incident. Some have claimed a rogue wave or a collision with another object were likely culprits.
Al Qaeda has threatened to target the strategic waterway in the past, but this is the first known attempt by an Islamic extremist group against the oil traffic in the region.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/06/2010
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Posted by: Black Charlie ||
08/06/2010 9:45
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#2
Perhaps these tankers could use a "skirt" made up of some kind of continuous heavy blanket that could absorb the brunt of an explosion. It would have to be heavy enough that terrorists couldn't just push it aside and get their boat between it and the hull because that would amplify the explosion. Maybe the blanket could have some small holes through it so that it would disperse the wave front over time and not hit the blanket too hard.
Proposition 23 takes aim at California's ambitious environmental law (known as AB 32 or the global-warming law), which requires greenhouse-gas emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. If approved by voters in November, the ballot measure would halt enforcement of AB 32 until California's unemployment rate, now over 12%, falls to 5.5% for at least four consecutive quarters. Or global warming floods the whole state, including Mt. Whitney, whichever comes first.
Last week, Jerry Governor Moonbeam Brown, a former California governor, ... who helped lay the groundwork for the current collapse whilst banging Linda Ronstadt...
declared global warming to be the defining issue between himself and the Republican candidate, saying Whitman "will gut AB 32." That's a feature, not a bug...
In the months to come, Brown said, "the contrast between my proposal for green jobs and her shilly-shallying on AB 32" will become clear. To date the green jobs are vapor. If the effort was showing results there wouldn't be an argument, would there?
Indeed, despite her latest statement that she may vote no, the ballot measure's supporters see Whitman as an ally. If she doesn't have the lips to stand up for it then there's a problem, isn't there?
"Whitman has said all along that AB 32 is a job killer and that she favors temporary suspension of the law and that is our position as well -- it is consistent with Proposition 23," says Yes on 23 spokeswoman Anita Mangels. "Why do you want to have a law that destructive?"
"Because it feels so good when when we repeal."
Brown is well aware that Whitman's willingness to suspend the greenhouse-emissions law puts her on the wrong side of California public opinion. That's the same public opinion that keeps voting in the Caliphornia legislature, so I guess the Caliphornios deserve the government they've got.
A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that 66% of residents support the climate law, 45% of the public believe AB 32 will create more jobs, while only 23% believe it will kill jobs (24% say the number of jobs won't be affected). Independents, who currently support Whitman 42% to 39%, are opposed to Proposition 23 by 53% to 29%. The California Experiment continues. They just can't settle for being halfway down the drain, can they?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/06/2010
07:24 ||
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45% of the public believe AB 32 will create more jobs, while only 23% believe it will kill jobs
Who are these people who aren't aware that "green jobs" is a hoax?
I'm not against subsidies for new technologies in principle, but this state intervention can't be sold on the back of BS arguments that they will materially reduce unemployment.
Treasury Secretary Geithner says that the important point to be taken from economic data released last week is that two key indicators of private-sector demand, business investment and consumption, are getting stronger. Even a surge in imports demonstrates increasing demand, he says. "By taking aggressive action to fix the financial system, reduce growth in health care costs and improve education, we have put the American economy on a firmer foundation for future growth."
Drink the Kool-Aide, Timmy; bathe in it. New York Times Op-Ed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/06/2010
07:10 ||
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I guess the same could be said about 'Berlin, June 1945: Economy on the track for future growth'.
The Palestinian Authority continues to incite young schoolchildren to armed struggle against Israel in its textbooks textbooks that are used by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to teach incitement in Israel's capital city, says investigative reporter David Bedein, who spoke in an interview with Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service.
The books in question include passages praising terrorists killed while attacking Israel as martyrs. They also teach children that Arabs descended from those who fled Israel during the War of Independence have a right to return to Israel.
Bedein's finding that the textbooks in Arab schools in Jerusalem are as problematic as those used in PA schools elsewhere is backed by a frank interview with PA Minister of Education Lamis al-Alami, who spoke with a member of Bedein's investigative team and told her that the textbooks provided by the PA for UNRWA schools are the precisely the same in Jerusalem as in Ramallah, Shechem and Gaza.
"These books discuss war against Israel, martyrs, the right of return. It's the first education system since the Third Reich which prepares its pupils to demonize Jews and to wage war against the Jews Bedein said. He invited listeners to verify his story for themselves, saying, Go to book stores on Salah a-Din street [a major road in eastern Jerusalem ed.] and compare the books you see there to those sold in Ramallah and Gaza. It's the same thing, books engaged in racist incitement against the Jewish people.
Arab schools in Jerusalem receive funding from the Jerusalem municipality. UNRWA schools in Jerusalem and elsewhere receive much of their funding from 38 nations, primarily from the United States and the European Union. Two UNRWA facilities are located inside Jerusalem - in the neighborhoods of Shuafat and Kalandia.
Bedein first raised the issue of incitement in Jerusalem schools 10 years ago. Among those he spoke to was former prime minister Ehud Olmert, then mayor of Jerusalem, who responded at a news conference to Bedein's question with little concern. They can teach what they want, and we'll teach what we want, Olmert said about incitement in the PA school books being used by Arab schools with funding from the Jerusalem municipality and the Israel Ministry of Education.
Bedein expressed hope that current Israeli leaders will now eact differently. Three officials have the power to change the situation, he said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Education Minister Gidon Saar and Education Committee head Zevulun Orlev.
#1
Is this supposed to be a surprise? Propaganda is the first act of war. I wonder if these are watered down versions used in places like Syria, Iraq, Iran, et. al.
Boeing and EADS got their bids into the office with time to spare. US Aerospace said its bid arrived at Wright-Patterson half an hour before the deadline. The Defense Department said it was five minutes late.
US Aerospace is a new company that is in partnership with Antonov, a state-owned Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer that used to build planes for the Soviet Union's military and now specializes in building very large aircraft.
Because of the late arrival of the bid, the Defense Department will not consider US Aerospace's proposal, according to Pentagon chief spokesman Geoff Morrell.
"We are not allowed by law to even review their proposal. It did not arrive in time. So we cannot consider it. We cannot review it," Morrell said.
A spokesman for US Aerospace, Chuck Arnold, said the Defence Department "still feel[s] the cold war is on" and doesn't want US Aerospace to succeed in the bid. IOW: Racist!
Morrell said the rules are clear. Yep. Ask any lawyer.
"This is a $30 billion to $40 billion contract. That is not a high school homework assignment, OK? These deadlines count, and any professional contractor understands that," he said. Pay attention, Boeing and EADS: If you win the bid, you better be done on time. Oh please, once they cash the check 'deadlines' become negotiable ...
Chuck Arnold, a spokesman for US Aerospace, said the bid proposal was on time. I deny your definition of "on time" and substitute my own.
#1
They need to stop whining. The fix is in, its going to Boeing no matter how good bad ontime or late any other bids are. Nobody else should bother bidding, Boeing will reset and change the rules if they lose until they finally win it. Boeing invested well in lobbyists and congressmen.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
08/06/2010 10:57
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#2
Oh please, once they cash the check 'deadlines' become negotiable ...
#3
So remind me again about when the USAF said tankers to replace the -135 would be in the air.....
i think they blew their own homework assignment. (with a litle help from their in-house friends and the BMAC).
And then there is that leettle extra credit problem they also blew; its called the F-35.
( disclaimer: I am not a big fan of the armed forces flying tankerskis any more than the bloated Airbust effort)
#4
The Islamic-Muslim Representatives came on time, the Bzzantine Roman Christians came late, + the Buddhists never appeared at all > THUSLY, VIRGINA, WAS HOW MONGOL-CONTROLLED ASIA CONVERTED TO ISLAM OVERNITE. The post-GENGHIS MONGOL "GREAT KHAN" felt disrespected by the Late Arrivals + No-Shows.
Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, Tariq Aziz, has accused Barack Obama of 'leaving Iraq to the wolves' by pulling out combat troops from the country.
Iraq's former deputy prime minister said the United States would destroy the country if it pressed on with the policy of withdrawing combat forces to concentrate on the war in Afghanistan
'We are all victims of America and Britain,' the one time official told the Guardian. 'They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death.'
Earlier this week President Obama said that U.S. combat troops would pull out of Iraq this month.
Speaking from his Baghdad prison cell for the first time since his capture more than seven years ago Aziz, who was once part of Saddam's inner-most circle, said that Iraq was in a worse state than it had been before the invasion by coalition forces in 2003.
'For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry. The people don't have services. People are being killed every day.'
The late dictator's henchman said that he had been initially encouraged when Mr Obama was elected president, because he thought he was going to correct some of former president George Bush's 'mistakes'.
'But Obama is a hypocrite, he added. 'He is leaving Iraq to the wolves.'
#4
Despite the name, Aziz is still nominally a Christian, and Iraqi Christians can not be feeling too safe with the troops pulling out. Not that they were any too safe with hundreds of thousands of "crusaders" patrolling the streets...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/06/2010 11:55
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#5
Well look at that, he blames Bush too.
Just like Barry will if it all goes to shit...
China's moves to free up its gold market open the way for foreign players and local banks to tap growing demand for the precious metal, offering citizens a more attractive investment and promising to boost the country's clout over global prices.
#1
ION PEIPING, CHINESE MIL FORUM > BETWEEN A DAM AND A HARD PLACE. China's current + future Demand for WATER, versus SACRIFICE OF HIGHLY ARABLE AGRI-LAND = FOOD IN FAVOR OF NEW DAMS.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [Housing Ministry]CHINA MUST REPLACE ONE-HALF [actually, 1/2-plus] OF ITS HOMES IN 20 YEARS. Circa year 2030.
versus
US GOVT > Congress-critters are repor debating on whether to start a NEW NATIONWIDE "URBAN RENEWAL" PROJECT in 2020.
During the summer of 1972, official Washington was dragging Air Force Gen. John D. Lavelle's name and reputation through the mud. Multiple investigations by the Pentagon and Congress concluded that the four-star commander had ordered unauthorized bombing missions in North Vietnam and then tried to cover them up. He was demoted to major general and forced to retire, in disgrace.
Lavelle maintained his rectitude until his death, saying he was acting on orders. Nearly four decades later, it turns out he was right.
#1
The clue he was acting under orders was that the Air Force didn't court-martial him, something one would think would be mandatory in something so grave as what he was accused of.
#2
Let's see now, just who would a four-star be taking orders from?
Historical records unearthed by two biographers who came across the material by happenstance show that Lavelle was indeed acting on orders to conduct the bombing missions and that the orders came from the commander in chief himself: President Richard M. Nixon.
Not only did Nixon give the secret orders, but transcripts of his recorded Oval Office conversations show that he stood by, albeit uncomfortably, as Lavelle suffered a scapegoat's fate.
"I just don't want him to be made a goat, goddamnit," Nixon told his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, on June 14, 1972, a few days after it was disclosed that Lavelle had been demoted for the allegedly unauthorized attacks. "You, you destroy a man's career. . . . Can we do anything now to stop this damn thing?"
On June 26, Nixon's conscience intervened in another conversation with Kissinger. "Frankly, Henry, I don't feel right about our pushing him into this thing and then, and then giving him a bad rap," the president said. "I don't want to hurt an innocent man."
#3
IIRC the missions were tied to North Vietnam's expansion of its activities as per the HO CHI MINH trail into CAMBODIA + LAOS. The NIXON ADMIN did not wish to be accused of unilaterally expanding the war outside of Vietnam.
FEW IFF ANY AT THE TIME BELIEVED LAVELLE TRULY ACTED ON HIS OWN - THE REAL CRUZ WAS HOW LONG [years or decades] IT WOULD TAKE BEFORE THE NIXON ADMIN OR THE FED GOVT ACKNOWLEDGED IT.
Also, it wasn't only NIXON or the USDOD-USAF > many Reelection-minded, anti-Nixon or anti-War DEMS + OTHER covertly supported Gen. Lavelle's
"action" despite their public rhetoric.
The US is said to be negotiating a controversial agreement with Vietnam to provide nuclear fuel and technology without the usual constraints on enriching uranium to prevent proliferation.
The deal has been under discussion for several months following Hanoi's announcement of plans to build 14 nuclear power stations over the next 20 years, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Washington has required several other countries, most recently the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, to agree to source all their nuclear fuel on the international market and to renounce the right to enrich uranium as a requirement for assistance in developing nuclear power.
Vietnam signed an initial memorandum of understanding on nuclear power with the Bush administration in 2001. But the Obama administration has accelerated talks in recent months as Vietnam reaches agreements with other countries including Russia which has been contracted to begin building a light water reactor for $8bn in 2014.
The US and Vietnam signed a new memorandum of understanding in April over broad co-operation on nuclear power including access to "reliable sources of nuclear fuel". An agreement would allow US companies such as General Electric and Bechtel to sell nuclear reactors and other equipment to Vietnam.
But the talks have drawn criticism that Washington is setting a different standard for Vietnam than some other countries.
Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Education Centre in Washington, said the US agreeing to allow Hanoi to produce its own nuclear fuel would undermine anti-proliferation efforts.
"After the US set such a good example with the UAE, the Vietnam deal not only sticks out, it could drive a stake through the heart of the general effort to rein in the spread of nuclear fuel-making," he told the Wall Street Journal.
However, Vietnam has said it is not interested in producing its own nuclear fuel because it would be diplomatically sensitive to do so.
Hanoi has also signed nuclear co-operation agreements with several other countries including China, France and India.
China, which has recently dominated the security situation in North Asia, appeared shaken by a surprise move by the US administration to begin negotiations for a civilian nuclear deal with Vietnam.
#4
Unified VIETNAM is America = Amerika's NEW-ALMOST-BFF???
IMO this will test the merits/truth of CHIN-specific PCorrectness, i.e. RISING CHINA'S myriad Historical, Diplomatic, + MSM-Net claims that it is a POLITE "LOVER, NOT A FIGHTER", + never Ever EVER E-V-E-R EVAR! engages in Local-Regional IMPRIALISM, ETC. IN ASIA LIKE THE US + JAPAN + EUROS.
#5
NEWS KERALA > EXPERTS: US, VIETNAM NUCLEAR DEAL COULD BE DESTABILIZING [Regional, Globally], UNSETTLE CHINA.
and
* WMF > PLA GENERAL ZHU CHENGHU: CHINA IS NOT AFRAID TO MILITARILY FIGHT/WAR AGZ THE US ON ANY ISSUE, NOT TO FIGHT NUCLEAR WAR AGZ THE US ESPEC IFF THE US FIRES MISSLES OR STATIONS ITSELF ON OR NEAR CHINESE TERRITORY. CHINA'S DEFINITION OF "CHINESE TERRITORY" ACCORDING TO GEN. ZHU INCLUDES PLA MILBASES, CHIN-CLAIMED ISLANDS, PLA WARSHIPS + AIRCRAFT, ETC. REGARDLESS IFF IN CHIN OR INTERNATIONAL WATERS OR AIRSPACE, ETC.
* NORTH + SOUTH KOREA BRING, READY THEIR MISSLES IN OPEN TIT-FOR-TAT: SOUTH KOREAN ADMIRAL KIM KYUNG-SHIK SAYS SOUTH KOREA + SK ARMED FORCES IS CLOSELY WATCHING OR MONITORING NORTH KOREA, SOUTH KOREA WILL NOT STAND FOR ANY NORTH KOREAN "PROVOCATIONS" DURING THE WEST SEA MILITARY DRILLS.
* WMF > "POST MAGAZINE" JAPANESE MEDIA: CHINA'S COVERT INTELLIGEWNCE NETWORK IN JAPAN MAY NUMBER UP TO 3.0MILYUHN PERSONS INCLUDING LARGE NUMBERS OF JAPANESE CITIZENS, ENTREPENUERS + COMPANIES. APPROXI 30,000 CHINESE GIRLS/WOMEN LIVING + WORKING IN JAPAN ARE SPIES FOR BEIJING.
ANNA CHAPMANS + Facebook conquered the PLA.
* WMF > JAPAN"S PM NATO KAN MAKES A STRONG STATEMENT: JAPAN NEEDS "NUCLEAR DETERRENT" WHILE ALSO ADHERING OR SUPPORTING NON-NUCLEAR PRINCIPLES.
* WMF > JAPAN'S CONSPIRACY TO GAIN NATIONAL CONTROL OF US OKINAWA BASES, DAOYUS, + TAIWAN SEA, AIR LANES PUTS THE ENTIRE WORLD IN DANGER.
Regional Destabilization + possible US-China War.
* WMF > FORMER UK PM MAGGIE THATCHER ADMITS THAT THE COLD WAR USSR's GREATEST THREAT TO NATO WAS INDIRECTLY ECONOMIC, NOT MILITARY DESPITE THE POTENCIES OF THE SOVIET ARMED FORCES. THE USSR's ECON "GREATEST THREAT" WAS ALSO ITS GREATEST WEAKNESS AS SOVIET MIL SPENDING COMPRISED 15% OF ITS COLD WAR BUDGET [+ rising], AS OPPOSED/COMPARED TO A NATO AVERAGE OF ONLY 0.05%.
ARTIC > IOW, REAGAN ADMIN + NATO suppor for "STAR WARS" + Deployment of accurate US PERSHING II's IRBM, TLCMS ETC. reduced Soviet economic production by raising Soviet mil spending to counter the former. Couple wid MOSCOW's = KREMLIN's FEARS OF MIL, NATIONAL, IDEO OBSOLESCENCE VEE US-NATO + RISING NON-RUSSIAN MUSLIM POPULATIONS IN SOVIET SSRS.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on regional states to stand united against enemy plots to cause division.
Ayatollah Khamenei met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who are in Tehran for the tripartite summit of Persian-speaking heads of states.
The Leader stressed that the "development, security and prosperity" of Afghanistan and Tajikistan benefits Iran just as "Iran's development and security is beneficial for regional states."
"There are some who are against cooperation between these three countries," the Leader said, adding that regional states should counter such threats with "vigilance."
Ayatollah Khamenei said the problems of the Afghan people stem from foreign military presence.
"Foreigners who came to Afghanistan with the slogan of establishing security and democracy are now targeting civilians and their presence has nothing but atrocity and corruption for the people of Afghanistan," the Leader said.
"World powers only pursue their own interests and their never-ending greed in the region, but today the situation of the region and the capabilities of these powers are extremely different from the past."
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that he has given "shoot at sight" order to law enforcement agencies to control target killings and restore law and order in Karachi.
The interior minister was speaking to the media during a visit to MQM headquarters Nine Zero in Azizabad with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Thursday.
He said that Karachi was being targeted by terrorists and criminals after FATA who want to destabilise the city.
Replying to a question, Malik said that he will meet all the political parties for restoring peace in Karachi. He also lauded MQM leader Altaf Hussain for showing patience over the killing of his party legislator.
Malik said that the government was considering to initiate a judicial inquiry for the target killings in Karachi.
The minister also announced of giving a job to the son of slain MQM leader Syed Raza Haider in FIA or Police.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Irish Ship to Gaza Committee has announced plans to buy a ship to sail in a second Freedom Flotilla to Gaza.
The committee, which comprises a number of Irish anti-war and pro-Palestinian organizations, intends to dispatch a convoy to the impoverished Palestinian territory in October, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
A first Freedom Flotilla to Gaza was intercepted and boarded by Israeli army troops three months ago while sailing in the international waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops indiscriminately killed nine peace activists on board a Turkish aid ship and wounded several others in an attack that drew international condemnation.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire was among those on board one of the vessels attempting to deliver medicines and other supplies to Palestinian people in Gaza.
At a meeting in Istanbul three weeks ago, organizers agreed to create a second Freedom Flotilla, this time with 12 to 15 ships.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Me thinking. Why not invite some Orangemen to visit Israel at the time? Maybe arrange Mediterranean cruise for them?
HEBRON (Ma'an) — A family clash in the northern Hebron region injured three and saw 25 detained by police, Beit Ummar village officials said Thursday.
Police said they were called to the village to respond to complaints of public disturbance and violence, and arrived on scene to find a mass family brawl.
Police said they opened an investigation into the incident.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] An Arab Israeli and two Druze residents of the occupied Golan Heights were on Thursday charged with spying for Syria and attempted kidnapping, Israeli police said.
Fidaa al-Shaar and his father Majid al-Shaar from Majdel Shams in the Golan and Mahmud Masarweh from the northern Israeli village of Baka al-Gharbiyeh were charged at a court in Nazareth with "aggravated espionage."
"Three Israelis were charged with spying and having contact with the enemy," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.
The three allegedly passed on information to Syrian intelligence officials about submarine maneuvers off the northern coastal city of Haifa.
They are also suspected of having handed over video and other footage of Israeli bases around the country, Rosenfeld said.
The defendants were charged with planning to kidnap a man who they believed was a Syrian pilot who defected to Israel in 1989. "They planned on kidnapping him and sending him back to Syria," the spokesman said.
Police arrested Fidaa al-Shaar in Majd al-Shams on July 12 but all details of his arrest and that of his father and the other defendant were initially subjected to a court-issued gag order.
Majdel Shams is the main town on the Golan Heights which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan in 1981. The vast majority of the 18,000 Syrians, mostly Druze, left from the Golan's original population of 150,000 have refused to take Israeli citizenship.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The two indicted Druze Arabs -- a father and son -- are Syrian citizens, like most of the Druze in the Golan Heights.
Thousands of Druze surrounded the home of one of the two charged Druze Arabs when police arrived to arrest him in July, trapping officers inside for hours before the standoff ended peacefully.
Israel has recently charged several Israeli Arabs with espionage.
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[Dawn] The top US law enforcement offical said Thursday that 14 people, most of them American citizens, are being charged with providing support for the Somalian hard boy group al-Shabab.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the charges reflect a disturbing trend that leaders in Mohammedan communities in the United States are helping law enforcement agencies to address.
The charges against suspects in the states of Minnesota, California and Alabama include providing support for the hard boy group al-Shabab in Somalia, two US officials said Thursday. Most of the people are US citizens, with some supporting the terrorist organization from the United States and others traveling to Somalia to do so.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in the investigation which is culminating in several indictments.
Roughly 20 men all but one of Somali descent, left Minnesota from December 2007 through October 2009 to join al-Shabab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.
Somali-Americans have been recruited and have taken part in suicide kabooms in Somalia, and US officials fear trained Somali-American terror plotters could return to the United States.
The charges in Minnesota are the latest development in an inquiry in that state which has been under way for some time.
Two indictments unsealed in Minnesota on Thursday added five new names to a list of people charged in the investigation in that state, bringing the total charged in the state to 19. Two were women from the Rochester, Minn., area accused of raising money for al-Shabab.
The Minneapolis indictment said two men, Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, raised money for al-Shabab both by open appeals on teleconferences and by pretending in other cases that the money was for the poor and needy.
The indictment cited 12 money transfers to al-Shabaab in 2008 and 2009 totaling $8,608. The charges included providing material support to a terrorist group and lying to authorities.
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects reports about an assassination attempt on his life in Hamadan Province as a plot hatched by the enemies.
"Yesterday, during the cabinet's trip to Hamadan Province, someone threw a firecracker in front of the government motorcade out of joy and excitement," IRNA quoted the president as saying on Thursday.
"This was not [a] newsworthy [incident], but the enemies spread reports that Ahmadinejad has been transferred to an undisclosed location after surviving an assassination attempt."
"This is while immediately afterwards I delivered a speech in Hamadan Stadium and in front of thousands of people."
The Iranian president went on to add that the purpose of such enemy plots is to prevent his words from reaching the people of the world.
Amid an intensifying US-led campaign against Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad went to stress that Iranian nation is prepared to face the enemy resolutely.
Tehran rejects Washington's claims that it is pursuing a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has the right to civilian technology.
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The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has awarded at least $28 million in competitive grants and allocations to organizations associated with its own board members since 2007, according to a review by The Tennessean.
Four members of the 19-member board head local nonprofit or government housing agencies that receive THDA funds.
Some outside the agency have raised questions about the board structure and whether it creates an unfair advantage for organizations affiliated with board members.
Continued on Page 49
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President Obama will speak at a Chicago fundraiser on Thursday for Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D).
The event at the Palmer House Hilton is expected to raise a much-needed $1 million for Giannoulias's campaign. Moreover, it will likely provide the video and images the Democrat needs to showcase his relationship with Obama down the stretch.
Obama's appearance with the Democrat who hopes to win the president's former Senate seat comes the same week that new records emerged showing jailed developer Tony Rezko received a previously undisclosed loan from the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank.
Fundraising has been a problem for Giannoulias since Broadway Bank collapsed in April. He raised less than $900,000 last quarter while his Republican rival, Mark Kirk, pulled in $2.25 million during the same period.
Both candidates have been dogged by controversies, and their race is tight.
Obama will also deliver a speech at a Ford plant in Chicago on Thursday. The president will later participate in two other fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee.
Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Giannoulias camp and the DNC were initially having trouble filling the rooms for the events. The DNC expects to raise $2.5 million from Obama's appearances.
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#1
The original estimate was $2 million for Alexi alone. The reported total from three events was $2.5 million with only $1 million going to Alexi. Easiest way to tell an Illinois candidate who is going to lose is he can't raise money. Alexi can't raise money.
Even though Gov. Charlie Crist hand-picked him to serve as his running mate in 2006, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp on Wednesday endorsed Crist's chief opponent in the U.S. Senate race, former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Rubio is running as a Republican, while Crist left the GOP back in April to continue his campaign as an independent. Kottkamp is running against former Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi and former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson in a close battle for the Republican nomination for attorney general.
"Today I announce my endorsement of Marco Rubio to be Florida's next United States senator," said Kottkamp.
Using the endorsement to reinforce his conservative credentials, Kottkamp made a pitch to Republican primary voters who remain largely undecided in the attorney general contest.
"This endorsement should not be a surprise to anyone," said Kottkamp. "As conservative Republicans, Marco and I share the same principles -- faith, family and freedom. Never before have those beliefs meant so much."
Kottkamp, who served with Rubio in the House, used the opportunity to attack Crist for backing President Barack Obama.
"I cannot in good conscience support a candidate who will go to Washington and push for passage of the Obama agenda," said Kottkamp, who has criticized the Obama administration on a number of issues, ranging from new federal health-care laws to budget cuts to NASA . "Too much is at stake in this election and I'm proud to say I support Marco Rubio."
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A Los Angeles city councilman and his wife were indicted on a total of 24 felony counts stemming from allegations he lived outside his district, prosecutors said Wednesday. "How far outside his district?"
"Tibet."
Richard Alarcon, 56, faces 18 charges of perjury, voter fraud and filing a false declaration of candidacy. His wife, Flora Montes De Oca Alarcon, is charged with six counts including perjury and voter fraud. They both pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance.
It was not immediately clear how much prison time they would face if convicted but it could be "substantial," said Jennifer Lentz Snyder, a deputy district attorney. ... though it probably won't be...
The 24-page indictment was unsealed Wednesday following a 15-month investigation by the district attorney's office. Alarcon said nothing during the court hearing but later said that "the charges by the district attorney are baseless. My wife and I are innocent." "Of course we live here. So do our yaks."
He said he did not plan to resign from the council. "Why would I resign from the council when I'm under indictment?"
"The charges are related to my residence and not my work as a councilman," Alarcon said. "I've regularly mailed in my votes, usually by airmail..."
He came under investigation after complaints that he did not live in a Panorama City home he used as his voting address. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that neighbors had not seen him there for years. "The foundations of this indictment is the issue of where their domicile was," said his attorney Henry Salcido. "It's pretty obvious it wasn't where he said it was. What's not clear is where it actually is. But we're working on that..."
"We are absolutely convinced that we know that they are innocent. And on this one, trust us, the government made a mistake." "My yeti will vouch for me."
Salcido said the defense has not yet received a copy of the grand jury transcript. "They're still taking the bad words out..."
Alarcon maintained he lived at that address until October but he and his family moved out after a homeless man broke in. He said in January that his daughter refused to sleep in the Panorama City home. "She prefers that pure mountain air. Or lack thereof."
The former professional politician currently represents an area that includes Panorama City, Pacoima and other portions of the San Fernando Valley. In January, investigators searched the Panorama City home and another about a block away in Sun Valley, a neighboring district. Both of the homes are owned by his wife. ... and neither was occupied by him...
Last month, the councilman said six members of his staff were subpoenaed by a grand jury. "Heads up, everybody! Subpoenas are in!"
The councilman was elected to the 7th District council seat in March 2007, and later that year unsuccessfully sought to have his district's boundaries redrawn to include his wife's Sun Valley home, prosecutors said. The indictment charged him with filing a false declaration of candidacy on Dec. 6, 2006, and Nov. 6, 2008. It alleged he fraudulently voted in elections in 2007, 2008 and 2009 The perjury counts include allegations the councilman filed false driver's license applications..
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#1
Welcome to the next exciting episode of "Name That Party!"
[Arab News] Kyrgyz forces arrested an opposition party leader on suspicion of plotting the overthrow of the government on Thursday, after troops fired blank rounds into a crowd trying to join mass demonstrations near Parliament.
Acting President Roza Otunbayeva said security forces seized firearms and grenades from Urmat Baryktabasov and 26 supporters after a day of protests in the capital of the Central Asian state, which plans to hold parliamentary elections in October.
"All who attempt to destroy the peace of the citizens will be punished," said Otunbayeva.
Her interim government has struggled to impose its authority since an uprising in April toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Savage ethnic fighting followed in June, killing more than 350 people over several days and forcing thousands from their homes.
Baryktabasov, who staged a failed coup attempt in 2005, recently returned from exile. Early on Thursday, Kyrgyz troops stopped busloads of his supporters as they approached the capital from his hometown on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.
After a standoff lasting several hours on a main road into Bishkek, troops fired tear gas and blank rounds to disperse the crowd. Local news agencies said two women were injured by rubber bullets.
Keneshbek Dushebayev, head of the Kyrgyz National Security Service, told Reuters the army was acting on information that some of those arriving by bus were armed and might attempt to overthrow the interim government.
"If their demands are not met, they are intent on seizing power," he said during the standoff in the village of Kirshyolk, as helicopters roared overhead.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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[Tolo News] Afghan president Hamid Does this cape make me look fat? Karzai has ordered the investigation of the activities of the Major Crimes Task Force that is strongly supported by the United States
The president also urged the judicial institutions to reinvestigate Major Crimes Task Force's criminal cases.
The presidency says the action is taken in an effort to bring the directorate under the control of the Afghan government.
Afghan government also said the activities of the Major Crimes Task Forces are against the laws of the Afghan government.
Afghan police and the intelligence officials in Task Force are also working under the supervision of British and American officers.
"Our directorate has also the responsibility to help the Ministry of Justice to determine some legal foundations for this institution," said head of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, Mohammad Yasin Osmani.
An article published by the Washington Post cites that president Karzai demanded the investigation after the anti-corruption task force jugged Muhammad Zia Salehi, an official in the National Security Council on charges of taking bribes.
An American judiciary official said the arrest took place when evidences were revealed about Mr. Salehi's involvement in a deal with a private company called "Ansari Jadid" for taking out millions of dollars of the Afghan politicians abroad.
But members of the commission say the investigation about heavy crimes is not related to Salehi's case.
"Mr. Salehi is an employee of the National Security and the allegation against him is still continuing, and his case has nothing to do with this issue," said a member of the anti-corruption task force, Nasrullah Stanekzai.
The Washington Post cites that the US authorities are worried that the decision by President Karzai will deteriorate relations between Washington and Kabul.
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It must have been gloomy for Democrats when the nation's governors met last month in Boston for their annual summer get-together. The reason: If congressional races look bad for Democrats, the 37 gubernatorial contests are even worse.
A quick survey of the political landscape shows six of the seven Democratic governors running for re-election are polling under 50% and in danger of losing, while all six GOP incumbents seeking re-election are expected to win. In the 24 open gubernatorial contests, Republicans lead in 15 and are tied in three others.
More than half of Americans are likely to have a new chief executive for their state come November. Democrats are burdened by President Barack Obama's low approval ratings and, in some open races, by widespread public dissatisfaction with the state's retiring Democratic incumbent.
That's not to say the GOP has had all smooth sailing. In Colorado, plagiarism charges have crippled Republican frontrunner Scott McInnis. Less dangerously, Florida Republicans are locked in a bitter primary. But these are the exceptions.
The GOP's edge in statehouse contests could have major ramifications for a long time to come, including next year's redistricting of the House of Representatives. The more GOP governors, the stronger Republican dominance of the process will be. Eighteen of the 21 states that could add or lose congressional seats have governors' races this fall. There also will be a lot more Republican legislators after November to help draw redistricting lines for the coming decade.
Republicans are poised to elect a new generation of leaders. After this fall's election, the GOP could have two Indian-American, two Hispanic, and as many as seven women governors. This would provide powerful evidence of the GOP's diversity and help refurbish the party's image.
More importantly, the GOP's crop of new governors can demonstrate that conservative ideas work. Just as GOP governors helped lay the foundation for the Republican resurgence in 1994 by pursuing far-reaching reform of welfare, education and taxes, so could new policy-minded chief executives reinvigorate the Republican Party's reputation as the "party of ideas."
Already, the GOP victors in last year's gubernatorial contests are providing powerful contrasts to Mr. Obama's policies. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell erased his state's nearly $2 billion deficit without raising taxes. Facing a $13 billion shortfall, a hostile Democratic legislature and more than $7 million in negative ads launched against him by labor unions, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie nonetheless balanced the budget while cutting taxes.
Governors also have far more electoral impact on their states than do distant, often-absent senators and congressmen. Since 1994, Republicans have won 26 Senate seats previously held by Democrats. Twenty of those pickups were in states with an incumbent Republican governor or a GOP gubernatorial candidate who won that same day. Governors matter even more when it comes to picking a president. When George W. Bush won the White House in 2000, there were GOP chief executives in nearly every important battleground, helping move swing states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas into his column. By comparison, the only major swing-state the GOP controlled in 2008 was Florida.
The GOP wave is so strong right now that Republicans could simultaneously win the governorships in the critical Great Lake battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. And the GOP is likely to win the governorship in other presidential battlegrounds like Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon.
If this comes to pass, it will be no accident. Under the remarkable leadership of the Republican Governors Association chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and his wunderkind executive director Nick Ayers, the RGA has turned into a political juggernaut.
At the end of June, the RGA had $40 million in cash, even after spending nearly $11 million earlier this year to aid GOP challengers. In Ohio, for example, the RGA spent $2.8 million to blunt a $3 million Democratic effort to trash former Ohio Congressman John Kasich. Mr. Kasich now leads Democrat incumbent Ted Strickland by eight points.
And in Wisconsin, the RGA has helped put Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker ahead of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett by eight points in the latest Rasmussen poll by outspending the Democrats 3 to 1 on television ads.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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[Arab News] Israeli forces operating in the West Bank on early Thursday arrested 55 Palestinians, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said on Thursday. Forty-six of those that were detained were released later the same day.
The Palestinian sources said that 49 Palestinians were arrested in the village of Jalboun to the east of Jenin, one in the village of Dair Istya to the southwest of Nablus and five in the Asirah Al-Shamaliyah to the west of Nablus. The sources added that the 55 were arrested after houses were searched.
The sources added that the Israeli forces transferred the Jalboun detainees to the nearby interrogation centers of Salim and Jalameh. Forty-six of those that were detained were released later on the day after questioning by the Israeli internal intelligence agency Shin Bet.
Israeli security sources told the Army Radio that the detainees were wanted by the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet.
Israeli defense establishment says the arrests in Palestinian cities are part of its war against Palestinian armed groups.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) says that the daily Israeli raids hinder its security forces to tighten their grip on the Palestinian territories.
Israel does not allow the PA to have any security role in specific areas in the West Bank that the 1993 Oslo peace agreement between the two sides classified as C areas.
According to the recent Palestinian statistics, there are 7,500 Palestinians, including 270 under the age of 18, are currently held in 10 prisons and 3 detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank. There are also three prisoners who have been in jail for more than 30 years, and 315 prisoners are held for more than 15 years.
In a separate development, the Jewish occupiers and Israeli security forces clashed after large police and army forces razed several structures in the West Bank early Thursday morning.
Israeli Army radio said that the police arrested four occupiers for suspicion of damaging a military jeep.
The occupiers rioted after the forces arrived in the Mitzpeh Avichai illegal settlement outpost, near West Bank city of Hebron, and destroyed six wooden structures, including a synagogue.
They claimed to have torched nearby Palestinian agricultural fields in response to the demolition work. They said they would rebuild the razed structures within hours.
They also said they threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and homes.
The issue of settlements is one of the thorniest issues the stall the resumption of direct peace talks between Palestinian Authority and Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been under American and international pressure to enter direct peace discussions with Israel after several rounds of indirect US-led proximity talks that started in May.
However, the Palestinian leader said he will not jump to direct talks, which halted in 2008, unless Israel freezes settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and set references and timetable for face-to-face negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Jewish has so far refused to yield to that demand.
The Hamas movement on Thursday warned Abbas' Fatah movement against joining direct negotiations with Israel after the latter declined holding a tripartite meeting to set terms of reference for the stalled peace process.
Salah Al-Bardawil, the spokesman of Hamas parliamentary bloc, demanded Fatah not to return to "absurd talks" with Israel, urging movement to give the priority for achieving national unity and isolating Israel.
Fatah and Hamas factions have been fiercely divided since the Islamic movement grabbed hold of the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, leaving Abbas' Fatah party only in control of the West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Often they'll arrest a bunch of them to protect one or two informants. If they went in and talked to just one, the Paleostinians would know who to kill.
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Basra Governor, Shaltagh Aboud, said on Thursday that we as a local government abide by all international resolutions and seek to end all tensions with neighboring countries, mainly Kuwait.
We are committed to UN and Arab League resolutions and we seek to end tensions with ouir neighboring countries, mainly the Iraqi-Kuwaiti file, Aboud told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
All problems with Kuwait will be solved within friendly and brotherly climate and in a way that guarantees both countries rights, he underlined.
Iraqs Ambassador to Kuwait Mohamed Hussein Bahr al-Oloum said Baghdad respected all international resolutions, primarily United Nations Security Council Resolution 833 on the final demarcation of the Kuwait-Iraq borders.
In statements to Kuwaiti newspaper Al Nahar of Thursday, he said the priority of the next Iraqi government will be to examine the outstanding files between the two countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2010
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William Ayers, education professor and former Vietnam War era radical, is planning to retire after more than 20 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a top school official confirmed today. The retirement will be official within the next couple of weeks, said UIC Education Dean Vicki Chou.
The school has faced its share of negative attention because of Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground. The radical group was responsible for a number of bombings, including one in a Pentagon bathroom.
Ayers' retirement had nothing to do with the negative press, Chou said, adding that the university will miss him. "It will be more than a ripple because he's made a significant mark here," Chou said. "He's been really a very good colleague here. He has hundreds of students who really cherish that they've had the experience of being taught by him."
#10
Spoiled little Chi-Town, rich-boy bomber puke can go anywhere he wants to now. Just the thought that he's retired from anything, makes my skin crawl.
At least he wont be filling our kids brains with Anti-USA anarchist eff-ing mush. I despised him in the early 1970s; and wish him a slow, painful death today.
[Tolo News] At least two guards of a private security company were bumped off and another one was maimed Thursday morning in a road-side kaboom in Ghazni province, official say
The incident happened when the company's vehicle hit a mine in the province's Shahbaz area, the Provincial Police Chief of Ghazni, Nowroz Ali Mahmoud Zada, told TOLOnews reporter.
Two guards of a private security company were killed and another one was wounded, he added. Taliban has counted the coup for the attack, and claim that five of the company's guards have been killed in the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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With these two identical 58-42 votes, all Senate Democrats except Sen. Ben Cornhusker Kickback Nelson, D-Neb., just voted to let rates rise for individuals and small businesses beginning next year. The vote, forced by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., would have extended the current, lower rates for the two categories.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
Seems to me Sen. Ben "Cornhusker Kickback" Nelson, D-ouchebag is looking to save his sorry ass.
Governor Deval Patrick, who this spring became the state's first sitting governor to visit a mosque, lent his support yesterday to an Islamic Center proposed near ground zero, stepping into the middle of a growing national furor over locating a Muslim house of worship so near the site of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
When asked about the controversy during a radio appearance, Patrick turned to the words of President George W. Bush, a Republican, to express the need to make a clear distinction between terrorists and practitioners of the Muslim faith.
"The sooner we separate the peaceful teaching of Islam from the behavior of terrorists, the better for all of us,'' Patrick said on WTKK-FM 96.9.
The issue has caused bitter divisions in New York and has provoked strong emotions in Massachusetts, where the two planes involved in the attacks took off. Some local families of victims of the attacks have embraced the proposal for a mosque in Lower Manhattan as a symbol of religious tolerance, while others consider it unthinkably insensitive.
"It's poor taste to put it where they're putting it,'' said C. Lee Hanson of Easton, Conn., whose son, Peter, daughter-in-law, Sue Kim, and 2-year-old granddaughter, Christine Lee, all of Groton, died on United Airlines Flight 175. "They should just build it a mile away. There would be no problems.''
The 15-story mosque and cultural center are poised for approval after the New York City Landmarks Commission refused Tuesday to block redevelopment of the site.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg supports the proposed mosque and urged the families of Sept. 11 victims to embrace it as a symbol of the nation's freedoms.
"We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting,'' Bloomberg said Tuesday. "We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms the terrorists attacked.''
The proposal has sparked indignation from national Republican leaders, including former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and became part of the New York governor's race when Republican candidate Rick Lazio pressed Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic contender, to investigate the project's funding.
The families of 9/11 victims have been divided. Some believe the mosque will serve as a tribute to the perpetrators of the attacks rather than its victims, whose own below-ground memorial has yet to be built.
"I think it's a tragedy for the United States,'' Hanson said. "It's another sign of weakness that we'd allow a victory mosque to be built next to what most of us is holy ground.''
Cindy McGinty -- whose husband, Michael McGinty of Foxborough, was killed while attending a meeting in the World Trade Center -- expressed weary resignation to the plan. She said she just hopes it is done tastefully and that officials keep an eye on the proponents of the mosque and their sources of money.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
That's good, Deval. One more nail. Best part is, you're doing all the hammering.
#2
Statue of Abd Al-Rahman 1
He only survivor of the Umayyad dynasty and brought Islam to Spain.
Landed in Almunecar Aug 15, 755
Later founded Emirate of Cordoba.
The NYC Mosque is named Cordoba.
#5
"We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting,'' Bloomberg said Tuesday. "We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms the terrorists attacked.''
Which floor of the WTC was defending freedom of religion?
I mean, they're just about as deluded and self destructive as the suicide bombers themselves.
Are you referring to the muslims who want to build a mosque on top of the temple mount ground zero, or the politicians allowing this $hit to even be considered?
#8
I think this far from a done deal. You'll need traffic details for the demolition and construction from the NYPD. "Sorry, nobody's available today. Maybe tomorrow." You'll need fire inspections from the FDNY. "Awwww, geez. Ya got a milk carton propping open that fire door. Gonna have to shut you down. Rectify that. We'll be back in a month, when we'll find out your fire extinguishers are a day over their expiration date." Who do they plan on having rig their steel? A lotta steel workers and crane operators worked that pile two blocks down. Who's your architect? Your construction company? Your subcontracters? I wonder how long they could survive if nobody in NYC ever hired them again?
And then there's the financing. 100 million? Where do you think they're getting it? 5 bucks here and there from some Somalian cab drivers?
#10
"Are you referring to the muslims who want to build a mosque on top of the temple mount ground zero, or the politicians allowing this $hit to even be considered?"
Yes.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 16:01
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#11
Deval, you idiot - you think if you just kiss the crocodiles' asses enough, they'll eat you last. But rest assured, they will eat you. And sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 17:15
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#12
Honds always lift a leg and mark their territory.
DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Fourteen wanted persons were arrested and two improvised explosive devices defused in separate incidents in Diala on Thursday, according to the provinces police chief.
The arrests took place in an operation by Diala policemen in different areas of Baaquba city. The arrested persons include four wanted on charges of involvement in terrorist acts, Maj. General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Bomb squad experts also defused two IEDs in central Baaquba city while the police secured protection for the return of a family that had been displaced from Mandili, Khanaqin district, (155 km) northeast of Baaquba, to its original residential place in al-Mustafa neighborhood, Shimari added.
Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Perhaps the most unsettling thing about this clip is that, despite being a cable news moment where a guest basically calls the host clueless while the host argues that members of Al-Qaeda want to kill Americans, the average vocal volume is maintained at a stable low. On tonight's Factor, Bill O'Reilly debated a lawsuit filed by the ACLU intended to defend the rights of Al-Qaeda suspects, and his guest didn't mince words on what he thought of his opinion.
The guest was criminal defense attorney Scott Fenstermaker, who has experience with defending terror suspects. O'Reilly asked Fenstermaker what his problem with the drone attacks was, and he stated that said attacks on Pakistan and on suspects like Anwar Al-Awlaki were illegal. "It has not been ruled illegal by anybody but you, Mr. Fenstermaker," O'Reilly replied, which Fenstermaker refuted.
Fenstermaker then argued that he did not believe that Al-Awlaki was the enemy, as there was no direct proof that he was part of Al-Qaeda, and that the entirety of the war was "problematic" because it was "waging war against civilians." He then upped the ante by saying that "our battles on Al-Qaeda are not necessarily well-directed," and that "I don't think Al-Qaeda is posing any threat to us now."
After being asked several times whether he believed that Al-Qaeda was interested in killing him simply because he was an American, Fenstermaker replied, "I'm a bad example; I'm probably a hero to Al-Qaeda" and, after some pressing, told O'Reilly, "you don't have the first idea of what you're talking about" because he had not spoken to any members of Al-Qaeda. Surprisingly, this sentence did not instantly trigger a shouting match, though O'Reilly was shocked and temperately angry at the accusation, and, in a much more measured way than would typically be expected, disassembled Fenstermaker's argument.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
The guest was criminal defense attorney Scott Fenstermaker Fixed that for you.
I saw the bit#@slap. O'Reilly did a good job. What I don't understand is why these people seem to hate America.
#2
I understand where he's coming from (That doesn't make him right) He's trained as a lawyer, if he saw somebody shoot sombody else in the head he'd say "You must prove it in a court of LAW" (or it doesn't count).
I'll bet big bucks, his life has NEVER been in danger.
(Proof is he mistakenly thinks No-one is EVIL.
I call this "The Marie Antionette Symptom" so insulated from reality they CANNOT understand the facts, it's as alien to them as a speaking whale in Parlament.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2010 13:24
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Egyptian police searched the southern Sinai on Thursday for trucks they believe could have been used to fire rockets on Israeli and Jordanian resort towns this week, officials said.
Police were following a lead that two pickup trucks mounted with rocket launchers were used in Monday's attacks, which left a taxi driver dead in the Jordanian port town of Aqaba, police officials said on condition of anonymity.
Senior security commanders were supervising the investigation near the southern Sinai Taba resort, where police earlier said they found what could have been rocket debris.
The coastal resort lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Eilat, where rockets landed in open ground outside the Israeli Red Sea resort.
Egypt on Wednesday blamed unnamed Palestinian factions and said it would not tolerate attacks from its territory but did not outright confirm Jordanian and Israeli accusations that the rockets were fired from the Sinai peninsula.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday blamed the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza for the attacks, a charge Hamas denied.
The militant group has an arsenal of Grad type missiles with a range of about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles), and there are smaller armed militant groups in the coastal strip that sometimes operate on their own.
Monday's attacks came days after two rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Egypt is under increased pressure to secure the Sinai, which attracts millions of tourists to beach resorts.
A similar rocket attack hit Aqaba and Eilat in April, although the source of the firing was never established.
Egypt's major beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba and Dahab were all the scenes of bloody attacks which killed a total of 130 people between 2004 and 2006.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the presence of three strong regional powers will prevent the interference of foreign countries in Central Asia.
At the opening ceremony of the tripartite summit of Persian-speaking heads of states in Tehran on Thursday Ahmadinejad said that over the past few decades Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan had found 'something new in common.'
"Afghanistan [liberated] itself from the occupation of the former Soviet Union, Iran [freed itself] from Western and US domination, and Tajikistan gained independence."
The Iranian president went on to say that Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan prevent Western powers from mounting pressure on countries like India and China.
Ahmadinejad stressed the necessity of more cooperation among the three Persian-speaking states especially in the field of transportation, welcoming Tajik President Emomali Rahmon's suggestion to build a railway connecting Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China.
The Iranian president called for closer energy ties, saying, "Iran and Tajikistan are energy producers and Afghanistan needs energy."
Ahmadinejad went on to stress that the exchange of energy would reduce the expenses and therefore benefit all three countries.
The Iranian chief executive said Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan can help increase regional security through cooperation.
"Afghanistan's security crisis must be resolved by regional countries as experience has shown others (foreign powers) are incapable of solving regional issues."
The one-day tripartite summit of Persian-speaking heads of states kicked off in Tehran on Thursday with the participation of the presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
At the end of summit Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon singed a declaration with their Iranian counterpart on different political, cultural, economic and anti-terrorism issues.
According to the declaration, a commission consisting of Iranian, Tajik and Afghan officials will be established to study the progress of the summit's agenda and to report obstacles to the heads of the three Persian-speaking states.
The three presidents also reiterated the peaceful use of nuclear energy as the indisputable right of all signatories to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Lebanese army reports further violation of the country's airspace by Israeli planes amid tensions deepening after Tuesday's deadly border clashes. "Overflights of southern Leb? Why would we do that? There's no threat to Israel there is there?"
On Thursday, an Israeli reconnaissance plane entered the Lebanese airspace over the border village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon, the army said in statement. "Boss! Boss! Do plane!"
A similar Israeli aircraft breached Lebanon's airspace in the south on Wednesday, flying over the border area for about two hours. The developments follow clashes that erupted on Tuesday after Israeli troops tried to uproot a number of trees in an area which Beirut considers part of its territory. ... but nobody else does...
Israeli forces targeted a military post in the Lebanese village of Adissyeh with gunfire and rockets, killing three soldiers and a journalist. ... who just happened to have come along to watch the fun...
A senior Israeli officer was also killed in the fire exchange. [BANG!] "I got one! I got one!"
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOMETY BOOM!]
"Run away! Run away!"
The incident drew serious warnings from Lebanese officials, including President Michel Sleiman, who vowed that his country would "stand up to Israel's violation of UN Resolution 1701 -- whatever the cost." ... which may include all of Beirut this time. It won't just be a war "against Hezbollah." Everybody's signed up now...
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah ... the Satrap of Leb...
also gave his movement's full support for the army, warning that if Israel invaded the Lebanese military again, his gunnies would not hesitate to act. "The arm that extends itself against the Lebanese army will be cut by the resistance," he said.
This article starring:
SEYYED HASAN NASRALLAH
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
Of course...no mention of The Lebanese Army's or Hezbollah's massive and daily violations of UN Resolution 1701
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
08/06/2010 2:34
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[Al Arabiya Latest] United States President Barack Obama said he remains willing to speak with Iran on its nuclear program and international sanctions if the Tehran follows "a clear set of steps," according to comments published Thursday, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran is working on a three-stage rocket.
Obama made the comments to a small group of journalists at the White House after U.S. officials rebuffed a call for a U.S.-Iran summit.
The Washington Post said the president indicated international sanctions should remain in place on Tehran but that the regime should have a pathway for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue.
"Clear set of steps"
"It is very important to put before the Iranians a clear set of steps that we would consider sufficient to show that they are not pursuing nuclear weapons," Obama said, according to the Post.
"They should know what they can say 'yes' to."
The report said Obama left open the possibility that the United States would accept a deal that allows Iran to maintain its civilian nuclear program, so long as Tehran provides "confidence-building measures" to verify that it is not building a bomb.
An account of the meeting by The Atlantic magazine said Obama expressed the view that Iran is feeling the pain from sanctions but not yet changing their policies.
"It may be that their ideological commitment to nuclear weapons is such that they're not making a simple cost-benefit analysis on this issue," Obama was quoted as saying.
"Changing their calculus is very difficult, even though this is painful for them and we are beginning to see rumblings in Iran that they are surprised by how successful we've been."
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08/06/2010
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[Tolo News] At least 8 Taliban hard boys were killed, including their commander and 13 others were wounded Wednesday afternoon in clashes between bad boys and ISAF forces in the eastern Nangarhar province, officials say
The incident occurred in the province's Khogiani district when a convoy of ISAF forces was passing by, the Provincial Police Chief of Nangarhar, Abdul Ghafoor, told TOLOnews reporter.
Eight Taliban bad boys, including their leader Maulawi Sediqullah were killed and another 13 were wounded in these attacks, he added.
Meanwhile, 20 Taliban hard boys were banged and dozens of others were maimed in Mehtarlam, the provincial capital of the eastern Laghman province on Wednesday afternoon.
Afghan and coalition forces have conducted attacks in an effort to wipe out Taliban infestationss from the province many times before.
This article starring:
MAULAWI SEDIQULLAH
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
I wonder if such "leaders" were assigned nominal rank equivalents, if it would lend some clarity to the situation.
Say ranking this particular fecal pellet anything from Captain to Colonel. It would give some idea of how many subordinates he had, the size of his operational territory, who his connections are, etc.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) believes the November elections will likely weed out some of the "most difficult Democrats" that leadership lawmakers have dealt with this Congress.
In an interview with The Hill, the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman expressed confidence that Democrats will retain the House, and suggested he won't miss some of the Democrats who won't be back next year.
"I think a lot of the House seats we're going to lose are those who have been the toughest for the Democrats to pull into line -- the Democrats that have been the most difficult," Waxman said.
Waxman, one of the Democratic Party's stalwarts, is simply voicing publicly what many in his party have said privately as the reality of the looming November elections sets in. If Democrats retain a majority, it will be smaller but more cohesive.
As Waxman sees it, the fractious coalition of Democrats that House leaders have cobbled together to pass sweeping healthcare and energy bills is not markedly different from the bipartisanship of the past, when Democrats partnered with centrist and liberal Republicans, whom Waxman says are "practically nonexistent at the moment."
"We've been trying to get the Democratic conservatives together with the rest of the Democratic Party, so in effect we've gotten bipartisan support among Democrats in the House," the chairman said with a laugh. "Now we'll have to work on genuine bipartisanship in the future."
For much of the early part of his career, the liberal Waxman battled conservative Democrats from the South on the direction of the party. Years later, Waxman is still waging that fight, but now he wields the gavel of one of the most powerful panels in Congress. Waxman became chairman after successfully challenging Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the former chairman, in 2008.
Waxman has rewarded loyalty to the Democratic agenda through his leadership political action committee, L.A. PAC. Each of the 14 donations of $5,000 the committee made after the final healthcare vote in March went to Democrats who voted yes.
A single contribution of a lesser amount, $3,000, was sent in April to Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), one of the party's most vulnerable members, who voted against the bill. In January, Waxman gave $10,000 to Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio), a month after he voted for the initial House version of healthcare reform. Two months later, Space voted against the final bill.
Democratic conservatives serve little purpose for Waxman, who seemed to relish the thought that a strengthened GOP would mean that the minority party would have to play ball.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
Nuthin like a good purge, eh Henry? Cleans out the "ideologically impure"...
#4
What the man is telling the fools is that those in safe districts who accumulate seniority are more than happy to toss your sorry asses after using them to gain points with their factions. You were all expendable fools.
Note to the new class of 2011, kill seniority for your own self preservation. They play the game on both sides of the aisle.
To them, the moderate Dems are vital to disguising the nature of the Dem party (e.g., all the American Flags and a few token and/or temporary pro-life speakers at the Dem convention) and without the disguise, the Dems are toast in middle America.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2010 9:59
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It's more fun for the ideologically pure (of all flavors) to be in the minority where they don't have to take responsibility for their cockamanie ideas being put into actual practice.
#13
A solid-hickory axehandle right across the bridge of the nose, as hard as I can swing. The list of people I'd love to do that to is growing longer every day. It's absolutely amazing that our country functions at all with all the idiots in government - at most levels and in most offices, including the military. With pay-per-view, or selling tickets, we could wipe out the national debt by Christmas.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/06/2010 22:33
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[Tolo News] At least 7 police were killed and 4 others wounded on Thursday morning in a suicide kaboom in the north-eastern Kunduz province
The incident occurred in the province's Imam Sahib district when a suicide kaboomer targeted a police vehicle, in which seven police were killed and another four were injured, the district's sub-governor, Muhammad Ayob Haqyar told TOLOnews.
Seven civilians have also been wounded in the incident, he added.
Road-side mines are planted by bad boys to target Afghan and foreign forces, in which civilians are the main victims.
Suicide attacks have increased five percent in July.
In Taliban attacks in the past one month, 125 police have been killed and 291 others have been wounded.
Last month has witnessed 765 insurgency attacks, most of them mine and bomb explosions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Al-Qaeda's core leadership in Pakistan remains the most formidable terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland and al-Qaeda's growing presence across Africa challenges many states, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.
Terrorist attacks worldwide and their death toll in 2009 were at their lowest levels in some four years, according to the U.S. State Department's annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" publication. Terrorists carried out 10,999 attacks worldwide in 2009, killing 14,971, it said.
Al-Qaeda, the group behind the Sept 11. attacks, "has proven to be an adaptable and resilient terrorist group whose desire to attack the United States and U.S. interests abroad remains strong," it said.
Afghanistan's Taliban-led insurgency, which got funding and training from al-Qaeda, "remained resilient in the south and east and expanded its presence into the north and west" and retained an undiminished ability to recruit Pashtun foot soldiers, it said.
However, the report said al-Qaeda suffered "several significant setbacks" in 2009, although its threat to Americans is more dispersed.
It said the group faced a Pakistani military onslaught, has lost many of its leaders, and has found it "tougher to raise money, train recruits and plan attacks" outside the Pakistan and Afghanistan region.
"In addition to these operational setbacks, al-Qaeda continued to fail in its efforts to carry out the attacks that would shake governments in the Muslim world," said the report.
"Yet despite these setbacks, the al-Qaeda threat was more dispersed than in recent years, which partially offset the losses suffered by al-Qaeda's core," the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSIRE > WMD TERRORISM REMAINS A GRAVE THREAT: US SAYS, to US + Allies.
ARTIC = US believes that AL QAEDA remains dedicated to its GLOBAL AGENDA + still desires to PROCURE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, ADVANCED WMDS for Terrstrikes.
* SAME > RUSSIA COULD SELL ["Iskander"]NUCLEAR-CAPABLE MISSLES.
* WAFF > [DF21 ASBMS]CHINESE MISSLES COULD SHIFT PACIFIC POWER-BALANCE.
FIRST THINGYS ARE FIRST > In order to destroy a USN CV in SATURATION ATTACK, however accurate or reliable the MISLSYS + WARHEAD, CHINA'S ECON MUST FIRSTLY BE DIVERSE + STRONG ENOUGH, ETC. TO PROFICIENTLY MASS PRODUCE SAID-SAME ASBMS IN ORDER TO CONDUCT SAID-SAME ANTI-CARRIER SATURATION ATTACK/STRIKE(S).
* WAFF > IRAN TO DEV LONG-RANGE [Space]ROCKET. Space Carrier-Rocket = LR ICBM???
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [LSE & PS Scholar] RUSSIA HAS TRAINED 4000 [Military] NUCLEAR OFFICERS, + Other oer the past 10 years.
#2
OOOOPSIES, forgot to add as per DAILY TIMES.PK Artic > LSE & PS Scholar MAUNG ZARNI had argued that THE FAILURE OF THE US, OTHER MAJOR WORLD POWERS TO REIN IN NORTH KOREA + ITS NUCPROGS HAS ONLY INSPIRED THE MYNAMAR JUNTA + ROGUE STATES TO DEV INDIGENOUS NUCPROGS = NUCWEAPS.
Dave already mentioned this, but here's some more detail on what happened with the votes to let tax rates rise in the Senate today. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., put two amendments to a vote:
(1) a permanent extension of the current marginal income tax rates with instructions to offset as necessary through spending reduction
and
(2) a permanent extension of individual income tax rates for small businesses with instructions to offset as necessary through spending reductions.
Both amendments went down by a vote of 58-42 earlier today. A statement from DeMint's office notes how significant these impending tax increases are:
By defeating DeMint's amendments today, Democrats approved tax increases on all marginal tax brackets that will rise significantly on individuals, families, and small business to their pre-2001 levels, which were five tax rates of 15%, 28%, 31%, 36%, and 39.6%. According to analysis by the Wall Street Journal, an individual in South Carolina making $40,000 next year will pay about $400 more in federal income taxes. A South Carolina married couple earning a combined $80,000 will see their federal income tax rise by nearly $2,200. A married couple earning $160,000 next year could pay $5,500 more to Washington.
Also, the Obama tax hikes are set to significantly increase taxes on small businesses earning more than $200,000. The IRS has noted that most small businesses file taxes as individuals making more than $200,000 per year, with around 30 million tax returns reporting small business income in 2008. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ over half of the nation's private sector workforce, more than 60 million Americans. 21.6 million of those jobs are provided by small businesses with less than 20 employees.
Also worth mentioning here: Democrats already voted to raise the capital gains tax and the death tax in June and July, respectively.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Obama will claim, "Those aren't new taxes on people making under $250,000. They are old taxes. Besides, you wouldn't be going through this pain if Bush hadn't stupidly cut the taxes in the first place. It's obviously Bush's fault, so stop whining. I'm doing the best that can be expected under the circumstances."
#2
The USPO is obligated to PRE-PAY its retirees future health benefits, $5 billion this year, unlike every other governmental & private company. Something to do with making the federal deficit look smaller. This is a huge amount of money. Congress is opposed to the PO cutting its losses by ending Saturday deliveries although it does not provide any funding to the PO.
Fannie Mae was just delisted from the NYSE due to very low share values. Its basic reason for continuing is to support mortgage lending & to prop up inflated housing prices, a long-standing government goal.
#5
The decision to remove Social Security from it's protected status and move it to the general fund was made by the Democrats during the Lyndon Johnson administration. The decision to give Social Security bebefits to everyone, even if the person never paid in or just got here off the boat was made, again by the Democrats, during the Bill Clinton administration with Al Gore as President Pr-tem of the Senate casting the deciding vote.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/06/2010 7:28
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#7
I think Social Security has *always* been a pay-as-you-go Ponzi scheme.
It's just reaching the point where intake is less than the outflow. Look for it to 'reform' by refusing some of its obligations - probably by not paying out to anyone who has a certain amount of additional income (i.e. Anyone who planned ahead).
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/06/2010 11:17
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#10
I think there is a difference between Social Security and a Ponzi scheme.
The Ponzi scheme relies on fraud to convince people to participate. Nobody holds a gun to your head, they just tell you all kinds of nonsense and if you are foolish enough to believe it then you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Social Security uses the coercive power of the federal government to separate you from your money. They tell you the lies too but, really, you have no choice. The gun that is pointed at your head is real.
#13
"I can't think of any government or state agency that isn't in the red right now"
Virginia
Texas
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 17:11
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And what is the common element in each of those three states?
Hint - look at which party holds the governor's seat.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/06/2010 20:40
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#15
"look at which party holds the governor's seat"
Not sure about the other 2, Rambler, but in Virginia the House of Delegates (and therefore the Appropriations Committee) is also held by the same party. That matters.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 21:59
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[Asharq al-Aswat] An Israeli official on Thursday warned of the danger of Hezbollah gaining influence over Lebanon's army just days after a deadly exchange of fire along the border left four people dead.
"There is a danger of the Hezbollisation of the Lebanese army, if the army begins to behave like Hezbollah," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told public radio referring to the Lebanese Shiite militia group.
"If Hezbollah manages to take control of the army, we will have to treat (the army) in a completely different manner," he said.
Top Israeli officials have said that Hezbollah was not involved in Tuesday's deadly exchange of fire with the Lebanese army, and have for the most part sought to play down the confrontation as an isolated incident.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the clashes, which killed two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist as well as a senior Israeli officer, were "a very grave provocation" but hastened to add that it was not planned by the Lebanese army.
"Tuesday's incident was not programmed by the chiefs of staff of the Lebanese army in Beirut or by Hezbollah," he said on Wednesday.
The Israeli military believes the incident was caused by a radical Lebanese army officer who was not acting on orders from higher-ups, defence experts said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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[Arab News] A bomb went off outside an airport in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing two people and wounding 24, local officials said.
US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. condemned the "heinous attack" and canceled his trip to the city on Friday, saying he did not want police resources diverted from the investigation. Washington, he said, was ready to extend any help requested by authorities.
Police said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device. "There was one man who died on the spot and he could be the one who detonated the explosive device," Celso Lobregat, mayor of the city on Mindanao Island, told reporters after the incident.
He later said another man had died while being treated at a hospital and 24 were wounded. They included Sakur Tan, governor of the southern island of Jolo, a hotbed of militancy in the country.
Officials gave no indication whether there was a link between the attack and Thomas' visit.
The blast occurred as people were leaving the airport after the arrival of a flight from Manila, Lobregat said.
"I believe I was the target," Tan told reporters, saying the device went off just a yard away from him. "I saw the flash very clearly." Tan sustained a small wound near his ribs. He was later discharged from hospital.
An enemy of the Abu Sayyaf militants, the Sulu governor has been targeted before. He escaped unharmed when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded near his convoy in Sulu in May last year. A town mayor and at least three security escorts were wounded in that attack.
In the past, a small group of militants with links to Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah had been blamed for bomb attacks in shopping malls, parks and Catholic churches in the city.
Dozens of US soldiers are stationed in the city, helping train and advise Filipino troops fighting militants who were sheltering a small group of Indonesian extremists.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Tolo News] A convoy of foreign forces was attacked by the Taliban insurgents on Thursday afternoon in Tagab, a district in northern Kapisa province
An Afghan civilian was wounded in the incident, foreign officials say.
The foreign forces have yet to comment on troops' casualties in the incident.
The attack took place as Taliban insurgents Wednesday in an attempt to gain control over some parts of Laghman province, attacked the province in which 20 militants were killed and another ten were wounded in clashes with the Afghan security forces.
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and road-side bombs are the deadliest and overused weapons used by the Taliban in the Afghan war and have claimed a huge number of civilian and foreign forces' lives since the US-led invasion in 2001.
The number of foreign forces' deaths in the infamous Afghan war has reached 415 according to icasualties.org, an independent site that tracks the deaths of foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Arab News] Gunmen stormed a Baghdad money exchange and killed three people Thursday, the latest in recent brash daylight attacks on banks, financial and trade centers in the Iraqi capital, many of which have been blamed on insurgents.
Police officials did not immediately know how much money was stolen in the 2 p.m. heist in the southeastern New Baghdad neighborhood. Fleeing the scene, the gunmen also threw flash bombs into a crowd of people responding to the shooting.
Hospital officials confirmed three people were killed, including the owner of the money exchange. Five passers-by were wounded.
Overall violence has decreased, but attacks still occur daily across Iraq.
Insurgents, suspected of trying to steal funding for their operations, have increasingly been blamed for heists on banks and financial centers.
An Al-Qaeda front group claimed responsibility for June strikes against the Central Bank of Iraq, the nation's treasury, and the Trade Bank of Iraq, a state-run investment center. Together, those heists killed at least 44 people and wounded scores more as the Islamic State of Iraq gloated over its ease in penetrating security to pull off the attacks.
Earlier, police officials said three traffic policemen were killed in drive-by shootings late Wednesday in western Baghdad while gunmen stormed the house of a policeman, killing him, his wife and a relative.
The shootings raised to at least five the number of traffic policemen killed since Tuesday in Baghdad. Police and health officials said at least seven traffic policemen have been wounded over the same period in Iraq's capital.
In the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, gunmen stormed a policeman's house, killing him, his wife and a relative, police officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I got critized here when I made this comment after the central bank attack, but notice that these are attacks on financial offices, not necessarily traditional bank robberies. They're trying to destabilize the financial system.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/06/2010 21:17
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#2
Similar objective when power lines and the water systems are attacked.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter never has had much problem fending off challengers during her almost 24 years in Congress.
But Dr. Jill Rowland, a Buffalo dentist, vowed Tuesday to change that as she officially announced her Republican candidacy against the Fairport Democrat.
"I'm running because, like you, I'm concerned about the direction this country is taking," Rowland told a small group of supporters gathered in an Elmwood Avenue office building. "Judging by the current administration, we are headed for very big problems."
The matchup represents the first all-female contest for the House of Representatives in area memory.
Rowland, 40, kicked off her candidacy with a strong endorsement from Nicholas A. Langworthy, chairman of the Erie County Republican Party, and echoed several "tea party" movement themes as she listed problems she sees stemming from the Obama administration. She seemed most opposed to the new health care plan passed last year.
"When the Democrats go against the will of the American people and remove peoples' choices in health care and centralize it in a bureaucracy in Washington, we have problems," she said.
She said it will force consumers to buy insurance plans they may not want and adheres to principles that government -- and not voters--want.
"And this does nothing to protect the sacred doctor-patient relationship," she said.
Rowland acknowledged the current health care system is "not perfect," but seeks reforms centered around plans that increase choice and put decisions "back in the hands of patients." She also proposes allowing patients to shop for insurance across state lines and enacting tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.
Rowland said other problems lie ahead as a result of policies favored by Slaughter, whom she took care to link to President Obama. She cited a growing debt concentrated in Chinese hands and spending patterns that she said will invite more debt and might put the country on the road to severe economic problems, like those confronting Greece and Spain.
"President Obama, with the help of Louise Slaughter, wants to bring the same spending model to the United States," she said.
Rowland was born on an Air Force base in Germany, where her father was stationed. She said she was a single mother just entering dental school when she was diagnosed with cancer, but completed her studies and went on to become a dentist.
She lives in Buffalo with her husband, Timothy Votta -- also a dentist -- and their children. She also will run on the Conservative Party line.
Slaughter would not respond directly to any of her opponent's charges.
"It is a great honor to serve the people of Western New York," is all she would say. "I look forward to continuing my conversation with my constituents so together we can rebuild our local economy, protect jobs from going overseas and make the American dream accessible to all Americans."
Posted by: Fred ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted on Thursday a resolution to extend the work of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) for another year expiring on July 31, 2011.
The resolution, forwarded by Japan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, underlined the importance of the security of the UNAMI staff so that they may do their job for the interest of the people of Iraq, according to the UN web site today (Aug. 5).
It expressed its intention to review the mandate in 12 months or sooner, if requested by the government of Iraq.
As UN chief Ban Ki-moon did Wednesday, the council also appealed to Iraqs bickering leaders to quickly form a government that represents the will and sovereignty of the Iraqi people and their hope for a strong, independent, unified and democratic Iraq in the wake of the March parliamentary elections.
The council stressed that the security of UN personnel was essential for UNAMI to carry out its work and consequently called on the Iraqi government and other UN member states to continue to provide security and logistical support to the UN presence in Iraq.
In his latest report on Iraq, Ban warned that continued delays in forming a government were fueling a growing sense of uncertainty in the country, which, he said, elements opposed to Iraqs democratic transition may try to exploit.
His special representative to Iraq, Ad Melkert, warned council members Wednesday that the practical implications of the US military drawdown are now starting to affect the work of UNAMI.
The UN: can't live with the US, can't live without the US ...
Monday, US President Barack Obama pledged that his country would end its combat mission in Iraq as scheduled on August 31 despite the recent flare-up in violence. Melkert said he was in talks with the Iraqi government to ensure that the conditions for the future UN presence are on a secure and sustainable basis.
This, he added, would require the finalization of the UN-Iraq status of mission agreement and an increase in the UNs own security and operational capacity involving aviation, transport and infrastructure.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2010
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A Canadian accused by the US of supplying weapons to al-Qaeda has been sprung in Toronto after a judge refused to extradite him to the US.
Abdullah Khadr, 29, had been in jug since 2005, when he was arrested in Canada at US officials' request.
Mr Khadr is the elder brother of Omar Baby Face Khadr, the only Westerner held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The judge said statements made by Mr Khadr and used as the basis for the case against him were "unreliable".
Mr Khadr was arrested in Pakistan in October 2004 after the CIA offered Pakistani authorities a $500,000 (£314,000) bounty. The US accused him of procuring weapons, including mine components and rocket-propelled grenades, for al-Qaeda to use against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
He returned to Canada after about a year in Pakistani custody, and in December 2005 was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at US request. The US sought to extradite him to face charges. On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Christopher Speyer halted extradition proceedings, effectively denying the US bid.
This article starring:
Omar Khadr
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
It is amazing how many of the characters the West has released have showed up in positions of influence or power in Islamist circles.
Let's see; shall we give the lawyers guns and send them to the front? Or just wage war directly against them? Either would work better than the current system.
#7
He's been in custody for over 4 years. That's time enough for our Canadian officials to have implanted the GPS/tracking/voice recording computer chip in his buttocks. Now we can track his every move. Insh'Allah.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Army soldiers killed a gunman and detained nine wanted persons in different incidents in Mosul city on Thursday, according to a military source in Ninewa.
An Iraqi armys 2nd Division force shot dead a gunman in clashes and arrested nine wanted men in security operations carried out by the force in Mosul in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2010
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The US and Israel are using a UN tribunal probing the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri as a "political tool", says a top Iranian official.
Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, said on Thursday that the tribunal has been orchestrated by the Zionist regime and its allies.
He made the remarks in a meeting with Lebanese resistance movement Hezbullies' Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
The Special Tribunal for Leb was set up by the UN and the Lebanese government in May 2007 to prosecute those behind the assassination of Hariri in 2005.
Nasrallah has rejected claims by the tribunal that Hezbullies was involved in Hariri's assassination, describing the accusations as part of "a dangerous project that is targeting Iranian catspaws."
Fars News Agency quoted Velayati as saying, "While in the past 4 years, the Zionist regime and its allies accused Syria of Rafiq Hariri's assassination, now they blame the Islamic resistance Hezbullies."
"We declare our strong support for Leb's resistance," he said, adding that amicable relations between the two countries would play a central role in creating stability in the region.
Velayati also called for concerted efforts to confront "the Zionist terrorism" and support the Paleostinians to achieve their "just goals".
The Iranian official arrived in the Lebanese capital on Wednesday and was warmly welcomed by Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami.
"Leb will confront the threats posed by Israel with the support of Iran and Arab countries," al-Shami said.
This article starring:
Ali Akbar Velayati
Govt of Iran
Seyyed Hassan Nasralla
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Gunmen killed three members of Yemen's security forces in an attack on a checkpoint in the southern town of Zinjibar on Thursday, witnesses and a hospital official said.
Three masked men attacked the security forces near the town's intelligence headquarters, killing two and wounding a third, witnesses said. The wounded man apparently died of his injuries.
An official at Al-Razi hospital in Jaar, just north of Zinjibar, said the bodies of three security forces members were brought in, all of whom had been shot in the head.
The assailants rode a motorcycle, one of them carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle in a black bag, a security official said. Security forces were in hot pursuit of the attackers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel released an impounded Turkish aid ship on Thursday on which its navy killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a botched boarding as they tried to run the Gaza Strip blockade in May.
The converted cruise liner Mavi Marmara was towed out of Haifa port by a Turkish tugboat. Two other Turkish vessels held there and in Ashdod port -- the Defn-Y and the Gazze -- will follow by Friday, Israeli and Turkish officials said.
The high seas clash severely damaged the Jewish state's ties with its only close Muslim ally and drew international criticism that forced the Israelis to ease land commerce with Gaza's 1.5 million mostly aid-dependant Palestinians.
Israel defended the marines' use of guns in brawls with Mavi Marmara passengers, who it said had endangered the soldiers' lives by attacking them with iron bars and knives.
But it waived a demand that the Turks sign undertakings not to sail again to Gaza, whose blockade it says curbs Palestinian gunrunning, for the vessels to be repatriated.
An Israeli official said the Foreign Ministry had instead sent Ankara "a message ... expressing Israel's expectation that Turkey will prevent other Turkish vessels from violating the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.
"The message emphasizes that Israel transfers equipment and goods to Gaza on an ongoing basis via the land crossings in a manner that is acceptable to the international community and which is anchored in recognized agreements," the official said.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official had no immediate comment on Israel's request. The official said the three Turkish vessels were expected to arrive in Turkey's Iskendurun port by Aug. 9.
Israel still holds three non-Turkish vessels from the Gaza flotilla that was intercepted on May 31, as well as an Irish cargo ship, the Rachel Corrie, that sailed a few days later.
Earlier this week, the United Nations announced it was opening an inquiry into the flotilla raid which would include both Israeli and Turkish participation. Israel has said it would cooperate with the inquiry.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#1
If it was up to me, i'd "Return" the ships either as scrap metal or with a smallish charge welded into the bottom as undetectable as possible and see if the idiots use it to sail for Gaza again, if they do, Why that's odd, it just vanished at sea.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2010 18:00
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Google Translate from a variety of Mexican web sources. For a map, click here
A car bomb exploded in a back parking lot of the Tamaulipas state Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP) headquarters in the offices of the Rural Police in Ciudad Victoria early Thursday evening, according to Mexican press reports.
The detonation, which was first reported by Twitter users at 1800 hrs, took place at about 1720 hrs. The vehicle used was a Nissan Tsuru. The explosion damaged two official vehicles parked on either side but caused no injuries.
The attack is the sixth on police forces in northern Mexico since Sunday night. Five small arms and hand grenade attacks have been made against Mexican Federal agents in Juarez which killed in total one agents and wounded six others including one civilian female.
The bomb is also the second car bomb since the July 16th car bomb in Juarez, Chihuahua. One Mexican Federal agent and three civilians were killed in that blast.
#5
I think that when you're involved in a criminal enterprise the idea is to make money which you will never get to enjoy if you get yourself killed in the process. Not that I condone what these narco terrorists are doing. It's just that I find their particular type of evil a little easier to understand.
Tuesday was a day that was full of news from Lebanon, starting with the battle over the "tree" in southern Lebanon between the Lebanese and Israeli armies which caused casualties on both sides, and ending with the speech by the Hezbollah leader that implied a lot about Israel, both internally and externally. Therefore, what is the most important implication of what happened on that day?
In the beginning, and for whatever reason, the initial reaction to this day -- whether with regards to Hassan Nasrallah's speech, or the incident between the Lebanese and Israeli armies with regards to the tree -- is that the Lebanese army has taken the lead from Hezbollah, or that Hezbollah has slowed down and finds itself in second place, or describe this in whatever way that you will. This was something that was clearly evident in Hassan Nasrallah's speech which justified -- at length -- Hezbollah's decision not to enter the fray and help the Lebanese army, while he also promised that the resistance will cut off the Israeli hand that reaches out to attack Lebanon, but "next time."
The other issue with regards to Nasrallah's speech was what he said about the special international tribunal that is investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri; for although Nasrallah welcomed the tripartite Saudi -- Syrian -- Lebanese summit, his message was clear, which is that Hezbollah intends to wait and see if this inter-Arab rapprochement will lead to the disruption of the international tribunal, otherwise something else will happen. Nasrallah said "we must all cooperate to pacify the situation until the results of this effort are revealed, and we can build something on this." In other words, Hezbollah will pacify the situation for a fixed time, and this is a clear threat, not desire for cooperation and calm!
What confirms this is that Nasrallah's talk about calm was accompanied by his accusing Israel of being responsible for the Rafiq Hariri assassination. From this announcement, it is clear that although Nasrallah is talking about calm, what he really wants to do is back his Lebanese political rivals into a corner, and prepare the ground -- in a demagogic fashion -- for the coming stage i.e. what will happen should the efforts to disrupt the international tribunal fail. For Nasrallah's accusation of Israel intends to back the Lebanese -- and therefore the Arabs -- into a corner; for in the event of the international tribunal issuing the expected decision accusing Hezbollah [of being responsible for Rafiq Hariri's assassination] everybody who calls for justice and cooperation with the tribunal will be portrayed as if they are defending Israel. This was confirmed by Nasrallah saying "I presume that what I said and will say about the Israeli issue will not bother anybody, unless they want to go out and defend Israel." This is a clear plan to cause confusion and fear.
It is also worth noting that Nasrallah said that he will present evidence proving Israeli's involvement in the Hariri assassination next week. However the question that must be asked here is: why did Nasrallah wait -- keeping hold of such evidence -- without publicly revealing it, especially when the fingers of accusation were being pointed at Syria? Would it not have been better to expose the Israelis [prior to now]?
Therefore, the battle of the "tree" and Nasrallah's speech demonstrate that the situation in Lebanon is heating up, and although the situation has not reached critical point, the smoke that is being seen there reveals that there is a high degree of tension within Hezbollah, and that Nasrallah is worried about everybody in Lebanon. This can be seen in his over-use of the expression "one of them [the leaders] told me" even when referring to his own friends and allies!
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change.
British economist Nicholas Stern told international climate negotiators Thursday that government regulation and public money also will be needed to create incentives for private investment in industries that emit fewer greenhouse gases.
In short, a new industrial revolution is needed to move the world away from fossil fuels to low carbon growth, he said.
"It will be extremely exciting, dynamic and productive," said Stern, one of 18 experts in public finance on an advisory panel appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
A climate summit held in Copenhagen in December was determined to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to climate change and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide trapping the sun's heat. But the 120 world leaders who met in the Danish capital offered no ideas on how to raise that sum -- $1 trillion every decade -- prompting Ban to appoint his high-level advisory group.
The Copenhagen summit also resolved to mobilize a three-year emergency fund of $30 billion starting this year. It was unclear how much has been raised and disbursed so far.
The advisory panel, which began working in March, will present its final report to Ban in October, a month before the next decisive climate conference convenes in Cancun, Mexico.
Cancun? Nice work if you can get it. Have the delegates ever considered video conferencing or is sacrifice only for us little people?
It will analyze a range of options, Stern said, and governments must decide which to chose, how much to raise from each source, and how to distribute the money.
Potential revenue sources include auctioning the right to pollute, taxes on carbon production, an international travel tax, and a tax on international financial transactions, as well as government grants and loans. Each could produce tens of billions of dollars a year, Stern said.
"No one single source will deliver $100 billion by itself. There is no silver bullet, no hole in one," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2010
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#3
'climate Change' always was about creating a tax base for the UN. Now that 'carbon' trading (which has nothing to do with carbon) is going down the gurgler, they are looking for other ways to tax.
#4
"In a speech given in 2007 at the Australian National Press Club, Stern called for one per cent of gross global product to be employed in global warming-related environmental measures." from Stern's Wikipedia entry.
As far as I can tell, this guy is the watermelon in the story. Never mind Cancun, if this guy is calling something "exciting, dynamic and productive," then there is about to be a power-grab.
(i) Too quick.
(ii) You have to take care not to get blood on your clothes."
Hell, just drop the damned piano on him and be done with it, grom.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/06/2010 15:58
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#14
Cancun? Nice work if you can get it. Have the delegates ever considered video conferencing or is sacrifice only for us little people?
It's only for little people too stupid to know what's good for them. The democrats have said so, so that makes it right, right? If you're not part of the elite, your just a peasant to be rules after all. I think socialism is a direct take off from feudalism.
It will analyze a range of options, Stern said, and governments must decide which to chose, how much to raise from each source, and how to distribute the money.
"All we need is the $100 billion a year, you guys only need to raise it. Thanks, get back to us."
There is no silver bullet, no hole in one
Not quite yet, there isn't. How about a wooden stake?
#17
Global Warming is a farce. Junk science. It is based on deliberately skewed interpretations of scientific data, put forth by social activists with an agenda to control all human activity.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
08/06/2010 21:49
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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.
Proposition 23 takes aim at California's ambitious environmental law (known as AB 32 or the global-warming law), which requires greenhouse-gas emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. If approved by voters in November, the ballot measure would halt enforcement of AB 32 until California's unemployment rate, now over 12%, falls to 5.5% for at least four consecutive quarters. 
Boeing and EADS got their bids into the office with time to spare. US Aerospace said its bid arrived at Wright-Patterson half an hour before the deadline. The Defense Department said it was five minutes late.
A Los Angeles city councilman and his wife were indicted on a total of 24 felony counts stemming from allegations he lived outside his district, prosecutors said Wednesday.
[Tolo News] Afghan president 
William Ayers, education professor and former Vietnam War era radical, is planning to retire after more than 20 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a top school official confirmed today. The retirement will be official within the next couple of weeks, said UIC Education Dean Vicki Chou.
[Tolo News] At least two guards of a private security company were 
Governor Deval Patrick, who this spring became the state's first sitting governor to visit a mosque, lent his support yesterday to an Islamic Center proposed near ground zero, stepping into the middle of a growing national furor over locating a Muslim house of worship so near the site of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Lebanese army reports further violation of the country's airspace by Israeli planes amid tensions deepening after Tuesday's deadly border clashes. 
[Tolo News] At least 8 Taliban 
[Tolo News] At least 7 police were killed and 4 others wounded on Thursday morning in a 
[Asharq al-Aswat] An Israeli official on Thursday warned of the danger of Hezbollah gaining influence over Lebanon's army just days after a deadly exchange of fire along the border left four people dead.
[Arab News] A bomb went off outside an airport in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing two people and wounding 24, local officials said.
[Arab News] Gunmen stormed a Baghdad money exchange and killed three people Thursday, the latest in recent brash daylight attacks on banks, financial and trade centers in the Iraqi capital, many of which have been blamed on insurgents.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Army soldiers killed a gunman and detained nine wanted persons in different incidents in Mosul city on Thursday, according to a military source in Ninewa.
The US and Israel are using a UN tribunal probing the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri as a "political tool", says a top Iranian official. 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Gunmen killed three members of Yemen's security forces in an attack on a checkpoint in the southern town of Zinjibar on Thursday, witnesses and a hospital official said.
